My pieces for @malevolentbigbang ! It's been super fun illustrating for @watchersfavorite's lovely fic, Celestial Navigation (Or, finding ourselves under the stars)

My pieces for this year’s @malevolentbigbang, based on the fic Wait Through the Night for the Dawn Light to Break by @cappurrccino! It was an utter delight getting to work on these, and I’m begging everyone to go read this fic. And make sure to check out @captaincravatthecapricious, who also did some wonderful art for this fic.

Soooo, I was (am?) participating in @malevolentbigbang and that's my work for Dreaming wide awake fic (which you def should read)

Can't say I talked to people much, but I sure enjoyed reading the fic and drawing for it :>

[ID: an illustration depicting john in arthur's body traveling through the dark world and looking a a figure playing a stark white piano, he appears to be crying. The whole environment is shades of black and green with a heavy mist obscuring the background, though there a few ruined building peeking out from it. The piano appears to be the only source of light, it's image even reflecting on the mirror-like surface on the ground. /End ID]

MALEVOLENT BIG BANG TIME YEEHAW!!!

I had the amazing opportunity to work with @falloutcoys and their incredibly gut wrenching fic, which you should totally go and read hehe. And shout out to @wormthist who I collaborated on the art for this fic, check out their art too!! It made me cri ywy

And of course big thank you to the @malevolentbigbang crew for having me and organizing this whole event!! you guys did an incredible job

Image one:

[ID:A digital, grayscale drawing of a young, thin, Caucasian girl in oversized clothing with short, dark hair and several missing fingers kneels on the stomach of Parker Yang, a solidly built Chinese man in a rumpled suit.  They both look alarmed. /end ID]

HEY IT'S TIME FOR THE MALEVOLENT BIG BANG! And I had the absolute pleasure of working with the incomparable @cappurrccino on her wonderful fic! WHICH EVERYONE SHOULD READ! It can be found:

(And do you know else did some absolutely beautiful art????? @samglyph!!!!!!!!!!! So go over there and see it!!!!!!)

Now for the rest of my pieces because I got carried away!!!!!

Image Two:

[ID: A digital drawing of Parker Yang, a solidly built Chinese man in a rumpled suit,  being dragged by the ankle into a kaleidoscope of colors from pitch blackness by Biter, a long creature with multicolored tentacles and fins and big teeth.  On the back of Biter sits “Me,” a young girl with short hair, she is pale and dressed in drab colors.  Her eyes are closed and she holds a bag.  The girl looks nonplussed and slightly annoyed.  Parker looks to be screaming and queasy.  The lineart of Parker and “Me” are phasing between bright colors and black, much like the background of the piece. /End ID]

Image Three:

[ID: A grayscale, digital drawing of Parker Yang, a solidly built Chinese man with ragged hair  in a rumpled suit pulling Arthur Lester, a tall, thin, Caucasian man in a crumpled button down shirt into a hug against a vague, dark background. /End ID]

Image four:

[ID: A mostly grayscale, digital drawing of “Me,” a young, thin, Caucasian girl in oversized clothing with short, dark hair, freckles, and several missing fingers, looking frustrated and holding out a bag towards Parker Yang, a solidly built Chinese man in a rumpled dress shirt and tie and Arthur Lester, a tall, thin, Caucasian man with a scruffy beard and freckles in a crumpled button down shirt.  Parker and Arthur are sitting on the floor.  Parker has an arm around Arthur, trying to calm him down.  A yellow halo appears around Arthur’s eyes and John’s hand.  Parker looks worried, but Arthur looks very afraid.  /End ID]

Image five:

[ID: A mostly grayscale, digital drawing of Parker Yang, a solidly built Chinese man in a rumpled dress shirt with Arthur Lester, a tall, thin, caucasian man with a scruffy beard and freckles in a crumpled button down shirt thrown over his shoulders in a fireman’s carry.  Arthur has a blindfold over his eyes to dampen the yellow halo around them, and John’s hand is clutching his own, a halo emanates from John’s hand as well.  Behind them, teeth gleam in the darkness, slick with saliva.  /End ID]

[ID: Three photos of two hand-bound books. In the first, one book--which is approximately a quarter of the size of the other--is stacked atop the other book. The spines are facing the viewer. The binding style is exposed-spine coptic, and the folded edges of the paper are exposed as well as the stitching. The stitching is half green and half yellow on the bottom book, as if the book has been cut in half vertically. This stitching matches the bookcloth on the covers, which is green with mushrooms on the green stitching side and yellow with bees on the yellow stitching side. Paper wraps around the covers with the title, Song Number Three, and the author name, shadow0haven, on them as well as green and yellow patterns. On the top book, the stitching is a dark green and the cover material is maroon with a tree root pattern on it. There is a silver, maroon, and green braided bookmark sewn to the top with a bronze bead at the end of it.

In the second photo, just the bottom book is shown, standing upright with the spine facing the viewer. In this position, we can see that it is a tete-beche binding, with one cover right-side up and the other upside-down so the book can be flipped over and read from both directions. In the third photo, just the top book is seen, standing upright with the spine facing the viewer. /End ID]

I had the pleasure of binding Amai (@shadow0haven)'s fic Song Number Three for the 2023 @malevolentbigbang event! It's a separate-bodies omegaverse AU where John undergoes a type change from beta to omega, and I wanted to represent that in my bind, so I decided to do a tete-beche binding with two different typesets and cover designs for the story, placed back-to-back in the same book. You can read it, then flip it over and read it again from the other direction!

The designs for the two sides of the book are inspired by the scents for betas and omegas, which feature in the fic. Betas are described as having a grassy, earthen scent, while omegas have a sweeter scent, like vanilla and orange. Alphas additionally have heavier scents, like spices or oak, which is what the additional mini bind of the fic is inspired by! I wanted to complete he trio, so I did another bind of the fic in a smaller size that fits in the palm of your hand.

In addition to the visual design, there's a component to these books that doesn't photograph: they're scented! I mixed essential oils into the glue used to construct each side's coverboard--orange and vanilla for the omega side with the honeybee fabric and moss and dirt for the beta side with the mushroom fabric. The alpha book has spice and teakwood scents infused into it. I was really excited to experiment with scented books (as strange as they may sound), and I'm very happy with how they turned out! The scents are subtle enough not to be overpowering, but they're very much present and distinctive.

More information about the bind and photos of the typeset beneath the cut!