tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50391582024-03-14T07:28:16.956-03:00Anagram for InkHand-binding books, letterpress printing, writing, reading and making peculiar art on Vancouver Island.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15591496448157097079noreply@blogger.comBlogger1051125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5039158.post-24339649098177140622016-03-23T21:59:00.001-03:002016-03-23T22:01:46.955-03:00Home, Sweet HomeI know I haven't posted in ages. Lots of things have happened, and a lot of those things are not entirely happy. Some of them were really crappy. More on that later, maybe.<br />
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Right now, just a quick note to say I'm no longer in the woods of Nova Scotia. Instead, I'm halfway up a small mountain on British Columbia's Vancouver Island. I've come home. I'm resting, healing, figuring out what to do next.<br />
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What I do know is that there will be a lot of art. A lot of exploring nature. A lot of writing.<br />
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More soon.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15591496448157097079noreply@blogger.com0Mount Tzouhalem, British Columbia48.7733333 -123.6197222000000148.752406799999996 -123.66006270000001 48.7942598 -123.57938170000001tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5039158.post-28946392270288996392015-08-28T12:09:00.001-03:002015-08-28T12:09:18.820-03:00Flashback Friday: Pen & InkI started drawing with pen and ink, using a dip pen (usually a little Hunt 102, which is still my favourite) and india ink, sometime in junior high school (that would have been about 1985-1988--yes, I am old). My art teacher at the time thought I had a lot of good energy in my line work, and that was all the encouragement I needed to make pen and ink one of my main media for drawing for years afterward (which just shows the effect a teacher can have).<br />
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Obviously I wasn't especially good at it right away, but I liked the results enough to keep going. And while I was still drawing fantasy (a habit I have never broken and don't really care to), I was also starting to do fewer obviously <i>Elfquest</i>-inspired characters, and more things out of my own imagination.<br />
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Also of note, it was around this time I started trying to develop a little wordmark or monogram to use as a signature. I later abandoned "Nik" in favour of "Niko," but I've since come back to it (partly because, as indicated by the title of this blog, it's an anagram of "ink").Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15591496448157097079noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5039158.post-78872044396009848692015-03-06T13:09:00.000-04:002015-03-06T13:09:05.895-04:00Flashback Friday: WatercolourYes, sorry, it's another elf, and this time I pretty much re-drew it directly from a page of <i>ElfQuest</i> (I didn't trace, it though, but re-drew it freehand). What's significant about this picture, though (at least for me, is that it's one of the earliest examples I have of the pen & ink with watercolour combination I still use.<br />
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I obviously hadn't really got the hang of shading yet, except in a tentative way with the linework, but I can see the beginnings of more developed work than I had been doing. This is also the first piece of mine that my junior high art teacher thought was good enough to put in the display case outside the school office.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15591496448157097079noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5039158.post-89367203533842948682015-03-04T10:30:00.000-04:002015-03-04T10:30:01.439-04:00Wednesday Writing Exercise: Character Opinion<h3>
<i style="color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal;">Note: This exercise was originally written for About's (now defunct) Creative Writing for Teens website. Although it was aimed at teens wanting to get better at writing, I hope it will be useful for all writers.</i></h3>
<h3>
Character Opinion: A Character Development Exercise</h3>
<b>Instructions:</b> If all your characters think exactly the same way you do, then they're not very well-rounded. Characters should appear to the reader to be real people, with their own histories, thoughts and opinions. In this exercise, we'll explore characters through their opinions of current events.<br />
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<b>1.</b> Choose a current event about which you have a strong opinion, or about which you've spent a lot of thinking.<br />
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<b>2. </b>Choose one of your characters. You might find it easiest to first do this exercise with a character whose opinion is very like your own, or with one whose opinion is very different. Or start with the character you know best.<br />
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<b>3.</b> Write a monologue or essay from that character's point of view, about your chosen current event. Write for as long as it takes for your character to express their opinion. Remember to write as if you were that character, or as if they were writing through you.<br />
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If they would be very straightforward about stating their thoughts, then be straightforward. If they would try to hide their real opinions, then do that. Let the character's voice take over.<br />
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<b>4.</b> Set what you've written aside for a few days (or longer, if you want). Read over it later. You should learn some interesting things about your character, which you may be able to use in a story.<br />
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<b>5.</b> Repeat the exercise as often as you like, with other characters. You could write one character each evening for a week, say, then read over them all when you've finished.<br />
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<b>Notes: </b>Even if your characters are in a fantasy world of your own construction, they can still have opinions on "real world" events. Write as if these characters were able to see into the real world--you can try pretending that our world is a television show, or play, or series of novels in their world, if you have trouble imagining them as aware of the real world as well as their own. In fact, you can even try this exercise if you are using real-life historical characters by imagining what they would have thought of life today.<br />
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<i style="color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Want more writing exercises? <a href="http://nikosilvester.blogspot.ca/p/writing-exercises.html" style="color: #956839;"> Here's the list.</a> Or sign up for my newsletter in the left sidebar.</i></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15591496448157097079noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5039158.post-10038010288307074732015-02-27T14:24:00.003-04:002015-02-27T14:25:17.174-04:00Flashback Friday: And Again...Yes, another elf. By the time I drew this one, I was starting to do less copying and more trying to draw based on how I remembered faces/bodies/things fitting together. And I was getting a bit better at using colour. This is probably still junior-high era work. For some reason I seem to have more of that to hand than of high school or early university stuff.<br />
