On the Drawing Board

I've really been enjoying making ATCs for swaps, and I find it's especially good for motivating myself to make work. I love to draw, but without assignments or deadlines, it's hard to stay focused. And since I'm one of those anal people who will do something they've said they'll do, or feel extremely guilty for not doing it, signing up for swaps is the perfect way to make sure I'll get something done.

Here's what's on the go right now:

That's ATCs for 3 different swaps, because I somehow ended up signing up for a bunch that end very close together. The flying fish I need to get coloured and in the mail as soon as I can. I hope to mail them tomorrow. The sea dragons will need to go out by next week, and the bees aren't due until June 6, but they have a long way to go, so I'd like to get them out this week if I can.

That leaves a fairy tale swap and a Norse myth swap to finish next week, and yesterday I signed up for mushrooms and mythical beasts, one due mid-June and one mid-July. As long as I don't get behind, these will keep we working, but not insanely busy. That's the idea, anyway.

Now if only I could become disciplined about getting new comic pages drawn. Not that that many people read Fey, but the few that do may very well have given up on me by now.

[BFG] Latest Reading: A Bit of Urban Fantasy

I seem to have somehow ended up with a whole bunch of books in progress. I think it may be time to sit down and finish a few before I start any new ones. Anyway, here's what I've actually finished since my latest reading post back in February.

9. Swim the Moon by Paul Brandon (fiction) buy from amazon
10. Widdershins by Charles deLint (fiction) buy from amazon
11. The Rosetta Key by William Dietrich (fiction) buy from amazon
12. The Unwritten Vol. 1: Tommy Taylor and the Bogus Identity by Mike Carey and Peter Gross (comics/graphic novel) buy from amazon
13. The Boilerplate Rhino by David Quammen (non-fiction) buy from amazon

So, I continued my small streak of urban fantasy, in both fiction and comics. The Unwritten is pretty great, and because I haven't being paying as much attention to comics in the last few years as I used to, it was a total surprise when I found it in the bookstore.

And yes, I've added Amazon associate links. I don't expect to make much, if any, money off them, but whatever I do get will undoubtedly go towards more books and comics (or maybe videogames), some of which I'll write actual reviews of.

Collaborative Book: Final Pages

OK, the pages are done. Six copies, all hand-drawn, hand-coloured and hand-lettered. Phew. First, the front page of the section:

I had originally planned to do the lettering in amber ink, to keep it nice and subtle, but when I was playing around with my pens, trying to decide which one to use, I discovered that some purple cartridges I bought mostly for the nice little tin they came in actually fit in one of my pens. It' a little darker than I had planned, but I love the colour (it's much lovelier in person than on the screen).

The centre spread has only about 1/4 of the text, leaving half the text for the last page, but I really wanted the tree to be the focus. I didn't have to include the text at all--I think some of my team members are and some are not--but I've always enjoyed the combination of text and image, so in it went.

Some of the text placement is less than ideal, but overall I think it's all right. Anyway, I'm pleased with the result.

Next up, I have a big pile of ATCs for swaps that I need to get done fairly quickly. I had intended to work on them this week, but they got pushed aside for the book project. Then, I have a couple of rather insistent illustration ideas in my head that will be really cool if they turn out half as well as they look in my imagination. Then on to more books probably. Also, I've got to get some actual images on my website so people can see all my work in one place, instead of scattered all over Etsy and ArtFire and deviantART and Zazzle and PrintFection. Oh, and I think I might have put some on Cafe Press too. I can't remember.

Flowers and Weeds: Collaborative Book

Yesterday I finished off the colouring on the first and last pages of my section for the BEST collaborative book project.

Remember, although I set it up as a single image, the sheet will actually be folded in half so the right half will be the front page of the section and the left half will be the back page of the section.

Today I'll add the text, and then tomorrow it'll go off in the mail. Also tomorrow, I'll post pictures of the final pages, folded so you can see exactly what they'll look like in the book.

More Trees: Collaborative Book Project

As I thought, getting both sides painted yesterday was truly wishful thinking. The tiny twisty tree branches really slowed me down, but I'm very pleased with how they turned out.

The grass and quick wash of blue for the sky went much more quickly. Then, as I was heading for bed, I realized I hadn't painted any leaves. Since this is supposed to be a strong tree, though bent and twisted, it really needs leaves to show that it is quite alive. So this morning I added some simple leaf shapes.

Now I'll leave it to dry a little more, and this afternoon/evening I'll flip it over and start on the weeds and flowers on the other side. They are less complicated shapes, so hopefully will go faster than the tree. Then again, I am picky, so I might take longer than I think I will. As usual.

More Collaborative Book Stuff

Yesterday I transferred the images for the other side of my book signature for the BEST collaborative book project. This one will be folded in the middle, so the right half will be the first page, coming before the tree spread I showed yesterday, and the left half will be the last page, coming after the tree. When I've got everything finished, I'll fold one and photograph it and post them how they'll look in the actual book.

So here's the sketch I started with:

Then I spent a really long time inking. For some reason, I had thought these pages would go much more quickly than the tree, but they actually took quite a bit longer. Anyway, here is what the inks look like:

Today, after we run into Truro to drop off a few more resumes (BillyZ's this time), and maybe find somewhere that sells masking fluid, I'll start on the colours. I hope they won't take too long, as I've also got to get in some writing (and the videogaming to write about). I plan to stick to fairly simple watercolour washes, so I think it should go quickly. Maybe I'll even get both sides done today (probably wishful thinking, but you never know).

