THE OYAN MOVIE

Hai thare.

Pippin kindly called my attention to the fact that the movie we filmed at OYAN was finally up! So here 'tis. Enjoy.



I'm the one in the black cloak, in case that wasn't abundantly clear. I love the scary music they put in. Awesome.

'Kay, that's it. Bye now.

Commander Kip
"Hi! Sorry I'm so naked..."
Normal is overrated!

high adventure

Actually, no. My life is so boring right now. I have this huge backlog of sketches and pictures to post, and it's so frigging hot outside - like, surface-of-the-sun hot, no joke - that it's taking every bit of my energy just to get through my minimum requirements every day. And usually not even that. I  just sort of suck at life. Anyway, by popular demand, the treasure hunters!

"You'll know it when you see it. 'Bout this big and really, really shiny."

 And I nearly didn't post this one on account of Adrian looking nothing like himself, but I did like how Kizungu came out, so you get it anyway.

Now, back to drawring pichers. Bye.

Oh, and DAVID TENNANT. That is all.

Commander Kip

"It's me. I'm the TARDIS." "No, you're not, you're a bitey mad lady."

Normal is overrated!

More Birthrighty sketches

to prove that I am indeed capable of posting about something other than Doctor Who. (Although it was a struggle this time.)

New designs for Andra and Memoria. If they were in actual scale, Memoria would be taller. Like, a full head taller.

 More Memoria, and trying to figure out how all those wings are supposed to work.

 Now, this is old. It's actually the first page of my current sketchbook (which I just filled a few weeks ago; now sketchbookless) and I kinda gave up on it. It's Nath and Andra right after Memory's death. See, there's her half-drawn ghosty face on the ground. I was going to have her lying there bleeding excessively, but perspective is a boob, so no. Please ignore the awkwardly folded limbs and the fact that Andra looks about five years old. Please do notice, however, that I did draw Andra's brace in this picture, There was a period in which she had the brace but nothing else had changed. This picture and the next are products of that period.

 See, there's the brace again, along with the hood! I am so totally keeping the hood. But not the bicorns. Now we have regular horses. This was trying to be a picture of Amren (now Cittadiali) but failed. Although, since I worked on it in Italy, the Sanctum did evolve into the Sanctorium in this picture. Before it was always just a strangely high-tech-looking mirrored dome thing. Yeah.

Now, back to getting ready for graduation. My program is trying to eat my life. 

Okay, so I physically can't go an entire post without freaking out about Doctor Who after all. I did try, but no. Because the second series finally came in at the library and I'm so excited! Yay Tennant! Although Smith really did grow on me - I haven't seen Part 2 of Series 6 yet, so no spoilers please, but A Good Man Goes to War was just like "Aaaah, I knew it! Not the thing about Amy, but the thing about River, I totally knew it!" And I absolutely loved the double Doctors in The Almost People - hysterical. And also, Neil Gaiman, I heart you.

Commander Kip

"Won't it be damaged?" "Naw, she's a tough old thing. Tough old Sexy." "Tough, dependable Sexy."

Normal is overrated!

and the obsession continues

Doctor Who is one of those shows that sounds vaguely ridiculous when other people tell you about it, but then you watch an episode and you're like, "durrrr, that was freaking awesome."

I doodled this from a random picture on the Internet yesterday when I should have been doing other (productive) things. I'm starting to think they choose the next Doctor based on how odd/unusual their facial features are. And their hair. Matt Smith has flopsy hair, a high forehead, and basically no eyebrows. Bingo!

Yes, yes, Kippy, enough about Doctor Who, let's have that OYAN post! Well, too bad. It's my blog and I'll post what I like. (Plus, still haven't got pictures from Snuffles. *lazybum*)

Commander Kip

"If we're gonna die, let's die looking like a Peruvian folk band!"

Normal is overrated!

drawring

Haha, I bet you thought I didn't do that drawing thing anymore. But actually, I do.

I wanted a sketch of Memoria with her new scars. I like it. Unfortunately, she's about to do something horrible in this chapter. Stupid, stupid, Memoria. Don't do it, you bum! Ah, she's not listening to me. What else is new.

(As a point of interest, the phrase "Don't do it, you bum" is kind of a joke in my family because when my mom was watching Star Wars: Attack of the Clones and saw the part where Anakin and Padme get married at the end, she yelled at the screen, "Don't do it, you bums!" Basically, my mom is awesome.)

This was more or less my costume for the last day of the OYAN workshop. I dressed up as Andra in disguise as a masked reveler, and no, that's not confusing at all. Actually, she was disguised for the Festival delle Mascherare, which is a hardcore party I invented where everybody dances in the streets and wears masks and gets extremely drunk. Not these two, though. They're busy hunting wabbits. Or villains. Whichever. That spiky thing in the background is the dome and six spires of the Sanctorium. At least, it's supposed to be.

