SFH Featured Artist: Vadrigos

Hi there!!

This Writer and dabbling Artist has taken on a interesting twist to Stargate and Transformers as well as a variety of screenshot art......read on to find out more. Thank you Vadrigos for taking the time to answer my questions and the patience for this to be posted.


Tell us about you. What would you like for us to know about you?

There's not much to tell about me. I'm pretty much a semi-normal guy like most people. I do have Asperger's however, which means the only movie star I truly identify with is Benedict Cumberbatch. I have a bone-deep love of sci-fi and little fantasy, and a passion for writing. I'm also a xenophiliac, and before you all go 'EEEEWWWWW', that' means I like strange and alien things. The unusual attracts me, though not too unusual if you please. Anyway, I pretty much live on two foodstuffs: pasta and chicken, which I cook myself. I'm working on being more independent and will soon be moving out (oh the horror).

You have a lot of writing on dA. Tell us about your stories.

Same Side Chapter 1Same Side
Summary: Atlantis is home, and the team has a whole new basket of apples to deal with: keeping the city hidden, staving off a Wraith invasion, power shortage and…oh yeah, the giant alien robots. (Stargate: Atlantis/Transformers movieverse crossover)
AN: It had to be done eventually.
I plan to work on Orsus Comitas (Stargate: SGA/Farscape crossover) and Same Side at the same time. I'll be writing shorter chapters for both, ranging between 2,000-2,500 words rather than the 3,000+ chapters I usually aim for. These are the only two I plan on working on this summer.
Below is a list of characters from each fandom that will be featured, and there are many. This means that these characters will get quite a bit of attention and likely will appear in more than half of the chapters.
From Stargate:
Sheppard
McKay
Ronon
Teyla (later on)
Lorne
Woolsey (until a certain point)
From Transformers:
Major Lennox
Sergeant Epps
Optimus Prime
Ironhide
Mudflap/Skids
Ratchet
Storm Jet (newcomer) Reign of Unicron - Prologue
TRANSFORMERS:
REIGN OF UNICRON
Prologue
    The nightmare seemed to have no beginning, no end. Metal and fire, blood and darkness, all surrounded him in a terrifying grip that seemed to close in even as he ran from it. He clawed his way up a mountain of skulls and shattered machine parts. As he reached for the top, he looked up and-
---
    "NO!" Sam shouted, snapping up from his desk so fast he felt his neck crack, his pencil flying from his grasp. It took him a moment to realize that he was in class...and furthermore, he was suddenly the focus of everyone in the room. He blushed furiously.
    "Is there something you...disagree with, Mr. Witwicky?" Professor Tucker asked, gazing with a look of amused contempt at Sam over his podium.
    "I-I'm sorry." he stuttered, "I...I was thinking about-"
    "-something else?" the teacher finished, with a look of displeasure. Sam managed to tu

I love to write. My dad was a professional writer for a while and I love science-fiction, and writing stories that weave my interests together. I love crossovers and writing fanfiction because it allows me to play with characters I love, even though other people made them. That's not to say I don't come up with original material from time to time. My story which I'm currently focusing the most on is based on a superb Transformers/Stargate: Atlantis crossover a friend of mine wrote and was having trouble continuing. Her name on FF.net is Era Yachi, so feel free to buzz her, though life is treating her pretty rough right now. Anyway, she let me use the world she had created, which was great because I'm a big fan of reading first-contact scenarios, but not so great at writing them. At first I thought I would use it to springboard my own story. Reign of Unicron (because I hated Transformers 3 so much I had to write my own damn version), but then I took a step back and decided to write a spin-off first, as a buildup. This was for two reasons: 1) I felt Stargate: Atlantis had left two characters with potential in the lurch at its end: Aiden Ford and Elizabeth Weir, and 2) A lot of things will have changed in Reign of Unicron, meaning a considerable time-gap between Same Side, Era Yachi's story, and my own. I wanted to fill this gap and give two characters a big adventure of their own. That's how Stargate: Those Left Behind came to be.

Where do your ideas come from? What inspires you?

My ideas generally come from spotting connections that no one else does and building on them, or by mashing together good ideas until I find a configuration that fits. Original though is admittedly difficult in a world where we are constantly bombarded by the same tropes from media all around us, but I struggle to make some all the same. My chief problem when it comes to writing is in fact my ideas because I have SO MANY. It's hard to form a plot and stick with it when new concepts keep popping up and begging to be used.

Why Transformers, Stargate and District 9?

Why Transformers and Stargate? Because Transformers looks and feels awesome and to be fair, I love the characters (most of them anyway). As for Stargate, that's just pure, unfiltered potential. It's not just about the characters, but the Gate itself. It's like the Tardis in that respect. It can take you almost anywhere. Worlds beyond count hide behind that shimmering silver surface. I can never help but ask myself, "What mysteries and adventures lie beyond the KAWOOSH?".  As for District 9...my interest in that has admittedly petered off. I've discontinued my stories there. What drew me to it however, was how it made me feel. It portrayed a universe so dripping with injustice that it was practically oozing out of its mold that I cheered every single time a soldier fell to an arc gun. It inspired me, and provided a lesson on how to get an audience's blood pumping.

I see that you've done some screenshot art, tell us about that.



My screenshot art is admittedly not a major focus. I love art, especially concept art for games because it gives me tech ideas. My screenshot art is essentially purely for fun, an attempt to bring a few ideas I've had to life, or capture how certain images made me feel. Much of my stuff is the equivalent of Andy Warhol's work, taking images of things made by other people in such a way that I might capture the feelings it gave me.

Of all your work, what's your favorite piece? What are you most proud of?

Stargate: Those Left Behind Ch. 1Chapter 1: Unexpected Company
    It was quiet on the Ascension. By the ship's clock, we had forty-five minutes before we reached our destination. Being unable to sleep in any case, I got up and dressed. I only had a few things in my wardrobe. Some were clothes I had acquired from markets all over the Pegasus Galaxy. Others had been made for me out of gratitude. I swept through them and grabbed my long grey greatcoat, a gift from the Travelers for my help. It seemed like everything besides the coat had patches. That was the way things were with clothes that belonged to someone with a lifestyle like mine. They started out looking good and then received vigorous combat scarring.
    Eventually I emerged, fully dressed in my 'captain's uniform' and made my way to the bridge, passing through the sporadic design work or my ship which switched back and forth between the cleanliness and sophistication of Ancient technology and the big, industrial

Of all my work, I'd have to say the one thing I'm most proud of is the things I have yet to finish, but which I am still working on. It's a testament to the fact that I can actually finish my work when I start it, and that makes me proud. I also shows that I am improving, which is something else to be proud of. So what is my favorite? Right now, my story, Those Left Behind takes the prize.

What have you found to be the most challenging?

The biggest challenge I have faced is the prospect of later returning to my work to improve it. I have this terrible habit of treating something that I don't like the first time over as impossible to fix and starting over from the beginning. That's why it took so long to get to where I am with Those Left Behind. That's the biggest challenge to my work I've faced...there are of course others, but none as vast as that one. I've only just started to get over it.

Do you have any tips for fellow writers?

Do not take constructive criticism as an insult to your work. I know many of use writers hate reading criticism, even constructive criticism because it makes us feel bad (I have that problem myself). Always spell-check your work and get someone who's good with grammar to beta. Nothing drags a story down more than the weight of bad penmanship. Also, don't focus too much on plot, let your characters have dialogue that is interesting and fun to read. That's something I myself struggle with and a lot of stories I've seen lack it. It's not just about the adventure. It's about the people who are taking it.

Skin by Immerot