Anyway, here's one last image, of the six pages and their much-traced-over sketch:

In Progress: Collaborative Book Project

I had a bit of an "oh shit" moment earlier in the week when I remembered that I had signed up to participate in a collaborative book project for the Bookbinding Etsy Street Team (aka BEST). I hadn't even started yet. Then there was more panic as I searched through my emails only to discover that I had accidentally deleted the instructions, the poem we were meant to be working with, and the post with the due date and the stanza I got in the random draw. I sent off a quick, embarrassed email to my group (there were enough people for several 5-person groups), and very quickly got two responses with the required information from a couple of my (very supportive) team members.

So the project is this: members of BEST were assigned to 5-person groups, and each group got a poem to work with (ours was written by one of our group members). Then each person makes 6 copies of a signature (in this case, one sheet folded into a 2-leaf signature) inspired by the poem. Then we send 5 of the 6 copies of our completed signature to the project organizer, who sends 4 of them to the other group members, and keeps the fifth to bind herself. When we get the other four members' work, we bind them into a book. The 6th copy of the book will be bound by the project organizer and exhibited.

My group's poem is "The Garden of Her Heart" by Eva Buchala, and I got the second stanza, full of weed and flower and tree imagery. I may be working a little more literally than the project requires, but I couldn't resist the plants! The image of a bent and twisted tree especially captured my imagination, so that's where I started, with a centre spread. Here's the sketch:

I had thoughts of doing this as a print, so I wouldn't have to draw the same image over and over again six times. As I sketched, I decided that if my resulting design was simple enough to cut quickly in lino (quickly because I need to finish and mail by Friday), I'd do linoprints. I don't have the facilities at home (yet) to do any other kind of printing, alas. When I had a sketch I liked, I realized that it wouldn't be easy enough to do in lino that I could do it quickly. I briefly entertained the idea of scanning and printing digitally, then hand-colouring, but my laser printer chokes on paper that isn't specifically made for printers, and the ink on my lovely inkjet will run with watercolours on top of it. So hand-drawing it is.

I spent several hours yesterday afternoon/evening inking trees. I had to go to plan B for transferring the image. Plan A was to ink directly on the blank paper by working on my lightbox with the sketch underneath. Sadly, my sketch was not dark enough and the lights in my lightbox not bright enough, to penetrate the heavy printmaking paper I chose. So plan B was to rub graphite on the back of the sketch and trace over the lines as if I had transfer paper under. By the time I did that six times, my hand was already getting tired and I still had the actual ink to do.

So there it is. I basically drew the same tree six times, and finished just in time to catch Treme on HBO. It's drawn with india ink and a crowquill on BFK Rives printmaking paper in grey. I don't know why I picked the grey paper. It just seemed a nice change from my usual brown/cream tones. Though of course when it's done, there will be a lot of brown on the tree . . .

Next I'll transfer and ink the pages on the other side. When that's dry, I'll start the colouring--first one side, then dry, then the other side. Then I'll add the text. If all goes well, I should be done in plenty of time to mail them out on Friday.

And here are all the trees with the sketch after tracing over it six times:

[BFG] Free Comic Book Day Loot

I didn't make it in to Halifax for FCBD, but there are two hobby/games shops closer by in Truro that were participating. The Batter's Box Collectibles on Esplanade was my first stop. The store was full of gamers and they were doing Magic demos, but once I waded through all that there was a big table in the corner with all the free comics on it. They didn't seem to have a minimum, so I took one of each of anything that looked good. I mostly avoided the superhero books. I don't know why, but I've never really been big on superheroes. I started as an indy b&w fan in the . . . er . . . 80s (am I that old?), and though I've expanded my scope somewhat since then, I haven't expanded it quite that far.

After that, I swung by Game Zilla on Havelock St. I hadn't been in there before, so I had a look around before heading to the comics laid out on the counter. I didn't see anything I wanted that I hadn't already got, so it was on to get groceries after that.

So here's the final tally of comics I brought home (I suspect bigger stores might have had more selection, and possibly some of these might be last year's books), in no particular order:

• Kid Houdini and the Silver-Dollar Misfits (Viper Comics) - also includes a 7-page teaser of The Sleepy Truth
• Gekiga: A Drawn & Quarterly Sampler (Drawn & Quarterly) - includes excerpts from Red Colored Elegy and Good-Bye
• Broken Trinity: Prelude (Top Cow) - Withcblade/Darkness/Angelus crossover and not my usual cup of tea, but I thought I'd give it a shot
• Yow! Drawn & Quarterly Presents a "John Stanley Library" Grab-Bag (Drawn & Quarterly)
• The Stranded/Dan Dare (Virgin Comics/SciFi)
• Soleil (Marvel) - I've read so little from Marvel in the last zillion years that I almost didn't bother with this, but the range of art styles on the cover piqued my interest
• The Sixth Gun (Oni Press) - I've had a Western craving start up lately and I think I might start watching some old weird west movies (and I'm gonna break down and buy Borderlands for PS3 soon)
• Resurrection (Oni Press) - includes a 7-page Tek Jansen story
• Doctor Solar/Magnus Robot Fighter (Dark Horse)
• Fractured Fables (Image)
• Mouse Guard/Fraggle Rock (Archaia) - this one has me most excited; I love the art in Mouse Guard, and though Fraggle Rock isn't my favorite, I am a Jim Henson fan

So yeah, that's what I got. I haven't bought many comics lately, since I'm broke and never seem to get by the comic store, so this is pretty cool. Sometime I'll sit down and see just how far behind I am on the various books I was reading, and how many TPBs I'll have to buy to catch up . . .

