|
The Lynn expressions are pretty awesome. The body language works so well. I think the top left is my favorite... but it's so hard to decide... I like her mom. She seems like the type who'd get along so well with her kid's friends that it would be embarrassing for her daughter.
I think I'll take your advice on the Ambassador name. The other org. of the story is called the "Authority" (for now, until I find something better) so the shorthand for the two would have been the Ex's and the Au's (X's and O's). And that's just not right.
I'm always interested in manga recommendations. Especially since most of the ones I'm reading right now are getting disappointing. Except for Beck. Beck is always good. And I think I'd be happy with AOI updates or Lynn and Kyle - I'd enjoy it either way.
And August in Tacoma is the hottest driest month of the year, generally speaking. It's hard to predict year to year but it gets up into the 90s easily enough. Or it could rain, but that's always an option. I think we could have fun no matter what. So... is it a possibility that you could come up? My own schedule isn't quite finalized yet but it should be by the end of the week. |
|
|
Apr. 23rd, 2006 @ 08:58 pm
|
|---|
|
Oh, thank you for posting those - I think my favorite is the drawing of Walker's parents. They have a lot of attitude in that sketch and I love their clothing. Makes perfect sense that they would need to be kind of undercover all the time. The geographical sketches are also super cool! I love the contrast between Sky City and Fallen City.
As for what to call them, hmmm... I kind of like Ambassadors. But you shouldn't listen to me, because I believe any random noun with a capital letter is a legitimate name to title things ;) And thank you for the book recs! I have some manga ones back at you if you're interested (the library out here is full of random manga).
So far I have another notebook page full of dialogue ideas. It's super rough draft, but it's taking me in the right direction. In that page, Lynn got really irritated, and it inspired the following page of doodles. Ignore the bottom right corner, those were just wierd.
I've also started to wonder about Lynn's parents. I think her mom is a really bubbly smooth talking late 90's working mom. I think over time she probably really likes Kyle because he goes on super good behavior when around her (I see Kyle as kind of two faced in a loveable way). Some ideasketches here. I want to do some sketches of Lynn's parents vs. Kyle's parents, to see how he'll react to them when they meet.
Aaaaand as a matter of fact I have been thinking about AoI. When I was trying to think of the Whys behind Lynn and Kyle, I started thinking about Taya-and-her-ghost instead. Couldn't help it, really. Which then got the ideas rolling, and now I'm going to have to flip a coin for which story gets my attention.
Hmmm. What's August like up north? :) |
|
Going back to the beginning has been successful. Plus it's more interesting somehow, maybe because it's less frustrating. Anyway, I do have a few things to show, some various concept sketches (i've done a little writing and some panelling too, but those notes wouldn't be understandable to anyone but me). Actually, the first pic is one I did ages ago - lets say months - and then I forgot about it. The others I did this week.
Walker's Palace
Explorer Uniforms
Intercity Transport Vessel
Fallen City
Sky City You might be able to tell I was getting a bit tired by the time I got to this one.
Hmmm... books to recommend... well, there's a few authors I really like right now. Anything by Patricia Briggs, or Nina Kiriki Hoffman (although she's a hard one to find, since she's mostly published in England), or any of the Explorer series by James Alan Gardner (I'm aware I'm using that name for my story, but I'm not sure what else to call my group - the Ambassadors maybe?). I also really like Wen Spencer, although she (he?) is hard to find too, at least at used book stores.
Anyways, I hope I can see some of your sketches, and Lynn and Kyle are going to get very interesting once you start getting into the Why part of it (although that seems like the hardest part to me). Plus, I love to see the way they interact.
... by the way, are you going back to the AOI universe sometime? and there's a week in august that I'm free, the 6th to the 11th - maybe you could get some days off work around that time? |
|
(I owe you a proper letter - including a thank you for your package! I've been planning something to reciprocate with)
It's funny, but I think we're in a similar situation of writer's block. I agree, characters should always inform plot... and I think sometimes it's easier to think you have a grasp of who they are and what motivates them (and how they'll be affected by what you're writing) than actually knowing that. Does that make sense? Like when you start to plot it out, you realize "oh, hm, I thought I knew how this was gonna go, but now it doesn't feel right."
I would love to see some of your preliminary stuff :) I'm happy that you're getting back on track, and it sounds like that writing class is really inspiring. Have you been reading any good stuff you'd recommend?
