How Writing Is Going:

Fun Star Wars aesthetic detail: ever notice how the paint colors on Anakin's podracer are blue, yellow and orange? Like the 501st, the 212th, and the 332rd company that Ahsoka led on Mandalore?

So, I've got a question. In an AU where Padmé survives, fakes her death, and goes into hiding, are she and Vader still legally married? Or was that dissolved upon the registration of her death? Or, since her death certificate was falsified, would that mean that all her legal contracts would remain intact? Or would it be a legal question that would have all the experts perplexed because there's simply no precedent, and would result in a lengthy court battle? (Or a not-so-lengthy one, depending on the state of Vader's temper.) Would it even matter anyway, since she apparently didn't marry under her own name? Since neither of them married under their legal names, is it even a valid legal contract in the first place?

I'm probably going to have to end up BS-ing the legal stuff for Fortune's Rule, but if anyone knows if there's a canon answer (or Legends) to the question of whether they would still be married after she faked her death, that would be lovely.

Edit: The closest real-world example I can find is Enoch Arden laws, and while the Republic/Empire probably has something similar, those don't quite fit the situation, since they have to do with someone being missing, not faking their death.

So, I was watching Randy Rainbow videos on YouTube this evening, and it occurred to me that there would probably be someone like Randy Rainbow in the SW galaxy, out there criticizing Palpatine, Vader, the Moffs, etc., with "interviews" and clever, witty showtune parody holos.

Sure, this individual would have to be in disguise and doing the holos from a super-secret location, but you know somebody out there would be doing it... and oh my, would I love to see those.

The way Vader speaks differently from Anakin, not just accent but diction, makes me wonder how the heck he picked that up. Did Palpatine decide, "You must speak properly and menacingly, my disappointingly casual apprentice"?

Or, oh geez, did Vader actually start voluntarily looking up higher-level vocabulary and practicing stiff, formal sentence construction, just so he could avoid sounding like Anakin?

Well, he's nothing if not extra.

When Obi-Wan inevitably finds out about this voluntary study in the Force ghost afterlife, he really wishes he were sufficiently corporeal to bang his head on the wall, because how many years did he spend trying to help Anakin with linguistic skills, and now he decides they're actually useful?

So, I wasn't going to do a second illustration for the most recent chapter of Fortune's Rule, but it demanded to be done, and consequently I ended up doing it anyway.

Used the same technique as last time with an even base layer and then colored pencil over it, but this time the base layer was watercolor, instead of marker. Wasn't sure I had enough ink left in my grey marker for Vader. The background was also done in watercolor this time, and then I added pencil to enhance. No pen lines in the background this time, because I realised that the background pen lines are one of the things I don't like so much about the Ahsoka drawing; they make it look too busy and choppy, or something, the horizon line in particular.

I originally used a reference pic of Obi-Wan fighting Dooku, substituting Vader for Dooku, but ditched that because the stance didn't look aggressive enough for Vader. The perspective/angles aren't perfect; arms seem a little wonky, still not sure I got Obi-Wan's legs right, and his head looks a little too big?

The pencil worked really nicely for the flames, which just looked extremely blobby when I only used paint. Pencil also gave the smoke a nice opacity that I wasn't sure how to achieve with watercolor.

And my favorite thing about the whole process.... After finishing up and taking a pic, I realised that behind Obi-Wan, there's a shielded fortress, while behind Vader, there's a flaming wreck; kind of some fun parallelism going on there. And the way the building is on elevated ground, while the wreck is at the bottom of an embankment, also makes for a nice little "Mustafar-reference-if-you-squint." All the symbolism works out super nicely. It was also super unintentional. 😂

Fortune's Rule art: Chaos Twins!

A bit of chaos twins mischief for the next chapter of Fortune's Rule! (Which is currently in the process of being written.) Was the paint supposed to end up on Luke and Leia's faces? You bet it wasn't. But we can't let extra paint go to waste in the middle of a Rebellion, now, can we?

It was hard to decide whether I wanted to make this a nice, sketchy pencil drawing or go with clean pen outlines and a bit of color. Pen and color won, because I haven't used that style yet for an illustration in this fic. Plus, it's been a while, and seemed like a good challenge!