[BFG] Latest PSP Writing

Something bizarre is happening with my internet access. At first I thought it was just Firefox conflicting, for some unknown reason, with WordPress (which my work blog uses) so that whenever I tried to publish two posts in a row, the new one would copy over the old one, even though they had different file names. But then Safari did the same thing. In fact, it not only deleted the first post when I published the second, when I tried signing out and back to see if it would help, it deleted the second post as well. Eventually I got them both posted, but not until I wasted a lot of time. I'd assume it was a WordPress problem, but other sites have been loading with images in weird places, or hotlinks unlclickable, or assorted other weird things. Grrrr. I dumped the caches on both Firefox and Safari, to see if that might help, but I haven't seen any reports of similar things online. Tonight I think I'll shut down the Macbook instead of just putting it to sleep to see if it makes any difference.

Anyway, here are my most recent blatherings about the PSP:

• How to Convert Homebrew Files to KXploit Form
  
• The PSP and Other Handhelds, A Visual Comparison
  
• Is it Possible to Run Homebrew on PSP Firmware 1.51 and 1.52?
  
• Where Can I Get Free PSP Demos?
  
• Shadow of Destiny Review
  
• Shadow of Destiny Screenshots
  
• Sony's PSP and Nintendo's Game Boy
  
• Can the PSPgo Run Homebrew?
  
• Can Homebrew Save the PSPgo?

So that's what I've been up to. next up for reviews is a not-quite-new release, Pangya Fantasy Golf and a PSP mini, Hysteria Project, plus I hope a first-impressions review based on the demo for Mod Nation Racers.

Weekly Wishlist: Raygun Pendant

It's no secret that I love ray guns, and I thoroughly adore this pendant from Blue Bayer Designs on Etsy.

Blue Bayer Designs is one of those shops that I browse frequently, and from which I would love to buy numerous items. The crow and raven skulls in brass or silver are also on my "someday" wishlist. Also, Blue Bayer belongs to the Cabinet of Curiosities Etsy Team, which is something I aspire to. Once I've got the right items listed, that is (hint: things in jars black and white photos and book moth specimen shadow boxes, to start with).

You can read more about the artist in this Etsy featured seller interview.

And finally, apologies for not keeping up with the Weekly Wishlist posts if you were looking for them. It just felt like other peoples' art was taking over this blog, so I needed to take a break. Now, onward.

[BFG] Latest Submissions and Rejections

Writing-wise, I'm not getting a lot done lately. Other things, like print jobs and applying for actual regular work, have been taking up my time. But that's just an excuse. Mostly it's just that I need more time home by myself, which is when I get the most done. But the boy is still job hunting, and therefore not *at* a job, so I putter along with work writing and various other tasks.

Anyway. Here's the latest in submissions and rejections, by story title:

• "Cobblehore Knit" - submitted to and rejected by Clarkesworld; not sure where I'll send it next
  
• "Great Skerry" - rejected by Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show; haven't decided where to send it next; the problem with this story is that it probably needs "Hollow Bones" and possibly a story about what happened between to really mean anything to the reader
  
• "Hollow Bones" - submitted to Strange Horizons
  
• "The Promise of Roses" - rejected by Strange Horizons; I may send it to Fantasy magazine next, or wait for Cabinet des Fees' June 1 submission date
  
• "Sharper and More Fragrant" - submitted to Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show
  
• "Spinning" - rejected by Realms of Fantasy; submitted to and rejected by Fantasy magazine, but with a rejection asking for more stories (yay!); haven't decided where to send it next

So that's it for now. Except obviously I need to finish that novel . . .

Many Little Books

I had several posts on process planned to write, but somehow never got to them. Possibly it was all the photos I'd have to deal with to do them right that I found daunting. More likely, I'm just lazy. There aren't really that many photos. Anyway, I'll get to them. One was going to be a start-to-finish of the airship drawing I was so recently twittering incessantly about.

But here's what I've been doing lately.


There are 20 tiny and 18 really tiny 4-hole stab-bound books in that photo. The squares on the cutting mat are 1/2 inch. These will become pendants and earrings. Possibly today.


And here we have a new product to test out at the Halifax Crafters Fair next weekend: wee little leather-covered pocket notebooks. 22 of them. So, if you recall I said I planned to attempt to bind at least 50 books this year. If each of these counts as 1, then I'm at 60 and have more than met my goal. On the other hand, if that really means 50 unique books, then I'm only at 2 (or maybe 3, if you count tiny and really tiny as unique) and I have a lot of work left to do . . .

[BFG] Nothing to Report

I guess maybe I haven't been very geeky lately. Fringe and Doctor Who both have new episodes coming soon, though, and True Blood after that, so be prepared.

I've been playing Assassin's Creed when I can pry BillyZ away from his racing games long enough, and I really need to get started on Shadow of Destiny. Maybe this evening. Most of my reading has been non-fiction of the natural history sort, though I did just get some comics via BookMooch . . .