I don't have too much to show for Lynn & Kyle visually yet, but I've been trying to understand them better lately. I've always written them very spontaneously and I think I would like to know more about them before I dig too deep.I think I just hit on why he's dead, for example, so now I need to figure out why he's talking to Lynn. He's been waiting around the park for someone to talk to and I think it has to be more to it than "she talks back." Hmmm.
My goal is to have some visual notes I can share by next weekend. Even if I don't get panels outlined, I want some mental images moved to paper. |
|
So, we haven't been very good at updating the comics lately. I don't want the project to peter off and die, though. I've been trying to figure out what makes it so difficult for me to make progress, and I think I've got the answer (after several weekends of trying and failing to make an effort). I suppose I should have figured it out from the first comic but on that one, timely updates were the goal so I tended to just go ahead with whatever direction it was taking me.
Before I start the paneling I need to figure out who my characters are, where they're coming from, and how the narrative is a reflection of that. Characters should come before the plot, and that's something I've learned from the current writing course I'm in (plot before characters should be labeled "experienced people only"). It should be obvious, yeah, but there are times when it takes me a while to figure things out.
The pages I've done (and I inked about 3 more besides the ones I posted) are not a waste, and I'm going to incorporate them somehow. But I think I'm going to start over from the beginning, instead of jumping into the middle. Hopefully the updates will go smoother now. I'm hoping that next weekend, I can have a lot of planning sketches to show. |
| » i've got something to show this time |
|---|
... Not the final product though. I'm going to transfer these sketches onto cleaner paper, redo a few panels, and add some light watercolor. But most of the planning for these is done - overall I'm satisfied with them. Got any advice to make any part of it better (no matter how small) while it's still in progress?
page 1:you've seen this page before.
page 2
page 3
Your hourly sketches are pretty cute. There's so much humor there - I especially like the hair. I haven't scanned mine in yet and I'm heading out soon - but I'll do it. Eventually.
I like the exchange between Lynn and Kyle - especially with Lynn's blase attitude. And I see what you mean about the whackamol-e.
Feb. 4th, 2006 @ 07:10 pm
|
| » page 2 and hourly comics |
|---|
I sat down and calculated it. We should both be on page 6 this weekend. And here I am posting page 2.
"Gets totally old after a while."
Sidenote: This is the last time I go 4-5 weeks between drawing something and lettering it - so hard trying to envision why I shaped some of the bubbles how I did. Also lead to such lovely word coining as "whackamole" without hyphens. In my head, I keep reading it as "whackamol-e", you know, like "guacamol-e".
Also, I put up my hourly comic day results on deviant art. Not nearly so polished as this, but 15 mini strips are not to be mocked. strips 1-3 and links to the rest
Feb. 4th, 2006 @ 11:15 am
|
| » background sketch |
|---|
I can't say that I made much progress - I got dissatisfied with some pages and redid them. So I might try to work on it again tomorrow... but I did a little sketch of Walker's front porch! (nothing special, it will just help when planning out backgrounds) And let me tell you, I love that brushpen.
http://www.willamette.edu/~cretaill/images/walker/frontporch.jpg
Jan. 28th, 2006 @ 04:52 pm
|
| » it sounds interesting |
|---|
I might like to do it. The hourly comic, that is... it might be good practice too...
So far I've made lots of progress on the comic... I just don't have anything to show for it yet. I haven't inked any more page drafts since you saw it last, but when I do I'll scan them in. Good luck with your own.
Jan. 24th, 2006 @ 01:38 pm
|
| » something neat |
|---|
Okay, it's not my comics (...s. I think I owe 2 or 3?) but!
http://hourly.stereotypist.com/hourlycomicday.html
I saw this and I thought you might be interested. I'm highly considering it.
Jan. 21st, 2006 @ 05:37 pm
|
| » delay |
|---|
Heya!
I'm behind, now, but you saw the page in progress in my sketchbook, it's just a matter of finishing. Which has been postponed for Lulu.
Hopefully I'll have something this weekend, though. How's yours coming? ^^
Jan. 11th, 2006 @ 09:13 pm
|
| » Page one for the fresh Lynn/Kyle short |
|---|
I haven't named it yet. I am tentatively thinking "Lynn & Kyle meet, or how Kyle follows Lynn home like a stray cat" but I'm not sure it has enough flair. Could use input.
Page 1. I did some digital shading this time and I'm not entirely sure my feelings on it, yet. I'll see if (a) I like the look and feel later on or (b) I have the stamina to maintain it.
