Hey Uh, Just A Heads Up, I'm Going To Use Some Of Your Art In A Presentation That I'm Doing For My English

Now playing: III-I. Reeling

Wherein Padmé, Ahsoka, Vader, and company begin to deal with the fallout of the past few chapters.

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, a Senator survived. A Jedi did not forsake society. Two siblings were never separated. Nor were two Commanders. And a Rogue found comrades.

The Empire has risen, but the embers of the Republic yet glow in the hearts of the just. The stage is set for rebellion, and both within the Rebel Alliance and outside of it, many fates shall interweave, for the luck of the Disaster Lineage and its associates has ever flowed in a peculiar current. And if that current is stirred, from time to time, by the enterprising Pirate… well, not for nothing has it been said that Fortune rules life.

Aka, Padmé lives. The fractured Chaos Clan begins to reunite. Tarkin suffers a raging case of Hondo-induced identity theft. Vader dials the wrong number and ends up connecting to the commlink of a Rebel agent called Revenant. Add in some youngling hijinks, and all of this is slowly building to a massive headache for one Sheev Palpatine.

A cup of tea, a bowl of soup, and AO3. Truly, the happy single girl's equivalent of a jug of wine, a loaf of bread, and thou. Or, to parody it better—— A bevy of fanfics on AO3, A cup of tea, a bowl of soup——just me!

Productively procrastinating on writing a difficult piece of chapter by practicing with alcohol markers, and decided to draw Padmé because why not?

I used a reference, and eh... guess it kind of looks like her? Not sure why her hair came out looking weirdly 1930s/1940s-ish, or something, though. But I'm pretty happy with the drawing on the whole, especially since it was just supposed to be a practice thing, and pleased that I was able to achieve more texture than in the Vader and twins alcohol marker drawing from last week.

This was done with the Ohuhu Honolulu 104-count marker set. I like the set pretty well so far, although more cool browns would be nice, and a navy blue wouldn't be amiss.

Green background was added digitally as an afterthought, using Krita.

Now playing: III-IV: Masters and Apprentices

In which the Alliance comes to the aid of the besieged Partisans, and masters and apprentices meet again.

Characters keep getting ideas and running with them.

So, uh, Piett and Starkiller... yeah, this was definitely not the plan when I first decided to include those characters in Fortune's Rule. (Heck, they weren't originally supposed to be in the fic at all, but then neither was at least half of the story that's happened thus far, so....)

They were supposed to have pretty separate parts in the story, and they were both going to be much more minor than they're turning out. Until Piett apparently decided Starkiller needs a friend. And he's definitely not wrong, so who am I to say no?

The unfortunate thing here is that now I'm going to have to figure out how the heck Vader is going to deal with the news that his admiral and his apprentice are in cahoots behind his back.

*looks sternly at characters*

Do you see how much extra work you are making for me? Now, behave!

(This seems to have become a recurring theme in the writing of this story. Ahsoka and Padmé weren't originally going to have as close a relationship as they do, but then they decided to take the reins for just one chapter, and look how that turned out.)

Been doing a little sketching to try out some new pens and markers!

I discovered that Pentel makes this cool pen called the Hybrid Technica, which has a ballpoint but uses flat black ink (like that used in Pigma Micron pens) instead of the typical, kinda shiny, oilier-looking ballpoint ink. It's fun, because I enjoy the feel of sketching with a ballpoint pen, but also like the look of the Micron ink!

Also tried out a larger Micron pen for a more graphic look, also fun. I'd only ever used the 005, 01, and 05 before, but decided to see what a 12 would be like, and it's a very different look!

My mom passed off some grey Copic Sketch markers to me, too, so I messed around with using those for shading.

"Luke and Leia have begun to find Tatooine a trifle boring...." This is the Pentel ballpoint, with Copic shading. Trying for a more Ernest Shepard-like style. I'd like to do a collection of several drawings of the twins for an upcoming chapter, all ink sketches like this, on a single piece of paper, depicting their escapades.

Also Pentel ballpoint. Supposed to be Katooni and her ysalamir, but I was working from very vague memory, so it's very inaccurate. As for the lovely little bit of FOILing... I have this habit of reaching for whatever paper is nearest when I need to jot something down. Old sketchbooks from high school? Random bits of algebra here and there. Journals from college? Snippets of biology research notes. It's kind of fun to flip back through years later, almost like a mini time capsule.

Micron 12 with Copic shading.

(Just one question. Why are they all looking off to the left???)

Knight Tano art

Illustration for Fortune's Rule, done in watercolor (mostly Daniel Smith, which I adore for the saturated colors), and then enhanced using the Google Photos editor pop setting. (OG version shown below.)

I like the softer OG version, but the vividness of the enhanced version seems more appropriate for Ahsoka. Less passive, maybe. Something about the OG reminds me weirdly of a Victorian maiden. I think it has to do with the structure of the tunic/dress/thing? (Very vaguely reminiscent of the late 1870s/1880s natural form era dress style?) And maybe the downcast eyes and quiet expression? And I think the higher contrast and brighter colors of the enhanced version help to counteract that effect.

I didn't do a pencil sketch, just started by putting down paint. This piece felt truly middle-schoolerish at first (and, okay, throughout most of the process), but I was pleasantly surprised by how much it [eventually] improved! The strictly-profile view added to the awkward, amateurish feeling, even though I actually wanted to do that view, but I think it worked out fairly well in the end. Her arms turned out a bit too short (or her torso is too long), but I'm super pleased with the shading, especially on the tunic/dress/thing!

Click below to see the progression!

Mo Ghile Mear, by Órla Fallon—I've listened to other versions of "Mo Ghile Mear," but they've all been kind of slow and tranquil, whereas this one is so vibrant and dynamic, it's like jubilation in a bottle, and I can just see a scene playing out in my head, and all the characters, and the mood, and... hgnghgrhfh, just can't wait to write the chapter that goes with this song!

Seriously, words cannot describe how much I'm looking forward to writing and sharing this part of Fortune's Rule Part IV. At least, not at this hour of the night. morning. whatever. Anyway! I'm SO EXCITED!

Whispers From Tomorrow

If you value anything you see around you, any of your brethren, if you love your padawan as I know you do—tell him.

The ghost of Ben Kenobi sees fit to meddle in the past, and Obi-Wan, about to leave for Utapau to face Grievous, suddenly feels a strange certainty that all is not well with his former padawan.  Conversations ensue, secrets come to light, and his relationship with Anakin will never be the same.  But that might just be a very good thing, indeed.