Year 3 of the 52-Week Illustration Challenge, Week 40

Week 40: Blue.

"Portrait of the artist as an Andorian from 'Star Trek'." Oil pastels on watercolour paper, from a photo from my album.

Return of the 52-Week Illustration Challenge, Week 13

Week 13: Transport

"Taxee! Er, taxi!" Sketch in pencil over a light wash of pink and blue. Inked in black Sharpie and coloured with watercolours. What I enjoyed about doing this is that I splashed the diluted pink and blue paint onto the wet paper first, as a wash (then accidentally left it in the rain), so the dried background ended up being rather like a Mr Squiggle "squiggle" that I allowed to inform me just where the various elements would fall: ie. the placement of the box, the wheels, the girl's feet, the signpost, and even the teddy. It felt like the paper was telling me where to put everything.

Update:

"Transporter Room to Landing Party, one to beam down." A four-part piece of an Andorian from "Star Trek" beaming down to a planet. Drawn in black Sharpie onto watercolour paper, coloured with watercolours, two collaged paper templates, and silver glitter.

Week 13: Transport II

Return of the 52-Week Illustration Challenge, Week 12

Week 12: Costume

"Science fiction media convention costume parade". All of these entrants are me - Tellarites, Andorians and Robin the Boy Wonder - based on photos from several decades of costume parades, drawn and painted in a Perth hotel room. Sketch inked in black Sharpie on watercolour paper, coloured in watercolours and metallic Signo.

Update:

"The Not-So-Happy Dragon." Based on an actual event - when I walked into a dressing room at a charity fundraiser, to put on my superhero costume, and met half a naked dragon! No one is supposed to see who's inside the St George Bank's Happy Dragon mascot. But I did - and now... so have you! Black and green Sharpie markers with watercolour on watercolour paper, collaged onto purple handmade paper.

Week 12: Costume II

At long last... the conclusion is online! Starship Exeter: The Tressaurian Intersection

Starship Exeter: The Tressaurian Intersection

And the first episode, with a cameo by moi...

Therin again!

Star Trek: Titan: Fallen Gods

I picked up a new "Star Trek" novel from Galaxy Bookshop yesterday - and just discovered that my Andorian alter ego, Therin (from 1980), has once again been saluted.

"Titan: Fallen Gods" by Michael A Martin has a ship named after Shantherin th'Clane (aka Therin), a character first introduced in the pro novel, "Ex Machina" (Christopher L Bennett, 2004), and namesake of Therin Park and New Therin Park in five other novels!

Federation: The First 150 Years

There is an exciting, forthcoming "Star Trek" reference book from 47North and becker&mayer! publishers (November 2012). Written by David A Goodman, the hardcover book will feature illustrations by Joe Corroney, Mark McHaley, Cat Staggs and Jeff Carlisle, and will be presented in a unique pedestal display including audio by George (Sulu) Takei.

(Above:) Captain Jonathon Archer of "Enterprise" (NX-01), with Vulcan, Andorian and Tellarite ambassadors, presumably making his infamous gazelle speech. Believe it or not, I own both the Andorian and Tellarite robes depicted in this picture.

Federation: The First 150 Years

More information about this publication can be found at Memory Alpha.

Unexpected Honor

Either I missed something, or nobody on TrekBBS had mentioned that there is an original short story, derived from the "Star Trek Online" game events and characters, in Titan's recent "Star Trek Magazine", no 40, Summer 2012.

Captain Va'kel Shon.

Author Christine Thompson continues storylines from "Star Trek Online" and features the handover of the Enterprise captaincy from Data (IDW's "Countdown" comic mini-series), now in his professor role from "All Good Things..." episode of "The Next Generation", to the Andorian, Shon, for the launch of the Enterprise-F. Also clarified is the fate of the B-4 ("Nemesis").

Beware aliens bearing gifts!

Ambassador Shras of Andor meets Kang and Kodos. The other Kang and Kodos.

Or indeed, Smurfs!

Christmas 2011 approaches!

I put the Christmas tree up. Decorating it was quite carthartic after the eventful weekend. Even though I collect and date two new ornaments for the tree each year, I realised how many extra ornaments I have, tucked into my Christmas gift by my Mum.

Of course, last year, it was impossible to put up a tree when the lounge room was full of dog cage!