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There is still a lot of <i>ElfQuest</i> influence--as there probably will be for the rest of my life. Which reminds me, I think it's time I re-read the whole series and got caught up on the new books...Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15591496448157097079noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5039158.post-26439379690288384972015-02-25T10:00:00.000-04:002015-02-25T10:00:09.508-04:00Wednesday Writing Exercise: Creating Aliens and Fantastic Beings<i>Note: This exercise was originally written for About's (now defunct) Creative Writing for Teens website. Although it was aimed at teens wanting to get better at writing, I hope it will be useful for all writers.</i><br />
<h3>
Creating Aliens and Fantastic Beings: A Creature/Worldbuilding Exercise</h3>
<b>Instructions:</b> Try to do the entire exercise in one sitting. You may find this helps your thought processes or you may find it overwhelming; if the latter, take breaks between numbered sections, but don't let too much time pass before going on to the next. There are notes at the end that may help you better understand the focus and point of the exercise.<br />
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<b>1.</b> Write an essay about your alien/creature as if it really did exist. Make it the point of the essay to describe the being to someone who has perhaps heard of it, but does not know what it is. Hint: analogy is useful for description and perhaps also for some of the "how it works" stuff. Don't go into too much detail -- just enough to let the reader get a decent idea of the creature.<br />
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<b>2.</b> Make notes as if you were a scientist studying the creature. Point-form scientific observations on biology, habits, culture and so on work well. These are notes you are making for yourself -- other people don't need to comprehend them, but make sure you will later. Sketches and diagrams may be useful. Begin by ordering things logically or by category (physiology, appearance, etc.), but don't be too strict. New ideas will come to you later; just add them at the end.<br />
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<b>3. </b>Think about how this creature might fit into a story. Jot down some plot ideas. Is it a creature that will be discovered during the novel/story? Is it already an integral part of the setting that is well-known to your characters? Will your being be a main character? A secondary character? Just part of the scenery? Answering these questions will help you decide how detailed you must be in your creation.<br />
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<b>4. </b>Write down some thoughts/notes/descriptions on how this creature may have evolved (or been created). This can be just as useful for fantasy creatures as for science fictional aliens. How does the being interact with its environment today?<br />
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<b>5.</b> If the creature will play any kind of significant role in your story/novel, try writing a first-person passage -- perhaps a full scene (not necessarily one that will appear in the finished story/novel) -- from the point of view of a member of that species. Get inside your alien's head, see how it thinks as an individual, how its species thinks, how its perceptions differ from human ones and also how they are the same. Try to keep writing in character for a few pages.<br />
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<b>Notes: </b>One thing this exercise should do is get you thinking about your alien/creature in context rather than in isolation. Creatures exist in environments and co-exist with other creatures. So should yours. Different creatures think and act and live in different ways. Explore this and see how what you discover can affect your thinking about plot, setting and other characters.<br />
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<i>Want more writing exercises? <a href="http://nikosilvester.blogspot.ca/p/writing-exercises.html">
Here's the list.</a> Or sign up for my newsletter in the left sidebar.</i>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15591496448157097079noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5039158.post-79581488505515190412015-02-20T13:42:00.000-04:002015-02-20T13:42:01.771-04:00Flashback Friday: You Guessed ItUm, yes, it's another elf. Also very <i>Elfquest</i>-influenced, right down to the character's name. I'm not sure why I thought a lavender leather bikini would be good forest wear, though.<br />
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Pencil and pencil crayon, probably from sometime in the ... mid to late 80s, maybe.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15591496448157097079noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5039158.post-14076584471505306472015-02-11T10:30:00.000-04:002015-02-11T10:30:02.113-04:00Wednesday Writing Exercise: The Big Idea<i style="color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Note: This exercise was originally written for About's (now defunct) Creative Writing for Teens website. Although it was aimed at teens wanting to get better at writing, I hope it will be useful for all writers.</i><br />
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<h3>
The Big Idea: An Exercise in What It’s All About </h3>
<b>Instructions:</b> This is a fairly straightforward exercise, but one which requires much thought. You can do the whole thing in one sitting, but it might be better to work on it a little at a time. If you get inspired, keep going; if you need to stop and think, then take a break. You may even find that you have better results letting this stretch out over several days. Figure out as you go along what will work best. This exercise works best for novels, but it is possible to use it for short stories as well. Try it and see what happens. See the notes for an alternate way to use this exercise.<br />
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<b>1.</b> Assume you have decided "I want to write a novel," but you don't yet know what your novel is going to be about. Think about some of the ideas and problems that intrigue you and make a list, summarizing each idea in a sentence or two.<br />
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<b>2. </b>Take your favourites from the list and think about how each one could play out in a novel. You don't need to know all the details, just the overall idea, the big picture. What you are trying to get at is the essence of what the story is about, plus a few things that make your story unique. Make some notes, if you find it helps organize your thoughts.<br />
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<b>3.</b> Take the one idea that seems to have the most promise (though you can certainly do this exercise with as many of your ideas as you like) and write a one-paragraph description of the essence of the story. This may, as yet, be a bit vague about what will actually happen in the story.<br />
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For example (this is from my own work):<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
In a semi-nomadic barrenlands culture that accepts a magical landscape and ancient shapechanging beings as natural, if rare, a young woman strives to discover herself and her place in life. She loves the traditional culture of her people, but at the same time she chafes at its restraints. As she struggles for the freedom to be whoever she decides she must be, she also learns about duty -- to her family, her friends, her people and her land -- and about how she can balance that duty with her personal freedom. </blockquote>
