So David and Dr. Cable are pretty much tied in the voting for next week’s character reveal, and I’m missing some final images for them, so I thought I’d do an actual Fan Art Friday while the election continues!
Without further ado . . .
Here are three pieces from kikane on DeviantArt, showing Deryn and Alek in a semi-chibi mode:
They are so sweet! And I love all version of chibi-flying-whale.
From Savannah comes the unlikely genre of Legend Zelda/Goliath crossover!
I kind of like steampunk in its cute-comic form.
From Abigail, another in the new genre of Goliath Bonus Chapter art, aka Alek in a dress!
Of course, if they’re going up to Scotland to visit Deryn’s mom one day, we might get something like this scene from from Camille, featuring Deryn and Alek in kilts:
And here’s some cross-dressing cosplay from Lauren:
And from McKenna, a drawing of Deryn on a Huxley, looking down at the ground with a pensive expression:
From Ashley-wa, an entry into the classic put-yourself-in-the-ugies-cover genre:
And from Sophie, an Uglies cover collage:
I also got a huge PDF of Clanker and Darwinist designs from a class in Edwards, Colorado. Here’s one of them by “BBA”:
I’ll be featuring more of these works in future FAFs.
And finally, I don’t know who this is from. Identify yourself!
Okay, that’s it for today’s FAF.
Don’t forget to keep voting between David and Dr. Cable, and remember that Shay’s Story now comes out March 6. That’s in
Fan Art Friday is super late now, so I’m just waiting till . . . Friday. #isuck
But as you can see, I’ve made up for it below.
But first, shall we vote on the next character reveal? Here are your choices:
David
Astrix
Ho
Ryde
Dr. Cable
Random Special
Hmm. This one might be a bit easy. In any case, use this comments thread to vote, argue, and otherwise inveigle!
In the meantime, please enjoy this entire PAGE of art from Shay’s Story. It’s from early in the books, when Shay, Zane, and the other Crims are sneaking into New Pretty Town.
But what you really want to see is the BIGGER and ZOOMABLE version!
So click here for that.
And now to repeat the annoying news: The release date for Shay’s Story has been delayed a week due to paper shortages. (Because we decided to make it bigger, so you can see all the art better!) It now comes out March 6, 2012.
Pre-order Shay’s Story at Indie Bound, BarnesandNoble.com, or Amazon. Or buy it on March 6 at a proper bookstore.
I was all ready to reveal the manga version of Tally this week, and then realized that I didn’t have the final versions of the right pages. Oops. Then there was a bit of miscommunication, but now at last I have them!
So we are delaying Fan Art Friday (often known as Fan Art Sunday) for the Tally character reveal.
Remember that Shay’s Story (AKA “The Uglies Manga”) is all from Shay’s POV, and therefore starts about six months before the events of Uglies, back when Shay and Zane are pals. So Tally doesn’t enter until Zane and Shay have planned to run away and then “chickened out.” (That’s what they told Tally in Pretties, but it’s more complicated than that in reality.)
But when Tally appears, we are fully into the same events as Uglies, so some of the scenes below will be familiar. It’s kind of interesting, duplicating some Uglies scenes almost exactly, but in an entirely new context and from a different point of view.
Of course, there are some times when Devin and I decided to skip over a lot of the scenes in Uglies, using the wonder of montage! You may recognize these flashes from the book, when Tally and Shay are getting to be friends.
Here’s a close-up of a familiar scene in Uglies that gets swept past in this montage:
This scene is also directly from the book, but here only lasts one frame. It’s quite illuminating to see Steven’s vision of it:
What’s interesting is, when you read the book, Tally is the protagonist and is therefore the center of attention in this scene. But in the version above, you can see that Shay is the featured character. She’s literally foregrounded.
And finally, here’s an argument between Tally and Shay at a certain key point in the story:
Click here for a bigger version of this one.
The dialog is directly from the book, but as you can see, Tally has her back to us and we see Shay’s expression.
I didn’t realize any of this (at least, the visual aspect of it) until I started to look for shots of Tally, and realized that there were very few of her. Most of the time, she’s in the background and Shay’s doing something. Because the comic is all about Shay.
But there is a great shot of Tally from near the end of the book, when they’re in the Smoke. So here’s frizzy-haired, not very confident, under-suspicion Tally:
Hope you like her.
Okay, it’s time to get rid of our protest-y black boxes, and check out the real version of FAF. My apologies for making you wait!
