WIP Big Bang art

[inevitableentresol]

This is a banner I did for marginaliana's wipbigbang fic, which has just been posted.

Either click on the image above, or the fic title below.

One More Time With Feeling (or, Charlie Brooker and the Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day) by marginaliana
Charlie Brooker/David Mitchell, British Comedy RPF, 50k words, explicit.
Summary: December the seventh, 2009. Recording day for the Big Fat Quiz of the Year. Charlie wakes to the sound of his mobile.

I'm not a huge RPF fan, which made my enjoyment of this Groundhog Day-style fic all the more surprising. This fic is a real page turner, if that term isn't hopelessly archaic to use for a fic hosted on a digital archive.

The fic avoided most of my usual problems with RPF, especially of being disrespectful to the ladies. It's set in the time before both men found their future wives. The science fiction/time travel aspects of the fic also put what happens firmly in the realms of fiction, allowing me to enjoy it much more. Perhaps in one of a million alternate dimensions, this universe was even possible.

I can recommend this fic if you like time travel, really slow build sexual tension, bisexual characters and very funny dialogue with awkward British men continually putting their foot in it.

The art is a nod to the third paragraph of the fic in which Charlie drops his mobile phone and breaks it.

Comments

[morbane]

I love the clockwork key! The style of the figure has a very old-fashioned-children's-book feeling to it, as though Charlie is trapped somewhere further back in time. I suppose it does take him a while to grow up, if the way he spends some of his days is any indication. :D I like how his chair is tilted back but his pose is relaxed - not at all in control but pretending to be, is what I get out of that. I am also impressed that you took on the challenge of creating digital art for a piece despite it not being your most familiar medium.

The fic is really great too!

[inevitableentresol]

I'm told a lot that my art looks it comes from an old-fashioned children's book. I suppose I should just roll with that . I do love that style, especially black and white ink illustrations like there were in No Flying In The House.

I gave up doing art for many years. Digital art is the only kind I can do now and I'm having to learn from scratch. I got a tablet for the Big Bang, to do admin stuff on it when I go on holiday later in the year. Then I realised I could suddenly draw again! I looked for digital art tutorials, but the only ones I've found either assume you're an absolute beginner in all of art, or else are incredibly technical and use professional-grade software.

(If anyone else using the Autodesk Sketchbook Pro app comes across this comment, by the way, here's by far the most useful youtube tutorial I've found. The official website is useless. It doesn't even have a list what features the app has, never mind how to use them.)

I'm really happy that you got that 'Charlie's-not-in-control-at-all' vibe, which I was trying to go for. The whole clockwork key and chair, and the golden colour of the background, was influenced by the chair from Jules Verne's time machine, which didn't quite have a clockwork key, but felt like it should have.

Thanks for the detail in your comment. You always have interesting things to say.

I definitely should stick to prompts in future where my old-fashioned, slightly childlike style works best. That's one of those things you don't even see yourself.

[morbane]

I definitely should stick to prompts in future where my old-fashioned, slightly childlike style works best. That's one of those things you don't even see yourself. - Well, I don't know about that. I'm sorry to harp on about something that may not have been intended. I don't think it takes away from the art here. I have very little practice in commenting on art; I hope that saying things a little at random is preferable to just saying "pretty!" But sometimes I wind up in the position of, well, complimenting a carpenter on a beautifully made piece of furniture and saying "Wow, those swirls in the material are so pretty!" and they would be looking at me and saying, "Yes... that's... wood grain?" I'm glad I picked up on at least one of your aims very clearly. Thanks for the picture of the Jules Verne chair.

[inevitableentresol]

I didn't take it as a criticism! I'm a great believer that artists are the last ones to be able to judge their own output, they're just too close to it, so your comments were really helpful. As I said, I've had similar ones before.

That Jules Verne chair is a thing of ornate beauty.

Continued good luck with your own WIP Big Bang fic.

[trepkos]

Brilliant, and very appropriate artwork!

[inevitableentresol]

Thanks! I'm glad you thought it went with the fic, which was such a fantastic read.

[mific]

Great art - perfect for the fic! Love how you built it around the mobile, which is so central.

[inevitableentresol]

There were so many great visual images in the fic that it took me a while to pick one, but in the end, the phone breaking was the most apt. Great to hear you think my art complemented the fantastic fic. Thanks!