Eight Days of Happiness: Fanart
As I remind myself endlessly when really cool memes are going around: I don't do memes. Except it occurred to me, when the eight days of happiness meme was going around, that I could in fact do that one. Because fandom brings me happiness! I can talk about one aspect of fandom that makes me happy, and provide a rec or two as an example, and I would be doing a meme. I formulated this plan as soon as I saw the meme and waited patiently for someone to tag me.
And then I remembered that a) most of my friends know I don't do memes, so they weren't going to tag me and b) even if they did, there was a good chance I wouldn't see it, because what with replying to comments and parenting the increasingly mobile and active earthling, I've been sort of sporadic on the friends list reading lately. So I decided to tag myself. Novel concept, yes, but I was not about to let a meme I could do pass me by.
So here I go. Eight days of fannish things that bring me happiness, part one: fanart.
The One with the Doughnut. This Is Where We'll End It, by zoetrope. Due South, Benton Fraser/Ray Kowalski.
This is the work that got me looking at fanart. Because, okay. I had been traumatized by some fanart in the past. (Before I was in fandom, I was on a message board that spent some time making fun of fandom, and while I didn't get into that, it did mean horrific fanart was passed around very gleefully on that board. I had seen the kind of photomanips that make your eyeballs peel. Plus, three words: pregnant elf Blair.) I thought fanart was all the sort of thing that would keep you up at nights thinking of Legolas's horrible twisted neck pasted onto what was, quite clearly, the body of a weightlifter who had a lifetime membership in a tanning salon. (Once, I swear I saw Aragorn's head on Arnold Schwarzenegger's body. The very thought still wakes me up in a cold sweat some nights.)
And, also, I am not a graphics person. I am a word person. And so I just assumed that even if there was good fanart out there - well, there is also good beer out there. Doesn't mean I want to drink it. (I am sorry,
norah. I am hoping you will love me anyway.)
But then - this. Which is a comic book, which I totally get, except it's about Fraser and Ray instead of homoerotic guys in tights manifesting their daddy issues. (Which is not to say that this is not homoerotic. No. Nor is it intended to suggest I have issues with guys in tights. Far from. But who knew comic books could also feature Mounties and cops with experimental hair? Not me! ...And now, of course, I am wondering where all the superhero AUs are in dS. People, please point me to the large number of dS superhero AUs I have tragically missed.)
So here we have a story. And some wonderful art. And the reason I started clicking on links to fanart. All this time later, This Is Where We'll End It can still make me happy - not just because of the story, but because this is where some love began, you know?
Plus, it's pretty. I think that's a definite bonus when it comes to fanart.
(And also, of course, there is Diefenbaker's OTP. That is one of my favorite comic book panels of all TIME. There could be an actual, canon comic book panel with Batman blowing Superman in midair, and I'd be all, "...Well, that's pretty good. But the Dief panel is better!")
The One with the Best Fictional Dog in the Universe. Lirael and the Disreputable Dog, by pentapus. Garth Nix's Old Kingdom series.
And just as we started with the piece of art I fell in love with first, here's the piece of art I fell in love with most recently.
Unsurprisingly, both these works involve dogs. (I'm so much more likely to understand art if dogs are present. I really would have gotten more from Art Appreciation, also known as Art for Philistines and Science Majors, both of which I happened to be, if Van Gogh and Rubens and Picasso had included more dogs in their paintings. (And also if we hadn't had the really weird art professor teach two weeks, including one full class of a guy being crucified on a Volkswagen - seriously, folks, if you ever have to bring the art love to people who think real and brilliant art is the periodic table, don't bring up people nailing themselves to cars. Especially not at 9:30 in the morning, oh my god. I was eating breakfast and suddenly a crazy dude was bleeding on his sunroof.)
See, I have such love for the Disreputable Dog - she is quite honestly one of my favorite characters in all of literature. And this is HER. (Plus Lirael, who I also quite like. It's not her fault that she's overshadowed by the Most Awesome Creature of All Time.) I would kill - maybe only a plant, but still, death would be involved - for an icon of the Dog. Because she is the definition of love.
And all of you people who have no idea who I'm talking about - SHAME ON YOU for not having already read Garth Nix's Old Kingdom series. Strong female characters! Strong female dog characters! The Library of the Clayr, which is up there in the top five of my favorite fictional libraries! And zombies, for you sickos who like that kind of thing. Really. Read these books.
