Finally looking at my book and thinking, yeah, I’m pretty close to sending this out to agents, but since I don’t have a writer’s group and my usual readers are knee-deep in their own busy life stuff, I’ve decided to start posting chapters on the blog in the hopes of getting some feedback.
First segment coming next week.
I finished reorganizing the plot for my book. I did it with pen on paper because something about the tactility of it all was very satisfying. I liked being able to flip through each page, hold it in my hand as I looked at what needed to be condensed or moved. I liked feeling the little stack of papers get thicker and thicker between my fingers.
I’m back to actually writing again, with that handy stack of papers right by my side so I can reference it whenever I need to. I use Scrivener for my writing and I love how easy the program makes it to stay organized. It allows me to work the way my brain works without losing anything I don’t want to lose.
Sometimes, though, it’s nice to have something physical. My messy little outline is like a treasure map, leading me toward my end goal, and the crisp feel—the crinkle of the paper in my hand—reminds me that goal is reachable.
Hit up “Amazing” Las Vegas Comic Con over the weekend with the husband and some friends. It was my first time going to something like this and I was pretty excited. Mostly it was just like one huge comic book store, with a bunch of booths full of super hero, super villain, and other awesomely nerdly paraphernalia (as well as a few booths bedecked in heavily breasted ladies—I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised?)
Some of the shops were really cool, but what made the conference worth the money and time was the live drawing demonstration by comic book artist Jim Lee. I wish there had been more of this sort of thing available the day we went. I’ve been drawing most my life and I’m alright at it, but this guy is like a freaking wizard.
Let me demonstrate. The picture below took Jim Lee at tops maybe seven minutes to draw?
Mostly what struck me was the way he talked about shading. He presented concepts I’d forgotten about or he talked about them in ways that left more of an impression than what I learned in my art classes in school. Just little tips, like the fact that the chin is curved so the shadow from the lip will be too. Or that if the light source is coming from behind the person, their ear will create a shadow. Or that unless the light source is hitting a person head-on the shadow under the nose will be sort of lopsided.
Here are some doodles I did to practice the concepts I learned from Jim Lee. These are all rough sketches of possible looks for the face of the main character in the web comic I am slowly, slowly getting ready to launch. They were all done in pen (and while at church, ha ha—hey, it just helps me pay more attention, right?) so the mistakes are all left in.
This one’s more realistic than I think I’m going for. And a little too Zooey Deschanel. But I think I used the Jim Lee concepts pretty well.
I’m not loving the head size on this one. At least not for what I’m going for.
She looks a little like she’s strung out on something. Oops.
I think I’m liking this look the most so far. If it weren’t for all the mistakes on her nose.
rosecardfaux.com 