Fan Art and Commissions #5

It's been a while since I've done one of these fan art and commission hauls.  Let's do something about that, shall we?

First up we have this piece by the artist Pelycosaur24.  Inspired by the excellent Neil Gaiman comic Marvel 1602, I wanted to see what Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase would look like if they lived in the early 17th Century.  Thus we have Percy and Annabeth 1604.

It is always a pleasure to get to work with one of my favorite artists, and this piece was worth every penny.  I had them be Spanish because the Heart of the West always goes to whoever is the most powerful Western nation at a given time.  In 1604 that was arguably still Spain.  Annabeth's outfit incorporates elements from the Kamfrau and Trossfrau of Austria, because they were women who accompanied men onto the battlefield.  That was a suggestion from Pely, who is Austrian herself.  I especially love how the outfits evoke their present day clothes, while still being true to the fashions of the 17th Century.

This next one is inspired by that crossover fanfic I wrote combing Percy Jackson and the Olympians with DJ MacHale's Pendragon.  Well, those might have been the base two, but there are other territories and sub-territories in Halla.  Thus we have Pyrrha Nikos from RWBY and Mizore Shirayuki from Rosario+Vampire, travelers from the territory of Remnant and the sub-territory of Yokai Academy, training with Loor on Zadaa.  I'm very happy to have gotten a quality work at a modest price.  As a bonus, I got Stardust-Phantom, the South African artists who made this piece, into RWBY.

Speaking of Stardust-Phantom, that brings us to our next piece.  A Crossover Christmas Carol.  Starring Edward Elric from Fullmetal Alchemist as Ebenezer Scrooge, Weiss Schnee from RWBY as The Ghost of Christmas Past, Bolin from Legend of Korra as The Ghost of Christmas Present, Nico di Angelo from Percy Jackson as The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, and Grover Underwood from Percy Jackson as Charles Dickens. 

We're blowing a turkey for Stardust-Phantom.  This one's another one relating to that Percy Jackson/Pendragon crossover.  Here we have Silena Beauregard giving Aja Killian some pegasus riding lessons and explaining a bit about the history of Camp Half-Blood.  Aja is less than thrilled at all of the potentially dangerous stuff that goes on at Camp Half-Blood.  

This one is another crossover clothes swap brought to us by BiCOV.  There was no plot to this one, I just wanted to see how they'd look in each other's clothes.  We've got Annabeth from Percy Jackson swapping with Kurumu from Rosario+Vampire, and Reyna from Heroes of Olympus swapping with Ahsoka from Star Wars: The Clone Wars.  Another quality piece at a bargain price.

Sometimes the fanfictions in my head take on a life of their own.  Case in point, this piece from SophiaBlackoodArt.  I don't exactly know how or why I started pairing Reyna and Ahsoka together, it's just one of those things that kind of just happened.  Well, in the Heroes of Olympus it was said that if Reyna found love it wouldn't be with a demigod, and Rick Riordan had considered making her lesbian.  Also, Ahsoka and Bariss certainly had there moments, as though the Clone Wars writers we're doing everything short of making them a couple.  Make of this what you will.

My inadvertent shipping of Reyna and Ahsoka proved so popular I actually got fan request to commission more art of them together.  That's where this piece from an Australian artist named makeupaname.  Here we have Reyna and Ahsoka celebrating Discovery of Puerto Rico Day, which is a real holiday by the way.  The invisible dude is Millard Nullings from Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children.  The dude you can actually see is Nico di Angelo from Percy Jackson.  

Speaking of makeupaname, we're got another piece from her.  We've got Superman, one of the most iconic heroes of the 20th Century, along side Percy Jackson, a hero of the 21st Century.  Superman is passing the torch to a new generation of heroes.  Percy isn't sure that he's worthy, but Superman is assuring him that he will do fine, that Percy made him proud, and that he knows the world will be in good hands.  

This piece is another one from LadyLoriel.  The Doctor from Doctor Who has been captured by Cthulu.  So, Dream from Neil Gaiman's Sandman has assembled a team of heroes from across time and space to save him.  We've got Percy Jackson, Bobby Pendragon, Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games, and Utena Tenjou from Revolutionary Girl Utena.  They're alert on the streets of an abandoned city as Dream watches over them.  

We'll finish off with another piece from LadyLoriel.  In this one, Inuyasha traveled to the present day to help the Silver Bullets fight crime, but was a bit too reckless with destruction of public property.  So a judge sentenced him to either time in jail or community service.  He opted for community service, which turned out to be volunteering at a summer camp.  So here he is with Skuld from Ah! My Goddess, Arnold from The Magic School Bus and SpongeBob SquarePants.  They're lost in the woods just as the sun is beginning to set.  SpongeBob doesn't seem to mind though.  

Well, I think that should do it for now.  Hopefully we'll be able to do this again soon.  Until then, I will see you guys next time. 