Here’s CatieKay’s rendition of a CERTAIN SCENE from Goliath.
Super atmospheric, with lightning! For some reason, the katakana in the lower left is defeating me. Can anybody translate? (Ka-i-ri-so? My Japanese sucks these days.)
And from Unforgiven-Unloved, check out Alek’s expression. He is in LURVE.
And the last of the SOPA-edits is AvistheArtistGeek, with her Leviathan Xmas decorations. 3-D FAF!
Just imagine little wee Deryn climbing up a Christmas tree on the tinsel ratlines. SO MUCH KAWAII.
But wait. There’s more!
Here’s a cartoon from fellie220:
There’s just not enough marker in fan art! Love the lurid colors! (Love typing “lurid,” too.)
And here’s some bonus chapter fan art, from Melissa M:
Volger looks funnier in a lizard head than I imagined him. But of course, IT’S VOLGER IN A LIZARD HEAD. (Not to mention: TAZZA WITH A HALO!)
This one’s for all of you who want the Leviathan series updated to World War II. It’s also a fandom cross-over move, with Deryn and Alek in Hetalia mode. (Hetalia is a web-comic that anthropomorphizes the countries of WWII in comical and stereotypical fashion—and, as pointed out in the comics below, has been adapted into a manga and anime.)
Interestingly, it’s actually a collaboration between top-cap and magic-the-echidna, who did half each of the image. Click here for a larger version.
And from RakWel we have an Uglies cover redux!
Everything is very manga and Japanesque today, isn’t it?
And now for a vanishingly rare species: So Yesterday fan art!
Anybody remember the purple hand scene? ANYBODY? (Seriously, SO Yesterday is my book that the least people have read. GO FIX THAT.)
We’ve seen work from Art-Band Geek a few times here, but I thought this was a touching scene:
Dalek looks happy there. Happy Dalek is a good Dalek.
And finally here’s an alternate Clanker walker from Tyler:
It’s not from the books, but it totally has that clunky Clanker look.
That’s it! Don’t forget, there will be a reveal of Tally from Shay’s Story (aka the Uglies Manga) early next week. Like, Monday or Tuesday.
Also, some slightly annoying news: The release date for Shay’s Story has been delayed a week, due to paper shortages! But that’s only because the publisher wanted to make it bigger, so you can see all the lovely art.
It now comes out March 6, 2012.
It’s Sunday afternoon here in Sydney, and late Saturday night in the US, which can only mean one thing:
Fan Art Friday!
Of course, I have an excuse for being slow, which is that I ended the week with a big reveal of Zane from Uglies: Shay’s Story, the graphic novel/manga version of how Shay met the original ugly Crims. (A lot of you thought Zane was insufficiently ugly. Of course, uglies in the Tally’s world aren’t really ugly, just normal. That is the point of the series, by the way!)
Ever since saying I was out of fan art, I’ve been deluged. So I won’t be posting it all here today. But don’t worry, if you’ve sent me something, it will show up one day soon.
Let us get started. Here are a couple of cool images from gorrin, who has a lovely pastelly style.
I love seeing the Leviathan in color, and roaring!
And here’s the rare pieces of fan art showing the steam-powered elephants of Istanbul! (Why aren’t more of you guys drawing them?)
I like these two Dalek drawings by Shirushi-sanbusaku. The first shows our pair looking a bit sozzled and having a dance:
And the other is, you know, what happens after the dance.
Note that Shirushi-sanbusaku also did Darwinist Rock on YouTube!
Here’s a piece that’s not really fan art. A fan of mine was at a show by his art teacher, John W. Bartlett, and found this drawing . . .
. . . and said, “Tazza!” and took a picture to send to me. Of course, it’s just your average thylacine, but we thought we’d show you it anyway. (With the permission of Mr. Bartlett, of course.) Tasmanian tigers are so distinctive, which is why so many of us wish they were still around.
Here’s a very cute cartoon from Levi, showing the airship/kappa/cruiser battle from Chapters 14-15 of Goliath:
I love the expression on the face of the Kaiserin Elizabeth, the Austrian cruiser. (That was a real ship, by the way.)
And here’s some more Dalek, by Carly, which shows Alek in some colorful clothes, for one. (Maybe once he’s no longer a prince, he can indulge his innate love of color!)
I quite like this Dalek pairing by TheLanguidClown:
And finally, for you My Little Pony fans, here’s a mix between Rainbow Dash and Deryn, by Agehachou. I’m not sure if this is a real reference to Deryn, or whether it’s just generic steampunk/My Little Pony crossover. (Because that happens all the time.)