Um. Yeah. And I haven't got any more rejections for stories lately, though I have a number still out in the world. I have to get working on pitches/cover letters for my YA books so I can send those out.

Right now I should get started on an article on the PSP and Nintendo Game Boy. Last PSP article was a how-to on converting homebrew files to KXploit form, which you mostly don't need to do these days, but I want to be complete in my how-to homebrew series.

And that's about it for geekery from the BFG, herself.

Busy Getting Nothing Done

It seems to be the story of my life: I'm busy pretty much all the time, and if I'm not actually making or writing something, then I'm reading or doing research. Even when I play videogames, I'm working, because I work for a gaming website. So I've been busy all weekend, and have crossed almost nothing off my to-do list. I really need to write some articles. And get some product made for the Halifax Crafters spring market, which is in a few weeks.

To be fair, I didn't just waste the weekend. I did organize my stock of existing product to get some idea of what I need to make. There is a batch of half-done tiny pocket journals, and I will have to do a batch of Japanese-binding jewellery. And I came up with an idea for new product. One of the things I've been wanting to do is make greeting cards from my illustrations, but I haven't had any I liked well enough to use. But now (you'll see if you read on) I have a couple of images I like. So next time I'm in Truro or Halifax, I'll visit Staples for some of those pre-cut greeting cards that are made especially for inkjet printing on. My large-format Canon photoprinter does really nice prints, so that end is covered. I'm also going to do magnets. I just have to decide how many of each thing I'll be likely to sell, because I'm short enough on funds that I don't want to buy more supplies than I actually need.

I've mentioned ATCs before--that is, Artist Trading Cards. They're little trading card sized piece of art that you trade with other artists. Or you can sell them, in which case they're called ACEOs (Art Cards Editions and Originals). I made one a little while ago to trade with a fellow Etsy Steam Team member.


Leonardo's Clockwork Scarab was made in a hand-coloured edition of 15, two of which stay home (one for me and one for BillyZ), two are on sale at Etsy and ArtFire, one has gone to CreativeEtching, one will go to a trader partner in . . . Sweden, I think, and 9 are left to trade.


Doktor Valentine's Discombobulation Ray was an experiment in markers, which I'm not so good at. A last minute application of pencil crayon highlights saved the image, and it'll become magnets to sell at the fair, and later online. I haven't put it up for trade yet, as I'm rather fond of it, but if the magnets turn out well, I'll either sell the original on Etsy, or make it available for trade.


Aeryn Daring in Sepia was a less-successful experiment with sepia drawing ink. I'm not fond of how it bled, though fortunately it's really only noticeable up close. I also don't like how the paper texture is so visible--guess I'll have to buy the good watercolour paper soon. Otherwise, it turned out OK, and it's up for trades. I may do magnets from this one, but I haven't decided yet.









Valkyrie I'm very pleased with. It was an attempt to get away from the over-detailing I tend to do in inks, and just use a simple outline with basic washes. I think it's successful for what it is, and it will become greeting cards. Maybe magnets, too. I've entered her in a couple of mythology-themed ATC contests, and when those are over I may put her up for sale on Etsy. If the greeting cards turn out well.


The Fox & the Grapes illustrates an Aesop's fable and was an attempt to get myself to use more dynamic perspective. It's actually a detail from a larger image that has more vines and leaves and the rest of the fox's tail--I'll probably go back now and do the whole thing on a postcard. This is another one that will be greeting cards (and maybe magnets). I'm hanging on to it for a while, but will probably sell or trade it eventually.

We've had more spring birds showing up, despite the recent snow, but that's a post for later. Right now I have a big stew to make.

Weekly Wishlist: ACEOs by Renee Nault

So I think I'm going to combine "Monday Multiples" and "Wednesday Wishlist" into one Weekly Wishlist post, because this blog is threatening to turn into a "cool stuff I found on Etsy" blog, when it's supposed to a "what I'm making/writing/doing/seeing in my yard" blog. (For the "what geeky thing am I in love with now" see my other blog, BFG, and for "what has Niko learned about bones/archaeology/palaeontology" see my other other blog Osteosophy.)

One of the things I've been working on lately (and I'll post more on this in my next post) is an ACEO or ATC (basically, trading cards for artists) to trade for one like this. I've become fascinated with the tiny trading card format, so I started researching ATCs (and ended up writing an article on them for Handmade News). The latest result of this, my newest distraction, is that I've found some wonderful illustrators. One I just had to share is Renee Nault. Here's a taste:


Not only does she make gorgeous ink and watercolour paintings (see her work here on Etsy, here on her own website, and here on illustratedATCs), she's also from my old hometown (inasmuch as I have a hometown) of Victoria, BC. I'm absolutely going to buy one of her ATCs, as soon as I can decide which one. And one of my goals is to get accepted to illustratedATCs (it's a juried site), so I can trade for her work, and the work of some of the other fabulous illustrators who hang out there. Whee!

Weekly Wishlist: Nocturnal Time Piece

See how I cleverly changed the title of this post so no one will notice I forgot to post it yesterday? Heh.

Anyway, this week's wishlist pick is a very cool nocturlabe by Whystler's Workshop on Etsy.


It's plastic, which I don't normally like, but the difference here is that it was made by a 3D printing process from a digital file, which is just really, really cool. I like the idea of using the latest technology to produce an item of very old technology.

