FMA fanart: Dog Days

[astridv]

First of my prompt replies: cornerofmadness suggested Roy and Riza with Hayate.
I honestly have no idea if this warrants a spoiler warning. Does it?





I snuck in a bit of gratuitous shirtlessness, because Roy does not get enough shirtless scenes in the manga. I mean. At this rate, how is he ever going to catch up with Major Armstrong and Ed?

preview:

I tried to shade it manga-style, using a grid. Not crazy about that technique yet. I could've done that in ten seconds with a grey marker. But I wanted it to look as close as possible to the original style. I might go ahead and color these pics, too (the traditional way!)

Next up (I think): What exactly is it that the Queen of Briggs does for fun? (First I thought, sparring with Mustang. But I can't see any scenario that doesn't end up with her wiping the floor with him within the first minute... though I guess that would be fun for her...)

Comments

[ratcreature]

I don't know FMA, but this is very cute.

At least these days one can do the grayscale dots with a computer. I tried that kind of gray ages ago when I did cartoons for a school paper, and for reproduction these dots were good, giving truer grayscale in copies than if you colored gray and then photocopied, but what a pain to cut and paste them with an exacto knife. And the self-adhesive sheets (called letratone or something?) were really expensive too, but when you copied them on paper that was much harder to cut exactly, because you couldn't just put it on the lineart and messier with the glue too...

[astridv]

Every time I hear someone say "I don't know FMA" I have to restrain my self not to talk them into watching the show. I don't wanna be one of those fans. *g* (But it's really really good though, and the art is a-ma-zing. And the plot too.)

I'll shut up now. :)

re: grayscale sheets... yeah, I remember working with those years ago, and I remember they were wicked expensive. So expensive that I'd make photocopies of mine and cut&paste the paper copies instead, which, yeah, inconvenient and tricky.

I don't think I'll use these dots again if I can avoid it, I'll stick with other means of shading.

[ratcreature]

I have a strong dislike for manga styles. I realize they are quite diverse, but ever since the 1980s other comic fans have tried to interest me in various manga and anime, and it's not my thing. Though these styles' influence on Western comics in the last decades has acclimatized me some to manga mixed with other styles, so maybe in another decade I'll get there.

I think I just can't get over the lack of noses, as I've grown up with the French-style cartoon-nose...

[astridv]

I have a strong dislike for manga styles. I realize they are quite diverse, but ever since the 1980s other comic fans have tried to interest me in various manga and anime, and it's not my thing.

*nod* I can see that. That was me, actually, until I discovered this one. I never found a manga or anime before that even remotely interested me (and I haven't found anything else since either... yet). I'd really tried to get interested since I was learning the language and it seemed such a useful way of practicing. (And it totally is! Fullmetal Alchemist was the best thing to happen to my Japanese studies, ever.)

I really like Arakawa's style, not least the way she draws people. I thought I'd have problems with the manga way of stylizing faces, but I got used to it very quickly, and started to see all these characters as flesh-and-blood people. It's downright weird, the way the human brain accepts a few lines as proper representations of human beings.

[lo_rez]

Oh my god, that's adorable. And the pup with its back feet hanging off Roy's belly! Hee!

Lovely!

[astridv]

I was awww'ing myself whilst I was sketching the puppies... :D

[yhlee]

I am dead of the cute. Dead. Clearly Roy is well on his way to being tamed on multiple fronts!

re: Queen of Briggs

[yhlee]

chess? (I bet she's wicked good at it.)
skewering practice dummies
...there was that fantabulous fic someone asked for a link to a while back wherein Olivier dances with Mustang and completely wipes the floor with him.
sledding! (what, she must like the snow, right?)

Re: Queen of Briggs

[astridv]

chess? (I bet she's wicked good at it.)

Oh, indeed. Actually I already have an particular thing in mind for the art (my roommate came up with it, stay tuned). But Roy and Olivier playing chess, yeah... they're both good strategists, I think, but their minds work differently; would be interesting to see how that goes.

Someone also wrote an interesting fic about Roy teaching Ed how to play chess (and a few other things along the way).

...there was that fantabulous fic someone asked for a link to a while back wherein Olivier dances with Mustang and completely wipes the floor with him.

Yes, yes. One of my favorite fics in this fandom! Just Another Military Party by bookelfe iirc. I'm really intrigued by the dynamic between Olivier and Roy. It sparks - in a totally non-romantic way. Lots to explore. :)

[slippy]

(Here via an animanga newsletter) No one was ever meant to catch up to Major Armstrong - at least, no mere mortal. I love these, especially the puppy pile and Riza's eminently sensible response to it. I'm looking forward to the Olivia fanart.

[astridv]

the puppy pile and Riza's eminently sensible response to it.

I know that would be my response. :) Glad you like it, and thanks for letting me know how you found this.