Fan Art Friday Returns!

Posted on by scott

The Goliath tour is finally over, and that means the return of Fan Art Friday. Because I’ve missed so many in a row, I decided to do it a day early!

Of course, for me tour’s end means many other reasons to celebrate, like eating much less cheese. (Vegetarian + room service = cheese. It’s a fact.) I realize, of course, that complaining about touring is churlish. Traveling across this continent and seeing so many of you was both a pleasure and a privilege (a highly cheese-filled privilege). So my thanks go out to everyone who came out, dressed up, and otherwise made my tour a great experience. (And special thanks to the Moonlight Hotel in St. Louis, who had non-cheesy vegetarian food on their menu even late at night when authors return exhausted to their rooms.)

But enough about cheese. Let’s get onto the fan art. Lots of you sent me art while I was on the road, and I will eventually get to all of it. But for the next few editions of FAF, I’m going to stick to art, signs, and costumes I encountered on the road. Hope you enjoy them!

Let’s start with a beautiful piece by skeithe at DeviantArt. She handed a printed out version of this to me, which I’m going to get framed!

Everyone loves holding hands, right?

Here’s an incredible piece of not just fan art and cosplay, but fan engineering by the amazing steampunk crew at Austin Teen Book Festival in Texas. Check out their life-size Huxley!

Um, all I have to say about this is pretty much . . . whoa. I can’t imagine how much effort and planning goes into something like this, because I am a mere typer of words, not a builder of things. Luckily there were about 2,400 people at ATBF to see this magnificent fabrication, so the effort was mightily rewarded with many ooohs and ahhhs.

One of the cool things about writing books is how readers glom onto certain lines in a novel. Out of thousands of sentences, one will somehow resonate with lots of people. (I’m looking at you, “The things you do, the way you think, makes you beautiful.”)

Here’s a lovely example of that, an illustrated quote from page 13 of Behemoth. This one simile stuck in someone’s mind until it they were forced to make it an image in the real world.

And now for some cosplay. Three girls came to the Wild Rumpus Bookstore in Minneapolis dressed in Edwardian finery, and proved their mettle. They stayed in their velvet smoking jackets (and one cold-weather aviator cap) even though it was barking hot in the store! Plus, they looked awesome.

Speaking of cosplay, don’t forget the Show Us Your Steampunk contest over on FaceBook. Enter to win the goggles and aviator cap from the Leviathan photo shoot, and signed books too!

I’ve noticed that on all my tour appearances since writing Leviathan, there are a few people in the audience who sketch while I talk. You know, artists making art as a way to concentrate. And at the end they hand me the finished works. Here’s a lovely example from Joliad/Jurodo:

And, hey look! I just found a finished version of this pose over at Jurodo’s DeviantArt page!

Wow, I always love the transition from sketch to full-blown artwork.

Here’s another cool bit of fan engineering: Ben in Austin created this wonderful remote control Leviathan model. It’s flying out over the audience assembling for my Austin Teen Book Festival keynote. Sorry about the darkness.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrCWl8S34ds?hl=en&fs=1

Watch it bigger over at YouTube.

Okay, that’s it for this FAF. But don’t forget: my final US event will be at Books of Wonder in NYC this Saturday. And even if you don’t live in NYC or even in the US, you can get a book signed and personalized by me through the store. Just order before Saturday, and I’ll make sure to sign it for you while I’m there. If you want a personal message (like, “To Airship Ninja!”) just say so in the comments field when you order. Books of Wonder will ship anywhere in the world.

Just click here to order one. You can also search my last name on that page for ANY of my books, signed and personalized.

Event details:

Saturday, October 22
Noon-2PM
BOOKS OF WONDER
18 West 18th Street.
New York, NY 10011

Also appearing: Maryrose Wood, Jeff Hirsch, Sarah Beth Durst, Jon Skovron, Elizabeth Levy, and Mordicai Gerstein.

45 thoughts on “Fan Art Friday Returns!”

  1. those are s0 barking awesome! I can’t wait till my cosplay is complete! I”ll send you pic when it is! oh and today at the library we’re going to make a clanker machine with this art program. We planned this awesome party for leviathan we will send a pic to you too!