And it's actually functional, too, so you can take it outside at night and, assuming the sky is clear and there aren't any hills or trees in the way, find the north star and figure out what time it is.

[BFG] Reject

Got a rejection for "Hollow Bones" from Clarkesworld this morning. The next couple of places I plan to send it currently have other stories of mine, so I'll wait to send it out again.

In the meantime, I'm editing "Perilous Child" for submission to a themed anthology, and transcribing chapter 19 of White Foxes so I can move on to writing new chapters.

Oh, and I'm finally going to start on that review copy of Shadow of Destiny for PSP, so I can review it for work. My PS3 and/or controllers seem to be behaving sluggishly today, as BillyZee tries to play Assassin's Creed. He's been trying to escape some guards for half an hour, over and over and still getting killed. I hope this isn't a sign that the PS3 is about to crap out, because it's the 60 GB model with full backwards compatibility, and I won't be able to replace it.

Addendum: I also got a rejection slip in the mail from Fantasy & Science Fiction for "Cobbleshore Knit." Perhaps not surprisingly, they use the exact same form rejections they did back in the 90s when I was submitting. I think the next place I planned to send this story still has another one, so I'll hold off a bit before sending it out.

[BFG] Fantasy Submissions

In an effort to get myself back to working on fiction, which I neglected while in art school, I've started submitting again. I began by entering my YA novel A Madness of Kentaurs in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award. The first round was judged entirely on the pitch. I suck at writing pitches and didn't make it through. Obviously I need to work on writing pitches if I ever hope to get a novel published. You can read the the Kentaurs pitch in a previous post.

Then late last month, I dealt with the disappointment of not making it to round two in ABNA by sending out a bunch of stories. Here are the results so far, by story title:

• Caught on Thorns - submitted to Dark Discoveries via e-sub, haven't heard back
  
• Cobbleshore Knit - submitted to Fantasy & Science Fiction via mail, haven't heard back
  
• Daughters of the Sea King - submitted to Weird Tales via e-sub, haven't heard back
  
• Dragon's Egg - submitted to Silver Blade via e-sub, haven't heard back
  
• Fox Point Dragon - submitted to Cricket via mail, haven't heard back
  
• Great Skerry - submitted to Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show via e-sub, haven't heard back
  
• Hollow Bones - submitted to Dreams of Decadence via esub, rejected; submitted to Clarkesworld via e-sub, haven't heard back
  
• King of Kings, Ruler of Camels - submitted to Cabinet des Fees via e-sub, rejected; haven't resubmitted yet
  
• The Promise of Roses - submitted to Strange Horizons via e-sub, haven't heard back yet
  
• Remembering to Fly - submitted to Fantasy via e-sub, rejected; haven't resubmitted yet
  
• Sealskin - sent to Interzone via mail, haven't heard back
  
• Sharper and More Fragrant - submitted to Clarkesworld via e-sub, rejected; submitted to Fantasy via e-sub, rejected; haven't resubmitted yet
  
• Spinning - submitted to Realms of Fantasy via mail, haven't heard back yet
  

So I'm working my way though the pros and semi-pros and will eventually start sending to the smaller no-pay zines when I run out of paying markets.

ACEO: Leonardo's Clockwork Scarab

One of my fellow Etsy Steam Team members offered some very cool copper and brass etched ACEOs (Art Cards, Edition and Originals) to trade and I piped up saying I'd make a tiny linocut. Well, turns out 3 1/2 by 2 1/2 inches is really tiny. Not that I can't do a lino that small, it's just that I came up with a design I really liked, but which was way too complex for lino. So instead I did an ink drawing and scanned it, then added some gears in Illustrator (thanks to the "Gears" typeface from Scriptorium which came in a pack of faces I bought a while ago for doing titles for my comics).

Then I wrestled with my laser printer for a while until I determined that it wasn't going to print onto printmaking rag paper no matter how I cajoled or threatened it. So I printed the images onto rag paper with my lovely Canon Pixma Pro9000 photoprinter instead. It may be time for a new laser printer. Here are some of the cards, not yet coloured.


Next I have to see if the photo inks will withstand water. If they do, I'll tea-stain the paper to age it, and then hand-colour with watercolours. If they don't, I'll carefully tea-stain only the very edges, then hand-colour with pencil crayon. I need to get these done, because the one I'm trading for was in today's mail.

So if you want to trade, let me know. I'm doing 15 of these, and one's spoken for, plus I'll keep one or two. Whatever's left I'll put in my Etsy and ArtFire shops.

And, in case it isn't obvious, it's a scarab beetle, with clockwork, and wings inspired by one of Leonardo daVinci's flying machines. I think I'm still going to attempt a tiny ACEO linocut, but not a scarab flying machine. Maybe just a simple beetle.

Spring Cards: Design 1 Complete

I don't know if I'll get any more of these done by the time the Halifax Crafters Spring Market happens (which is April 17-18), but at least I'll have this one done: The Bluejay (Cyanocitta cristata).

I'm planning to do a whole "Birds of Nova Scotia" series eventually (collect them all!). Next I'll probably do a downy (or maybe hairy) woodpecker, and then chickadee. Mostly because they're some of the most common visitors around here, and I know I can do them in two colours. I'd like to do pheasant, too, but he'd take at least three (black, red-brown and green).


