artses

because mi padre fantastico has gotten the bloody great lump of a scanner working!

Jace and Clary (and rat!Simon because I missed him in the movie) storming the Dumort.

Had to draw Katniss and Peeta spooning because I'm getting excited for the Catching Fire movie. (And because I miss my boy.)

Drew this after realizing that I enjoyed the end of The Great Game a little overmuch. I just adored John in that huge fluffy coat and thought, what if Sherlock suddenly developed a fetish for fauxfur?

Aaaand some tasty roleplay goodness. It's Dagnyr Thoricson, my yummeh Icelander from the letter game I'm doing with Anna. (Really enjoyed your last addition, by the way, dear.)

Andra and Nath being gooey. Because I still miss my boy.

And now some doodles from my ten-minute breaks at work. Ashes, called Antlers by the cast of MSG:

Faye Whitaker, the sassy indie barista from the fantastic webcomic Questionable Content, which I think I've linked to before (http://www.questionablecontent.net/):

And Neeva from the Star Trek roleplay. The other day I thought of giving her a distendable jaw so she could literally eat humans for breakfast, but I prolly oughta run it by Matt first.

Speaking of Star Trek, my dad and I have been having some great bonding time over the original series. Watched The Man Trap the other day. Hooboy, Kirk-pain is one of the most hilarious-things-which-were-not-intended-to-be-hilarious I've ever seen.

One more week of scorching Kansas weather (temps shot up from 60 to 100 all of a sudden) and then back to Minnesota for SCHOOLTIEMS! I can't wait. Seriously, I'm so excited.

Commander Kip
"Oh, and this is my friend River, nice hair, clever, has her own gun, and unlike me, she really doesn't mind shooting people, I shouldn't like that, kinda do a bit..."
Normal is overrated!

Family outing. Killed some demons.

Got the rest of my family to cosplay with me! 

Few notes: There ought to be a lot more buckles, straps, and glowing knives completing these ensembles, but we didn't want to get evicted from the theater, so no. Brennie borrowed my jeans. His legs look super spindly. Also, funny story about that corset; I found it on the lingerie rack at Tuesday Morning, where I work. It was 80% off but had no price tag, and it was a size 4XL. My boss sold it to me for 13 cents, and I sewed the back panel shut to make it fit. Winning.

So, the movie! (Spoilers. Beware.)

What I enjoyed:

(a. The environments. So pretty, and well thought-out. The Institute was gorgeous, internally and externally. (b. Portal references. And clever plot things hingeing on the Portal mechanics. (d. Simon. He was awesome. The scene where he confesses his love for Clary? Ohmygod. His lip goes all wobbly and you can tell he's holding back tears and aaugh I just wanna give the guy a hug. Also Jocelyn. She was perfect. (e. Jace's vulnerable moments. Hnngh. (f. Magnus Bane with no pants. (g. The sword pentacle Valentine used to summon the demons. What a cool aesthetic. (h. Unconscious Alec. Sexy. As. Hell. Although that might be my guys-in-pain and/or unconscious-guys fetish speaking. (i. The greenhouse scene. The kissing was hot. Sprinkler system coming on was a tad cheesy, especially since it was like three minutes AFTER midnight, but overall. And the music they picked for that scene was good too. (j. Finally, Clary. I think she nailed the part. Just the right amounts of fear and resolve. And cuteness. Good for her.

What peeved me:

(a. The entire things flowed well, but it went by too quickly. They just went from one crisis to the next with rarely any beats in between, and part of the beauty of the book is getting to know the characters in their moments of downtime, which I feel like they shortchanged in the movie. The few scenes we did get where it was just the characters interacting were super great. (b. They had to chop a lot out, and they did come up with creative ways to smooth over the holes, but I felt like a few of the things they omitted got omitted because the special effect budget wouldn't cover it. I wanted flying vampire motorcycles, dang it. And I wanted Jace to get his arm broken by the Forsaken, because Jace in pain is sexy. Hurr hurr. (c. Isabelle. She's pretty and all, and badass, but she's just too small and she didn't have the flirty allure of the book-Isabelle. She was very no-nonsense. Did enjoy the flamethrower, though. (d. Magnus coulda been more flamboyant. He was also too straightforward. In fact, most of my issues with the personalities of the characters was that they took themselves too seriously. Jace too. I needed more sardonic grinning from him, and he just sorta stood there and scowled a lot. (e. Thought what they did with the Ace of Cups card started getting a bit repetitive after a bit. It's in the card. Oh, she took it out. Whoops, and she shoved it back in again. Valentine made her take it out. Now it's in again. Just... stop. Once was enough. (Also missed the quote about the Mortal Toilet Bowl.) (f. Valentine just needed to be older. I'm sticking to that. He was really cool and stuff, but he looked barely older than the teenagers. It bugged me.