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<b>4.</b> Expand this idea further, perhaps using your paragraph from #3 as an introductory paragraph. Incorporate more plot and character elements so someone reading your description would get some idea about whether or not they would want to read your novel. If you've come up with a title by now, use it. If you haven't got a title, it's a good idea to come up with a temporary or working title, in order to have something to call the novel. Remember that writing things down doesn't mean you have to do them, so if you haven't got things quite right, don't worry. You can always change things later.<br />
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For example:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
In a semi-nomadic barrenlands culture that accepts a magical landscape and ancient shapechanging beings as natural, if rare, a young woman strives to discover herself and her place in life. She loves the traditional culture of her people, but at the same time she chafes at its restraints. As she struggles for the freedom to be whoever she decides she must be, she also learns about duty -- to her family, her friends, her people and her land -- and about how she can balance that duty with her personal freedom. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>White Foxes, Full Moon</i> is the story of Maring Darkberry, one of the reindeer-herding people of the barrens. One night Maring, her brother Seri, and her friend Del spy on a group of Folk, ancient shapechanging beings. Both Maring and Seri also have a small amount of magic -- Seri can take the shape of a reindeer whenever he wishes, while Maring's shapechanging ability is confined to the three days of the full moon. Seri surrenders to the call of the Folk's magic and is stolen away. Now Maring and Del must find a way to get him back without violating the tenuous peace between the Herders and the Folk. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
In the process of rescuing Seri, Maring gains the gift of another shape from the Folk -- the shape of a red fox that she can take whenever she wishes by putting on a red fox skin. This gift gives her a freedom she has longed for, but, like many gifts from the Folk, it also carries a curse. The skin must be worn on a certain number of days in every month or the Folk will take Seri back again. Maring has gained freedom from the cycles of the moon, but she also has an added duty -- to her brother, that he may keep his freedom, and to her people, that they may continue to have peace with the Folk. In the end, Maring will learn who she is, what she wants, and where she fits in. </blockquote>
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<b>5. </b>Now you've got a good basic direction for a novel. If you're happy with what you've come up with, go ahead and write the whole thing. If it isn't something you really want to work on, set it aside and try again, or edit it further. Chances are, many of the details will change as you write the novel based on your "Big Idea," but the core thing that it is about will probably stay much the same (though you may find even that changes by the end). I'm currently half-way through the novel summarized in #3 and #4, and the plot has expanded twice -- the second time by about ten chapters worth of material -- but the Big Idea is still pretty much the same.<br />
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<b>Notes:</b> This exercise was based on one I did in a third-year university writing workshop with instructor Peter Such. It's intended to get you thinking about stories and the kinds of things you might want to write about, but it is possible to do the exercise in reverse. In that case, you'd take a novel already written and write a paragraph about it. Take the essential characteristics and plot elements and perhaps some of the thematic elements to write your summary. This is the kind of thing you might come up with if you had to answer the question "What is this novel about?" Try this with novels by other authors to see how well (or not) a story can be described in a short blurb. Genre stories tend to be easier to summarize.<br />
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<i>Want more writing exercises? <a href="http://nikosilvester.blogspot.ca/p/writing-exercises.html">Here's the list.</a> Or sign up for my newsletter in the left sidebar.</i></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15591496448157097079noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5039158.post-32128838489986019872015-02-04T09:00:00.000-04:002015-02-10T16:28:35.166-04:00Wednesday Writing Exercise: 5 Senses<i>Note: This exercise was originally written for About's (now defunct) Creative Writing for Teens website. Although it was aimed at teens wanting to get better at writing, I hope it will be useful for all writers.</i><br />
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<h3>
Writing the 5 Senses: A Description Exercise</h3>
<b>Instructions:</b> Writers, especially those with less experience, often concentrate on visual detail when writing descriptions. The following exercise is cumulative, adding a new kind of sensory detail with each step.<br />
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<b>1. </b>Write a paragraph or so describing a place (either one you know well, or one you've made up). Use only visual details. In other words, describe only what a person would see if they went to that place. Include enough information for a reader to be able to visualize the setting.<br />
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<b>2.</b> Rewrite or revise your description from step 1, inserting details of sound. You should end up with a description that allows a reader to both visualize the setting, and imagine what it sounds like there.<br />
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<b>3. </b>Rewrite or revise your description from step 2, inserting details of smell. Consider what the objects in the setting might smell like, as well as the air in general. Your result should be a passage allowing a reader to visualize the setting, and imagine the sounds and smells there.<br />
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<b>4.</b> Rewrite or revise your description from step 3, inserting details of taste. This can be as simple as the taste of the air in an open mouth, or as complex as your narrator sitting down to a feast. Aim for a piece that allows the reader to imagine the place in terms of visual detail, plus sound, smell and taste.<br />
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<b>5. </b>Rewrite or revise your description from step 4, inserting details of touch. These can include what things actually feel like to the touch (in which case you'll need to add in some action to allow your narrator to touch things), what things look like they'd feel like, and other details such as the feeling of a breeze on the skin. Remember that touch can include sensations like temperature, texture, pressure and more. Give your reader some sense of what it is like to be physically present in that setting in addition to the visual, sound, smell and taste details.<br />
