Typical Day For Cody And Rex

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!

Hope you get to post next chapter of fortune Rules soon after your move!

Me too! This chapter is taking so much longer than I expected! It's a bit of double whammy, because this one wasn't at all planned out in advance. After last chapter, I realised I needed to include a few things as transitions/setup for later events, so I'm having to write this one out of nowhere, while dealing with all the moving stuff. Can't wait to be done with all the chaos, can't wait to hopefully get back to writing and posting on a more regular schedule, especially as we're on the cusp of more interesting things starting to happen.

I've been trying to wrestle out some more of the current chapter this evening, actually, and your comments have been a nice bit of encouragement, so thank you! 💛😊

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.

So, I wasn't going to do a second illustration for the most recent chapter of Fortune's Rule, but it demanded to be done, and consequently I ended up doing it anyway.

Used the same technique as last time with an even base layer and then colored pencil over it, but this time the base layer was watercolor, instead of marker. Wasn't sure I had enough ink left in my grey marker for Vader. The background was also done in watercolor this time, and then I added pencil to enhance. No pen lines in the background this time, because I realised that the background pen lines are one of the things I don't like so much about the Ahsoka drawing; they make it look too busy and choppy, or something, the horizon line in particular.

I originally used a reference pic of Obi-Wan fighting Dooku, substituting Vader for Dooku, but ditched that because the stance didn't look aggressive enough for Vader. The perspective/angles aren't perfect; arms seem a little wonky, still not sure I got Obi-Wan's legs right, and his head looks a little too big?

The pencil worked really nicely for the flames, which just looked extremely blobby when I only used paint. Pencil also gave the smoke a nice opacity that I wasn't sure how to achieve with watercolor.

And my favorite thing about the whole process.... After finishing up and taking a pic, I realised that behind Obi-Wan, there's a shielded fortress, while behind Vader, there's a flaming wreck; kind of some fun parallelism going on there. And the way the building is on elevated ground, while the wreck is at the bottom of an embankment, also makes for a nice little "Mustafar-reference-if-you-squint." All the symbolism works out super nicely. It was also super unintentional. 😂

Fun Star Wars name stuff!

Snips

We all know the derivation of Ahsoka's nickname as the snippy padawan, but the word snip can also refer to "an impertinent or saucy girl," as well as a white or light marking. Ahsoka's nickname fits her in so many ways!

Palpatine

Take out the second P, and you end up with palatine, which can be an adjective or a noun, the definitions of which include "possessing royal privileges" and "a feudal lord having sovereign power within his domains." Yep, sounds about right.

Where the heck the name Sheev comes from, I have no idea, except that it's vaguely similar to shiv, and the pointy end of a shiv is absolutely what he deserves. (Ooh, or maybe it's because he shivs the Republic in the back?)

(Definitions from Merriam-Webster online.)

Now playing: III-IX. Questions, pt 2

In which Vader persists in being a Sith, Ahsoka and Padmé make some surprising discoveries, and Piett and Veers have a dubious celebration.

Where to begin?

Fortune's Rule. It's an appropriate title in more ways than one.

Two years ago, I would have laughed myself silly at the very notion that I might ever write a Star Wars fanfic.  Or maybe just looked askance at whoever had made such an appalling suggestion.  Then I saw Clone Wars.  And now, almost seventy thousand words later, I've finally achieved a secret wish of over ten years' duration—to write a novel's worth of continuous story.  (A novel's worth, not a novel, because ye gods, this thing is far from complete!)

It's really weird.

Anyway, before I start posting about writing and anything else that strikes my fancy, I just wanted to say thank you ever so much!! to all the AO3 users who have read/kudo'd/commented on/subscribed to/bookmarked this pet project of mine, as well as to my brother and my mom/moral support/editor/typo sieve.  Fortune's Rule is by far the longest, most detailed, most in-depth story I have ever written, and there's no way in the world that it would have come this far without all of you! So, thank you!!!

Headcanon that padawans and initiates try to sneak into the Senate building when the Senate isn't in session, so they can play bumper cars with the hover pods. The 501st hears about the tradition from Ahsoka, and of course they also get in on it!

(Extra points if this somehow ends up with Palpatine accidentally assassinated by a speeding hover pod.)

Well, the writing muse is currently sulking in a corner and tearing out her hair, but the art muse has been feeling extremely chatty!

This is the first part of an intended 4-or-so panel series/comic strip, featuring Ahsoka and Starkiller as Rebels—and yes, they are 100% sending this pic to Vader as a postcard. Hi Master, wish you were here!

Did this one by sketching out one figure from a reference photo, then putting a pic of the sketch into Krita. Copied the outline, then used a colorize mask (ooh, fancy! literally had no idea this was even a thing a week ago, smh), added shading, extra outlining, and background.

Many thanks to the random redditor who mentioned making just one block with the rectangular select tool in Krita and then copying it multiple times to make a stone/brick wall. It makes life so much easier.

The Fulcrum + jaig eyes design in the graffiti is not entirely mine. Ages ago I saw a similar design while scrolling Pinterest, and later decided I wanted to make my own version as part of a 501 design.

If anyone has read this far and knows of any good Ahsoka & Starkiller fics, please share! I didn't find much of anything on AO3, but would love to see people's takes on how they might get along.