Christmas 2011


Closeup on my customised Spock angel tree topper

This year's new ornaments are:


Wild Thing and Max


Mary Poppins' umbrella


Hallmark View-Master ornament from 2008, not a normal size View-Master!

I couldn't resist buying one more this year! This is a teeny, tiny Hallmark limited edition Keepsake ornament from 2008, not a normal size View-Master, but the 3D specialist mail order firm I deal with found a few in their warehouse. They are sure to vanish quickly, though. The three reels feature "A night before Christmas" in 21 stereo pairs.



And this powder blue Andorian koala turned up in the mail from an old "Star Trek" friend on Friday!

Andorian interlopers, 1983

"Return of the Jedi" Australian premiere

Haha, I recall the Andorians got a few nasty glances from the "Star Wars" fans for intruding on their gala premiere! Yay Therin and Tharrah of Andor!

20th Century Fox video of "Return of The Jedi" fans when the film premiered in 1983 in Sydney. Previously, some of this footage accompanied an amusing review by Di Morrisey and Kerri-Anne Kennerley on TV's "Good Morning Australia".


Therin of Andor


Therin & Tharrah

We want you at Starfleet Academy!

Corroney cover: IDW Star Trek (ongoing) #2 - alternate cover.

Very cool Starfleet "recruitment poster" cover by Joe Corroney! News at Trekmovie.com

An unlikely earthquake survivor?

Not wanting to make too light of two international natural disasters, but this little plastic "Star Trek" Andorian charm was purchased on eBay a few weeks ago - and was rather late arriving from Japan. He finally turned up today, with an apology sticker on the envelope: explaining he'd been found in Tokyo, at the bottom of the returning mail bag. So back to Sydney he had to go. Seems he would have been caught up in the big Japan earthquake of 2011. (The envelope wasn't damp, so I guess he managed to avoid the tsunami.)

Andorians may not be punctual, but they are resilient!



The sticker reads: "Dear Addressee, We found the mail remaining in an empty bag which had been originally sent to the destination. Thank you. Tokyo International Post Office."

Meanwhile, this recently came back from Mr Kim, my favourite local framing guy:



It's the autographed cover of Dayton Ward's "Paths of Disharmony", for which I was a beta reader.



Dare you take a stroll in New Therin Park?

I know a secret...

... but I'll get dragged away by the blue people if I say anything more.

I can't wait till next January, when the fourth and final(?) instalment in the "Star Trek: Typhon Pact" storyline, "Paths of Disharmony" by Dayton Ward, shall begin to appear in the bookshops. I can reveal that this novel is set mainly on Andor, and will pick up threads from Heather Jarman's world-building "Andor: Paradigm" (from "Worlds of Deep Space Nine, Book 1"), in addition to picking up the pieces left behind by the post-"Destiny" novels of more recent times.

The dreadlocked Andorian with Picard (above) is Shar, the post-TV series' science officer of "Deep Space Nine".

Thanks in advance to Pocket Books and author, Dayton Ward!

The secret is revealed... HERE.

Lots of new Andorians!

Wounded Andorian (cover); the colony's Prime Minister and his wife; and a guard.

How exciting to pick up the recent IDW Publications' "Star Trek" comic, "Leonard McCoy: Frontier Doctor" #1, written and illustrated by John Byrne, and discovered a host of new Andorian guest stars, coloured by Lovern Kindzierski.


Theela the stowaway!

Significantly, this comic is probably the first "Star Trek" comic to feature more than one Andorian antennae style in the same work:



Most of the Andorians featured in this story, "Weeds", have the original "crown of the head" of the location of the antennae, as per the original series of "Star Trek". However, the spokesman for the delegation that arrives at the end has antennae resembling Shran's distinctive look from "Star Trek: Enterprise"!

The comic takes place in the time preceding "Star Trek: The Motion Picture", in which the Andorians had a different look again: thin, tapering, tendrill-like antennae. Previously, most comic tie-ins set within TMP's time period had to reflect that movies's design for the Andorians, although there were eventually some exceptions.



And I finally caught up with details on the Andorians who used to be featured at "Star Trek: The Experience" theme hotel in Las Vegas! Of course, because the actors playing Tahryn and K'Stran needed to be able to interact with the general public, their antennae were a combination of several styles. The "Star Trek" bonus Blu-Ray disc, "Evolutions" has a great segment called "Farewell to 'Star Trek: The Experience'"!