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<b>6. </b>When you've finished step 5, you'll probably have much more detail that you'd ever need in a descriptive passage. Set aside your description for a moment and decide what you want to convey. Is your piece intended to set a mood? To give a deep sense of place? To serve merely as a background? Assume, for now, that you are trying to build a sense of place that will make your setting really come alive for the reader. Make a list of all the essential details of that place, the things that make it unique--that place rather than any place. Add to your list the details that give flavour to the place, even if they don't make it completely unique; and add those details that you just really like, for whatever reason.<br />
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<b>7.</b> Go back to your description from step 5 and use your list of important details from step 6 to edit your passage. Concentrate on using the right details and removing the ones that don't really matter.<br />
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<b>Notes: </b>The aim of this exercise is to remind you that you have five senses you can use in your descriptive passages. If you're not making use of them all (or at least most of them), then you're neglecting a potentially useful tool. Try this exercise every now and then as a reminder, and do it with different settings. The detail you decide to keep in step 7 will likely be different for different settings, or even for the same setting when you're trying to create a different mood. Play around in step 7 and see how changing the details you keep or cut changes the whole feel of the piece. <br />
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<i>Want more writing exercises? <a href="http://nikosilvester.blogspot.ca/p/writing-exercises.html">Here's the list.</a> Or sign up for my newsletter in the left sidebar.</i><br />
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15591496448157097079noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5039158.post-44696391738725308212015-01-23T14:04:00.000-04:002015-01-23T14:04:52.536-04:00Flashback Friday: Sorry, More ElvesYes, more elves. I drew a lot of them. I cannot understate the influence <i>ElfQuest</i> had on me. This time, two of my characters have some... er... private time in the forest.<br />
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I don't know what possessed me to draw on lined paper. I was probably doodling in a school notebook and decided to make a finished drawing without transferring the sketch to better paper (I probably didn't really know how).<br />
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My backgrounds were always pretty sketchy, but it looks like I was attempting something like atmospheric perspective here, with the background fading out while the foreground is more detailed. Or maybe I was just lazy.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15591496448157097079noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5039158.post-10438138525239290472015-01-09T13:02:00.002-04:002015-01-09T13:02:30.445-04:00Flashback Friday: Another ElfThere are going to be a lot of elves in these Flashback Friday posts. And also a lot of dragons. It's pretty much all I drew for years.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3GCfKRs4bKqMdKeMcvuC2fACmHvC1_aifWc2BJFjWsUR65qxspnnhuHY_6z4xJasqWe54R_HHSr6y-BZZeB6lHLSctWNJ6F35ZevBmMK06_tTsq2wYmtWWCYH1C6RspM-86Jd/s1600/throwback04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3GCfKRs4bKqMdKeMcvuC2fACmHvC1_aifWc2BJFjWsUR65qxspnnhuHY_6z4xJasqWe54R_HHSr6y-BZZeB6lHLSctWNJ6F35ZevBmMK06_tTsq2wYmtWWCYH1C6RspM-86Jd/s1600/throwback04.jpg" height="320" width="167" /></a></div>
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In this one, I was obviously still figuring out the inking thing, and ended up obscuring a lot of pencil detail with big, thick awkward outlines. Ah well...<br />
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This is about the same vintage as the last one, around age 14 or 15.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15591496448157097079noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5039158.post-2137810380985457332015-01-03T13:09:00.000-04:002015-01-03T13:11:12.229-04:00SatyrdayBecause I haven't posted anything in a while, here are some satyrs.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKg8v1hBhsXDYrFgI2IKGG6qf3S4-gZmQvha1_nTm3157rxotvtGh6YDOJXqC0JO2cHJsFEYPdt9lMS5mvNloS-pv0HH-tXDEHLyZ0rx2Ph640V71WR5ah_L7OjQ9pMkYy8tUs/s1600/satyr003.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKg8v1hBhsXDYrFgI2IKGG6qf3S4-gZmQvha1_nTm3157rxotvtGh6YDOJXqC0JO2cHJsFEYPdt9lMS5mvNloS-pv0HH-tXDEHLyZ0rx2Ph640V71WR5ah_L7OjQ9pMkYy8tUs/s1600/satyr003.png" height="235" width="320" /></a></div>
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Prints are available on <a href="http://feynico.deviantart.com/art/Dancing-Satyrs-503616783">my deviantArt site</a>, and will soon (probably) be up on Redbubble and Society6 too.<br />
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Also, I will be starting up Stamp Saturday again soon. I'm very excited to finally have time to play with all those materials I bought.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15591496448157097079noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5039158.post-54265037091951357382014-11-07T13:05:00.000-04:002014-11-07T13:05:42.642-04:00Flashback Friday: Elves<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I always loved to draw, and pretty much started drawing (and writing stories) the moment I figured out how to make marks on paper. But in junior high I encountered the wonderful indie comic <i>Elfquest</i> and really started drawing all the time and trying to make my own comics (though many of my earliest drawings were accompanied by words in the form of illustrated stories).</div>
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The influence of <i>Elfquest</i> on my drawing style was huge, and still quite visible in my work today. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0WsdIX9jKU31J5XncFECot2jzlMEdqVXPSu28Cndiy_dbyuZgaub7gDrzUk0hhHIBeLau03UeGJ0RE-vbdRhcjsreNLTKQzA6a6r__BxvFhBuyfWtGSLWdkkd1LRbtp71jgBl/s1600/throwback03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0WsdIX9jKU31J5XncFECot2jzlMEdqVXPSu28Cndiy_dbyuZgaub7gDrzUk0hhHIBeLau03UeGJ0RE-vbdRhcjsreNLTKQzA6a6r__BxvFhBuyfWtGSLWdkkd1LRbtp71jgBl/s1600/throwback03.jpg" height="249" width="320" /></a></div>
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This pencil crayon piece was one of my earliest attempts to create my own characters in in the <i>Elfquest</i> world. (Warning: there will be a lot of elves in upcoming Flashback Friday posts. They were my favourite thing to draw for many years, and if you know my work, you know I haven't outgrown them yet.) Oh, and the guy on the left isn't aiming at the girl on the right; they're meant to be two separate character studies.<br />
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I think I was around 14 or 15 when I drew this.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15591496448157097079noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5039158.post-67624983164928714592014-10-29T11:57:00.000-03:002014-10-29T11:57:01.701-03:00Writing Wednesday: NaNoWriMoNaNoWriMo starts in a few days, and I'm planning to do it again this year. I'll be writing the next <i>Others</i> book (unless I change my mind at the last minute). In the meantime, I'm working on a story -- maybe a novelette or novella -- about a big old museum on the odd people who work there. I was hoping to have that done by the end of October, but with only a few days left, and one full 8-hour shift at the video game store (I usually do 3 or 4 hour shifts as a part-timer), plus a variety of errands and a dog to entertain, I don't think that will happen.<br />
