Wow. A month to the day since my last post. I must apologize. I've been kept busy.
The main cause has been the props that I'm almost done making for The Ascendant, a pre-thesis movie being done by a grad student down in Austin.
Bad pic of the gun, pre-molding. Ignore the lines. Using those for possible color scheme.
And the tablet, mocked up for color by the director.
And I'm in talks to possibly be hired to appear at an official launch party for a game studio in Austin in the coming months. (Fingers crossed) So, I've been playing around with my first set of prosthetics. Let me tell you, I'm not too crazy about PAX paint so far.
ART
And there is still art. There is always art. ArtOrder has issued a new contest and I had to enter. With the new John Carter of Mars movie coming out, they want people to do an illustration from The Princess of Mars novel that the movie is based on.
I found the book online and have to say that I enjoyed it. I've got a sketch and am working on the final in Painter. I'll post the final or some WIP as it goes along.
NOVEL
After a few more rejections, I'm having my family and close friends read my manuscript so I can do another round of editing. And this goes for my query letter too. It's just so hard to take everything I've written and smash it into 250 words or less.
This morning's studies. One done in photoshop, the other in corel. I think I prefer corel for landscape studies. The round oil brush works with me.
And after receiving my rejection from Tor, I've been studying up on query letters and synopsis's. I'm pretty happy with how they are and I've been sending them out; at least one a day. I think I'm up to 11 or 12 now. With 3 rejections out of those.
I'm feeling stronger about those that are sent out with a synopsis and even sample pages. There is just too much going on that I can't get into the basic query.
That's right. I'm addressing those few who find their way here. If it's not any trouble, I'd love to learn more about those who visit once or like to check in every once in a while. I'd like to know what their interests are and what they'd like to see. What I can do to make my site better. Anything really.
On to updates: Awaiting results on the Eowyn vs Nazgul challenge. I loved working on it! ArtOrder is looking to possibly make a book or calender from some of the entires, as well as several other exciting options. Some of the entries are jaw-dropping and make you want to go cry in the corner. lolj
Continuing work on my silence sculpt. It has required another 4lbs of clay and several more reference pictures. I swear that there are more than one version of the Silence mask. Some of the pictures show it being skinnier or the color of the skin is off..... And we've started on our hands by using our silent-hill method. It would take too much clay for me to sculpt both a left and a right and then cast them.
Edit: Oh! And I forgot to mention. I got my first rejection letter! Tor sent it just yesterday. No biggie. Rejection is to be expected in the publishing game. I'm going to focus on agents now. Writing query letters is an art all it's own. And each agent asks for different things: plot, summery....
I'm done.
Everything has been edited and the synopsis is written. I just have to go over it one more time and then I'll send it off to Tor. I've got mixed emotions right now. I'm proud of what I've done. But I'm also scared as hell and I'm not sure if it's good enough. I'd like it to be accepted right off the bat, but it won't kill me to get rejection letters either.
And happy news concerning my best Friend Kat. She's been accepted to Ehwa, a university in Korea. She'll be going over to learn the language and enjoy the culture. I'm so proud of her for getting this done!
Finally, more doodles on my Ipad. I worked with the Brushes App last night. Just played around with shapes, trying to make interesting compostitions and landscapes.
Surreal landscapes from Ipad
After the first week, I have to say that this should be an interesting semester. Lots to do. Lots and lots to do, both personally and academically. I'll be doing a portrait of my brother if I can get him to sit down long enough. I've got some thumbnails to do for a commission, some sketching for Carl's comic and more writing to do for my novel.
Oh. Good news on that. A good friend of mine who has connections in the literary world is finding an agent for me! I'm stoked! I told her she has time though. I'm around 100,000 words at the moment, and maybe 3/4's of the way though. There is still some tightening to do of course, but I hope to have it ready for the agent by May.
Did some concept art tonight too. Working on the Rolick Unit. Giggles said that he wanted it to have a four-pronged mouth. I wasn't sure in how exactly, so I did it both ways. Better safe than sorry.
So, Harry Potter is coming out in less than a week. I can't wait. Been rereading the 6th book because I've forgotten alot. Even rewatching the movies as they come on tv. How sad am I?
Anyway, finished my first illustration for Odessa. She does a fiction for the 405th about a female spartan of the same name. Neat stuff. Hopefully I'll get to do more.
Done more for my novel as well. I'm making myself sit down and write at least five pages a day. Even been getting up to 7 on some good days. Up to 267 so far and maybe about halfway through the story. Of course, as I go along, I find myself adding more and more just because it works. I hope to have at least 500 pages at the end. And even get it published by the end of the year. Then I can work on my graphic novel.
Odessa-086 KIA?
Sorry for not posting for a while. Been working on my novel alot lately. Up to 114 pages now. The more I write, the more excited I get about it. Working on some concept work as well for a demonic, not dragonic, creature called the Scar. Have to laugh. Seems to be the one of the game developer's favorites. Lots of little things to get right. Good practice in working with a picky client. lol. Love ya Giggles.
Oh, and decided to paint over an old painting. Wasn't really finished anyway and didn't want to finish it either. Used 3ds max to plot out the peice, show how the angles went and such. Will post it as soon as I get more done.
Enjoy some of the head variations of the Scar:
Found a site with several professional comic book scripts from actual published comics. Read one while I looked at the cooresponding book. It really helped to show me how the artist worked with what the writer wrote. Some material wasn't used while some added. It really helped.
I think I might take a few and see what I can do with them, then compare them to the actual work. See how I can improve my storytelling abilty and such.
Also, haven't said anything about this yet. But I'm working on a novel too. I would like to do a graphic novel, but not with this one. It just feels better in writing. Might change my mind later on when I feel more confinent about my comic skills.
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