Meet artist dirigibleplumbing (ao3), who has partnered with writer lomku (ao3) to create stunning art for the early MCU canon-divergent Villain AU, What I've Been Yearning For (Give It to Me Strong).
Q: What did you love about working with your partner?
A: Oluka is great at checking in, giving encouragement, and has incredible feedback on art! It's awesome to work with an author who has such a strong understanding of their work's themes and how they can be incorporated into visual art. Plus, lu is a great help at anatomy issues and collecting drawing reference.
Q: What did you set out to do in your art, or what was your initial inspiration? Were you inspired by any media in the process of your creation, fanwork or otherwise?
A: The piece where Steve is between Iron Man's legs was directly inspired by this destiel art – before I'd been struggling to figure out what I wanted to do for this second art piece. I'd had a lot of ideas and inspiration but none that were coming together in sketches. Then I saw this destiel art, started playing with that, and finally put together something I was happy with. I think it captures the fun power dynamics and horniness of the fic, along with a hint of violence. Plus, I love an excuse to draw a shiny Iron Man armor!
The other one was originally supposed to be a representation of my favorite scene in the fic, but ended up diverging in a couple ways (in the fic, Steve is bound to a support pillar instead of a pole, and his stealth suit doesn't appear until later in the fic). At one point the viewer was going to be situated behind Steve, but I found a perfect pic of Chris Evans' face from another angle where he looked desperately turned on, so I changed the composition to work with that instead.
Q: If your fannish audience likes this art, what other works of yours should they check out?
A:
• tony stark + identity issues,
• 616 steve + the extremis helmet,
• tony/hydracap for stevetony darkfest,
• WWII-era steve/bucky/tony,
• tony in the extremis armor,
• merman steve + octo-tony,
• art for a shell without a star
Q: What will you work on next?
A: I've been planning a few Natasha Stark art pieces that I hope to finish soon. Also, I'm writing a novel-length 616 Civil War fix-it. If all goes according to plan, I'll start posting it in a month or two!
Q: What is something you are reading, watching, or listening to and are currently obsessed with?
Fannishly speaking, I'm also obsessed with Dean/Cas, always and forever. Outside of that, I'm rewatching Andor, plus my dog is the best dog of all time.