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So I'll be trying to finish "The Curator's Tale" (working title, and probably won't stick), while also starting <i>Koldun</i> (book 4 of the Others series). This could be disastrous, because I also have a lot to do throughout November for the Halifax Crafters winter market, and I'll be getting more hours at the video game store because of the holidays. And I'll be looking for a regular freelance gig to replace my About YA Books writing, when ends at the end of this month.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL474Kvabx0m5UaVvaYRscIJDdNsjivL0KJZKz02yhPLY_5thhujgBvrG1mgzScl2bV2QvxuVMipO3bSlFLxz4fwcQUqo_RNBH7kdEn8Vpru1PKAemTjt3vJSMOtltiLnOS7wq/s1600/ichneumon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL474Kvabx0m5UaVvaYRscIJDdNsjivL0KJZKz02yhPLY_5thhujgBvrG1mgzScl2bV2QvxuVMipO3bSlFLxz4fwcQUqo_RNBH7kdEn8Vpru1PKAemTjt3vJSMOtltiLnOS7wq/s1600/ichneumon.jpg" height="320" width="213" /></a></div>
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In related news, my novelette "Ichneumon" (under my Nic Silver pen name) is now free on all the Amazons and will be until the end of day on Halloween. It's a creepy story and not for everyone, but if you like that sort of thing, here are the links:<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00938L2PC">Amazon US</a><br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00938L2PC">Amazon Canada</a><br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00938L2PC">Amazon UK</a><br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com.au/gp/product/B00938L2PC">Amazon Australia</a><br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.in/gp/product/B00938L2PC">Amazon India</a><br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B00938L2PC">Amazon Germany</a><br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.fr/gp/product/B00938L2PC">Amazon France</a><br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.es/gp/product/B00938L2PC">Amazon Spain</a><br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.it/gp/product/B00938L2PC">Amazon Italy</a><br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/product/B00938L2PC">Amazon Japan</a><br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com.br/gp/product/B00938L2PC">Amazon Brazil</a><br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com.mx/gp/product/B00938L2PC">Amazon Mexico</a><br />
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Remember that you don't need an actual Kindle to read Kindle books -- most devices these days have a Kindle app that works just as well (you just have to buy through the website and not through the app). But if you have a Nook or a Kobo, let me know and I can send you an epub version.<br />
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Now I need to get at those errands so I can do some writing this afternoon.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15591496448157097079noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5039158.post-92063742497655438302014-10-24T15:21:00.001-03:002014-10-24T15:22:18.615-03:00Flashback Friday: Bird WizardHere's another cringe-worthy old drawing for your enjoyment. I was still rather awful at adding colour to pencil drawings. Right after I drew this (but before adding colour), one of my younger cousins was so impressed he wanted to draw one himself, so he copied off my drawing. I think I used to have his version, too, but it seems to have been lost in the mists of time. Or something.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4bhBcFAPk0kGOhd7UbY8qokS9Bo-NeEHYfJuL8X0RzVe6AJhdwqug9HzNMtHt9j2CEWKnPaZAFo6GsoJwqbb2I8bmxqG34ncdYWHrYxfxfIdFBF9H2wqp_lMZbbOTEtc1BYyT/s1600/throwback02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4bhBcFAPk0kGOhd7UbY8qokS9Bo-NeEHYfJuL8X0RzVe6AJhdwqug9HzNMtHt9j2CEWKnPaZAFo6GsoJwqbb2I8bmxqG34ncdYWHrYxfxfIdFBF9H2wqp_lMZbbOTEtc1BYyT/s1600/throwback02.jpg" height="320" width="263" /></a></div>
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I can't remember how old I was when I made this, but I'm pretty sure I was in junior high, so I must have been between thirteen and sixteen. I had probably just re-read <i>The Lord of the Rings</i>. Again. (I still do that from time to time, though I haven't drawn any wizards in ages.)Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15591496448157097079noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5039158.post-73947231375287373872014-10-17T16:41:00.000-03:002014-10-17T16:42:23.623-03:00Flashback Friday: Rainbows and UnicornsI was going to try to start doing occasional Throwback Thursday posts, but yesterday I got called in to work early and didn't get time. So instead, here's Flashback Friday, in which I will post old drawings of mine.<br />
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Some of these, like this week's, are really going to make me cringe. But I think it's useful to look back at old work, especially for me, because I have a tendency to not see the progress I'm making the more I practice. Looking at these really old pieces makes that progress obvious.<br />
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I don't now how old this particular piece is, but if I had to guess I'd say I was maybe twelve or thirteen when I drew it. I'll dig out the original later and see if I might have dated it somewhere (I made a book of old drawings for a second year creative writing class about a million years ago -- aka the early 90s -- then photographed that book maybe seven or eight years ago, so I have quite a few terrible old drawings around).<br />
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Anyway, here's a lovely crayon image of a unicorn, a pegasus, and a rainbow. Because I was a tween girl once, and even if I was a tomboy I also liked unicorns and rainbows and sometimes even sparkly things.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_HvwLSXRt1feSrKOy0E2_5c8wczshkxWtyL-qiR1VWVG_d94EXJIcAJuPqk5yUEk9m27iO2cpxAFDUFOPyzCnO_MvWKpy1qyT7IqU0FFNk6XpbklP_sC_9KVizmAsiB2YYvGr/s1600/throwback01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_HvwLSXRt1feSrKOy0E2_5c8wczshkxWtyL-qiR1VWVG_d94EXJIcAJuPqk5yUEk9m27iO2cpxAFDUFOPyzCnO_MvWKpy1qyT7IqU0FFNk6XpbklP_sC_9KVizmAsiB2YYvGr/s1600/throwback01.jpg" height="320" width="266" /></a></div>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15591496448157097079noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5039158.post-82244525401862502472014-10-15T16:48:00.001-03:002014-10-16T02:01:54.046-03:00Writing Wednesday: End of an EraOkay, maybe "end of an era" is a tad hyperbolic, but it kind of feels like it. As some of you may know, I've been a freelance writer for many years, and my main gig, the one I could always count on, was writing for About.com. Over the years, the pay has ranged from pretty good to pretty bad, depending on the contract (there were quite a few different ones, using different ways to calculate monthly compensation) and how much web traffic I was able to generate for my articles and reviews. But I always got something for my work.<br />
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I started writing for About way back in ... er ... 2001, I think. I took on the Creative Writing for Teens site, and did a lot of work I'm really proud of (some of which I hope to edit and re-use at some point in the not-too-distant future). In 2005 the PlayStation Portable site became available, and since I was feeling a little burned out writing about writing, and had been reviewing games part time anyway, I applied. It was a brand new site, and I built it from scratch. It was fun. But if you play videogames, you know the PSP was never the success Sony had hoped, and it wasn't too long before people just weren't reading about it -- or its follow up, the PS Vita -- any more. Lucky for me, the Young Adult Books site was created in 2012, right when I was feeling most discouraged about the future of the PSP site. I applied, and got it, and once again, I built the site from nothing.</div>
