this may actually be my favorite entry in paintedspires* ...
Auguries of Innocence by mortari
An illustration of William Blake's poem in graphic book format, consisting of seven manipped graphics, each differently themed and with a unique color scheme. Each graphic is gorgeous in itself, and images and words interplay beautifully.

(*well, along with Enchanted Atlantis, which is now adorning the wall of my study.)

Shoulder muscle's still busy slowly uncoiling (so annoying), and I still haven't gotten around to doing the fic recs. In the meantime a quicky recs post: some more of my favorite paintedspires pieces.

SGA-Noir by leyna55
Prompt: The Team as a noir detective story: Teyla in Burberry and fedora, John as homme fatale, Rodney as Detective Teyla's sidekick, Ronon as the innocent suspect. Teyla, John, Rodney, Ronon. Add others as needed: (Added Defence Attorney!Elizabeth)
Gorgeously painted and hilarious

It's a Strange World by steammmpunk
Prompt: Steampunk AU
which has a very cool ornamental, wood-cut like look.

Atlantis Quarterly by slodwick
Prompt: On the cover of a magazine
So funny. So pretty. So hot. And very convincingly done.

Regency AU by leyna55
Prompt: Regency AU, a rendezvous on a balcony
Beautiful painting that captures the feel of that era. I really dig leyna55's style.

Last not least... (♥)...
Puddlejump(egg)er by retrofit88
Prompt: the schematics of a 'Jumper (not quite prompt-compliant, but hopefully pleasing nonetheless?)
I think I 'awwww'ed out loud when I clicked this link. Very original take on the prompt. (Weirdly it looks almost like an improvement on the original design...)

Uh, yeah. I'm way behind on commenting and all things internet. ( lj-cut, under which I talk about work, lightboxes and quasi-gordian knots )

My second artwork for paintedspires... like I could resist that prompt. :O)
Title: Muppet: Atlantis
Rating: G
Prompt: Muppet Atlantis! (thanks to strivaria)
Medium: drawing & manipped background
Character(s): team, Atlantis cast, Wraith guest star

image behind the cut...
( 'Oh, look... we have studied devices like this for years and at some point ultimately you just have to turn it on.' )
Dr. Lee, "Avalon II"

Muppet!icons (snaggable; credit in keywords)
( more )

Enchanted Atlantis by le_mot_mo for paintedspires
A John/Rodney movie poster... Disney-style. Shiny and squee-worthy. Really, really impressive.

Here's my first artwork for paintedspires (Four weeks! I've been sitting on this for four weeks. That must've earned me at least a dozen Zen points.)
Prompt: the Wraith, and "Ever dance with the devil in the pale moonlight?" and/or "You got to dance with the one what brung you." (with thanks to mecurtin)
Medium: ink & watercolors
Notes: gen; PG; no particular S4 spoilers apart from one character spoiler
Preview:
( Ever dance with the devil in the pale moonlight? )

wallpaper (1024x768) (Let me know if you'd like a wallpaper in a different format and I'll add it.)

fic recs (more re-posts from stargategenrec):
Gravity by rheanna27
Don Juan McKay and Other Universal Improbabilities by liketheriverrun
( details behind the cut )

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linkage: here's a great interview with Amanda Tapping & Jewel Staite that I hadn't seen before.

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okay, I'm switching to work!icon because I've been a lazy and unproductive slacker ever since I sent in my sketches, which was, ugh, Thursday. I'm confident that work!icon will put me in the right frame of mind. It's all psychological.

fic recs (x-posted from stargategenrec):
Hero for a New Age by smittywing
gen; PG; characters: Ronon Dex, Rodney McKay, Atlantis cast; 11,600 words

Terrific friendship fic with spot-on voices. Ronon and Rodney bonding over Superhero comics: While Ronon gets caught up on Batman & Co, we in turn get to see glimpses of Satedan culture and tales. I usually don't have that much interest in superhero lore but it's the absolutely perfect angle here!

Figurative Hell And Literal High Water by tipper_green
Characters: Keller, Rodney, Teyla, Sheppard, Ronon
Spoilers: Missing (this takes place after Missing but before This Mortal Coil).
gen (with a teensy hint of Rodney/Jennifer UST); PG; 36,000 words; written for sga_genficathon
Summary: Rodney's desperate to save his team, and Keller's just trying to keep up, on a planet where hurricanes can last for days.

why rec'd: A descriptive and action-filled adventure story with a fantastic Keller POV that does the character justice. She gets a chance to shine in this one, with nature throwing obstacle after obstacle at them, and Sheppard's team lying injured (really well-written h/c, too). It's much fun to see Rodney and Jennifer play off each other.