I'd give it a thumbs-up overall. For a book-to-movie, they did alright. Not quite as good as Hunger Games, but way better than Percy Jackson. (And we're not going to talk about Eragon. That was a travesty.)

Music from the greenhouse scene (nailed it):



Few more days of work, then packing, then back to college, woohoo! All my friends are leaving this week, so I'll be here all by my own self.

Commander Kip
"You can hang your head out the window if you want." *skeptical face* "I'm a werewolf, not a golden retriever."
Normal is overrated!

church scribbles

Quite sick of scanning from my parents' scanner. Still trying to set up the clunky printer/scanner I'm taking to school. Something wrong with the driver right now. Apparently. Or something.

So have a few church bulletin scribbly things. I continue to fail at nailing Adrian, the elusive bugger. Bottom right's not bad. The chick is Abigail, the trigger-happy American woman on his team (every treasure-hunting team needs a trigger-happy American.) I think she gets a sassy short haircut.

Younger Severine! So cute.

Older Severine. Has realized that living alone in the House is going to suck if she has to do it for the rest of her life. Has started selling off the treasures that fill the House in preparation of moving out, but feels guilty about it, since she promised Hawksmith she'd take care of the place and its contents. Only human contact is with the treasure hunter Jack Adrian by phone.

And on another note, Matt and I accidentally started a text-based Star Trek roleplay for funsies, even though neither of us know very much about Star Trek. This is my character, Starfleet Commander Neeva. She is some sort of lizardthing with a prehensile tail, and she eats humans for breakfast.

I have more drawings in my sketchbook, but I'm trying to hold off on scanning them until my own scanner is working.

Later, doods.

Commander Kip
"You called me stupid." "I always call you stupid." *sloppy makeout*
Normal is overrated!

CoB: less than a week

Until City of Bones comes out! I am so totally dragging my mom and my brother to see it with me. I'm pretty sure it's gonna be awesome. I think a quick little I'm-so-excited post is in order.

I'll just go through the main characters here. Clary seems like she'll strike a good balance between terrified fifteen-year-old and instinctual badass. I think she'll do just fine.

And look, she and Jace have actual chemistry! (Unlike movie Katniss'n'Peeta.)

And speaking of Jace: at first, I didn't know how to feel about Jamie Campbell Bower. (Then again, it was gonna be nearly impossible to find a REAL HUMAN BEING that fit the image of Jace I had in my head.) But... some of these promo pics have me pretty convinced. This is Jamie:

This is Jamie-as-Jace:

Uhuh, okay, I can see it. He's growing on me.

The team:

Yesss, I am liking it. Isabelle: cute and badass, but too small. (Supposed to be "taller than most boys.")

Alec: nailed it.

Simon: sufficiently derpy and confused while still being unwittingly attractive.

Luke: pretty good, but I sorta wish he looked more like a middle-aged dad and less like Wolverine. Oh well.

The young Circle (whooee, that is a sexy picture, lookit all those BLADES):

And that's Valentine and Jocelyn in the middle. Jocelyn: yep okay.

Valentine: kay, sufficiently creeptastic, but why is he not white-blond? and why does he look like a twentysomething? Whatever, the braids are hot.

Finally, Magnus: oh yes. Dat eyeliner. And his little moustache is totally adorable. Overall, he could use more glitter and show more midriff, but I think he'll do.