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It's been tremendous fun reading, reviewing, and writing about YA books. But my contract comes up for renewal at the end of this month. About has a new (ish) owner, and I knew the contract was going to change. I expected I'd be making less money until -- one hoped -- I could build more traffic. I didn't expect my contract to not be renewed at all.</div>
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But, hey, "expect the unexpected" and all that. I'm writing for About YA Books until October 31, and then that's it. I could speculate about why my contract isn't being renewed, but I won't. About.com was good to me for 13 years or so. I'll probably apply to write for another one of their sites, though I don't expect to get the job. But you never know. I may not have a huge socila media presence (yet), but I can sling words.</div>
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In the meantime, if anyone is looking for a writer -- I know lots about books, writing, assorted forms of art, comics, videogames, nature, and all sorts of miscellanous stuff -- let me know. I'm going to need the work.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15591496448157097079noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5039158.post-7808725586838508142014-10-05T14:16:00.000-03:002014-10-05T14:18:10.691-03:00Inktober FishIn an effort to climb out of this creative slump I've fallen into (well, a slump by my standards, anyway), I'm doing Inktober, where you draw an ink drawing every day in October. You can follow my efforts on Instagram and/or Twittter if you want to (I'm anagramforink on both), but so far I've mostly done simple things (especially my two for the 2nd and 3rd days, when I got home after work too sleepy to accomplish much).<br />
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Anyway, yesterday I drew a fish I was rather happy with, though I could tell it needed more to really make it a finished drawing. Here it is, in green ink with touches of violet and silver ink, drawn with a brush (well, two brushes -- one for lines and one for washes) on watercolour paper.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRDCiDVK1fQclij27o_gShbJESv9ZfUdVGFVJlUSV-_cEN9NppBZBrNDirBF9_41NahiHq64WjWKD82KTI4DH79D9DU9sEseZoja_-yunYNMYsCwMRz9VcoxftTVEtoK8mlzDg/s1600/fish002sm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRDCiDVK1fQclij27o_gShbJESv9ZfUdVGFVJlUSV-_cEN9NppBZBrNDirBF9_41NahiHq64WjWKD82KTI4DH79D9DU9sEseZoja_-yunYNMYsCwMRz9VcoxftTVEtoK8mlzDg/s1600/fish002sm.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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This is not any particular sort of fish, just something out of my brain, that developed as I was looking at a little print of a flying fish by <a href="http://www.cvsfinearts.com/pages/CVSIntro.htm">Charles van Sandwyk</a> that I have on my wall next to my desk (I'd kind of like to be CvS when I grow up...). The head ornaments are loosely anglerfish-inspired, and the fins might have come from a fancy goldfish.<br />
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This afternoon I decided to scan it for a better image than the one I posted last night on Instagram, and then, well, I couldn't resist dropping it into Photoshop to play with. I knew I wanted to keep anything else I did to it subtle, so to start I just plopped in an old foxed book paper texture, then made the texture on the fish itself less opaque, which gave me this<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpOQLMT3yvgKDPacvUqXZWaHCAsys9yjAppm_YQsPMndpYG8AFr2C3zaqj4uZ-Nc5HwfGA6QMdDg_0hSFm7GHjhyphenhyphensB6BDy9jUfWgTv7T_15May-UHbQV8h1JfWdgMhg0Aw9E3a/s1600/fish003sm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpOQLMT3yvgKDPacvUqXZWaHCAsys9yjAppm_YQsPMndpYG8AFr2C3zaqj4uZ-Nc5HwfGA6QMdDg_0hSFm7GHjhyphenhyphensB6BDy9jUfWgTv7T_15May-UHbQV8h1JfWdgMhg0Aw9E3a/s1600/fish003sm.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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Even this little bit of work makes it look more finished, though I still have niggling thoughts about adding some other little touch. Bubbles, maybe? Then I thought how much fun it would be to have this fish on a coffee mug, so I made a version I can use on deviantArt (where you'll find me as feynico) and other places that do POD mugs, with a white background (I might take out the signature glyph, but I also kind of like it).</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAalAsvpX1rAxhPk419ntK9c1xIzoVXAJeqQHbivyWrzL3OCwTTj8EQp9EQ9HnX9v3wBQ4fc3kvxzTyAi3N1FRwBbhXRzWJnahqeYN2aHAk39uHVr4NYABBdHJDp6OmbyWZR23/s1600/fish004sm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAalAsvpX1rAxhPk419ntK9c1xIzoVXAJeqQHbivyWrzL3OCwTTj8EQp9EQ9HnX9v3wBQ4fc3kvxzTyAi3N1FRwBbhXRzWJnahqeYN2aHAk39uHVr4NYABBdHJDp6OmbyWZR23/s1600/fish004sm.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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In this case, I made the paper texture 100% opacity on the fish to show up better. I'm half thinking I might add some muted reds and oranges to the scales, but I'm not sure...</div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15591496448157097079noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5039158.post-62951849211631968322014-06-11T12:45:00.001-03:002014-06-11T12:45:46.371-03:00Writing Wednesday: Plugging AwayI'm still not back to my regular writing output, but I'm determined not to stress about it anymore (dertermined, dammit!). I have been slowly working away at a story--a novella, maybe--that's going well. I'm enoying the main character and the setting, and thinking that it may be a recurring series, probably with different charaters in the same setting. Kind of like what I have planned for my Wonder Island stories (the first one, <i>Ichneumon</i>--the title of which I may change since it says nothing about the story if you don't know what it means--is available at the usual ebook outlets (no link at the moment, as Blogger for iPad won't let me add links)).<div><br></div><div>Anyway, "The Curator of Improbable Fossils" is somewhere under half finished. As I got closer to what I thought was the end, I realized it might work better as an alternating viewpoint story, since there are things I can't address properly from the one point of view. So I've written most of the Curator's part of the story, and now I'm transferring it out of my handwritten notebook (I don't always hand-write, but I find it helps me get un-stuck sometimes because it seems much less permanent, like I don't have to get it right).</div><div><br></div><div>Next, I'll write the Librarian's point of view (and maybe even type it directly into the word processor, since the Librarian is a rather more modern character than the stuffy Curator). Finally, I'll write the end. I don't know yet if the concluding parts will be alternating viewpoints, or from one or the other's point of view, or from something more omnipotent. I hope I'll know by the time I get that far.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15591496448157097079noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5039158.post-41508960035988260372014-06-01T17:20:00.001-03:002014-06-01T17:33:23.346-03:00Suspending Stamp Saturday, Sort OfI just found out that I got a table (actually, a half table) at the Dartmouth Comic Arts Festival in August. Yay! It's only a half day thing on a Sunday, but I have so very much to get done by then. Add to that the fact that I just started a part-time retail job, and retail is extra-exhausting for an introvert like me, and I just don't have time to do everything.<br />
