Monday 1 July 2019

It's A Faaaake! Not The Art Of Star Trek - Boldly Go in Infinite Diversity

 It's that time again!

For the June art contest, we'll be giving LGBTQ month the Star Trek treatment!

Fancy depicting Culber and Stamets at the Kasseelian Opera? Or showing the Enterprise warp streaks with a distinctly rainbow tinge? Then this is the thread for you!

 The blurb might be succinct, but this post isn't.  I know, I really spoil you!

 The first thing I did was to check if my new(ish) markers (Winsor & Newton ProMarkers, don't you know!) included the colours of a rainbow.  They did.  Just about... (Ruby, Bright Orange, Canary, Forest Green, Sky Blue, Amethyst, and Rose Pink).
 After I'd tried out the colours with the broad nibs, I sketched a little Star Trek alien into each stroke, whose skin tone matched that colour (or as near as my colourblind eyes could manage).

A Rainbow of Races

 This is much larger than actual size which shows just how hopeless the likenesses are, so, to aid identification, from left to right we have: a Caitian (not a teddy bear - I was reaching a bit here, as Caitians are more of an orangey-brown), Tholian (not Munch's The Scream.  In hindsight, I should have swapped with the Caitian, as Tholians are more red), Aurelian (not Big Bird), Gorn, Andorian, Betelgeusian, and a poor boggle-eyed Saurian.

 As it's been 35 years since the release of ST III: The Search For Spock, I decided to try an IDIC/LGBTQ/TSFS mash-up next:

Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations, i.e. IDIC, the basis of Vulcan philosophy

 The little ships are all from STIII, from left to right: amethyst Enterprise, indigo Excelsior, green Grissom, yellow Bird-of-Prey, orange Merchantman, and the red ship is the Ralph McQuarrie Enterprise seen in Spacedock when the actual Enterprise comes home.  I was going to do an orbital shuttle instead of the red Enterprise, but it just looked like a blob at this scale (IDIC spiral is only 9cm across).
 Other ideas I was toying with included a Vulcan couple (both male) doing the finger greeting/foreplay thingy, and a Drag Klingon - teaser below:


 I settled on the Drag Klingon.  However, I messed it up.  Here he his looking more like a camp panto wizard than a fierce drag queen:

 It's his hips and left leg, I think.  It's not clear which leg is carrying his weight, which makes his pose look a bit off.  I decided to scrap it and do a more "fighting stance" pose, losing the staff and finger blades, and probably the cloak, too.
 FYI, the big hair is based on the emblem of the Klingon Empire, the bodice/corset thingy is borrowed from Valkris' wardrobe (STIII:TSFS), and the silver head-dress was inspired by her decorative choker.

 This is my second attempt:

 Although I didn't go with a fighting stance, I did get rid of the staff etc, and I think the pose now looks more "pop star" than "camp wizard" - a bit more appropriate.  Boldly Go in Infinite Diversity!

 I posted these work-in-progress pictures in the Trek BBS art forum yesterday and received some constructive criticism: "Cool. The only issue I see is that if you hadn't said it was a Klingon drag queen, I wouldn't have recognized it as a Klingon..."
 It's this sort of critique that makes me wish I hadn't left all this to the last moment again, as I didn't have the time (or inclination) to re-do it.  Especially as the deadline was midnight!
 The critic did have a point though.  As this is such a small sketch, one has to look very closely to see the head ridges (and the fact that they're covered in "make-up" probably doesn't help?).  At that point I thought that I could have put some ridges on his feet like Worf has, which may have helped to identify his species but, again, I couldn't be bothered.  Oh well - I'll just have to hope that the Klingon costume (however exaggerated) is enough.
(I also don't like the white "glossy sheen" highlights now!)

 So, this is it - I think...?

 Although, I found myself feeling sorry for the little boggle-eyed Saurian and his friends from my initial idea, as they didn't make the final cut.  So, as this month's theme is all about inclusion, I found a space for them:



::

Previously on It's a Faaaake! Not The Art Of Star Trek:

May 2019 - (the leaked final scene) X Marks The Spot, and the main attraction: Treasure Map
April 2019 - Oops-A-Daisy!
March 2019 - Disco78
January 2019 - Caught Red Handed
October 2018 - Anomalous T-Shirt
September 2018 - Two Soups
August 2018 - Wild Things (and its prequel: Seeing Double)
July 2018 - Revenge of the Baby-Sat
June 2018 - Making Money
March 2018 - Murder On The Dancefloor
February 2018 - Narwhal in a Spacesuit
December 2017 - Unfinished Business
November 2017 - Let's See Your OC!
October 2017 - Celebrate Good Times, Come On!
July 2017 - Walk Like An Egyptian 
June 2017 - Foreign Relations
May 2017 - Driven to Distraction
February 2017 - Of Prophet's Tears and Verteron Nodes (plus the warm up: The Celestial Temple Cries Golden Tears)
December 2016 - "Did the plan fail, Edward?"
November 2016 - Winter Solstice
October 2016 - Twisted October: Star Trek Art Challenge



  As is now traditional, Senator Vreenak insists upon having the last word:




6 comments:

  1. Here he his looking more like a camp panto wizard than a fierce drag queen
    Apologies, but I did snigger at this bit!
    Terrific idea though.
    Sx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The annoying thing is that I didn't notice until I'd almost finished colouring him in! Although, I did laugh afterwards. Even now, looking at that picture makes me smile.

      Delete
  2. I just can't see Worf in that frock, somehow. Jx

    ReplyDelete
  3. Does it spoil the mood if I apply hand sanitizer after performing the finger greeting?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I suppose it depends what you apply the hand sanitizer to?

      Delete

Tickle my fancy, why don't you?