If you're curious about the process of designing letterpress cards (or at least the process I used in this particular instance), you can see my posts on the preliminary design and the digital proof for this same card.

Actually, just for fun, here are the three images in sequence:

Monday Multiples: Narcissus by Andrea Starkey

Here's another case of a shop so full of lovely prints I had a hard time deciding which one to feature. Because I'm in a spring mood, though, I chose this narcissus reduction linocut.


Andrea Starkey's Etsy shop, starkeyart, features hand-pulled linocuts and woodcuts of trees, forests and other natural subjects in soft, earthy colours. Go look at the loveliness.

New Bookbinding Article

I've finally got back into writing my "Bookbinding Basics" column (formerly "Leaf by Leaf") for Handmade News. The latest one, in preparation for more tutorials, is "Basic Toolkit." It describes what I think are the few tools you really need to do most bookbinding, from basic to intermediate structures at least. These are the tools I wouldn't want to be without. If you read the article and like it, it'd be nice if you could click the little "thumbs-up" doohickey at the bottom.

It's a Coming

Spring, that is. Bill spotted a couple of new visitors to the birdseed in the past couple of days, one of which was a grackle, and grackles are spring/summer birds around these parts.

If that's not enough evidence, I found a couple of dandelions (or dandelion-like weeds) flowering next to the house. I'd take a photo, but I keep forgetting until it's shady where they are and they've closed up their flowers for the night. But they're there and I've seen them.

The pheasant has continued to come back almost every day, strutting up the driveway with his long tail at a 45-degree angle. And yesterday we saw a big brown hawk chasing another bird in our yard. It happened so fast there was no chance to identify either bird except brown hawk with pale head and something vaguely falcon-shaped. Maybe. Of course I didn't have my glasses on, but I was at least outside or I might not have seen them at all.

And most evenings (and even some surprisingly early afternoons) we hear an owl hoo-hooing in the nearby woods. Plus there was that skunk last week that woke me up with his delightful smell at 5:30 am. So spring is definitely on its way, though the weirdness that is Nova Scotia weather could still mean cold and wet, or even snow again, before the winter gives up.

Addendum: So those dandelion-like weeds I mentioned are in fact coltsfoot (Tussilago farfara), and according to my one book on NS plantlife (Edible Wild Plants of Nova Scotia by Heather MacLeod and Barbara MacDonald), they shouldn't be blooming for another two months. Hmm. At any rate, they weren't in shade yet when I popped outside (and I discovered many more of them), so I took a few photos of which this is one:


I'm going to need a good general book on NS plants (that includes the non-edible variety) before this season gets too far advanced.

[BFG] Latest Videogame Writing

Once upon a time, I started trying to cover more homebrew on my work site, About PSP, but I eventually gave up because it's so easy to get confused. I did succeed, however, in downgrading my PSP (an old PSP-1000 model) to firmware version 1.50, the best version for homebrew.

Lately, I've given it another shot, and started a series of articles on how to run homebrew on verious firmware versions and models of PSP. Here's the series so far, with many more to come in the weeks ahead.

• How to Run Homebrew on a Firmware 1.00 PSP
• How to Run Homebrew on a Firmware 1.50 PSP

I've also returned to a series of very fun, but perhaps not very traffic-attracting, articles on classic handheld gaming consoles. To make them suitable for the site, of course, I can't just write little historical sketches for each one. Instead, I have to relate them to the PSP, which has actually turned out to be a fun challenge, and I think may have resulted in somewhat better articles than I might otherwise have written. Here's that series (so far).

The PSP and the History of Handheld Videogaming

• Introduction to the Archaeology of the PSP
• The PSP and Milton Bradley's Microvision
• The PSP and Epoch's Game Pocket Computer

And in yesterday's mail I got a review copy of Konami's Shadow of Destiny, a remake (or maybe just a port, I'm not sure) of a 2001 PS2 game. That'll be my next review, sometime next week. My last review was Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, which I loved so much I'm going to download the original Silent Hill PSOne game to my PS3, and start playing through the whole series.

Watch This. Right Now.

Click this.

Wednesday Wishlist: Tiny Robot by Industrial Fairytale

I knew Industrial Fairytale was going to make an appearance in the Wishlist sooner or later, it was just a matter of choosing which marvelous thing to feature. Scrolling through her Etsy shop today, I realized that of course, it must be Tiny Robot. So here is "Tiny Robot and His Cold Metal Heart."


Industrial Fairytale is Sarah Dungan who, aside from making adorable tiny robots, cephalopod pendants and other delightful polymer clay things, also does lovely illustrations (and you can consider her self-published art books on the Wishlist too, even if I didn't include a picture) (actually, most of the stuff in her shop is on my wishlist). She's a fellow member of the Etsy Steam Team (there's a logo link over there in the left column somewhere, if you want to find out more), has her own blog, and co-runs the Cephalopod Tea Party blog. You can find more of her work on her website.

Monday Multiples: Phalanx by chartwellprint

This week's featured print is "Phalanx" by chartwellprint on Etsy.



The artist works with traditional printmaking techniques on copper (I also prefer copper for intaglio prints), and looks to fishing and watery things for subjects. All the prints are accomplished but I especially like the juxtaposition of different patterns and surfaces in "Phalanx."

[BFG] Wow . . .