Still, check it out:
Just noticed that this week’s FAF was all Leviathan. Does any Uglies fan art exist based on Steven Cumming’s drawings for Shay’s Story? If so, send it my way!
Okay, that’s it for the moment. There is more fan art in the shed, and it will be here in a week. (Less than that, really.)
To be sure, it was really close. Zane and Tally were only about two votes apart. (I say “about,” because it is boring to count these things accurately.) So let’s just reveal Zane this week and Tally next.
*VERY MILD SPOILERS BELOW*
So without further ado, here is (ugly) Zane!
You may recall that the Crims were an ugly gang before they were a pretty clique, and Shay was a member way back then. The manga starts with Shay’s first meeting with Zane and the Crims, which is months before she knew Tally at all.
Note also that Zane has blond hair back in his ugly days. He didn’t get all black-haired and goth-y till he becomes a pretty. (In manga world, white hair more or less means blond.)
I like this bit of dialog between Zane and Shay. Plus, I HAD to show you some hoverboards.
And finally a panel that involves SLIGHTLY BIGGER SPOILERS, we learn that a dog whistle plays a major part in Shay’s Story. (Okay, maybe not a major part. But enough to go “ta-da” about.)
Hope you enjoyed that. Next week we’ll be back with Tally Youngblood. And Fan Art Friday will be going up on Saturday, because otherwise I’d have to post two days in a row. And it’s my year off, yo.
Pre-order Shay’s Story at Indie Bound, BarnesandNoble.com, or Amazon. Or buy it on February 28 at a proper bookstore.
As promised, I’ll be revealing a character from Uglies: Shay’s Story (aka the Uglies manga) every week between now and February 28, when it comes out.
I showed you a bit of Croy last week, of course. So who shall it be this time around?
Tally?
David?
Zane?
Astrix?
Ho?
Ryde?
Dr. Cable?
Shay has already been revealed, of course. Ugly Shay, anyway.
Note that we won’t be revealing anyone in their pretty form (well, except Dr. Cable and some random residents of New Pretty Town) until Book 2.
Use this comments thread to vote, debate, inveigle, coerce, and otherwise pressure your peers.
You can pre-order Shay’s Story at Indie Bound, BarnesandNoble.com, or Amazon. Or purchase it on February 28 at bricks-and-mortar stores everywhere.
After my continent-spanning tour for Goliath, I did what’s called a “radio tour” for the book. This phrase may sound mildly glamorous, but what it really means isn’t so much “tour” as “sit in a room and talk on the phone to strangers at weird hours of the day.”
Alas, some of these strangers will be drive-time yuck-meisters who talk in their funny radio voices EVEN WHEN NOT ON THE RADIO. It is churlish to complain about any form of publicity, but those guys hurt my brain.
Them: “So what ABOUT that World War I, huh? It was a PRETTY BIG DEAL!”
Me: “Yes. About fifteen million people were killed, and another thirty million succumbed to the Spanish flu cause by the dislocation of–”
Them: “So, are they gonna make a MOVIE?”
Rest assured, though, that many of my interviewers were articulate hosts who’d read the book and had cool questions. I thought I’d share one of the resulting interviews, from Texas Public Radio’s Some Books Considered. The host is Dan Skinner.
(And yes, it DOES sound like I have a lisp. I think that’s my crappy phone’s fault. Well, not MY phone. I don’t actually have a landline, and had to borrow one. Because, excuse me, LANDLINE? Sorry, but 1993 called and asked to have their communication protocols back, so I sent them all the twisted copper in my house.)
Click here to listen to the interview at TPR’s site.
And now for some FAF.
Two weeks ago, I said that Helen Yoon’s lovely piece of fan art would make a good poster for Goliath, the Musical. And someone did it . . .
Remix by is by Margaret E. Original art by Helen Yoon.
And here are two chibi pieces from Helen. Lil’ Lord Alek:
And the mighty Deryn Sharp, of the Clan McSharp:
Chibi versions of a character allow us to see into the true soul of that character. Of this I approve.
And from one of my rather younger readers, Jeremiah, here’s a Clanker vs. Darwinist battle!
I can’t tell you how many things like this I used to draw as a kid. But it was always either World War II or aliens vs. tanks. But I never did any drawings with a bat-poo attack. No, we didn’t have bat-poo warfare in my day. We used to lie awake at night, dreaming of bat-poo warfare. You kids don’t know how lucky you are.