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So, sadly, for now, I'm going to suspend my Stamp Saturday posts. Probably not entirely -- I am going to try to work on them a little at a time between other things, but those other things have to take priority for now. Rest assured, though, that I will get back to stamp stuff. I have all that wonderful material to play with, after all!<br />
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Just as a taste of the length of my to-do list, here are some of the main things on it:<br />
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<li>write 8+ reviews and articles each month for Young Adult Books site, plus site maintenance and other odds and ends, and reading the books I review</li>
<li>work two or three shifts a week at video game store</li>
<li>teach letter press one evening a week (until the end of June) -- this usually takes up most of the day as I also run errands and print some things of my own while I'm in the city</li>
<li>make corrections to <i>Fey</i> chapter one digital files and re-print</li>
<li>scan, touch up, and letter <i>Fey</i> chapter two pages for posting on the web</li>
<li>lay out <i>Fey</i> chapter two in book form, order a proof, correct, and print</li>
<li>finish as much of <i>Fey</i> chapter three as possible</li>
<li>finish Art Nouveau satyr illustration and print as poster (and maybe other things)</li>
<li>make prints of dragons (first test different sizes)</li>
<li>text for Monsters mini-comic</li>
<li>scan and touch up images for Monsters mini-comic</li>
<li>make cover (possibly letterpress printed) for Monsters mini-comic</li>
<li>make fairy stickers</li>
<li>make <i>Fey</i> business cards and flyers</li>
<li>wrangle Wordpress so <i>Fey</i> site looks better</li>
<li>make myself a Fey t-shirt to wear at DCAF</li>
<li>figure out table set up and buy/make necessary stands, etc</li>
</ul>
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So yeah. Whole lot to do and no time to waste. Plus, in order to be able to do my video game store job well, I need to read video gaming news and reviews so I can better help customers. And I need to decide if I'll have my novels to sell at DCAF, too, and if so, I'll have to lay out several of them for print, get and check proofs, and order copies. Probably I'll just get a few more copies of the ones I already have available in print (though one needs a cover change to match the new e-book version cover).<br />
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I think the rest of today may very well be spent scanning. I may also drop dead before I even get to August. Heh.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15591496448157097079noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5039158.post-26903832398633154802014-05-29T13:35:00.000-03:002014-05-29T13:35:56.814-03:00Writing Wednesday: Back on Track… ish<div>
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Just before I sat down to write this, I found out that I got the part-time retail job I applied for. It means I'm likely to have less time for writing and drawing unless I sacrifice something else. And since I'm determined to keep writing fiction and making comics, it may be this blog that suffers. But it's only a part time job, at least for now, so maybe I'll be able to keep juggling everything else. At any rate, it'll mean being able to pay the bills every month, which is a huge relief.<br />
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But not all is lost. I've managed to write a couple more parts of the odd story I started, so I'm up to about 3500 words (hand-written, so my estimate is probably a little low). It's not a prodigious amount, but it feels good. And I'm excited to see what happens to my characters.<br />
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I've also been working on a little mini-comic or zine, with monsters reconstructed from fossils -- based on the idea that ancient peoples interpreted huge fossil bones as giants and dragons. It's pretty fun, and silly, and I hope people will like it. And of course, I'm slowly pecking away at the dragon faux natural history book. I've set a goal of November for having that done, but there are a lot of illustrations yet to do, so we'll see.<br />
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And, as if I don't have enough to do, I'm tossing around the idea of doing an occasional webcomic about being an almost-middle-aged woman working at a mall video game store. I'll have to see if I have anything interesting or funny to share from the experience first, I guess.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15591496448157097079noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5039158.post-60318680850248397862014-05-21T12:48:00.003-03:002014-05-21T12:49:10.905-03:00Writing Wednesday: Nothing to See HereHow the heck is it Wednesday again already? Have I finally reached the age when time seems to kick into fast forward? Wait, slow down!<br />
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Er, anyway… I'm essentially still where I was last week. I've been trying to get myself back onto something resembling a schedule and am making slow progress. But those stories are building up in my head and if I don't get them written soon my brain will explode. Or at least that's what it feels like.<br />
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I did at least pull out all the pages of my comic <i>Fey</i> that I have done so I can assess where to go with that next. I'm going to have to start re-scanning and re-lettering the rest of the pages soon, as I've almost reached the end of chapter one. And, a handful more pages to draw and chapter three will be ready to scan and letter, too.<br />
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So yeah. Not much done, but I think I'm slowly crawling out of the hole of non-productivity. Or at least I hope so.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15591496448157097079noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5039158.post-81472836070481642582014-05-17T17:05:00.004-03:002014-05-17T17:06:10.092-03:00Stamp Saturday: Machine CuttingI don't have a proper Stamp Saturday post done, and it's being one of those days when I get the minimum of work done so I can enjoy the sun outside and/or do something silly instead (like today, I have done yard work (!) and next I'm going to start working on a minicomic). So instead of the cutting techniques post I was intending to have ready today, here's an image of another product I'm going to be evaluating at some point in this series:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjNNqdpHmXJluCxUDl2JnuXa1T0UwG6_ac0OlbV9bqAcOmRbO1w7DR8OFPsuA3ntxMrZpUU1wdjvDdO1taumbJLC6Zn3Yh07a3daENHXuNTfR5pBmZqCG7n8D_QFY-2PAeJUgu/s1600/photo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjNNqdpHmXJluCxUDl2JnuXa1T0UwG6_ac0OlbV9bqAcOmRbO1w7DR8OFPsuA3ntxMrZpUU1wdjvDdO1taumbJLC6Zn3Yh07a3daENHXuNTfR5pBmZqCG7n8D_QFY-2PAeJUgu/s1600/photo.JPG" height="262" width="320" /></a></div>