I'll be doing the whole thing in the past. This will account for little 12 year old Lynn's extremely normal hairstyle. Nothing, however, accounts for little Kyle's sense of style.
Dec. 25th, 2005 @ 11:07 pm
|
| » not a page yet, but a related posting |
|---|
The page will come. Oh it will come.
In the meantime, I finally put the first short story up in html. It's full of experimental writing since I wrote it for class, but it still really charms me. And inspires me to work on this bit, so.
Also, Christina, were we doing one or two pages per weekend?
Dec. 25th, 2005 @ 06:16 pm
|
| » Christina, is it possible to delay again? |
|---|
Because this is the simplest mode of message giving: can we postpone the first pages for next weekend? I know, I suck, but I managed to go and screw up my hand from all that computering at work, so until the inflammation dies down I'm a little on the slow side. I have my story started, I just... take a long time to draw right now.
Otherwise, if that's one postponement too many, we can start and I'll just be a little late with my side 'o things. Sorry for the short notice! This problem didn't start up until recently and I kind of hoped it would get better sooner than it has.
Dec. 17th, 2005 @ 04:00 pm
|
| » Le Fin. In horrible quality but STILL. |
|---|
page 21
page 22
page 23
page 24
page 25
page 26
page 27
page 28
page 29
page 30
I'm wondering if I should have postponed some pages because the quality suffered...
but I'll be damned if I can't reach the goal I started with!!!!
!!!!!
Page 28 is my favorite. Page 22 is just blah.
And I'm spent.
Sep. 12th, 2005 @ 01:52 am
|
| » day 30: and there will be no white flag! |
|---|
Well, I used up my afternoon, but I finished it:
http://mysky.net/lynnkyle/halloweenb13.jpg
http://mysky.net/lynnkyle/halloweenb14.jpg
http://mysky.net/lynnkyle/halloweenb15.jpg
My thoughts will come later. And no, the ending is not as clean or as clear as the last section, but that was a deliberate decision on my part (half because of the story and half to see if I, you know, could tell a story with a subtle wind-down).
Crossing my fingers for you, Christina - even if you don't finish them today, promise you'll finish? I want to see how it all wraps up.
Sep. 11th, 2005 @ 03:54 pm
|
| » day 29: page 27 |
|---|
http://mysky.net/lynnkyle/halloweenb12.jpg
Fixed the broken link, got this out, really need to not be inking these when I'm tired (non photo repro red, you mock me).
I should point out that I cannot resist cameos. The poster on the bus features characters from another major writing project of mine, and the chatty redhead on page 11 is from another story I've written that takes place in the same almost-SF city as this one.
Sep. 10th, 2005 @ 11:57 pm
|
| » bits and bobs |
|---|
I have the last 4 pages plotted out, but I still have to draw, ink, and letter them... perhaps I should wave the white flag? This new job has totally killed my energy.
I realized I've been inconsistant with Morgan's devil horns, though, so I went back and fixed those. At least one new page before I sleep tonight come hell or high water.
Sep. 10th, 2005 @ 08:30 pm
|
| » ...1 page behind... |
|---|
http://mysky.net/lynnkyle/halloweenb11.jpg
Things that do work: sketching during the commute without inking. Things that held this page up: dialogue is such an incredibly tricky beast.
Why this page is worth it for me: the middle panels make me very happy. They are exactly from my head.
Why I am not going to catch up tommorrow: because I haven't touched my vest since Monday and I am hyped to work on it so I can get it done and weaaar it. But Sunday I will be comicking my little heart out.
Sep. 8th, 2005 @ 10:27 pm
|
| » Day... 27. With this I am now officially 2 behind |
|---|
http://mysky.net/lynnkyle/halloweenb10.jpg
Okay, I had this lovingly sketched out and laid out (fairly complex given that I'm behind and lacking time)... and then I learned a very important life's lesson: Do not. I repeat, do NOT ink in the car during rush hour traffic. All those lines that are wobblier than normal are due to things like the car stopping suddenly or my pencap getting lost under the seat.
I am not taking the time to fix it, though, must press onward. Sunday is the finishing date, yeegods.
Christina: thank you! And don't stress about doing other art, better to explore inspiration than spin your wheels. Good luck catching up, though, 6 is pretty daunting a number.
Sep. 8th, 2005 @ 08:56 pm
|
|
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
floating_castle's journal
