jimalver

[jimalver]

Helloooo

I always forget to post here. It’s been so long since I shared original art, so here are some designs I made for an October challenge. These peeps are characters in an original story of mine, and there’s a bunch more I’ll share eventually 👁️

Tell me what you think of them!🕺🕺

#character designs #art

[jimalver]

King of spring and fairies

#art #beautiful art #faery

[jimalver]

Next round of original characters!! (I completely forgot I started posting them here💀)

5 more to go, stay tuned!

#art #awesome art #character design

[jimalver]

hot artists don't gatekeep

I've been resource gathering for YEARS so now I am going to share my dragons hoard

Floorplanner. Design and furnish a house for you to use for having a consistent background in your comic or anything! Free, you need an account, easy to use, and you can save multiple houses.

Comparing Heights. Input the heights of characters to see what the different is between them. Great for keeping consistency. Free.

Magma. Draw online with friends in real time. Great for practice or hanging out. Free, paid plan available, account preferred.

Smithsonian Open Access. Loads of free images. Free.

SketchDaily. Lots of pose references, massive library, is set on a timer so you can practice quick figure drawing. Free.

SculptGL. A sculpting tool which I am yet to master, but you should be able to make whatever 3d object you like with it. free.

Pexels. Free stock images. And the search engine is actually pretty good at pulling up what you want.

Figurosity. Great pose references, diverse body types, lots of "how to draw" videos directly on the site, the models are 3d and you can rotate the angle, but you can't make custom poses or edit body proportions. Free, account option, paid plans available.

Line of Action. More drawing references, this one also has a focus on expressions, hands/feet, animals, landscapes. Free.

Animal Photo. You pose a 3d skull model and select an animal species, and they give you a bunch of photo references for that animal at that angle. Super handy. Free.

Height Weight Chart. You ever see an OC listed as having a certain weight but then they look Wildly different than the number suggests? Well here's a site to avoid that! It shows real people at different weights and heights to give you a better idea of what these abstract numbers all look like. Free to use.

#reference #art references #reference post

[jimalver]

Temeraire - Appendices, Short Stories and Deleted Scenes or the result of my unplanned crafting weekend.

It turned out much better than I ever thought??? So far I have bound two very simple booklets and a notebook with the help of my sister, so my expectations were not really high tbh.

progress below the cut

I started this project because I was annoyed by the lack of appendices in some editions of the Temeraire books and collected (hopefully) all of them with the help of the Temeraire discord, especially Maz and stargrazing 🧡 I also found some deleted scenes and added the short stories I know of. The typesetting was fun until word decided to fuck with the formatting but that honestly wasn't much of a surprise.

The next step was to print everything out, and then print out the first few pages again, since my sister found way better fonts than I did (thanks!), so I could get close to the Temeraire woodcut covers (though, yes, @nighttimepatrons the T could be mistaken for a J ^^).

After I folded all the sections, I had to think about just how I was actually going to bind this book. Initially I was thinking about something in the style of Japenese bookbinding, though the inner margin would have probably been too small for that. There's a very good youtube channel about bookbinding (called DAS bookbinding) that I went to and though I couldn't find anything about Japanese bookbinding, I found a video about Ethiopian two-needle binding. I decided to go with that since it seemed doable and looks fancy.

The next step was to make the front and back of the book. Luckily (since I'm an incorrigible arts/crafts stuff hoarder) I still had some cardboard notebook backs which came in handy. The question that then came up was what to cover them with. The nicest paper I could find was gift wrapping paper that still made me go meh. Then, however, I remembered that I'd taken three of the encyclopedia books my parents had thrown out (they are from 1975, slightly outdated, even thought they look very fancy) and kept them (again: arts/crafts stuff hoarder). One of those was the book with maps, because I love maps.

Originally I was going to just use the Great Britain/Ireland map - with Ireland, Wales and England on the front, and Scotland and assorted isles on the back - but my sister (again, thanks!) gave me the idea to put the map upright and cover the rift with the title. Obviously that meant that I needed a new idea for the back and for that I went with a map of the world since Temeraire does travel quite a lot.

