Fanart, Fanfiction and Fangirling

I'm late, but I had a busy week.

( Afterparty )

Challenge #8

In your own space, write a promo, manifesto or primer for a beloved character, relationship or fandom.

Challenge #9

In your own space, create a fanwork.

I fell a little behind with Snowflake this week, but this delay gave me the perfect opportunity to kill the proverbial two birds with one stone.

I'm going to ramble about my favourite character from Lupin III, Daisuke Jigen, but first, have a little drawing by yours truly:



Lupin III is one of the anime I grew up with, I remember coming home from middle school and watching it on TV before doing my homework. Jigen is not just Lupin's sidekick: he's a loyal partner, his best friend, the one person Lupin can always count on to save the day (and get his sorry ass out of the most absurd situations). He's an excellent marksman and can use just about any kind of gun/rifle/weapon, just like he can drive and fix any kind of vehicle (cars, airplanes, helicopters etc.)

He's a chain smoker, a little lazy (he's often portrayed lounging on sofas or on the floor in between jobs or while Lupin prepares for a heist), and he's usually the voice of reason when Lupin's plans get a little out of hand.

He's often described as a misogynist and generally doesn't trust women, but he sometimes shows interest towards a woman. Too bad his potential love interests tend to either die or betray him (hence his distrust towards them).

He's taciturn and kinda grumpy, but he's also fiercely protective and can be very gentle, especially towards people who need help (and children, even if he's always saying he can't stand them). I personally think he's a marshmallow of a man: scorched and bitter on the outside, but soft and sweet on the inside.

As a hardcore Jigen fan, I loved the live-action "Jigen Daisuke" film, but I think my favourite is "Jigen's Gravestone" (both are available on Prime Video). The latter has the added bonus of Jigen "dying" and being gently cradled in Lupin's arms.



I could go on and on, but I think I rambled enough for today. :3

I should probably write a recap of my trip to Tuscany, but for the moment have a quick Jigen sketch I did while I was in Lucca.

There was a pub near my B&B where each table had some pens, you could draw something on the paper table mat and the owners would then hang them on the walls (there were drawings everywhere), so I decided to doodle something too. Someone had already drawn Lupin, so I had to draw Jigen. I mean, you can't separate those two...

( Jigen sketch )

I've finally gone back to working on a Nick/Greg fic I started a long time ago but never finished. It still needs work, but I like what I have so far. I want it to be a slow burn kinda fic, which is ridiculous, given my tendency to write almost exclusively ficlets and short stories, but I'm going to try anyway. As I was writing, I remembered there was another ficlet I started in response to a hurt/comfort prompt some time ago that I still need to finish. I think the fic has taken a slightly different direction from the original prompt, I might have to change a thing or two.

It feels good being back to writing Nick/Greg, it's become such a comfort pairing for me.

I also found some amazing Lupin/Jigen fanart on Twitter (or X, or whatever it's called these days, I never use it any more). The account hasn't been updated in a while, but there are a lot of great pics. A lot of them are NSFW, with some humour and angst thrown into the mix, so be careful when you click the link:

https://x.com/thegreatestmass

I've wanted to draw a Jigen version of the hairstyle meme for a while but never had the time, then last Sunday I finally sat down and did it. It's just a bunch of pencil drawings, but I'm quite happy with how they turned out. And, to be perfectly honest, I was simply looking for an excuse to draw a lot of different Jigens.

( Image behind a cut because it's big )

Work is killing me and I don't know when I'll have the time and mental energy to clean this up, so have the usual pencil sketch for now. I want to experiment with dynamic poses, as my drawings are always very stiff, and Goemon is the perfect subject for that. I'm especially pleased with how his hands turned out, which is something I always struggle with. (Yes, I used my own hands as reference, that's not cheating, right?)

( Goemon Ishikawa XIII under the cut )

I wanted to draw something from an unusual prospective the other day, but I didn't like the final result, so I started drawing Jigen instead. I should really try to draw something more elaborate and improve my inking and colouring skills, but for the moment I'm really happy with this pencil sketch, so I'll just leave it here.

( Pencil Jigen drawing under the cut )

I can't believe I've never drawn Lupin before! It's just a quick pencil drawing, but I like how it turned out, especially his expression. Don't you just want to smack that stupid grin off his face?

( Happy Valentine's Day from the gentleman thief )

Challenge #11

In your own space, create a fanwork.



I knew this challenge was coming, but I wasn't prepared, as I've been busy in the last few days. But I really wanted to create something and, more specifically, to draw something. Even more specifically, I wanted to draw Jigen, so here's a super quick and rough sketch I drew today at work. And I must say, considering I drew this with a BIC pen in, like, 10 minutes, it's not too bad!

( Sketchy Jigen sketch under the cut )

Challenge #8

Talk about a current fannish project (fic, art, vid, crochet, funko pop village) (that you are creating or enjoying).



We're only halfway through January and I already have 4 new WIPs, 2 CSI and 2 Lupin III.

CSI

• A fluffy Nick/Greg ficlet inspired by this prompt.
  
  
• A Nick/Greg fic in which Nick comes out to Warrick.
  

Lupin III

• A Jigen-centric future fic inspired by the Jigen Daisuke film (apparently there are no fics related to that film on AO3? How is that possible?)
  
  
• A smutty Lupin/Jigen fic inspired by Jigen's Gravestone.
  

And of course there's still that Nick/Greg fic I've been working on for the last couple of years, one of my goals for 2024 is to finally finish it.

As for fanart, I haven't started working on my Lunar New Year illustration yet, but I've already looked up references. Like the last two years, it will be silly and feature Greg Sanders from CSI.

So, yeah, I have quite a lot going on at the moment. Let's see what I'll actually finish...