This fic put me in a happy mood and left me with a yen for more Keller-centric fic.

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btw and speaking of Keller, is there an LJ feed for Jewel Staite's blog?

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( some work-related mumblings )Anyway, a day off will maybe translate into one more page of comic. Maybe. Yes. Provided I can find my sketch pad in the stacks of papers. I guess I should start the day by bringing a little order into this chaos.

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random linkage for the day: Google in Klingon

Huh. Has this journal been linked from some high-traffic place? I have a handful of counters on some of the older art posts, and there's been quite a spike during the past day. It pleases me muchly to see our Angel/Fray comic get some attention. :)

fanart: Okay... here're two more inked panels from Teh Comic, don't click if you want to read the whole thing unspoiled. Which I'd actually recommend, but I really got to post something, or I'll pop. I have these two completed pieces of fanart that I can't post until paintedspires goes live. (Which is in three weeks' time, stay tuned. The prompt list alone reads terrific, I can't wait to see what everybody else will come up with.) ( anyhoo, so in the meantime... )

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jasonlatour is posting comic art in his LJ. Very intriguing style, particularly the use of darks. Jason regularly posts scans of sketches and the like and I highly recommend his journal to anyone interested in art, particularly comics art.

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non-fannish vid rec:
found via newscaper: Richard Hammond presents Bloody Omaha: How we 3 graphic designers created D-Day on a shoe string budget for the TIMEWATCH program "Bloody Omaha"...

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[eta: oh, why not, everybody's doing it...]: ( Empire Top 50 Meme )

What, my fave show isn't even listed? I'm offended, offended I tell you.

Many thanks to everyone who commented on my last post - it really means a lot to me. I wasn't up to talking about the little one yet... not without bursting into tears, anyway. But posting about these things helps, a little. So does drawing; when I'm in the zone, I forget everything else.

I was happy to see that my second prompt at paintedspires is safely mine as well. I had that post tracked to see if someone was gonna snatch it away from me at the last second, but I was lucky. I started sketching right away, and the inking is almost done... that thing is almost drawing itself, probably because I've been sitting on the idea for a week. Very satisfying! And since it's mostly inks, the coloring should be done in no time. Then I can get back to prompt #1, which is a little trickier, but also fun. I've also done the panel breakdown for the final two scenes of the comic, I hope I'll find the time to draw them during the next two weeks, if I'm really quick. (Okay, that's probably overly optimistic...)

link: synecdochic has an interesting, purely hypothetical poll here: hypothetically, let's say there is a new journaling service out there

anna_luna made a beautiful piece about Rodney and music: Rodney's Life
medium: paper cut

I really can't imagine there being a more creative fandom out there.

...must go have tea now.

Prompt claiming for Painted Spires starts in a few hours, and I keep pushing around the prompts on my short list. Somanychoiceswah!

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LJ has removed the mysterious filter on the popular interest list. No word yet as to what exactly happened, but apparently it was a mistake. I totally understand; who of us hasn't accidentally dropped little lines of code here and there. Can happen to anybody.

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fic recs:
I have finally found a McKay/Keller story!
A Time to Heal by wildcat88
McKay/Keller; spoilers: The Last Man; PG; 3,200 words
Summary: Circumstances and a three week journey put everything in a different light.
This is a missing scene fic from TLM that fits seamlessly into the episode. Just what I was looking for after watching that ep.

The Ninja Logs {File #001} by of_evangeline
Crack. Gen; G; 907 words
Summary: John's POV. The voices in my head tell me not to ask how, but to just believe.

Ahem. I swear I'm not gonna make a habit of drawing our heroes half-clad (or not clad at all) but this kinda goes with the last one I posted... call it a companion piece, if you will. Besides, after the stuff that Joe M. and David H. posted in their blogs, I just couldn't resist. I blame those two. ( Ahem, yes. Sketch under the cut; minor set spoiler for season 5 )

Oh, also, more LJ wank... apparently, on top of abolishing the basic account option (an ill-advised business decision, if you ask me), LJ started hiding popular interests they deem icky, such as bisexuality, yaoi, depression, fanfiction, and others. U-huh. (link at metafandom)

Inks of historical book = finished. Over two weeks, non-stop. Bleh. But it's done, and the inks are so detailed that I'm optimistic the coloring can be done in less than three weeks... Now that most of the research is taken care of, the coloring should be fun.