Lt Commander Tahryn is serving the Andorian Imperial Guard as a member of the Diplomatic Corps. Her current assignment is to interact with the non-Starfleet aliens present on the station and report her impressions of the humans and non-humans she encounters back to Andorian Imperial Command. Often seen at Quark's. Portrayed by April Hebert.

K'Stran Thran is a lieutenant in the Andorian Imperial Guard, serving as intel attaché. He formerly served in Starfleet, on the USS Potemkin, and fought honorably in the Dominion War. Often seen at Quark's. Portrayed by Kerstan Szczepanski.

Ian in Wonderland - in 3D!

Oh frabjous day! I thoroughly enjoyed this evening's little excursion to the cinema to see the new "Alice in Wonderland" 3D movie! I'd heard rather mixed reviews, but this was a most satisfying 3D experience.

And how curiouser and curiouser to notice Joel Swetow in the credits as Man With Big Belly - I own the Andorian ambassador's robes he wore in "Star Trek: Enterprise". Always love a neat Star Trek connection! And yay Michael ("Alfred Pennyworth") Gough as the voice of the dodo!

I wished I gone with someone now, even it it was to get a photo standing in the middle of this huge cardboard display (above). Woulda looked a bit like this:


Me, attending the Mad Hatter's Tea Party in Central Park, New York (January 1992).



Today's pic of the day: a signwriting plane going home at sunset, after a hard day's signwriting?

Preserving the Aenar

I've been looking around, hoping to find something that would serve as a base onto which to mount the the "Star Trek: Enterprise" Aenar Andorian antennae I recently bought, and that would raise the height a bit and also fit snugly into the glass dome, but perhaps not an airtight or non-removable seal. Originally, this glass dome (bought from a second hand shop) would have stood on a wooden base, or maybe be fitted with a cork wedge. Everything came together yesterday!

Okay, I've been looking around, hoping to find something that would serve as a base to onto which to mount

Had they been regular blue Andorian antennae, I would have possibly pinned the antennae to some white fur fabric but, being the very pale Aenar antennae, that wouldn't have provided enough contrast.

A few days ago, I was walking home and found a blue plastic lid from a spray can of enamel paint, perhaps abandoned by a local graffiti artist, in the street. I realised that it would provide a firm base, good height, contrasting colour and probably an almost-snug fit. Then I bought some self-adhesive foam lettering and spelled out "AENAR" around the base. I affixed the antennae to the flat surface of the lid with just a small amount of Liquid Nails, and slowly slid the dome over the top, ensuring the antennae touched neither each other nor the inside of the glass dome. There is a small amount of air flow between the raised lettering. Nothing can fall out if a visitor picks up the dome - and I can look out for any signs of premature crumbling. The latex masks from ST:TMP, sold by "It's a Wrap!", were in surprisingly good shape for having been made in 1978 and stored for several decades at Paramount. If my 2005-vintage antennae last me 40 years, I'll be 91 and perhaps ready to sell them on eBay.



I hope I've done it all correctly. I wasn't too keen on attempting to apply special protective resin coatings, or similar, I've heard about, since it may have spoiled the "screen-used" appearance of the antennae.

The pics I took outdoors today have turned out with a yellowish tinge, but the antennae are more of a pale powder blue.


(As advertised.)

The Aenar that got away... ?

... and left something behind?

My authentic Aenar Andorian antennae, from the "Star Trek: Enterprise" episode, "The Aenar", were purchased from the William Shatner online store - and arrived in today's mail! I've actually had the glass dome here for several years. I bought it from a second hand shop and have been looking for something precious to fill it with!

Coincidentally, the antennae arrived on the same day as Tarah of Andor!

Wet weekend photo roundup

My Andorian boots purchased via the "It's a Wrap!" eBay auctions.
Originally worn by screen extra Chase Bandy in "Star Trek: Enterprise",
and customized from GBX boots. 6 February 2010.


A bend in The Road. 7 February 2010.

Andorians, rainfall and Luna Park

On my desk: Andorian bear and Andorian monkey with Robby the Robot clock and Fantastic Four figurine puzzle plastic packing crate. 3 February 2010.


Torrential rain from the staffroom window, on the day of our annual swimming carnival. 4 February 2010.


Luna Park memorabilia shadowbox. The large clown sticker from the day of the 1981 auction at Luna Park Sydney; the lower right wooden face is of Luna Park Melbourne. 5 February 2010.