More Jak Phoenix Character Sketches

So Matt asked me to sketch a few more characters. I was going to wait until I finished reading the novel, but after meeting Cartrite I had these images of characters in my head and wanted to get them on paper.

First is Cartrite. He's orchestrating the takeover of the entire galaxy by setting up a government that is destined to fail and then stepping in and saving the day. It's a rather brilliant yet insidious plot. What's scary is it could so easily happen in real life.

I based his costume on Stalin's uniform and the face is a composite of two white haired actors. I bought a new skinny brush that I used for the first time on this face to create more delicate lines for faces and hands while going for thick lines for the clothes and chair. It provides a nicer line weight contrast than I usually have.

The next character is Rusty. He's the proprietor of a space station where weary travelers can stop and repair their ships and themselves. In the story he gives Jak first class treatment, but Jak suspects there's something not entirely altruistic in his motives, and of course he's right; Rusty wants something--something big.

I based his look on a couple of different characters. I thought a medieval type garb would fit the innkeeper nature of the character. I pictured him as being short and round, but I wasn't sure about the hair. This version shows it well kept, but I did consider making him much older with out of control hair. I'm not sure which is better.

If you haven't had a chance to read Jak Phoenix and you enjoy old fashioned space operas, do yourself a favor and pick it up. The story is great! The characters are more memorable than the typical space opera character. The adventure is interesting and varied. The only criticism I have is the writing: it's not as efficient as it could be, some parts a little overwritten, and a few awkward phraseologies pop up here and there, but not enough to get in the way of enjoying the story.

Cover Art

Have you ever been told not to judge a book by its cover? And have you put that to the test and realized it was absolute nonsense? Of course you should judge a book by its cover. That's why it has one!

Which brings me to the topic at hand. This was my first attempt at a cover for an inspirational book. It was rejected. Why? The client loved the colors and the figures, but it did not represent the content of the book. So I ended up doing something completely different that the client absolutely loved, and will probably attract the type of customer who will buy and enjoy her book.

This was done with my dollar brush, sumi ink, then scanned into my iMac and digitally colored in Corel Painter X. The background is a composite of three photos and the rock their standing on is from the Australian Outback. I really like putting cartoon figures with a realistic coloring against a photographic background that's been digitally tweaked to look painted.

The Writing Process

I love DVDs. While I love the main feature (the movie), my favorite part is the behind-the-scenes feature. I love learning how and why a movie was made. The same goes for books. I love learning about the process that went on from conception to publication and all the steps and changes that happened along. So in that spirit, I thought I’d share my own writing process for those who are curious about where my stories come from.

Step 1: The Idea

I don’t sit down and say to myself, “Self, you must come up with an idea for a story.” Instead I go about my day working on websites and other work. During the normal course of a day, something will spark, and I write that spark down. I have over a dozen pages of story ideas. I look over these ideas from time to time and explore them in my mind. I’ll write down additional ideas, images, actions, themes, characters, possible titles, etc. that I think of with these, devoting a page to each major idea.

Step 2: The Basic Story

Once I've filled a page with enough raw material, I'll identify the most interesting threads and organize the other ideas around it. I'll create a loose plot so I have some notion of where the story may begin, where it may travel, and where it may end.

Step 3: Plot and Dialogue

Once a story emerges, I’ll write a very tight plot and dialogue. The format is similar to a movie script with the major actions spelled out, a lot of the dialogue written, and the major emotions or thoughts identified. This plot usually ends up getting restarted, rewritten, and resorted several times before it is finished. I think of it as the skeleton of the story. It tells me basically how long the work will be (so I know if it is a short story, a novel, a comic book, etc.) I also know who the characters are, what they will do, what their motivation is, what changes they will go thru, what the major conflicts are, and have a very tight story.

Step 4: First Draft

After all this work I’ll begin a handwritten first draft. This stage goes pretty quickly since the story is basically written, the conflicts worked out, and the characters well defined. I still make a lot of changes at this stage, but knowing the overall story in pretty good detail helps me keep everything consistent with revelations and discoveries happening at the right moments.

Step 5: Second Draft

Once the first draft is written, I begin the second draft which is when I type the story into the computer. Again I make a lot of changes as I go being both writer and editor. I mainly refine the story itself expanding undeveloped scenes and cut boring or unnecessary scenes.

Step 6: Refinement

Revision and refinement is mostly to work on the wording and clarify any writing, but I have been known to add a couple of chapters as this stage if the message wasn’t complete. I’ll usually make three passes correcting mistakes and working on wording. I have no interest in impressing readers with my extensive vocabulary or complex sentence structure. I try to make the writing as clear and efficient as possible without getting dry. I want the writing to be so smooth it just disappears leaving the reader with unfettered access to the story.

Step 7: Publish!

Finally I illustrate and publish. And wallah — a new story is born!

Character Sketches: More from the Jak Phoenix Universe

So Matt, the creater of Jak Phoenix, liked the drawings I did so much, he wanted more. And I was glad to draw more. I've been interested in this kind of space opera style scifi for a while and have wanted to do something in this style, but I never had a good reason for it. Until now.