And then come back and look at this picture for a while. Your heart will swell with happiness.
And then I remembered that a) most of my friends know I don't do memes, so they weren't going to tag me and b) even if they did, there was a good chance I wouldn't see it, because what with replying to comments and parenting the increasingly mobile and active earthling, I've been sort of sporadic on the friends list reading lately. So I decided to tag myself. Novel concept, yes, but I was not about to let a meme I could do pass me by.
So here I go. Eight days of fannish things that bring me happiness, part one: fanart.
The One with the Doughnut. This Is Where We'll End It, by zoetrope. Due South, Benton Fraser/Ray Kowalski.
This is the work that got me looking at fanart. Because, okay. I had been traumatized by some fanart in the past. (Before I was in fandom, I was on a message board that spent some time making fun of fandom, and while I didn't get into that, it did mean horrific fanart was passed around very gleefully on that board. I had seen the kind of photomanips that make your eyeballs peel. Plus, three words: pregnant elf Blair.) I thought fanart was all the sort of thing that would keep you up at nights thinking of Legolas's horrible twisted neck pasted onto what was, quite clearly, the body of a weightlifter who had a lifetime membership in a tanning salon. (Once, I swear I saw Aragorn's head on Arnold Schwarzenegger's body. The very thought still wakes me up in a cold sweat some nights.)
And, also, I am not a graphics person. I am a word person. And so I just assumed that even if there was good fanart out there - well, there is also good beer out there. Doesn't mean I want to drink it. (I am sorry,
norah. I am hoping you will love me anyway.)
But then - this. Which is a comic book, which I totally get, except it's about Fraser and Ray instead of homoerotic guys in tights manifesting their daddy issues. (Which is not to say that this is not homoerotic. No. Nor is it intended to suggest I have issues with guys in tights. Far from. But who knew comic books could also feature Mounties and cops with experimental hair? Not me! ...And now, of course, I am wondering where all the superhero AUs are in dS. People, please point me to the large number of dS superhero AUs I have tragically missed.)
So here we have a story. And some wonderful art. And the reason I started clicking on links to fanart. All this time later, This Is Where We'll End It can still make me happy - not just because of the story, but because this is where some love began, you know?
Plus, it's pretty. I think that's a definite bonus when it comes to fanart.
(And also, of course, there is Diefenbaker's OTP. That is one of my favorite comic book panels of all TIME. There could be an actual, canon comic book panel with Batman blowing Superman in midair, and I'd be all, "...Well, that's pretty good. But the Dief panel is better!")
The One with the Best Fictional Dog in the Universe. Lirael and the Disreputable Dog, by pentapus. Garth Nix's Old Kingdom series.
And just as we started with the piece of art I fell in love with first, here's the piece of art I fell in love with most recently.
Unsurprisingly, both these works involve dogs. (I'm so much more likely to understand art if dogs are present. I really would have gotten more from Art Appreciation, also known as Art for Philistines and Science Majors, both of which I happened to be, if Van Gogh and Rubens and Picasso had included more dogs in their paintings. (And also if we hadn't had the really weird art professor teach two weeks, including one full class of a guy being crucified on a Volkswagen - seriously, folks, if you ever have to bring the art love to people who think real and brilliant art is the periodic table, don't bring up people nailing themselves to cars. Especially not at 9:30 in the morning, oh my god. I was eating breakfast and suddenly a crazy dude was bleeding on his sunroof.)
See, I have such love for the Disreputable Dog - she is quite honestly one of my favorite characters in all of literature. And this is HER. (Plus Lirael, who I also quite like. It's not her fault that she's overshadowed by the Most Awesome Creature of All Time.) I would kill - maybe only a plant, but still, death would be involved - for an icon of the Dog. Because she is the definition of love.
And all of you people who have no idea who I'm talking about - SHAME ON YOU for not having already read Garth Nix's Old Kingdom series. Strong female characters! Strong female dog characters! The Library of the Clayr, which is up there in the top five of my favorite fictional libraries! And zombies, for you sickos who like that kind of thing. Really. Read these books.
And then come back and look at this picture for a while. Your heart will swell with happiness.