Oh, have an excerpt. That would probably be easiest.

     He cocked his head, still walking backwards through the throng. “But the Barone doesn’t hate you.”

     “Messina? He’s biased,” I said, and distangled my cloak from Nath’s brown hands. It was too hot for a cloak, but how else was I supposed to hide my brace? “He and my mother were lovers once. Before he wed the Baronessa, obviously.”

     “She doesn’t seem the type to tolerate an affair on her husband’s part.” Nath fell into step beside me. “Blesteme, he was almost your father.”

     “Which would have been preferable. At least Messina hasn’t killed anyone famous.”

     “Well,” said Nath, “you’d have come out different, I suspect. And I like you this way. Even with that hideous leg of yours. And you, ser, will be taking your hand out of my pocket.”

The cutpurse, wearing a comically grotesque pig mask, withdrew his hand. “You are very perceptive, mio signore. My apologies.”

     Nath snorted with derision. “I’m Rumeni, man. Check your mark’s skin before you strike. Off with you.”

     “Nath,” I hissed, watching the cutpurse slink back into the swirling crowd, “we do not endorse thieving.”

     He shrugged, and I caught the flash of his white teeth beneath his mask. “Just honest advice.”

     We resumed our slow progression towards the edge of the square. Dancers spun past us, mouths gaping in gleeful howls, masked faces thrown back with delight. I kept my gaze on my boots, avoiding eye contact whenever possible. “Is there even anything in your pockets?”

     “No. The poor fool would have discovered as much, had I let him root around in there a few moments more.”

     I squashed my laughter. “You’re a terribly nice person. I would have just broken his hand, I think.”
     “You wouldn’t have noticed,” he said with a smug grin. “Do you still have your charm?”

     I felt for the pouch under my loose man’s shirt. “Yes.”

     “Keep checking. The chain would fetch a pretty price.” Taking my hands, he twirled me past a clump of tittering maidens wearing gape-necked gowns and delicate masks of black lace that hid little more than their eye sockets. As I stepped out of the twirl, my cloak tangled around my leg brace, throwing me into a stumble. Nath caught my arm and maneuvered me upright. I felt like a clomping idiot.

That's Chapter Four, peeps. I am now in the thick of Chapter Five, and serious crap is about to go down. Fun fact: Andra and Nath are two of the very few characters that got to keep their names from the first draft. Mirano kept his as well. I think that's it. Everyone and everything else got renamed. Andra also lost her future-vision powers, along with her gypsy charm. Instead, she now has a little cloth pouch around her neck that contains a curl of her mother's hair. And instead of Fable calcifying the Leondreans, he experiments on them in a hidden lab-thing. I decided to go in the direction of less magicky, more sciency, plus the whole Italian influence and all that. Took out the dragons, which hurt me just a little, because Auburnium was an old buddy of mine. Ah well, he exists in my brain!

Which reminds me, I just watched Cold Blood, the ninth episode in the fifth series of Doctor Who, and the ending very nearly killed me. Yep, I've pretty much given up on going in order. Guess I'll do Eleven first, then Ten. In any case (SPOILER SIREN HONK HONK HONK):

I want Rory back.

(END SPOILER.)

There was wretched weeping, I assure you. But there has also been much hysterical laughter. See, this is why I love Doctor Who:

Amy: If they're fish people, it explains why they hate the sun-
Doctor: *covers Amy's mouth* Stop talking, brain thinking, hush.
Rory: It's the school thing I don't understand-
Doctor: *covers Rory's mouth* Stop talking, brain thinking, hush.
Guido: I say we take the fight to them-
Doctor: A-a-ah!
Guido: What?
Doctor: Ah! *nods at Rory*
Rory: ... *covers Guido's mouth*

Commander Kip
"Look at this. Got my spaceship, got my boys... my work here is done." *flounces into TARDIS* "Um, we are NOT 'her boys.'" "Yeah... we are." "Yeah, we are."
Normal is overrated!

I am a dork

so I'm answering my own questions. Because that's how much of a dork I am. Also, too lazy to make real blog posts.

(1. Ten or Eleven? (Or Nine, I suppose?)

TEN, because as I might have mentioned, I love his gawky face. Also, he can get really intense, whereas Eleven makes puppy eyes even when he's furious. (Just watched Victory of the Daleks. Yes, I did promise myself I wouldn't go out of order, but series 5 and 6 came in first at the library, and I just can't keep my grabby hands away...)

(2. What accent do you most frequently lapse into without realizing it?