I really don't like Microsoft (no, it's not a Mac/PC fangirl thing, I'm just tired of their stuff not working) (ok, maybe it is a Mac/PC fangirl thing), but their upcoming Courier "digital journal" looks really amazing. It could be very disappointing, but it looks like I've always thought e-book should and opens like -gasp!- a book.

That doesn't mean I don't want an iPad any more (boy do I ever). Of course, it'll be a loooong time before I can afford either one, so I guess it's moot.

Addendum: Maybe the reason I like is that it looks like an iPad that folds closed like a book . . .

Wednesday Wishlist: Steampunk Heart

Monster Kookies makes wonderfully fantastic anatomically correct heart pendants. Like this one:


They're sculpted in polymer clay, painted and embellished. I love how this one looks like clockwork. Others look like little scientific heart models, and one even looks like wood.

You can find these very cool hearts at the Monster Kookies Etsy shop, along with zombie cupcakes, clockwork birds and other cute-creepy things. Go look, it's fun. You can also find Monster Kookies work on deviantArt.

Monday Multiples: Swan Monotype

Technically, a monotype isn't a multiple, so this week the feature's title is a misnomer, but it's still a print, so I'm including it. So this week's featured print is "Swan," a monotype print by Lori Dean Dyment of Dean Dyment Studios.



You'll find Dean Dyment Studios on Etsy, where there's a shop full of wonderful monotypes, linocuts and other prints. Lori Dean Dyment also has a blog, So I was thinking ..., where you can read about her work and find out what some of her favorite art on the web is.

Writing

Just a quick note. I've been blogging a bit about writing (so far a very little bit, but will do more as I get myself back in gear) over on my other blog BFG. That doesn't mean I won't write about my writing here, just that most of the writing I've been doing lately fits BFG subject matter better. When I do some more writing about craft, I'll blog about it here.

It may turn out to be a bad idea, trying to separate these two parts of my life. In reality, of course, they're quite well integrated in me. But I realize that the people who come to this blog (besides friends and family who have been reading since the beginning) are most likely expecting to read about my art and craft, not about video games and comics (though, of course, I also draw comics, so that's part of my art, too).

Anyway, back to work.

Blog Ring: Tuscan Road Designs

This week's featured blog in the Handmade Artists Forum Blog Ring is Tuscan Road Designs. The proprietor of Tuscan Road says this of herself:

I love to work with color and texture, Swarovski Crystal and the natural beauty of Semi Precious Gemstones. Many of my pieces have an eclectic, asymmetrical style. I have consistently been inspired during my numerous world travels, always keeping an eye out for the beautiful and unusual bead or idea that helps make these one-of-a-kind creations so unique.

She's certainly got a knack for combining a bunch of different elements into funky jewellery, as you can see from this piece:


The featured blogger from the other HAF ring is CJGrand, who just happens to be a watcher of this very blog (hi!).

[BFG] Aw, Crap

Well, The Madness of Kentaurs didn't make the cut. Here's the pitch that didn't get me to the next round (and yeah, I know, it's not exactly a typical submission pitch--I followed some advice from previous entrants whose pitches did make it through last year):

It is the time of year when once wild things become wild again, still wild things become wilder, and civilized things shut their doors and pretend they had never been wild.

During the season of madness, the kentaurs of the Pelion foothills—those half-horse, half-human creatures that humans call “centaurs”—journey from their home villages to the sacred lands across the Acheron River. Horses find the kentaur herd irresistible and often run away from their human masters to join the herd. One day, Octavian, stable-boy and floor cleaner at the local inn, gets carried off by the innkeeper’s horse, and ends up trapped in the kentaur herd. He is placed under the charge of Ixion, a young kentaur shaman-in-training, who begins to teach him that kentaurs are not the barbaric, half-sentient beasts he had thought they were.

And then the dreams begin. Dreams in which ancient, cold things with too many teeth steal the boys’ tongues and threaten to steal their sanity. Now Octavian and Ixion both have to learn enough about the otherworld to make it though a grueling initiation ceremony across the Acheron, River of Woe. But first, Octavian has to gain acceptance from the kentaur herd.

The Madness of Kentaurs is a young-adult fantasy novel that explores the ideas of difference and belonging that all children face as they become adults.

Stories about who we are and where we came from become very different when told from different points of view, as I learned while studying for my degrees in archaeology and folklore. The concept of belonging is one I have explored in other writing, including a number of short stories published in semi-professional venues.


Yeah, that last paragraph really makes me cringe.

So, what now? Guess I'll work on the pitch a bit, write a cover letter, and send it to some publishers. All they can do is say no.

And I'll get back to work on the next one.

[BFG] Killing Time and Biting Nails

Today is the big day. Well, actually it's only a somewhat significant milestone on the way to the big day, but it seems really, really big right now.

So what the hell am I talking about? Today, February 25, is the day they announce who goes on to the second round of the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award. The judging, for this portion, is based entirely on the "pitch." That's 300ish words of me saying why my novel is good. I'll post it later on, maybe, once I find out whether or not I made the cut.

I don't think I'm going to get very much done today.

Wednesday Wishlist: Miniature Pocket Globe

I've been eying this tiny globe from Bo Press for some time now.