And here’s a sketch from Eli, clearly inspired by the Goliath bonus chapter:
I can see there’s going to be more Alek in a dress stuff. And why not?
And here’s something for those of you who’ve been asking for more Newkirk. Here he is! On an old-school motorcycle!
And finally, this steampunk scrapbook by fanpireashley:
It is a beautiful thing.
For the first time in a year or so, my coffers are slightly low on fan art. Maybe it’s because the series is *sniffs* over. But feel free to send some my way.
Shay’s Story, the manga-style graphic novel telling the Uglies story from Shay’s POV, comes out February 28, 2012. Also known as 56 days from now!
During this eight-week countdown, I’ll be treating you to reveals of all the characters, one per week. We will be voting each week about what character to show, but because Croy would win all the votes, we’ll’ just start with him.
Here are three images of the same panel, showing the pencils, inks, and toned stages that every page goes through. And yes, I get to comment at every stage. Quality control!
Without further ado, I offer you Croy on a hoverboard:
The art is by Steven Cummings, who you can follow on Twitter, or check out on Deviant art. The toning and lettering are by Yishan Li. Text by me and Devin Grayson.
You can pre-order Shay’s Story at Indie Bound, BarnesandNoble.com, or Amazon. Or purchase it on February 28 at bricks-and-mortar stores everywhere.
Two things before we get to Fan Art Friday:
1) Next Thursday, December 8 at 7PM EST, I’m going to be part of a Figment.com chat called “Forget English Class; What We Want to Do Is Write!” I’ll be joined by David Levithan, Robin Wasserman, and Lauren McLaughlin, whose book Scored inspired the panel.
This chat will be online, so ALL OF YOU CAN COME! Just click here for details.
We’ll be talking about how high-stakes testing warps education by taking holistic enterprises (like writing, thinking, and comprehension) and slices them into testable skills (like syllogisms and five-paragraph essays).
To prepare for this chat, Lauren and I actually took the essay section of the SAT, and had ourselves scored by a professional examiner. I haven’t seen our scores yet, but all will be revealed at the chat! (I think Figment are even putting my essay online. Yeesh.)
You can also click here for more about Scored, which is out now. It’s set in a dystopian world where every kid gets a Score when they turn 18, determining their prospects for the rest of their life.
2) There’s less than one week left in the Show Us Your Steampunk contest! Just take a picture of yourself in a steampunk outfit holding a copy of one of the Leviathan books, and you’re in. Click here for details.
Even if you don’t want to dress up, you should head over and check the contest out. There are some really awesome costumes and poses. (It’s a FaceBook thing, though, so you have to have an account.)
And now it’s time for FAF!
We begin with this Deryn chibi, by Jett-Wolfe98:
That is some cute stuff.
Also pinning our kawaii meter is this young-and-old diptych of Deryn by danakairi:
Yes, it’s Deryn in a dress. But it’s TINY WEE Deryn in a dress.
And to complete this chibi trifecta, here’s a lovely image of how Alek really feels about the air beast, from LilyFlowerG:
Okay, let’s leave the cute behind and switch to dark and brooding. Check out this moody picture of Alek in his engineering finery, from peibee-an-jay:
I always love seeing his princeliness covered in grease. Heh.
Now here’s some cosplay from Ben, who spent this Halloween as a rigger.
You have to like the humble cosplayer who’s not a particular character, just a rigger with an air rifle and a candy bag.
And here’s a couple of sketches, this Aya Fuse from . . . I don’t know whom!
And here’s a comic one of Alek and Volger from Ian:
From Laura, we have an Alek’s-eye-view image from the raging storm scene in Goliath. With bonus thumb!
From Clare, here’s a cool profile of Alek, proving that he doesn’t suffer from the Hapsburg chin:
Okay, I have a few more in the shed, but I always like to keep a reserve for next week. But if you’ve sent in some art in the last few months and haven’t seen it here, feel free to resend.
Hope to see you all at the chat next week!
Oh, and you can also keep voting on the BONUS piece of Leviathan art!
As you can see, my website has had its first makeover in many years. This is to celebrate the fact that my first new series in years, Leviathan, comes out this autumn. (October 6, to be exact.)
Things may be wonky for a while as we play around under the hood. But I hope you enjoy the new look. Let me know what you think!
Click here to contact Scott Westerfeld.
Jill Grinberg
Jill Grinberg Literary Management
info@grinbergliterary.com