Fan Art and Commissions # 3

Well it looks like the time has come once again to look at some of the fan art that I've had commissioned.  First up we've got a piece by Brazilian artist Desinho.  Actually, its a two-for-one special.  Same art but slightly different.  Based on my fanfic idea Adventure of the Silver Bullets, and that's just what it's called.

From left to right we've got Nico di Angello, Mizore Shiryuki, Mako, Reyna Ramirez and Ashoka Tano.  As you might have guessed, Reyna and Ashoka are lesbians, Mako and Mizore are good friends, and Mako and Nico are gay.  It started out mainly as way to troll shippers, but I came to genuinely love the various parings.  It helps that Nico is canonically gay, and we get some subtle hints that Reyna might be lesbian in the books.  Also, many Star Wars fans have noted that Ashoka always seemed to have more chemistry with female characters rather than male.    

The story here is that the Silver Bullets just finished a major mission and these five are going on vacation to San Fransokyo.  Yes, the one from Big Hero Six.  Anyway, let's move on.       

This is a map I had commissioned from Bruce Monroe based on my pal Matt Mitrovich's scenario What Happens Next? Hammer and Cross.  Originally, I was going to make this map myself, but I wasn't confident in my skills, so I handed the reigns over to Bruce.  When this map came out Matt was having a very rough weekend and was going through some self-doubt, but then he saw this map and it renewed his confidence and made him happy.  It is so good when art, especially art I commission, can do great things like that.  It even got featured for Map Monday.  Speaking of commissioned art doing great things.  

Here's a map based on my flag of The Russian Philippines.  It was created by the great map maker Lynn Davis.  Lynn was going through some though finical times when this map was commissioned.  I had always wanted a map made by Lynn, and I wanted to help out a friend, so it killed two birds with one stone.  I mean, just look at it!  It's super professional quality, and Lynn helped iron-out the creases in the scenario.  I hope one day to commission another great map from Lynn in the future.  It also go featured for Map Monday.  

And here we have another creation from out pal Alan Garcia.  This time we have Minami Shimada from Baka and Test as Sailor Mars.  I especially love the little spell scroll she's got.  Not really much more to add on this one that I haven't said about past Sailor Moon crossovers.  So let's move on to the final edition to the list.

To round out the list of commissions and fan art we have C.C. from Code Geass and Sailor Saturn.  You can check out my review of Code Geass over here.  You can always count on Alan Garcia for quality art work.  This might be my last Sailor Moon commission for a bit.  I'm thinking about mixing it up and doing something different next time, but you'll have to wait and see about that. 

There's no honorable mentions this time around.  Well, that concludes another look at my fan art and commissions.  I hope you had fun and maybe we can do this again soon.  I'll see you guys next time.    

   

    

   

Fan Art and Commissions #2

I think it's time for another showcase of fan art and commissions so let's get right on it.  Our first commission is brought to us courtesy of Swedish artist LadyLoriel.  Its another one based on The Adventures of the Silver Bullets fanfic, in fact, that's its title.  Let's take a look at it shall we?

I know that many of the characters look a tad off, but that's real a result of the artist's particular style more than anything else.  On the whole I'm very happy with the way this one turned out.  Great to see my vision come to life. I especially love the order everyone is in and how, even though the artist didn't intend it, Al and Mizore look like they're holding hands.  Anyway, who's up for some maps?

This map is based on Easternized World from The AltHistory Wikia.  It was created by Bruce Munro, a very famous map maker in the online alternate history community.  Easternized World is an alternate history where East Asia, rather than the West, became the dominate colonial and cultural power of the world.  It remains one of my favorite alternate history scenarios and I love the ways Bruce put his person style on it.  You really do want to check out the Deviantart page for the full description Bruce provides.  

And here's another scenario from the AltHistory Wikia that I had Bruce cover for me.  This one is called Aztec Empire and it features a world where the Aztec Empire never falls.  Its a really interesting scenario, thought you can tell at times that the author was young and inexperienced, and I like how Bruce was able to iron out the creases with his take on the scenario.  Again, check out the Deviantart link for the full description for the best experience. 

Here's one from our pal Shinoharaa.  It's Kurumu Korono as Sailor Neptune.  I case you're wondering the answer is yes, I do intend to commission a full set of sailor senshi and then some.  Well I can't think of anything else to add about this one, so let's move on.

And here we see Kurumu's loving girlfriend...er, I mean "cousin" Milly Ashford as Sailor Uranus.  I really think I did a good job with my selections of these two.  In Code Geass it's pretty much stated that Milly, and most Britannians for that matter, is bisexual.  Meanwhile, Kurumu certainly had her moments with Mizore.  Speaking of Mizore...

I'll conclude this post with an honorable mention.  Mizore Shirayuki as Sailor Mercury.  I didn't actually commission this one, but I certainly looks like something I would have commissioned.  This is the one that lead me to Shinoharaa, never in my wildest imagination did I expect to find such art for so cheap a price.  And the rest, as they say, is history.