In any case, I'm taking a break now. Here, have some fanart (just a pencil sketch)... crysothemis asked for barefoot John/Joe or Rodney/David, and I came up with ( this )
One barefoot, shirtless Shep for your enjoyment. And mine. :o)

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I'll celebrate my time off with Kolyaaa!'s Doom! (if you like entertaining, action-heavy gen, check out that story!)

vid rec:
Stargate Atlantis: The video game by starrylizard
Gen; character: McKay; no S4 spoilers
Summary: Someone is trying to play the SGA video game.

comic rec:
An Elepant Story (spelling intentional) by tardis80
McShep; Rating, um, PG-ish?, no S4 spoilers
Summary: But Rodney had forgotten that this was the Pegasus galaxy and everyone was out to get him...

Here's a very cool link, non-fandom related for once:
Art with only one sheet of paper!
Entries for an art contest at the Hirshorn Modern Art Gallery in DC

Comic Con re-verified my professional status. Yay Yay Yay! (Been a teensy bit concerned since I'm never sure whether my field qualifies as 'comics related industry'. Good thing I got some comics work under my belt too, lousily paid as it was.

I can add a guest to my registration - free pass for the duration of the con. No obligation to stick together, we'd just have to meet up once so I can give you the badge. Anyone interested, let me know.

paintedspires is an SGA fanart challenge in which a group of SGA artists respond to prompts submitted by the rest of fandom. There are over 70 artists signed up, and from March 10-16, they're asking for prompts from you! Any character, any pairing, any genre. Click the link! Help them out! Get pretty art in the bargain!

Go forth and submit prompts! The more, the merrier. :o)
[eta: Oh, I'm already in love with one of the prompts...]

vid rec:
Cupid vs. McShep by pyrateanny
Summary: Rodney and John each call on Cupid for help, but this particular Archer of Love seems a bit inept.

Cracks me up every time I watch it. Very cute.
And Hewlett in the role of Cupid... words fail, really. :D

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Found via wraithfodder: About.com has a nice long interview with David Hewlett

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While looking for a piece of art I wanted to post, I came across the comic pages I did for that Outer Limits tie-in many (many many) years ago. Not exactly my most inspired work, but... ( is the detective in this scene the same guy who plays General Hammond on SG-1? )
I couldn't find the artwork I set out to find in the first place. But I threw out at least three large bins filled with paper and my shelves are in a less chaotic state as a result, so it wasn't for nothing.

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Back to work. Four double-spread pages, two single pages, and two vignettes left to ink (I have a constant countdown running in the back of my mind). I have reached one of those points where there seems to be no progress, and the stuff left to-do stretches before one. It would probably be wise to start coloring the half dozen pages that are already inked, to mix things up a little. I'm just usually obsessed with finishing one stage before proceeding to the next. But coloring definitely sounds way more fun right now.

Quicky comic preview: just a few upcoming panels... they're totally disconnected and unlettered, but still, *don't click if you prefer to read the whole comic unspoiled*. (Though chances are that by the time I post the finished product, you'll have forgotten the spoilers...) I'm thinking of posting the whole comic in one when it's finished; screw working chronologically - scenes 2 and 4 are pretty much ready for lettering, but scene 3 needs something. Until I figure out what that is, I'm gonna first draw the final two scenes, which are pretty straightforward, and let my subconscious busy itself with scene 3.
( preview )

Question for the Photoshop-savvy out there: is there an elegant, time-saving way to get those little hooks (pointers, whatever they're called) for the speech balloons? I just can't draw freehand on my graphics tablet, and the straight, point-to-point lines are too inflexible for this purpose.

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A master's student at Georgetown University looks for fans across the board to participate in a fanfiction survey for her thesis.

My name is Katherine Morrissey and this survey is part of my master's thesis at Georgetown University. You are invited to participate in the following survey on current popular works of fan fiction. In this survey you will be asked to identify a few of the stories and authors you have recently read and enjoyed. The survey will also ask you for some general demographic information.

Incidentally, she should end up with a really impressive cross-fandom recs list.