Rat Creature's Journal

Apparently Goodreads soon can't use the Amazon data anymore, because Amazon put even more restrictions on this or something. Instead they use other sources, and they ask you to enter data for those of your books that don't have other sources. That applied to quite a number of mine (almost a hundred), and I dutifully entered stuff, though thankfully for many not every field had to be entered.

So that was mildly inconvenient, but what really bothers me is that the replacement data they imported from some other sources is oddly formatted sometimes, and I can't fix it, because I don't have librarian rights. For example it messes up the capitalization (and sometimes punctuation and spaces) in titles that were okay before. In German book titles only the nouns are capitalized not verbs or adjectives, but somehow the new source or sources for many of the books capitalize every single word. It looks horrible and wrong. This is driving me crazy when I look at my book list now.

This entry was originally posted at http://ratcreature.dreamwidth.org/461508.html. | comments

I saw this meme in astridv's journal, and since it's always nice to see a fanart meme come by, I thought I'd participate too.

Give me a character and a time period from fashion history, and I'll draw the character in said fashion.

I changed the linked website to the wikipedia category for history of clothing, because I found the originally linked website impossible to navigate and badly designed, whereas wikipedia offers conveniently sorted links and a fair amount of nice pictures in the articles' galleries.

Fandoms on offer: X-Men, Star Trek, Merlin, SGA, HP, DC and Muppets

I've never really drawn fashion, so while this seems like an interesting challenge for me, I'm going to limit it to five people, because I'm not sure how much effort this is going to turn out. So for easier queuing I've bundled comments on my main journal on DW for this entry.

This entry was originally posted at http://ratcreature.dreamwidth.org/461202.html. | comments

It isn't all that cold here, but I dislike wearing socks indoors, and am not that fond of wearing layers constantly either, OTOH I'm not thrilled with huge heating bills and rather enjoy getting a little of my advance payments back. So winter is a time of constant compromise and dilemma. Also blankets. Unlike socks I don't mind using blankets. So now I'm wondering how cold (or comfortably warm) other people are at their place. (If it's summer right now where you are, just remember your last winter.)



This entry was originally posted at http://ratcreature.dreamwidth.org/461027.html. | comments

Is there a way to get Goodreads to stop the stupid Facebook nagging? I already had to click away the dialog to add some book to my "timeline" (whatever that is) twice. Surely they can't mean to ask me every time I add or finish a book when I don't even have a FB account. It's not that I can't see how some people might want this integration, and one popup to ask me whether I wanted to set it up would have been fine, but surely you must be able to turn it off permanently somewhere? I couldn't find anything in the dialog or my settings.

This entry was originally posted at http://ratcreature.dreamwidth.org/460374.html. | comments

I don't always read the announcements on the ff.net mainpage, so I only now noticed the update from January 5th which says "We are redesigning the storymarks (story bookmarks) feature and unfortunately the new system is incompatible with the current setup. If you have existing storymarks, please save them at your earliest convinence [sic]." What on earth are these "storymarks"?!? Do they mean the favorites list? I do have favorites bookmarked that way, though most are old, and more recently I've just used the the story alert feature, but I'd still save them, only it doesn't seem like you can export them as bookmarks. Or do they mean some other feature I'm not aware of? I have never seen the term "storymark" on the site before in all the years. Why can't they call things in their announcements like they are called in the site navigation?

ETA: sholio explained to me that they are apparently something separate from the favorites (phew!). I still can't find the feature (maybe they are already gone?) and don't recall ever seeing anything called that, but at least I won't miss the feature. Also I can see why they need to redesign it, if the feature was so hidden as to completely escape any notice by a regular user.

This entry was originally posted at http://ratcreature.dreamwidth.org/460256.html. | comments

I think I just got spammed through a poll on LJ? I mean, an openID account that links to some tattoo-related domain replied to one of my polls. I didn't click on the URL, but the poll was very old and asked which icon to draw next, and I have already drawn almost all of them, including the one the responder just picked. So as a genuine poll response it makes no sense. Does this come up as spam vector for others? And can you delete or report it?

This entry was originally posted at http://ratcreature.dreamwidth.org/459937.html. | comments

So I've read about the English Wikipedia being blacked out today to protest that internet legislation, and wanted to see how it looks, but I can see it like always? So do they only black it out in the US? I'm confused.

Unrelated, I was totally right about the formula "McAvoy + sloths = insta-popularity".