  3. Cool! Ich Leiber Facher Kunste Freitag!
    Thought I’d put it in German in honor of Alek. Here’s what it means:
    (I love Fan Art Friday!)

  4. *dies* You posted both of my pictures! Thanks so much for coming to Minnesota! I wish I had spent more time on your gift, but alas…school… and that darn Barnes and Noble delivery system (Still rereading! 😀 )

    Those cosplays and engineering are fantastic! I love what fans come up with!

  7. Wow! Motivated fans can create some amazing (and actually tangible) things!
    If you tour for the release of the fourth book, you should have a friend document the fans you see with a video camera. I’m sure I’m not the only one who’d love to see what you see on tour.

    Let us know when you are finished with sharing the tour’s art, and ready for us to send new stuff. I was was among those that sent you art while you were on the road…oopsie 🙂

  8. Oh and one more thing!

    Will you be releasing sneak peeks of the art in the Manual? We knoww you have some drawings of the Leviathan from Keith that you used to make sure the details in the story stayed consistent (you said so in a video a while back…). Do you think you could share one or two..? If we are going to make accurate fan art, we need to know exactly what it looks like.

    Just an idea… 🙂

  11. about the cosplay contest, my costume was for someone who was a character but not steampunk. do i have to make a new costume?

  12. Yay for fanart friday! But oh nonono for you being at Wild Rumpus! …Well oh no for you being within walking distance and me being insanely clueless. I cringe to imagine what I was doing that Saturday instead of seeing my favorite author ever, probably something awful like calculus or eating spinach.

    At least the other awesome MN fans got to meet you! I hope the kitties and chickens at the store were perfectly hospitable.

  13. And oh my gosh, the first drawing is AMAZING – I would get that framed too. (It’s currently my wallpaper on my computer and soon to be the wallpaper on my iPod and nook and any other electronic I can find.) It’s sooooooo good.

  15. Love fanart Friday!!! Especially a day early!!!
    I missed the flying Leviathan. I was so busy listening to you, I didnt see it. :'( I took a picture next to the Huxley too. How could I resist??

  16. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! i just finished Goliath and it was freaking amazing! but i want more! it was the perfect ending but i don’t want it to be the end! i remember you saying something about short stories you should so post those online! just so we know what actually goes on after the awesome ending! because i doubt this is the last adventure they have together considering its Barlow who their employed to so please post them online i know im not the only one!

  17. Awesome FAF 😀 that Huxley is incredible.

    Also I’m coming to the event tomorrow in NYC, I’m so excited!

  18. I’m super excited. but 10000 times more jealous that I didnt get to meet the amazing scott westerfeld. frown. the first pic, that was awesome. the whole feather wing and the outfits-perfect. but still, the big apple never seemed so far away.

  19. Yay! Fan Art Friday! The first piece of art is great! I love how the gears and the wing fit together as a symbol. I love the Huxley. No doubt. And the butterfly. Beautiful imagery creates beautiful work. I’ve been mulling over a piece of jewelry regarding that same quote. Maybe I’ll actually get around to working on it this weekend so you can show it off as well!

  20. Um, this might be an odd question, but would writing a blues song about the Leviathan series qualify as fan art? I mean, I guess it would technically be art, as in music, but still I’m not sure. I’ve had the idea of a song kicking around my head for a while, but it’s starting to take shape, and I’ve found it sort of pertains to my favourite trilogy. So I guess if I finish it I’ll just put it up on here, because this is the only place on the internet that I know how to publish stuff on. But however it is, it won’t be very literal, like I won’t say “Alek and Deryn did this and that”. I won’t use names, or be very obvious. Basically I’ll try to keep it from being crappy. 🙂

  22. “Wait, so there is a room with hundreds of lizards that repeat everything you say?! Someone has to stumble in there.”
    You were hilarious at Books of Wonder! I wish I could have stayed to ask questions while getting my book signed, but I was late to see Wicked on broadway. The other authors were also really funny and cool, I’ll have to check out their books!
    Nice fanart and cosplay!

  23. He’s consistently hilarious. Did he talk about “paving the crap out of the entire world” in NYC? And how we are lying to our children as a result of cameras? Because he did at the ATBF and it was hilarious.