I'm mostly pleased with how the illustration turned out, especially the way the fabric wrinkles around the sleeves! Surprised myself with that one. The hands, though... oof. Hands. Why so hard to draw.

A lovely evening, cozily painting on the floor! (Oh, that sounds kinda bad, actually.)

Now playing: III-XV. Desperate Times and Desperate Measures, pt. 1

In which Padmé makes a difficult decision, and Vader spends some time with his apprentice.

Inspired by a "redraw this as your ship" screenshot I saw on Pinterest, and while I wouldn't exactly call this my ship, I thought it would make for a fun, dramatic scene!

And I'm discovering that I be slightly addicted to drawing Rebel graffiti in aurebesh.

Aurebesh font files downloaded from AurekFonts, Boba Fonts, and Pixel Sagas on fontspace.com

We Didn't Start the Fire, Star Wars Version

Amidala, Nute Gunray, no treaty, trade blockade Jedi guarding, desert landing, Qui-Gon's bet—oh gee Ani’s freedom, Naboo mission, death of Qui-Gon, Zabrak fission Old apprentice, new apprentice, Chancellor Sheev P.

We didn't start the fire It was always burning, since the worlds’ been turning We didn't start the fire No, we didn't light it, but we tried to fight it

Separatists, death plot, Chancellor, asks a lot Jedi, two refugees, scary mother dying dreams Missing planet, Obi, Republic’s got a clone army Tusken Raiders, Geonosis, galaxy’s in two teams

[Chorus]

First Christophsis, siege weeks long, snippy little padawan Huttling stolen, droids a’ rollin’, lineage snark Ryloth, Duchess troth, Zillo beastie, Quin Vos Mortis, two falls; Rako Hardeen arc

[Chorus]

Pong Krell, slavery, Ventress goes her own way Maul’s a crime lord, Satine Kryze, Temple bombing, ‘Soka leaves Clone chips, Fives caught on, Clovis rising, Qui-Gon Rex’s plans, crazy clan, troubles with the Martez

[Chorus]

Mandalore, Maul again, army splitting, Tano’s men Blue blades, good men die, padawan’s last goodbye Grievous coming, Sheev is gone, tell the Team to come on Skywalker homicide, half a ship’s a wild ride

[Chorus]

Anidala, nightmares, spying games, Sheevie’s snare Lots of lightning, window, arrest is a no-go Vader, Knightfall starts; Padmé, Obi, lacking smarts Strangulation, limbs gone, two new hopes are born anon

[Chorus]

Luke’s new droids, Old Ben, looks like I’m a Jedi then Prison, Tarkin, Alderaan explosion Two old men in one last duel, trash compactor’s not so cool Escape, Yavin, joining the Rebellion Death Star, exhaust port; shooting womp rats, good sport Deadly ray – blown away, what else do I have to say?

[Chorus]

Wampa fight, Echo base, Yoda’s cave’s a scary place Bespin, friend con, carbonite, poor Han Sith Lord, quick sword, Luke’s first duel, parent being really cruel Weathervaned and down a limb, lucky Leia’s saving him

[Chorus]

Jabba’s Palace, sneaking in, death-tight chain around Hutt skin Swamp returns, sister learns, fleet, flight, prisoner New apprentice, Sheev seeks one; Ani’s choice to save his son Empire fractured, ghost encore, Rebels gonna win the war!

[Chorus]

Sending this your way .. about Nur and how horrific it is… tie in to your reference about Nur in Fortunes Rule and how Vader has a lot to explain and atone for when it comes to the whole torturing and entombing

Jedi esp younglings 🤯

Hey, thanks! That little bit about the entry point and the security will definitely come in handy, as I am planning to have a Nur chapter at some point down the line.

Honestly, I may have gotten myself in a bit over my head with the whole Nur thing. I didn't realise just how nasty it is when I mentioned it back in Part II, so, uh... yeah, that's going to be fun to figure out. Fortunately, it will be a while before that arc, so there's some time to figure out how to approach it.