Admin Post: Community Check-In for March 2019

[goss]

Today's the last day of the month, and we'd love to have you check in and chat with us. How have things been with you?

Did you get a chance to take part in any fandom activities in March, or have you been working on any personal art projects? Are you currently trying to meet a deadline? Feel free to share upcoming challenges that have got you excited, any frustrations you've been experiencing, possible goals for the next month, etc.

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Also, since it's the start of a new month tomorrow, we will be posting up a new community art challenge on April 1st, so looking forward to that! :)

Comments

[goss]

After a long dry spell in terms of fanart-making/ fannish participation, yesterday I signed up for a fandom challenge: Guardian Reverse Exchange at sid_guardian. It'll be a great way to get back into creating art and also will be my first time making art for this fandom, so I'm doubly excited about it. :)

[mekare]

Yay! I saw that you‘d signed up and am so happ y and excited about the challenge!

[goss]

I am totally psyched to get my assignment! Very glad that it's the end of the school term this Friday, and I'll have a two-week break to work on my art. :)

[minoanmiss]

*cheers*

[amberdreams]

Never come across that one, it looks good. And it's always awesome to give your creativity a kick start again.

[mific]

Have fun!

[minoanmiss]

For the first time I submitted fanart to fulfill my assignment in an exchange. I really hope it's worth 1000 words!

Also I am gearing up for Poem In Your Pocket Day (April 18) I just finished an illustration last night and I will print up my postcards soon. Anyone in the US who wants a randomly chosen illustrated poem postcard (not all of the illustrations are by me -- for instance, one poem is a response to a painting so of course it's illustrated with that painting) drop me a PM!

I love art so much. And I love this comm!

[goss]

For the first time I submitted fanart to fulfill my assignment in an exchange

Yay! Go you! \o/


Poem In Your Pocket Day

Aww, poem postcards sound like a really cute project! April 18th, you say? Hmmm, maybe we could do a post at the community about drawing activities one could do to celebrate poetry for that week.

[minoanmiss]

I would LOVE that! I really love illustrating poems.

(I specified US residents in this bit due to cashflow issues, but I think an international celebration of poetry would be awesometastic!)

[goss]

Okay, because of the timing, I'm thinking that our new challenge tomorrow could be to illustrate a piece of poetry, and the Round Up post could be done on the 18th to coincide with Poem In Your Pocket Day. :)

Thanks again for bringing the postcard project to our attention! I could always include a postcard template/dimensions with the challenge as an option.

[minoanmiss]

Eeeeee This is Awesome! Thank you so much! I already have an idea for this. :D

[minoanmiss]

While rummaging my files I found a pair of poems about drawing, no less:

https://rubynye.tumblr.com/post/141297524100/arma3000-damnanime-seto-kaibae-twinkle

[goss]

*giggles*

[amberdreams]

That poem idea sounds lovely! And well done on the fanart front - what challenge is that for?

[minoanmiss]

SpaceSwap! A prompt gave me such a strong mental image I went ahead and drew it. I shouldn't say more and spoil the surprise, though!

[amberdreams]

Sounds like fun - I'll look forward to seeing it when you post!

[syntheid]

Yay on the submission! The poem idea sounds cute, too.

[mific]

Yay - poem in your pocket day! I enjoyed poetry month last year. Thanks for giving us the challenge idea! :D

[amberdreams]

I'm sorry I've been largely absent from here! I've missed y'all.

I've been doing some fandom stuff

- submitted 4 pieces to the Cap Reverse Bang, and I'm waiting to see what my 4 authors come up with
- SPN Springfling starts posting tomorrow and I managed an art fill for my recipient (can't share it yet as this one is an anon exchange
- did a very slow quickybang https://amberdreams.dreamwidth.org/885582.html

But mainly I've been doing non fandom related things

- sketchbooking evening class continued (term's finished now). https://amberdreams.dreamwidth.org/884647.html
- I did a one day sketching workshop at the Victoria & Albert museum, which was really enjoyable and I think I learned quite a bit. I have yet to do a post about it though.
- I painted my first Elmer the elephant and the second elephant is down the side of the house waiting its turn. https://amberdreams.dreamwidth.org/886140.html
- I had a week in the Isle of Man painting a wallaby. https://amberdreams.dreamwidth.org/885847.html
- my gorilla arrived and is now in the house and progress is being made! https://amberdreams.dreamwidth.org/886474.html

Now I need to catch up with everything you chaps have been doing!

[goss]

Fantastic that you've been doing so much art, fannish and otherwise! \o/

(BTW, the wallaby art isn't accessible to everyone - seems to be a locked post)

[amberdreams]

A lot of art, not very much interaction LOL
I've unlocked that post now, thanks for the heads up!

[minoanmiss]

Hey, you have accomplished muchly! *cheers*

[syntheid]

Congrats on everything you accomplished, wow! I'm still not able to see the wallaby or gorilla, but everything else looks pretty awesome.