Now with all the individual parts assembled, I punched some holes and went to find some yarn. I thought I was going to go with the thin yarn you can see above but that was really way too thin, even when I used three parallel strands. Instead I used embroidery yarn I still had lying around. Since bookbinding yarn is apparently waxed, I grabbed a beeswax candle and pulled the yarn I used over it. I don't know if it actually did something helpful, but it certainly smelled good.

Ethiopian two-needle bookbinding uses - as the name says - two needles, if you have two holes and two pieces of yarn. I made four holes and so I had four needles and four pieces of yarn. I guess you could also use just one (or in my case two) pieces of yarn, but if you use two (four) differently coloured pieces of yarn, you'll get a fancy pattern at the spine!

The spine is a lot broader than the front of the book but I can live with that. If I'd made the sections larger, I might have avoided that or it would have been less noticeable at least.

This was a really lovely project that that turned out much better than I could have hoped!!! I powered through this in a weekend+ (started on Friday, finished up Monday morning) and I had a great time :3

Now to wrap this post up, here's a photo of this book with the two booklets I've bound (the short stories are also in the book) and one of it in the shelf with the other Temeraire books:

#temeraire #book binding #art #awesome

[jimalver]

People talk a lot about how reading is necessary for writing, but when you really want to improve your writing, it’s important to go beyond just simple reading. Here are some things to do when reading:

Note how they begin and end the story. There are a ton of rather contradictory pieces of advice about starting stories, so see how they do it in the stories you enjoy. Don’t only look at the most popular stories, but look at your more obscure favorites.

See what strikes you. Is it fast or complicated scenes with a lot of emotions? Is it stark lines? Pithy dialogue? What do you remember the next day?

Pay attention to different styles. It’s not just whether they use past or present tense, first or third person. It’s whether the writing is more neutral or deeper inside character’s heads. Do they use italics? Parentheses? Other interesting stylistic choices? Take the ones you like and try them out in your own writing. See what works and what doesn’t.

Keep track of how they deal with other characters. Do we see a lot of secondary character each for very brief periods of time or are there a couple that show up a lot? How much information do we get about secondary characters? Do they have their own plots or do their plots revolve entirely around the main characters? 

Count how many plots there are. Is there just one main plot or are there multiple subplots? Are the storylines mostly plot-based or character-based?  

Pay attention to what you don’t like. If you don’t like what’s going on in a book or even just a scene, note what it is. Does the dialogue feel awkward? Are the characters inconsistent? Does the plot feel too convenient or cobbled together? Does the wording just feel off? See if you can spot those issues in your own writing, especially when reading a completed draft or beginning a later draft.

#writing #writing advice #reference

[jimalver]

Here’s a story about changelings: 

Mary was a beautiful baby, sweet and affectionate, but by the time she’s three she’s turned difficult and strange, with fey moods and a stubborn mouth that screams and bites but never says mama. But her mother’s well-used to hard work with little thanks, and when the village gossips wag their tongues she just shrugs, and pulls her difficult child away from their precious, perfect blossoms, before the bites draw blood. Mary’s mother doesn’t drown her in a bucket of saltwater, and she doesn’t take up the silver knife the wife of the village priest leaves out for her one Sunday brunch. 

She gives her daughter yarn, instead, and instead of a rowan stake through her inhuman heart she gives her a child’s first loom, oak and ash. She lets her vicious, uncooperative fairy daughter entertain herself with games of her own devising, in as much peace and comfort as either of them can manage.

Mary grows up strangely, as a strange child would, learning everything in all the wrong order, and biting a great deal more than she should. But she also learns to weave, and takes to it with a grand passion. Soon enough she knows more than her mother–which isn’t all that much–and is striking out into unknown territory, turning out odd new knots and weaves, patterns as complex as spiderwebs and spellrings. 

“Aren’t you clever,” her mother says, of her work, and leaves her to her wool and flax and whatnot. Mary’s not biting anymore, and she smiles more than she frowns, and that’s about as much, her mother figures, as anyone should hope for from their child. 