Indubitably British. It's so hard not to. Although I attempt Scottish once in a while just 'cuz.

(3. Favorite steampunk accessory?

Why did I make this question so HARD? I dunno, prolly my shotgun. Although, not gonna lie, I'm equally fond of all my other guns as well. And, y'know, the monogoggle. Funny story about that later.

(4. Have you ever eaten lotus root?

Oh yes. I was curious if I'm the only one who's heard of it. Asian root vegetable, relatively tasteless and very crunchy, takes on the flavor of whatever sauce you douse it in. The perfect vegetable!

(5. Your character becomes best friends with another person's character. Who's the other person and who are the two characters? Why are they friends?

My young turnspit Luca (formerly Kaden) and Lady Arin's feisty faerie boy Terrin. I feel like Terrin would be a terrifically bad influence on Luca, who would love every minute of it.

(6. Avengers! Girls: Thor or Loki? Guys: Black Widow or that other chick, Fury's second-in-command?

Loki, because he's so very pretty all the time. Even when his face is all cut up. (Although his hair was way better in Thor than it was in Avengers. Just throwing that out there.)

(7. Which kind of villain do you prefer: the chaotic insane kind (like the Joker), the scheming/conniving kind (like Darth Sidious) or some combination of the two?

COMBO! Saint Dane from the Pendragon series is a prime example: he's carefully orchestrated the destruction of ten worlds, and yet he still has his terrifying fits of insanity. Basically, he scares the crap out of me.

(8. Best kind of wound?

Sucking chest wounds! Actually, anything in the midsection area that you could clutch while staggering about theatrically and groaning and gasping a lot. Because I'm mean. Although I truly love/hate hand wounds, being a pianist and all.

(9. If you were a character, who would be your author? (God doesn't count - pick a human being.)

Can't choose between Laini Taylor, Rick Riordan, Eoin Colfer, or Brandon Sanderson. I would love to live in any of Taylor's stories - so lush and gorgeous while still containing a healthy amount of peril. Riordan would be fun, because I'd get snappy dialogue and a low chance of getting randomly killed off (ignoring Bianca for the moment; she was sort of a fluke.) Colfer: just yes. I think this would be my actual answer, because Irish humor = like a sir. Living in a Sanderson novel would give me equally high chances of wielding some sort of awesome magic power or having a sucky life, so probably not worth the risk.

(10. Most spectacular death?

Swan-diving off a cliff all epic-like and hitting the water at juuuuust the wrong angle...

(11. If you could slap one person in the face with a herring, who would it be?

Nathan Fillion. You know it would be hilarious.

Crack on, then!

Commander Kip
"Is it a cry for help?" "What?" "The bow tie!"
Normal is overrated!

Liebster Blog Award

 I just got tagged by Sandy with something called the Liebster Blog Award, which I'm still not really sure what that is, but apparently it involves posting 11 facts about oneself, answering the tagger's 11 questions, and posting 11 of my own questions for other people. (If there are other instructions, I am conveniently ignoring them.) Here we go.

Facts:
(1. My ribcage hurts. Oh, did I mention that one already?
(2. We're cleaning out my room this month so that my brother can live in it when I go to college, and I am continually astounded by the SHEER COLOSSAL VOLUME of THINGS I have accumulated up here over the years. Half of this stuff, I'm like, why do I even have this?
(3. I strongly dislike asparagus. At least, the stemmy part. The top is okay, because it tends to hold more sauce and taste less like asparagus.
(4. I've been listening to this on endless repeat, because it sounds like something unbearably awesome is about to happen:


(5. I did not bring a sword to the OYAN workshop this year. Such a shame. Although I did bring my new dagger!
(6. I can get any amount of work done, provided it's not what I'm supposed to be doing at the moment.
(7. I just inherited my grandpa's old scanner because he couldn't get it to work. Huh. Works fine for me. Like a sir! (That's another version of "Like a boss!" I'm also partial to "Like a gent!"
(8. I HATE WASPS. I don't hate very many things in the world, but I do hate wasps. There was another wasp in my room the other day, but I killed it.
(9. PLATONIC. RELATIONSHIP. I haz it.
(10. My new favorite expression is "Crack on, then!"
(11. My pajamas are like one big nerdy joke; Batman shirt, moose pants. The moose are funny because of the moose shenanigans in the beginning credits of Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Sandy's questions:

1. What was the last book you read?
Verge, by Brentalope-icus-worth. As previously stated, SO GOOD.

2. How many orange clothings do you have and what are they?
 I have like one piece of orange clothing - no, two now. The first is a shirt with Japanese maple leaves on it. The second is a heinous paisley thing I got at Goodwill when we were shopping for vests. Oh, how I adore my heinous paisley.