I was laughing the other day because my mom finished the original Mortal Instruments trilogy and was like "I love Magnus. He's my favorite. He tries to be such a boss and act like he's too cool for everybody but really he's just a big sweetie under all that glitter." True fax, Mom. True. Fax.

So that ended up being not so quick. Oops. There will probably be another post about this after I've actually seen the movie, but I just couldn't wait to yell about it a little. Woohoo!

Oh, and in other geeky news, I decided to watch the original Star Trek since my dad has all the episodes on dvd anyway (since I feel bad delving into Stargate without any real intention of finishing it.) Second episode was a little hard to stay awake for; it was just everybody staring in horror at the spinning glowing cube onscreen while the music went "DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DA DA DA DA DA DA DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN!!!!" really fast. Lol old scifi.

Commander Kip
"If I jumped every time a light went on around here, I'd be talkin' to myself."
Normal is overrated!

the Arin caper

I is returned! From the perilous land of bloodthirsty insects and no internet or cell phone service, otherwise known as Lady Arin's abode! All those unfortunate things I mentioned don't matter much cuz Lady Arin also lives there, which is great.

She put makeups on mah face. I think I look like I have a fever, but my brother thinks I look like Taylor Swift. Eh, close enough.

So, a few things about that shoot. (a. Dress. Got it for like six bucks at Savers and didn't realize it was dry-clean only until I brought it home. Oops. Well, dry-cleaning is, what, twelve dollars? Still a cheap dress, and quite pretty, if I may be so objective. Not that I fill it very well in the bust area, but then, when do I ever? (b. Necklace. Found that pendant on the ground outside my dorm this spring. It was half-buried in the mud and had clearly been out there all winter. I appropriated it. (3. Henna. We did it. And it was nice henna this time, not the cheap mix-it-yourself kits we usually use. Thanks for sharing, Arin! (d. The scenery in these gives the whole thing a weird post-apocalyptic vibe, I think. Like the humans killed themselves off and the plants took over the world and then some Victorian chick popped out of a time capsule. I dunno. That's the vibe I'm getting.

Few more, just for fun.

Slutty elf pictures! Not really. By my usual clothing standards, maybe. Not sure why I didn't bring the elf ears this time. Every other time I've been to Lady Arin's, I've brought them. *swats self* Anyway, got the tunic at Savers also. Savers is the best. 'Specially when you're a poor college kid who likes weird clothes. (Pro tip: don't just look at the clothes that are your size. The tunic I'm wearing is a double-XL. Belts, ladies and gents. Belts.)

I want to post some of Arin, but I should get her permission first. Hence, you might get another post soon with Her Ladyship's lovely face in it. Fingers crossed.

In addition to our usual cam-whoring it up, we went on an eight-mile bike ride in which I remembered how to RIDE but not how to DISMOUNT, which led to a rather embarrasing faceplant into a mint patch. At least I smelled nice after. We ate tasty vegan foods, and Arin's mom made this delectable vegan cheese spread that was basically indistinguishable from the genuine article. We talked for lots of hours. Arin helped me work out a sticky plot point in Birthright. I drew henna on her mom's boob. (Not really. It was more like just below the breastbone.) We went to Dillons to mooch the internet. I spooned Arin by accident in the middle of the night. I also found two huge ticks on my torso, which sucked. We went for a stroll in (read: plowed through) the woods behind her house, during which her poor sister got multiple bugs in her eye and was almost immobilized by spiderwebs and subsequently devoured. (Not really, but there were so many webs, it was like Lord of the Rings all over again. If I ever write a book about people in long cloaks traveling though the woods, there WILL be mention of the webs, the vicious mosquitoes, the poison ivy, the snakes, the thorny vines, the stickerburrs, the face-level extra-whippy branches, and all the other stuff that sucks about traveling through the woods. Which you never hear about in books, for some reason. Also, it is actually impossible to "tread silently" through thick underbrush. Don't believe anyone who tells you differently.)

So yeah, had a delightful time. Home now, nursing my mosquito bites and re-watching Series 6 of Doctor Who with the Brentalope. (River!) Also trying not to be consumed alive by the internet. Pinterest, you guys. It looks so pretty, but it's actually a trap.