Bo Press is the work of Patricia Sweet, who designs and prints (digitally) tiny books and globes and maps and binds them using traditional binding techniques. Not only are the books tiny and lovely, but they are full of exactly the kinds of things I like: science (especially the mad sort), maps, folklore, and the like. Please have a look at the Bo Press Etsy shop, where you'll find all this and more.

I especially want to feature Bo Press, not just because Patricia Sweet makes such cool stuff, but because I am also a happy customer and I can tell you that the customer service is top-notch. I purchased a tiny Bo Press book on eBay some time ago. When it got lost in the mail, it was not only quickly replaced, but a lovely bonus was included as well. I will definitely buy more Bo Press things--and I especially want one of those globes. Plus, I've been inspired to make more tiny books of my own (you can see some of my miniature books, in jewellery form, in my Anagram for Ink Etsy shop).

Edit: Also check out the Bo Press website for all the books and globes, and if you feel like buying something, I'd advise buying it from the website rather than the Etsy shop, so more of the purchase price goes to the artist.

New Neighbour

This rather dashing fellow stopped by for lunch earlier today.


I'm not sure if he's new to the neigbourhood, or has just been shy.

Monday Multiples (a day late): Belted Kingfisher

This week's Monday Multiple (yeah, yeah, late again), presented by Anagram for Ink, is a print by Anagram Press. Nice name for a press, don't you think? This print is part of a series of birds, which I'd love to bind in an album, but the printer also makes artist's books and probably doesn't need my help (grin).


Anagram Press is Chandler O'Leary, who does letterpress, lino and artist's books. You can read more about the work on the Anagram Press Etsy shop, website, and blog, or follow them on Twitter.

[BFG] Video Game Art Review

Video Game Art by Nic Kelman. New York: Assouline Publishing, 2005. (Cover image copyright Assouline Publishing and Konami.)

Being poor and a lover of books, I often find myself shopping in the remainder (aka "Bargain Books") section of Chapters, even though both Chapters (big box store for books) and the idea of remaindered books are a little dubious. Still, it's possible to get fantastic deals there, especially in art books.

Anyway, on my most recent trip, when the boy and I went after the holiday rush was over, one of the books I brought home was Video Game Art by Nic Kelman. I picked it up mostly because I'm interested in the whole phenomenon of digital art, and it's nice to have mementos of well-designed games that I'll probably never play again (for the same reason, I have art books from Gadget, Myst and Syberia--and the Syberia one is in French, of which I can read only a very small amount). The cover of the book does not inspire confidence, featuring a tacky lenticular image as it does, so I wasn't expecting a whole lot more than a superficial look at the art design of games coupled with some nice pictures.

So I was pleasantly surprised to discover a very readable scholarly essay on why we should count video games among the media allowed in the hallowed records of art history. The author placed particular emphasis on how games reflect myth and the heroic journey, which is a strong argument. It would be interesting to compare some video games with Joseph Campbell's hero's journey (even though I think Campbell vastly oversimplified mythology, he's very popular in film scholarship).

This book would make useful reading for game designers, as Kelman points out some of the ways game design has become codified (or petrified), and how it could venture into new territory. The emphasis is primarily on games with narrative structure, though there is some discussion of non-story-oriented games, too.

My primary quibbles with Video Game Art are physical. The gimicky cover I've already mentioned. The paper was also a little problematic. Though the heavy, smooth stock that the publisher chose was really good for reproducing the images, the book is not particularly large for an art book, so the stiffness of the pages made turning and holding them for reading more awkward than it should have been.

The really big issue was a printing problem. In at least three places, when a sentence broke off at the end of the page, it simply vanished and was never completed. And the last time this happened, instead of picking up at the next sentence or paragraph, the opening paragraphs of the chapter were repeated. Add this to the rampant minor typos, and the copyeditor in me was continually jarred out of the joy of reading the otherwise well-written prose.

Anyway, problems aside, Video Game Art is a useful addition to the so far scarce scholarly literature on video games.

Airship Blueprint

One of the things I'm working on right now is a commission for a large-scale blueprint-style airship drawing. I recently posted six concept sketches on my Flickr and had the client look at them. He sent me his comments and ideas, so now I'm working on a sketch that incorporates everything.

The Jules Verne is Frisland Air Ships' flagship, and is most famous for having carried the infamous Dr Sophia Shallowgrave around Frisland on one of her early exploratory journeys. Currently, the Jules Verne is a luxury passenger liner, with regular sailings to Frisland's far north, as well as to destinations overseas.

DAV Santos-Dumont. Darwin Aero Vessels prefers to keep the gasbag entirely separate from the gondola and observation posts, and frequently chooses non-rigid and semi-rigid designs.

Though Frisland Air Ships currently builds only rigid airships, it has experimented with semi-rigid designs, such as the Lebaudy-Julliot.

The pirate ship Flying Fish may have been constructed by the pirates themselves, as there are no records of it being built at any of the shipyards or workshops in Frisland.

Courier Ship Shooting Star, built at the Mountain Vista Shipyards in Peak City, Frisland. This ship features a single steam ray cannon, multiple black powder rail cannons and two experimental steam propulsion units.

The HMS Sgian Dubh was secretly constructed for Queen Victoria by Frisland Air Ships of Darwin, Frisland, as the Royal Air Navy's flagship. Armaments by Darwin Cannon & Sidearms Manufactory of Darwin, Frisland.

Now I think I'll repost this over on BFG, due to the extremely geeky nature of this particular project.