Well, that's enough art for one blog post.  I hope you had a great time as usual, and maybe we'll get to do this again soon.  I'll see you next time.    

  

  

  

Fan Art and Commissions #1

I thought I'd take this post to share some of the fan art of my works and art commissions I've had made.  I've got a few, and they're ever growing, but I decided that five was a good place to start with. First up we've got some fan art based on Adventures of the Silver Bullets, the fanfiction magnum opus I never got around to completing.  These two were created by zeneria29, a very talented artist from Thailand.  She might have trouble with English, but she knows enough to get by and is a very sweet person.

That's Percy Jackson and Kurumu Kurono.  Yes, I didn't intend to ship them, but I wound up doing so anyway.  Hey, what the point of crossover if they don't eventually lead to crossover ships?  Well, there's actually a lot of other reasons I like crossover fanfiction, but crossover ships are always a bonus.  Anyway, let's move on to some more commissioned art. 

We've got Princess Celestia, Shrek, Urd, Holo, L and Elsa.  This would have been from L's days at magic school with his harem, yes, even Shrek and Princess Celestia.  If I'd gotten to that bit it would have essentially deconstructed Harry Potter and related series, and thrown some new twists onto the harem genre.  And who would L have ended up with?  Why all of the above of course!  Now then, let's move onto covers of my maps.

You may recall a map I made entitled The Saracen and The Cross, about a world where the Crusades are a success.  Despite some good ideas it did have it's flaws.  However, one of the map makers from alternatehistory.com created this map based on my map.  I love how it retains many of the ideas from my original map, but it also expands upon them and adds even more new and great ideas.  He also made this really long write up about this world, and if I find it I'll be sure to link to it.  Still, look at all the text on that map.

These next two are created by a very talented artist named Shinoharaa, real name Alan Garcia, from Brazil.  I mean would you just look at the quality!  It looks like it might as well be official artwork.  I was hoping to raise awareness of Spice and Wolf, and I figured no better way than Holo in a Sailor Senshi uniform.  It also a voice actress joke, unintentionally (for Sailor Moon Crystal anyway). 

Yet another winner from Shinoharaa.  This time with Urd as Sailor Pluto.  Yeah, you're probably detecting a pattern here.  When I commission something I usual go for something I couldn't get just anywhere.  I know what I'm a fan of, and the artist I contact know how to bring my visions to life.  That's all.

Honorable mention goes to the Flag of British Korea I collaborated with Laqueesha to make, and which can be found over at Alternate History Weekly Update, as well as over here.  Well, that's enough art for one blog post.  I'll be sure to do this again in the future.  I hope you enjoyed this tour of some of my fan art and commissions.  Until next time.   

On Flags, Commissions and Sean Sherman

I can safely say that I'm enjoying having a blog.  I should probably limit myself to two post per day, or three if I'm feeling especially ambitious.  That way I don't flood you guys with my material and I'll be able to stretch things out.  I guess I've been missing writing for an Internet audiance the way I did when I wrote for Fanfiction and Fictionpress, and don't worry, we will talk about what I did on those sites sooner or later.  For right now, though, let's talk about flags.

I've loved flags for as long as I can remember.  I've always been fascinated by their designs and their histories.  I even have a collection of flags of world nations, American states, Canadian provances and historical flags of various nations.  Therefore, it was perhaps only natural that sooner or later I'd make my own flags, especially after I got into alternate history.  Hey, I've been fascinated by maps and geography for many years, and I started making those when I got into alternate history.  

Now let's take a minute to talk about Sean Sherman, frequent contributor at Alternate History Weekly Update, but he also has his own blog known as Other Times.  Sean frequently contributes to the Flag Friday posts.  What I like the most about Sean's flags is that they're simple but effective.  What I mean by that is that they're the kind of things I can easily see myself replicating.  It was this simple effectiveness that gave me the confidence to submit my own flags to the Alternate History Weekly Update.  I have submitted for Flag Friday a couple other times as well.   

Recently, I noticed one of Sean's flags had the colors from two of the bands over laps with each other. This is something I've had occurred in my own flags, but it didn't bother Sean or Matt.  It's little things like this that let me know I'm doing something right, and that my flags really are good just as they are.  As you may have guess my flags have appeared on Flag Friday a few times as well.  

Speaking of flags of mine I have some very exciting news.  Toixstory, on of my favorite map makers, recently commissioned me to make a series of flags for his/her (I was never quite clear on Toixstory's gender) Grand War series.  It all started when Toixstory expressed a desire to have more flags based on his/her timelines.  So I took it upon myself to make a flag based on Islamic China from the Grand War map, pictured here

Toixstory loved it so much that I was asked to make flags for the other nations of the Grand War universe.  I made good on my promise and I will receive credit when the map and story come out, which should be relatively soon.  

Speaking of flags I've made, just as I'll be posting maps I've made to this blog I will also be posting flags while I work on my column, The Audio File, for Alternate History Weekly Update.  I should post the first flag soon so stay tuned for that.