fic recs, and a tiny comic preview (I mean, tiny)

[astridv]

Just to show I haven't been entirely lazy, here's a tiny comic preview. I have the following panels all inked and ready, it doesn't feel like a good place to break though. So I think I'll draw the sequence after that first and post the whole bunch in one. In the meantime:

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fic recs:
I'm Taking This Loop Off by toomuchplor
John/Rodney; PG-13; Spoilers: none; Length: 1600 words
Summary: “I’m almost positive that this crap never happened to General O’Neill.”

Rodney McKay's Scrapbook of Death by Moonloon
note: graphics-heavy

"Wait... you've had death threats?"
"Of course I have, Colonel. Any idiot can go though life without offending people."
"And you kept them?"

Genitive of Absence by Mad Maudlin
gen; PG; 1,700 words
Summary: Of all the things he's been subjected to, Rodney deeply resents the Russian language. AU of "Redemption"

love the atmosphere in this.

fic/meta rec
A priest, a rabbi, and an ATA user walk into a bar . . . " by thingswithwings and eruthros
Jokes they tell on Atlantis... frikkin' hilarious!

Comments

[friendshipper.livejournal.com]

Ooh, pretty 'lantis, and I love the sky! Good lord, woman, is that a manipulated screencap, or did you draw it? The detail is fantastic!

[ratcreature]

The opening panel looks very cool. I wonder though how the orbits of the moons and their rotation would have to be so that two moons appear next to each other in the sky and both are the same kind of sickle when seen from the planet like this... It just looks kind of odd I mean.

[astridv.livejournal.com]

Good lord, woman, is that a manipulated screencap, or did you draw it? The detail is fantastic!

Heh. Something inbetween. I took a screencap of the city, printed it out, did a quick, rough trace with pencil on acetate matte film (took like, ten minutes tops), scanned that in, cleaned it up a bit and reduced the range to black/white, printed it out again on watercolor paper, and from then on it's traditional watercolor and acrylics. I like this technique because it's a hell of a time-saver.

Some of the time, anyway... I didn't use that technique for the gateroom; drew that from scratch, since most of the time that's just faster than finding a perfectly fitting screencap.

I've actually started use pencil on acetate film quite a lot when I copy my sketches for the final artwork... it's just more convenient than using paper, ink, and a light box, and I like the line I get there.

[astridv.livejournal.com]

Hm, good point. Given the size and distance of the sun (which I don't know but I'm guessing huge) I'd guess that their sickles would look the same no matter what? But I could shrink one of them, see if that looks more natural.

[friendshipper.livejournal.com]

Ooh, you know, I might try that -- the acetate technique. I've always used a lightbox for those sorts of things, but it can be kind of a hassle.

[trystings.livejournal.com]

Mmmmm, pretty. Very pretty. You're great at drawing buildings.

And loved the 'Genitive of Absence' rec although it left me slightly depressed and craving chocolate and fluff. (Mad Maudlin, wait, didn't she write Ticket to Ride? *looks* Yes!)

[ratcreature]

I admit I was never much good for with any fiddly bits of astronomy explanations (or much interested in them -- I basically just remember this simple diagram from school for one moon explaining the look, like the sunlight comes from one direction, and the moon put into different positions showing how it is illuminated, like the ones from this wikipedia page), but clearly it's more complicated, like how for Earth's moon the crescent is different looking near the equator, more horizontal oriented it was, I think? Anyway, I'd just go crazy trying to figure it out with some sort of diagram if I tried to draw two moons (and nobody would notice anyway). For them to look the same I think they'd have to be on the same place in their orbit around the planet relative to the sun? I don't even know whether two moons would usually rotate in roughly the same plane with planets, I admit.

[astridv.livejournal.com]

Ahhh, hang on, I see the problem. D'uh! Gimmeaminute...

[astridv.livejournal.com]

Fixed... I wasn't thinking at all - since it's nighttime and the sun is below the horizon, the moons have to be lit from somewhere below, not above.

[ratcreature]

Yeah, I think it looks more natural now, less like one moon-shape just stamped next to the other.

[astridv.livejournal.com]

Mmmmm, pretty. Very pretty. You're great at drawing buildings.

Thanks. Though in the interest of full disclosure, I had a screencap for this one that fit perfectly (except that it was daytime).

Mad Maudlin writes great fic. My faves of her are 'Triptych' and 'While You Were Out'.

[atomicbear.livejournal.com]

Looking Good Astrid. Love your watercolors.

[sonadorita.livejournal.com]

*bounces*

That looks very promising! :)