  24. D: No, he should have, though! There was something else funny though, but it’s skipping my mind what it was…

  25. It was so funny, at ours, he was talking about how Keith sent him a drawing, and Scott was like, “No, no, I want it shown from the side,” and Keith was like, “I don’t get it,” and Scott said, “I hate you,” and Keith said, “I’m Canadian!”

    Long story short, in order to fix the problem, Scott built a DIORAMA of how he wanted to drawing to look, out of clay and a matchbox and some quarters. He showed us a picture and I pretty much died laughing. It was hilarious. AND HE NEEDS TO POST IT. IT WOULD BE AMAZING.

    “Are you laughing at my diorama?”
    *resounding answer amid hysterical laughter* “YES!”

  27. I have a drwing Ineed to send you as soon as my friends finishes coloring to background. (When I color things, it looks like a horde of colored pencils attacked the paper 🙂 )

  30. This is a nerd moment, BUT OMG THAT’S ME IN THE BACKGROUND OF THE HUXLEY PICTURE!

    I’m the one in the pink shirt, looking the other way :3

    I had so much fun at the Austin Teen Book Fest even though I was in the same spot for roughly six hours.

  32. God, I wish I could draw well. Then I’d totally make a super-sensual illustration of Deryn and Aleksandar. Speaking of which, has anyone noticed how ironic it is that Scott Westerfeld wrote a book about not-super-beautiful-people (Uglies), and then writes Leviathan, in which the two main characters (at least how Keith Thompson draws them,) are both really good-lookin’? Well I have. And honestly, I’m glad about that. 🙂

    “Guns don’t kill people, it’s the bullets that do.” -Ellis Paul

  33. @Hannah-la
    I had to save the “I hate you” “I’m Canadian” thing to my iPod whenever he was talking. And yes…. The diorama. When will he post the picture of it? Please, Scott, pretty please!!!!

  35. @Hannah – I know. Amazingness. Hey, were you dressed up? Maybe I saw you there.

    I was wearing a white collared shirt with puffy elbow length sleeves under a grey vest. I had a gold colored skirt that was about knee length with a petticoat peeking out the bottom, and I was wearing combat boots that went almost all the way to my knees. (Also, I’m the girl from the photo with Bovril – so if that jogs your memory as to my face, lol.)

    Tell me what you were wearing so I can rack my brain, haha.

  36. @Hannah-la
    I think I saw you! Do you have blond hair that was pinned up? I wasn’t dressed up. Just wearing a black t short, knee length shorts, a silver necklace that had a few clocks and a gear on it, black sandals, and I have brown hair.

  37. Yup, I had it in this weird ponytail tucked into itself that kept falling out. 😉

    I’m trying to remember, but if I did see you I probably don’t remember. *fail* There were SO many people there – I only really remember the people in costume because they stood out. *headdesk* Sorry… That necklace sounds awesome, though. I want.

  38. I know! Too many of us normal people. 😛
    I thought your costume was awesome. I have been looking in Goodwill to see if they have anythin like yours. So, I guess your costume is inspiration for my Halloween costume. And I tried the weird ponytail thing. Failfailfailfail!!!!!

  39. Nice. I suggest bobby pins, and many of them. 😉 My hair is actually semi-short, so maybe if your hair is too long it won;t work as well.

    Thanks! That means a lot. (I actually found all of my outfit at Goodwill, lol.) I pulled the skirt up about six inches and sewed it to the waistline (if that makes any sense – about six inches below the waistline I folded the skirt up to the waistline and sewed it there and did so all the way around) so it was poofier and showed the slip, in case you want to try that. 😉

    And thanks for the compliment – you totally made my day!

  40. @Hannah-la
    Yay! I got a lot of ideas, but I remebered yours becuse it looked like something you could actually find! And I have long hair, soooooo 🙁

  41. If you have long hair you have way more options, whereas all I could do was… that. *headdesk*

    I love how we’re like, the only ones still commenting on the old blog post, lol. Everyone has moved on to the next one, haha.

    Have you read Airborn by Keith Oppel? I just finished it, it was SO GOOD. (I heard from stkidd on Deviantart, on whose page I spend wayyyyy too much time.)

  43. @Hannah-la
    Haha! I saw that in Barnes and Noble and wanted to read it, but I havent had time yet. Maybe I will go get it from the library.

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