[amberdreams]

Sorry - I've given you access now!

[mific]

Ooh, very productive! I esp. like the quickybang monochrome pic of Sam and the cat. :)

[amberdreams]

Aw thanks - it's one of those every time I see it the errors are so glaring, but I do still like the effects! I must practice more. :D

[olivermoss]

I finished my first watercolor. First watercolor and line art for next project on my journal.

I did that line art on multimedia paper and I may need to restart on thicker paper. Turns out that it's hard to do a background wash when you've never done one before, are using paper that buckles a lot and are doing it around a complicated shape.

I also posted early Mermay fanart. Jeeves and Wooster piece on my dA. I forgot that April exists and thought Mermay was in like a day or so. Instead of waiting a month, I went ahead and posted.

[goss]

Congrats on your first watercolour! *high-fives* \o/

Yeah, using this medium is a lot of trial and error, while you learn what does and doesn't work for your needs. I try to do all the broad stroke washes first, see how the paper holds it as I let it dry completely, and then take my time with the smaller detailed work after that point.

I forgot that April exists and thought Mermay was in like a day or so

Hee! Well, at least you've got that under the belt.

Hmmmm....We're considering doing a Creature Design series of art challenges, and since "aquatic" is one of the categories we're considering, May month might be great timing for this one in particular, since it will coincide with MerMay. Thanks for bringing up that challenge! :D

[olivermoss]

Thanks!

Yeah, trial and error has been a thing. Both technique, what colors to have and what paper to use. Turns out most cold press isn't nearly as rough as what I used for the Jackalope.

[syntheid]

That turned out pretty great for a first watercolor! Also I love the tree octopus, I feel like I have been missing out in life not knowing about this cryptid.

[olivermoss]

Thanks! It came together really well.

The Tree Octopus is really underappreciated. I saw a mural of one in Spokane and have been thinking about him since.

[mific]

Clearly a relative of the ground squid of Stargate Atlantis!

[olivermoss]

Possibly!

[amberdreams]

Oh Mermay! Must remember that one...thanks for the reminder!
Love the jackalope - that's bloody good for a first watercolour attempt - watercolours are HARRRRRD. :D

[olivermoss]

Thanks! Yeah, I think I lucked out on how well that came together.

[syntheid]

I've done... pretty much nothing aside from redline sketches, I think, all my energy's been going elsewhere unfortunately. I hope I can get back into art again soon, though.

[mific]

Redline as in engineering drawing, or editing your art or someone else's?

[syntheid]

As in drawing over someone else for help/critique, yeah. I just replied to mekare's post here with some suggestions, and that's pretty much the art I did this month, heh. Is that a specific thing in mechanical engineering or something?

[mific]

Yes I gather it is, just from googling it. :)

[mific]

It's been a tough month for us here in NZ, but I do art to cope so I managed some this month, despite a lot of escaping into streaming TV and fanfic. Still feel a bit off, though, and I have two fics for challenges I don't feel able to start yet, as I have to be in an OK place to write, unlike when I'm doing art. Anyway, this month I did:

Illustration for 'Outfoxed' by Cesare for our last Fantasy Reversal challenge here (Fantasy AU of SGA characters)

The Arrangement for the Atlantis Film Festival challenge - fusion of SGA John and Rodney with Good Omens.

and a quick ink brush drawing Unscheduled Gate Activation with John and Rodney looking worried. I like that it came out looking a bit like a woodcut.

[amberdreams]

Earthquakes are bad enough, but at least those are inevitable/unstoppable. Humans behaving like that unspeakable man did though? What can you do? Awful. No wonder you're still feeling unsettled. (((hugs)))

[fifty_fifty]

Very late to this (but when am I not late?)

I got a tablet this month, so I've been having a bit of a mess around (mostly unsuccessfully) with that and did this tree and background thingy. Did a few bits of tracing to practice line control and stuff with the stylus. Started on this piece of fanart that I may or may not get around to finishing. Or might redo completely at some point.

Made a start on some lineart based on a sketch I did for a friend's fanfic back before Christmas.

Oh, and I did this piece of traditional art with chalk pastels for my mum for Mother's Day right at the end of the month.

Possible goals for April will be trying to figure out how to colour digitally for the lineart, maybe finishing the Merthur fanart of them in the shadows I linked above. Or alternatively using one of the pieces I did for tracing practice to make an Andy Warhol style pop art piece, possibly, as part of the Merlin's Spring Cleaning fest to encourage us Merlin artists all to finish our Merlin art WIPs.

Other non-art goals will be to try and finish my Merlin Reverse fic and get a move on with Camelot Remix and possibly contemplate if I am crazy enough to do After Camlann Big Bang as a writer again this year (sign ups for writers, artists, betas and hype readers are now open, if there are any Merlin artists who might be interested! *gratuitous plug*)

So all that should keep me very busy indeed.