Commander Kip
"You've got that face on again." "What face?" "The 'he's hot when he's clever face." "This is my normal face." "I know." "Shut up." "Not a chance."
Normal is overrated!

I did another thing.

... I chopped off my hair again. Now it looks like this:

I was actually going for the Liz Sherman look:

... but I'm not sure I quite nailed it. Oh well. I'm just glad to be rid of the stupid duck tail thing I had going on. And also I will never be as badass as Liz Sherman, so, meh. (Matt lent me his Hellboy comics for the summer. They are fantastic.)

I'm headed to Lady Arin's tomorrow evening for a few days of wackiness and sisterhood, so there will be a decided lack of internets. Haha. Not that I've been posting regularly anyhow. I have been drawing, but too lazy to finish things, and too lazy to scan the things I've finished. I am a lazy pile of noodles.

Also, Brenticus and I finished Series 7 of Doctor Who. That last episode just about destroyed me. There should be a limit to how many times you can kill a major character in a 45-minute period. It was like getting shanked repeatedly in the feels. Thanks, Neil Gaiman. And speaking of feels, I finally watched End of Time, and lemme just say that I never want to see David Tennant die ever again. It was indescribably painful. And it was worse because I spent the entire double-length episode KNOWING it was going to happen, and just not knowing how or when. My poor NERVES. Although I loved Minnie and her bum-squeezing. She rocked.

Trying to work up the balls to finish Downton Abbey, but still too depressed about Sybille.

Have spent way too many hours lately reading Questionable Content. Awesome comic. Fortunately/unfortunately, there are over two thousand pages so far. Check it out if you don't mind having your life eaten by it: http://www.questionablecontent.net/ Seriously, the humor is addictive even if you're not an indie rocker. (Just for the record, Hannelore is my favorite.)

Real post soon, maybe?

Commander Kip
*bursts into room in biohazard suit* "My name is Hannelore Elliot-Chatham. I END MESSES."
Normal is overrated!

AUGH

You guys, my face hurts. I had my wisdom teeth ripped out of my head on Wednesday, and everything is swollen and bruised and I look ridiculous. Ech. I hate surgery. I hope I never ever need it again.

But anyway, I finally scanned a few things from my new sketchbook. Like, for example, the first page. with its customary splatter of weird nonsense.

Those are the lyrics to On the Wing by Owl City because Owl City makes me smile. Which, right now, hurts. Oops. Oh well.

I also decided it was high time for a new DeviantART ID picture, because I'm older now and I cut my hair and became a Whovian, among other important things.

MSG funtiems! This scene took place pretty far back near the beginning of the Crimson Hand fiasco. Harkin had just started a barfight in order to audition the various mercenaries for the job, and Suvoi and Marcus came out on top, but only because Marcus got spooked by Erik and blew a magical hole in the bar. Suvoi then proceeded to slam Harkin into the wall (she's always doing that) and threaten him with her garroting wire while he simultaneously jammed a pistol into her stomach. *snort* And Matt denies any sexual tension between his character and mine. Pah.

And this sketch happened because the newest City of Bones trailer (!!!) has a clip of Jocelyn being badass, and my mom, who just finished reading the original Mortal Instruments trilogy, was complaining about how the Shadowhunter parents were not badass enough. So I sat her down and made her watch the trailer and paused it on the image of Jocelyn being all snarly in the rain and was like "AHA. There you go. Hashtag badass Shadowhunter moms."

Have I mentioned how freaking excited I am for this movie?!!! You have no idea. I might actually explode. There will probably be a separate post about it soon. Just me freaking out and waving pretty pictures at you that I've found on the internet. *SQUEEE*

In other news, Anna and I are writing character letters to each other and it's nerdy and awesome and totes adorbs and this is why we are married. It's a medieval Icelandic fantasy... shaped... thing. Except I wrote the latest installment while half-unconscious from the anaesthesia, so it might not make any sense. Sorry, Anna. I mean, I already killed her character's fiance in a magical accident, so she's already not too pleased with me. Oops.

Commander Kip
*walks up holding phone* "It's for you, sir." "Thanks." *reaches for* "No, sir, the helicopter."
Normal is overrated!