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It's the Stamping Starter Kit, from Silhouette, intended for use with their desktop die cutters. I have a Silhouette Cameo. I'm hoping the latest software version will work with my computer (for some reason, I could never get the last version running, so I've been using the next-to-last version, which does not include the presets for cutting stamp materials) (which is why this box has been kicking around my workspace for months instead of being used).<br />
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Anyway, assuming the software all works, I'll be giving this stuff a spin to see how fine it can cut, how cleanly it cuts, how easy it is to set up with the software, and how well it stamps. Exciting! If it works well, I'll be buying lots more of the stamp material (and probably more cutting mats, too, as they do wear out) and mounting them permanently rather than using the reusable acrylic blocks that come with the kit (well, I'll use those, too, but for ones I don't want to mount permanently).<br />
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This isn't going to be a material I'll use to replace hand-cut stamps. They're not likely to have the same look, and I enjoy cutting my own. But I'm hoping it will be a good addition to my arsenal of printmaking/stamping supplies.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15591496448157097079noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5039158.post-25032873850450887872014-05-14T14:56:00.001-03:002014-05-14T14:58:36.521-03:00Writing Wednesday: DealingSo, there's been a certain amount of crap going on in my life lately. Things mostly beyond my control, but things I still have to deal with. Eventually, maybe, I'll write about what those things are, but for now I'll just say they're making it really hard for me to focus or get much more done beyond the absolute basics I need to do for my various jobs.<br />
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But not all is doom and gloom. Even though I'm worn out with the crap-dealing-with, and my brain is a little scattered, I've actually written a little. Not a lot, and I still have a ways to go to get back on track. But I did manage to start a new story -- maybe a long short story, maybe a novella. It's probably not a novel, but I'm not really far enough into it yet to know.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZLtJ4EAvCMhxtwQW8DPn-TfU6kLkReEawlQi2wFDcadlhVa1_7beZwSbFo7XQwJKKbPyVWvlZnDjLhb0PS2YDGaU1Kf8oYIdZdJA6dM8z2egK8fbmL1G0TpByUDpO989tHS_6/s1600/SerpentiatsunamiaSm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZLtJ4EAvCMhxtwQW8DPn-TfU6kLkReEawlQi2wFDcadlhVa1_7beZwSbFo7XQwJKKbPyVWvlZnDjLhb0PS2YDGaU1Kf8oYIdZdJA6dM8z2egK8fbmL1G0TpByUDpO989tHS_6/s1600/SerpentiatsunamiaSm.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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It's a story, or one of a series of stories, that I've been thinking about for a while. It'll most likely appear under my "Nic Silver" pen name, not because it has lots of sex like my other Nic Silver books, but because it feels more like a Nic Silver story. Which is to say, dark and weird. Probably.<br />
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I also managed, finally, to get started on the next "Others" novel (also written as Nic Silver). It's only half a chapter, but it's a start and it gives me a vague direction to head in. I think I have less of an idea where this book is going than I did for the previous books, which might be why it's taken so long to get to it.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeemxCSivCFeZbVz4loYfwl2t1GfaDg4qJNqNFFI7SDNgFDl-49bL3QzpeSmuuKyHIRBBl5fNTLxUYDUTgOriYdsh3pcIuqLVHidEDkV9CCDf2IoPsIJvnLXQ-5EQvnZypTdUa/s1600/WyveranagaSm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeemxCSivCFeZbVz4loYfwl2t1GfaDg4qJNqNFFI7SDNgFDl-49bL3QzpeSmuuKyHIRBBl5fNTLxUYDUTgOriYdsh3pcIuqLVHidEDkV9CCDf2IoPsIJvnLXQ-5EQvnZypTdUa/s1600/WyveranagaSm.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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And, not writing, but related, because it's for a book I'm working on (which I will also write the text for), I've managed to finish some more dragon illustrations and get started on a couple others, which is why there are dragon pictures decorating this post. I'll make the finished ones (well, mostly finished -- they will eventually have hand-written text on them) available as prints in a few places online soon.<br />
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So yeah. Dealing with crap, but still dragging one foot after the other. I'm too damn stubborn to ever give up.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15591496448157097079noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5039158.post-50859629675059703082014-05-04T20:39:00.001-03:002014-05-04T20:39:48.423-03:00Stamp Saturday, on SundayI'm planning on getting back to regular Stamp Saturday posts soon, but in the meantime, here's a little bit about some rubber stamp stickers I made recently. <div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6jxLJxBn6xoY5Su4aN2eEVGNJYhUwblzBkONqA9taW1AmZjB8hXwvYR6pYRnnHm3cRWgJc0o1ZNYoz7TG81JwJ0M92HSL3S2gixKEudh89fsa6MEmkSRT29aZyalmb_rJuZu4/s640/blogger-image--1027469814.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6jxLJxBn6xoY5Su4aN2eEVGNJYhUwblzBkONqA9taW1AmZjB8hXwvYR6pYRnnHm3cRWgJc0o1ZNYoz7TG81JwJ0M92HSL3S2gixKEudh89fsa6MEmkSRT29aZyalmb_rJuZu4/s640/blogger-image--1027469814.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Everything starts as sketches, of course. In this case, I needed to make some one inch round stickers, so I drew a few pages of one inch circles to doodle in.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrc0Ar6sKD7ixrPW3FaF_BD-yObXdkpDaZ5XakIoikxf9Y-vLuLJd8vltODx4Fq8W47sv7jBjyBEBRc6DqBvaD1WCaJkqR253tikj_XrUHL56sEp0rPKw5REjmQ2D-0PXufgev/s640/blogger-image-1450235976.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrc0Ar6sKD7ixrPW3FaF_BD-yObXdkpDaZ5XakIoikxf9Y-vLuLJd8vltODx4Fq8W47sv7jBjyBEBRc6DqBvaD1WCaJkqR253tikj_XrUHL56sEp0rPKw5REjmQ2D-0PXufgev/s640/blogger-image-1450235976.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Once I picked the designs I liked, I cut the stamps from white rubber erasers (in this case I got them all out of one eraser).</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlLNeAX7YMHMTi_vMDNGOtWdJ4YsSUHkYf4ZXvPTtQyYY0jWh2fPr8uGvBdOEALPV2H72O_Y0BmL_2caSwXeCucSAFme_nQBUfAhg_XpFi5S6oDdYCyJkeRmzya53kuoY70IJq/s640/blogger-image--725390234.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlLNeAX7YMHMTi_vMDNGOtWdJ4YsSUHkYf4ZXvPTtQyYY0jWh2fPr8uGvBdOEALPV2H72O_Y0BmL_2caSwXeCucSAFme_nQBUfAhg_XpFi5S6oDdYCyJkeRmzya53kuoY70IJq/s640/blogger-image--725390234.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">I tested the final stamps with a couple of different stamp pads to see which would work better. Then I stamped them on some sticker paper that I had already letterpress printed a wood grain background on and cut the circles from on my die-cutter.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAySkt19j38vR0pjo81d9lEgI1vs7ET9G3h8d9vyClFpMF61Xw-TljSrT-WMFHIWfiv4UnsiX3qTrV_UDYkXvtbvISgBcHjgxa1DHw4Yp4KULq0-daMFni5uhSaR__B6cYbnG_/s640/blogger-image-58439710.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAySkt19j38vR0pjo81d9lEgI1vs7ET9G3h8d9vyClFpMF61Xw-TljSrT-WMFHIWfiv4UnsiX3qTrV_UDYkXvtbvISgBcHjgxa1DHw4Yp4KULq0-daMFni5uhSaR__B6cYbnG_/s640/blogger-image-58439710.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">I ended up with quite a few extra, so I packaged some up for sale. 20 stickers per sheet, three different designs.</div><br></div><br></div><br></div><br></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15591496448157097079noreply@blogger.com0