Mary still cries sometimes, when the other girls reject her for her strange graces, her odd slow way of talking, her restless reaching fluttering hands that have learned to spin but never to settle. The other girls call her freak, witchblood, hobgoblin.

“I don’t remember girls being quite so stupid when I was that age,” her mother says, brushing Mary’s hair smooth and steady like they’ve both learned to enjoy, smooth as a skein of silk. “Time was, you knew not to insult anyone you might need to flatter later. ‘Specially when you don’t know if they’re going to grow wings or horns or whatnot. Serve ‘em all right if you ever figure out curses.”

“I want to go back,” Mary says. “I want to go home, to where I came from, where there’s people like me. If I’m a fairy’s child I should be in fairyland, and no one would call me a freak.”

“Aye, well, I’d miss you though,” her mother says. “And I expect there’s stupid folk everywhere, even in fairyland. Cruel folk, too. You just have to make the best of things where you are, being my child instead.”

Mary learns to read well enough, in between the weaving, especially when her mother tracks down the traveling booktraders and comes home with slim, precious manuals on dyes and stains and mordants, on pigments and patterns, diagrams too arcane for her own eyes but which make her daughter’s eyes shine.

“We need an herb garden,” her daughter says, hands busy, flipping from page to page, pulling on her hair, twisting in her skirt, itching for a project. “Yarrow, and madder, and woad and weld…”

“Well, start digging,” her mother says. “Won’t do you a harm to get out of the house now’n then.”

Mary doesn’t like dirt but she’s learned determination well enough from her mother. She digs and digs, and plants what she’s given, and the first year doesn’t turn out so well but the second’s better, and by the third a cauldron’s always simmering something over the fire, and Mary’s taking in orders from girls five years older or more, turning out vivid bolts and spools and skeins of red and gold and blue, restless fingers dancing like they’ve summoned down the rainbow. Her mother figures she probably has.

“Just as well you never got the hang of curses,” she says, admiring her bright new skirts. “I like this sort of trick a lot better.”

Mary smiles, rocking back and forth on her heels, fingers already fluttering to find the next project.

She finally grows up tall and fair, if a bit stooped and squinty, and time and age seem to calm her unhappy mouth about as well as it does for human children. Word gets around she never lies or breaks a bargain, and if the first seems odd for a fairy’s child then the second one seems fit enough. The undyed stacks of taken orders grow taller, the dyed lots of filled orders grow brighter, the loom in the corner for Mary’s own creations grows stranger and more complex. Mary’s hands callus just like her mother’s, become as strong and tough and smooth as the oak and ash of her needles and frames, though they never fall still.

“Do you ever wonder what your real daughter would be like?” the priest’s wife asks, once.

Mary’s mother snorts. “She wouldn’t be worth a damn at weaving,” she says. “Lord knows I never was. No, I’ll keep what I’ve been given and thank the givers kindly. It was a fair enough trade for me. Good day, ma’am.”

Mary brings her mother sweet chamomile tea, that night, and a warm shawl in all the colors of a garden, and a hairbrush. In the morning, the priest’s son comes round, with payment for his mother’s pretty new dress and a shy smile just for Mary. He thinks her hair is nice, and her hands are even nicer, vibrant in their strength and skill and endless motion.  

They all live happily ever after.

*

Here’s another story: 

Keep reading

#story #fairytale #This is way more magical than the book i read about an autistic changeling who had actual magic

[jimalver]

Captains as Dragons (and vice versa) AU is on my brain again. Thinking of the other captains now.

Granby would be an Anglewing. Still of fighting size but swift and agile. Iskierka (Turkish decent) would probably be a skilled bomber/fighter herself, and borderline-illegal pyromaniac. 

Berkley would undoubtedly be a Regal Copper. He and Maximus are two brothers of different species, they’re so alike. 

Harcourt I had to contemplate a bit. She’s not really vicious enough to be a Longwing. I’d say either a Winchester (Lily would be an amazing sharpshooter/spy from her back), or the elusive Xenica as they are the only other breed that accepts female captains exclusively (and Lily wouldn’t normally be allowed to captain anything else, being a female)

Now Sutton would be a Longwing, given his tendency for “colorful language” (spitting acid seemed to fit), which would fit with Messoria being female.