This entry was originally posted at http://ratcreature.dreamwidth.org/459698.html. | comments

...once this winning combination had occurred to me. There really was a void, thus:

jamesmcavoywithsloths.tumblr.com

(obviously inspired by the hilarious Michael Fassbender with Pugs)

ETA: Also just now while looking for more photos of McAvoy to combine with sloths, I actually came across one with him hanging in a tree like a sloth. Clearly this is a sign.

This entry was originally posted at http://ratcreature.dreamwidth.org/459012.html. | comments

First, how hard it is to follow a simple discussion with more than two participants. (I know, not what Tumblr is built for, but people still use it for that.) I mean, even if you ignore the unfortunate formatting, that makes it so hard to attribute what is quote and who said what, as soon as a conversation branches, you are never going to see all threads in a single of the reblogs, and if you go to the notes of the original post you can see all the responses and reblogs (i.e. the "A reblogged from B and added" bits) but there they are cut off and shortened, so you have to click and end up with a gazillion tabs to read one post with three comment threads. It's maddening. Unless there is some other reading method I missed to find and display responses? *nurses futile hope*

Second, a more subjective dissonance for me, is how Tumblr is one of the places where publicly celebrating popularity numbers is done by some (on dA it also happens, there with page view milestones mostly). I mean, from what I can tell you can't see the follower numbers like you can on LJ-clone platforms as default with friend-of/subscriber lists, so maybe that's why some people make posts going "yay over 4000 followers!" or the like instead. But of course only the ridiculously popular people do this as far as I can tell, and I can't help feeling kind of crushed in comparison. Though perhaps I wouldn't take notice so much if on Tumblr you weren't seeing "reblog/like" numbers all the time, that draw attention to the audience size constantly, even without extra action.

Which on the one hand I know is silly, because it's not like without these kinds of follower-numbers squee posts I would be unaware that someone else is very popular and has cool content, but still. I mean, with the LJ/DW model that moment of comparison is there whenever you subscribe, but you become aware of a range of numbers, and also then it fades somewhat from awareness for me. However on Tumblr you (or at least I) mostly notice the really popular numbers. For example I'm hardly going to celebrate my next Tumblr milestone which would be if ever the number of followers inched up to a round ten instead of currently eight. And I assume most other people with non-popular Tumblrs feel the same, so the impression gets distorted.

It's of course a completely irrational response to feel bad to have less audience than cool Tumblr X, but at the same time not even do anything to attract more people. If I wanted non-embarrassing follower milestone posts to happen, I would probably need to switch my topics from "mostly crappy doodles" to something with popularity potential, like say "James McAvoy with baby sloths" or something (as a side note, does that already exist? it should, I'd probably follow that), and post consistently and do all the other things that make a Tumblr attractive.

This entry was originally posted at http://ratcreature.dreamwidth.org/458848.html. | comments

I've been wondering about epicanthic folds after reading once again a line in an eye tutorial that they appear only on Asian eyes. I know that is not true, because my own eye corners have such a skin fold, though not an extreme one (here's a closeup photo of my own eyes, you can see the small folds on the inner corners). I realize they aren't *that* common with Caucasian eyes (a couple of times I was even teased as a kid), but obviously they happen as normal variation (and not just with genetic diseases).



This entry was originally posted at http://ratcreature.dreamwidth.org/458509.html. | comments

basingstoke asked me to draw John as a duck from her Sherlock story The Regent’s Park Regulars:
( Read more... )

This entry was originally posted at http://ratcreature.dreamwidth.org/458265.html. | comments

( five images )

This entry was originally posted at http://ratcreature.dreamwidth.org/458217.html. | comments

I've seen More Joy Day! linked several times in my circle today, so I thought, why not offer you drawbles to spread joy?

As usual: I'll do my best for any fandom I'm familiar with, or random stuff (monsters, steampunk machines, animals...) or I can just pick prompts from your interests. I don't draw porn though, and I'm not good at portrait likeness. Also keep in mind that these are quick doodles, so for a prompt that is a description of some epic scene you've always wanted to see realized in fanart the results aren't going to very satisfying for you (or much fun for me).

If you want to see the quality (or lack thereof) you can expect, look at the drawble tag. I don't make any promises for results or a timely delivery, but the past I've usually managed to draw something for everyone who prompted me for these non-demanding, open drawble offers.

This entry was originally posted at http://ratcreature.dreamwidth.org/457932.html. | comments

Fandom: Harry Potter/X-Men: First Class
Characters/Pairings: Werewolf!Erik, Rat-Animagus!Charles
Media used: indian ink and acrylics on paper (original is ca. 24x32cm)
Rating/warnings: Teen? (for naked werewolf)
Notes/comments: This is the gift I made for etirabys for the secret_mutant exchange on LJ. The prompt I filled was "Harry Potter AU. Erik is a werewolf and Charles becomes an Animagus to help him out."