3. What's a hairstyle and color you'd like to have?
This one:

4. Do you like waffles?
Absolutely. Evil beware.

5. Do you believe in unicorns?
My dear girl, I am the unicorn master. Supreme Commander of the Gory of Unicorns, that's me. And this is our sigil (thank you for the lovely art, Kaylen):

6. Do you like America and why?
No. There are no dragons in it.

7. Teeth?
Wishes?

8. What's your journal look like and if you don't have one, what was the last notebook you used like?
I keep a notebook of heavily textured paper that has these gold threads embedded in it. On each page, I write one word or phrase representing something I think is cool and that I should totally remember to use in a story. Example: skeleton keys, wings, brightly painted wagons, waterfalls, claws, trapdoors...

9. Are you a creeper?
You betcha. 

10. Geometry or algebra?
Seppuku.

11. Myers-Briggs personality type? [MUAHAHAHAHAAAA >:D]
WOT. Am I supposed to know what this is?

My questions:

(1. Ten or Eleven? (Or Nine, I suppose?)
(2. What accent do you most frequently lapse into without realizing it?
(3. Favorite steampunk accessory?
(4. Have you ever eaten lotus root?
(5. Your character becomes best friends with another person's character. Who's the other person and who are the two characters? Why are they friends?
(6. Avengers! Girls: Thor or Loki? Guys: Black Widow or that other chick, Fury's second-in-command?
(7. Which kind of villain do you prefer: the chaotic insane kind (like the Joker), the scheming/conniving kind (like Darth Sidious) or some combination of the two?
(8. Best kind of wound?
(9. If you were a character, who would be your author? (God doesn't count - pick a human being.)
(10. Most spectacular death?
(11. If you could slap one person in the face with a herring, who would it be?

Huh, I like those questions. I kinda want to answer them myself. Oh well. If you choose to respond to these, leave a comment so I can come read your answers. Thanks.

Commander Kip
"Are you the Doctor?" "Doctor who?" "Innit though?"
Normal is overrated!

So, my ribcage hurts.

I just read two excellent books. They were excellent because they did what good books are supposed to do: create emotion in the reader. The first book is called The Girl Who Could Fly, by Victoria Forester.

It's sort of geared towards younger kids, like maybe grade school, but I read it anyway (in one day) and aaah, it was awesome. Like it says in the blurb, it's a mix of Little House on the Prairie and X-Men, but with kids. And boy, did it create a lot of emotion. It was about how being "normal" isn't necessarily better than being abnormal, and how kids shouldn't let anyone squash what's unique about them. It used children with superpowers to illustrate the point. Also, the Black Moment of this book had me sobbing aloud, which doesn't happen often for me. It was wrenchingly sad. But it ended happy, so it's all good. And there were so many cute parts in the betweentime! I love the main character, Piper McCloud. She reminds me of a child version of Kaylee from Firefly - adorable, optimistic, and not afraid to use the word "ain't." I love her so much.

The second book is called Verge, and sorry, no cover. It's not published yet, although it certainly should be. And Brenticus, I'll have you know that I cried fat, bitter tears all over the keyboard as I was reading it. My ribcage hurts. That's how hard I cried. Good work, sir.

Seriously, it was so sad. BUT SO GOOD. I basically can't tell you anything about it (for fear of spoiling the plot) except that it was awesome and you should all buy it when it comes out. I heard a bit that made me cry at the OYAN workshop, and when I came around to that bit the second time, I cried again, even though I knew it was coming. SOOOO GOOOOOOD. And when I wasn't crying, I was laughing because the main character is so cynically sarcastic and I love him so dearly and by the end I just wanted to give him a big tackle-hug. Actually, I loved all the characters, even the grumpy old man. And the villain. Dude, the villain is so cool. I wish I'd thought of him.

Still gathering up pictures from various other OYANers, so it might be awhile on the OYAN post. In the meantime, random tidbits! The most important being, I have all the David Tennant series of Doctor Who on hold at the library, and in the meantime, I've been watching every Youtube video with him in it that I can get ahold of, because he is brilliant in every way. You guys, I love his gawky face. It makes me so very happeh. I mean, watch this.



SINKHOLE! It's funnier if you know a few things about Doctor Who, but even if not, the accents are precious in their own right. I couldn't breathe the first time I watched this because I was too buys howling with laughter. Oh, and I really want a sonic screwdriver now, because a bunch of people had them at the workshop and I love the swishy whirling noise they make. Also, how handy would it be if I could turn my brother into an action figure of Billie Piper every time he annoyed me?

Commander Kip
"That's breaking and entering!" "What did I break? Sonicking and entering."
Normal is overrated!