(Chenery, Little, and Warren all switch pretty well with their dragon’s species)

Demane would be an African dragon, though none of the breeds were ever named. His brother Sipho would be feral but follow along non the less. Kulingile would be of British decent (both parents British), but born in the Australian colony.

and Tharkay would be a feral, a world-traveler who visited so many towns and villages that he was quite educated for being wild.

#temeraire #au #headcanons

[jimalver]

(via Pinterest)

#historical fashion #early 18th century #(?)

[jimalver]

A failed doodle, but I blame chocolate-dandy for putting this AU idea in my head.

Laurence the Parnassian, previously retired, meets and bonds with the young lost (or runaway) Chinese prince Xiang, alias Temeraire.

What scheme they are up to, I’ll let you decide. Either way Laurence will worry if it’s proper, Tem will ask awkward questions, and social justice will be won.

#temeraire #au #i want more of this AU #so cute #dragon #fanart

[jimalver]

My part of an art trade with valintinus, Temeraire universe dragons in science! 

The first two are supposed to be set in late 19th century, after dragons perhaps gain more rights and are starting to get recognized in the fields of science, and the last one is an old Perscitia discussing physics with Nobel prize laureate 2013 Francois Englert (had to include her one way or another!)

#Absolutely love this #The art style fits the topic and setting so well too #temeraire #fanart #headcanons

[jimalver]

Don't get me wrong, I'm agnostic, my viewpoint on the universe isn't very "religious" and I don't quite vibe with paganism or a defined spiritual belief system, but I still don't think religion and spirituality is regressive and silly

#science #history #worldbuilding

[jimalver]

really quick silly temrer doodle. laurence and the kids he keeps adopting

#Laurence is such a good father #cute art #temeraire #fanart

[jimalver]

tfw the ship you ship so hard does the thing and engages in witty flirting

#these face expressions tho #90s animated film vibes? #dragons #temeraire #otp #fanart

[jimalver]

Temeraire dragon designs I started and have not finished yet...

1. Bergischer Thallurch (original breed)

2. Berghexe

3. Ostfriesischer Wattläufer (original breed)

4. whatever Eroica's breed is

5. whatever Eroica's breed is, but juvenile

#dragons #art #temeraire #fanart

[jimalver]

After supper, he would read to Temeraire in the evenings, occasionally from the Latin or the French, with Temeraire translating for the other dragons. Laurence had assumed Temeraire particularly unusual, among dragons, for his scholarship; to better suit all the other dragons, he kept, at first, to their small store of literature, and only then gave way to those mathematical and scientific treatises, which Temeraire doted upon and he himself found hard going. Many of these interested the company as little as Laurence had expected, but he was a little astonished in reading a sadly wearing treatise upon geometry to be interrupted by Messoria, who said sleepily, ‘Pray skip ahead a little; we do not need it proven, anyone can tell that it is perfectly correct,’ referring to great circles, and the notion that a curved course rather than a straight was the shortest distance for sailing, which had confused Laurence for a good week when he had been obliged to learn it for the Navy lieutenant’s examination. The next evening he was further puzzled to be interrupted in his reading by Nitidus and Dulcia taking up an argument with Temeraire about Euclid’s postulates, one of which, referring to the principle of parallel lines, they felt quite unreasonable. ‘I am not saying it is correct,’ Temeraire protested, ‘but you must accept it and go on: everything else in the science is built upon it.’ ‘But what use is it, then!’ Nitidus said, getting agitated enough to flutter his wings and bat his tail against Maximus’s side; Maximus murmured a small reproof without quite waking. ‘Everything must be quite wrong if he begins so.’

#dragons loving math is my favourite thing about the Temeraire series #temeraire

[jimalver]

Good a time as any to start Temeraire posting. Who wants to talk Temeraire w me Im about to finish Blood of Tyrants

#fanart #temeraire #awesome art