Please do not distribute my art without my permission, i.e. do not upload my art to other sites, services, archives, or wikis. That includes uploading the images themselves to your own Tumblr, even with credit. A high resolution version of this art without the URL watermarking is available on request for private, non-commercial uses.

Preview:
( the image and a high resolution detail are behind the cut )

This entry was originally posted at http://ratcreature.dreamwidth.org/457545.html. | comments

Thanks to the awesome yue_ix who gave me not just a Facebook screencap, but a file made from it with the elements already sorted in layers and prepared for the names, I was now able to make my recent Pinky & the Brain story illustration appear on a fake Facebook site like it was in the story.

( image behind the cut )

This entry was originally posted at http://ratcreature.dreamwidth.org/457466.html. | comments

When a Tumblr post contains more than one picture, with certain numbers some of the images tend to be resized rather small with maybe only one image largish. And then when I click the images I just get an annoying slideshow that barely makes the images larger and actually makes large images *smaller*. Is there a way to click somewhere (or change a setting somewhere) that enables me to see the images at their proper size as they were uploaded? Or at least at the 500px width resize Tumblr does for single picture posts?

This entry was originally posted at http://ratcreature.dreamwidth.org/457201.html. | comments

Since a few people seemed interested, and I already wrote some of it in previous comments to other entries, I thought I'd post a guide to swearing and insults in German after all. However, please keep in mind that for fiction this can't replace language betas, and personally I think that in many cases actually the better choice is not to litter your story with foreign language fragments to begin with. It also ended up being somewhat rambly.

( Still you might want to swear in German for one reason or another... )

This entry was originally posted at http://ratcreature.dreamwidth.org/456852.html. | comments

I've already ranted several times here how computer translation is not your friend if you want to litter your English story with German words (even disregarding the characterization issues or the likelihood of random language switches occurring in the first place). That includes swear words, because believe it or not, swearing works differently in different languages. For example you can't just translate "fuck" and use it like in English for a swear word. Argh.

Well, the story wasn't very good otherwise either, so I don't regret the back button use, but seriously. And now I have the urge to write an introduction to swearing in German to explain, but that probably would only encourage people to avoid using betas, and make things even worse.

This entry was originally posted at http://ratcreature.dreamwidth.org/456598.html. | comments

When you post a work and filled in the "inspired by" field, does the author of that get an automatic alert of some kind? (as default setting, I mean, I suppose you could turn off all notifications) Or do you need to check the "gift for" field? I'm asking because so far I haven't heard anything from the author of the Pinky & Brain story I illustrated, not even a kudo or anything, which is slightly discouraging. But then I didn't actively comment on their story with a link to the picture, I just assumed they'd get a notification of "ratcreature posted X inspired by yours" and then see my illustration, but didn't mark the extra gift ticky box. Along similar lines, I guess the author needs to approve related works somehow before they get linked from theirs to prevent trolling or such? Because I notice that my illustration is not just automatically linked from the bottom of the story. Of course they could simply be offline over the year-end period.

This entry was originally posted at http://ratcreature.dreamwidth.org/456147.html. | comments

Fandom: Pinky and the Brain
Characters/Pairings: Brain/Pinky
Media used: fine liner pen with indian ink, digitally colored in GIMP
Rating/warnings: PG? (no idea what the rating is for mice making out)
Notes/comments: This an illustration for the Yuletide 2011 Pinky & Brain story Best Laid Plans by lies_d. I have to say that it is not at all easy logistically to draw these two kissing. First there's the height difference and then the muzzles get in the way too. Also, this is supposed to be the photo of them that ends up on Facebook in the story and originally wanted to format this to appear as if posted there, like a screenshot with the website logo and such, but I do not have an account and don't really know how the pages where photos are displayed look for the users. I tried finding screenshots of Facebook walls but they don't seem to show photos, just comments? So now you just have to imagine it there.

Please do not distribute my art without my permission, i.e. do not upload my art to other sites, services, archives, or wikis. That includes uploading the images themselves to your own Tumblr, even with credit. A high resolution version of this art without the URL watermarking is available on request for private, non-commercial uses.

Preview:
( the illustration is behind the cut )

ETA (Jan. 7): Thanks to the awesome yue_ix who gave me not just a Facebook screencap, but a file made from it with the elements already sorted in layers and prepared for the names, I was now able to make this picture appear on a fake Facebook site like it was in the story.
( image behind the cut )

This entry was originally posted at http://ratcreature.dreamwidth.org/455933.html. | comments