The characters were again drawn with a brush dipped in Sumi ink on Strathmore Drawing Paper (the yellow cover), then scanned into my iMac on a Canoscan printer, and digitally colored in Corel Painter X. I really liked the end result. This may be the process I use for all my art for a while.

Let me know what you think.

Character Sketch: Space Opera

It's been a while since I've put up a character sketch, so I thought I'd put one up. This one was commissioned by Matt Williams, the author of Jak Phoenix, a fun space opera available from Smashwords.com and other fine retailers. Matt has even released a short story that is currently free so you can check out his universe.

I tried something a little different for this one. I used my usual brush and Sumi ink, but instead of drawing it in my sketchbook, I used Strathmore 70lb Drawing Paper which gave me a cleaner line than the sketch paper. I like a textured line, but the one I've been getting was a little too rough. This one was much cleaner while still having some character. I had a few sheets left over from drawing One Thing Right by Colin Shanafelt, a children's storybook which should be released in the next couple of months. I colored these sketches (and One Thing Right) with Corel Painter X on my iMac. I'm really happy with how it turned out.

I'm not sure if Matt is though.

We'll see.

Book Reviews

It's always nice to hear what anyone thinks of your work--whether it be good or bad--as long as it is sincere and intelligent. This week my first novel The Scientific Method (a Wandering Koala tale) received another positive review from someone that does this a lot. You can read the review here: http://sfbook.com/the-scientific-method.htm He makes a lot of good points including "The story itself is intelligently laid out, managing to avoid the pitfall of appearing patronizing and dumbing down which so often plagues the YA market." and "the fact that the book managed to grab my attention until the end does go towards showing the quality of the prose."

This is in stark contrast to the reviews my work receives at Barnes & Noble that consist of either one word reviews "Weird" or "Geek meets user" or short sentences that make me wonder if the reader is mentally sound such as one person complaining that my short story was only 27 pages long. It's a short story--27 pages is perfectly normal. Are you? (I wish I could respond to such odd criticisms in person, but I'm pretty sure it wouldn't do any good. They honestly don't care.)

I use to keep my work to myself and not share for fear of what others may say, but after a couple years of art school at Ricks College and working as a professional writer and designer for 8 years, other people's opinions don't bother me so much. I'm actually much more interested in their response and honest views of my work. It's helped me do a better job communicating, and that's the point of words and pictures anyway.

The Conclusion!

Part 3 of Wandering Koala meets the Beast who came for Christmas is finally available! Here is the cover with a gorgeous image of Alpine Fall's local church.

As with the rest of the series, the backgrounds are a combination of Google SketchUp 7 and Corel Painter X and the characters are all drawn and colored in Corel Painter X.

My next project is something I've been wanting to do for years, and have tried, but this time I think I've finally figured it out. Check back often to learn more!

Christmas Card 2010 - Rest, You Merry Gentlemen!

Each year I pick a Christmas Carol and write a poem inspired by the title expressing something I'm feeling that year. This year I picked God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen, because I was feeling overwhelmed by how much I had to get done for Christmas, and I thought that wasn't what Christmas should be. When I was little, Christmas was the greatest time of the year, and I don't remember ever feeling rushed or overscheduled. I also discovered that the carol was originally called God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen and was changed from You to Ye to make it sound more old fashioned. Who would have thunk?

I also create an original illustration that goes with the poem. This years came from several places. I wanted to show a family around the fire on Christmas Night relaxing together with the kids playing together. I also used the Nursing Home background from my Wandering Koala meets the Beast who came for Christmas comic book miniseries. The window was inspired by an old Batman comic by Bob Kane. The illustration is 100% digital, yet it looks hand drawn which I really like.

Every year I also send out Christmas Cards. I use to mail them, but now I almost exclusively email them and share it on Facebook. And every year fewer and fewer people respond. I'm not sure if they don't like it, if after several years it isn't special anymore, or if the world in general is just getting more and more selfish. I use to get ten email thank yous or so. This year I got two. What a world we live in.

This is one of my favorite Christmas Cards I've ever made. I hope you like it!

Wandering Koala meets the Beast who came for Christmas

The latest chapter in the Wandering Koala saga is now available!

Part One of Wandering Koala meets the Beast who came for Christmas is FREE for a limited time. Download your copy today!

www.WanderingKoala.com/comic0006.php

A new comic in time for Christmas

I've been wanting to do a comic completely on the computer for quite a while, but I didn't know how. I've been experimenting with various techniques and settings for quite a while trying to get it just right.

My last venture, Wandering Koala rides The Phantom Coach, was an experiment doing it all in Painter and Google SketchUp that turned out well. But it was very stylized and abstract, and I wanted a more hand drawn, painterly feel. So I decided to do a Christmas story in this style and am quite pleased with the results.

Above are the first four pages. The comic will be in three parts, the first part being offered for free in about a week or two. The next two parts should be done around Christmas. Let me know what you think.