Another extended tweet

A lot of monthly Writing and Art Prompts have helped push my storytelling and illustrating skills. Glad to participate again this Pride Month, which forces me to actually sketch out OCs that would otherwise remain in my head. 

For example, I came up with high school English teacher, Mr. Bakker. Wrote about him in early scripts, and finally fleshed him out in December 2021. In October 2022, I drafted an episode about his work-relationship and friendship with my male love interest, Peter, but before that, struggled to find a first name for him. 

Sometimes, a character's first name comes to me. Sometimes, their last name. Rarely do I get a full name. 

Now, for this Pride Month, I finally get to draw Bakker and his husband, Gonzalo. And then struggled to research a last name and possible cultural background for Gonzalo... *sigh* 

The creating doesn't end, but hopefully, you'll like the characters I introduced last year and the newer ones this year! 

HAPPY PRIDE MONTH. 

Why I Don't Do Creative Work In Public Anymore

Somebody asked the Twitter #WritingCommunity what is one's ideal place to write.

Someone responded they would like to write in a café but instead, prefer dead silence, writing on a couch when everybody else is asleep, and that's practically me!  

I need (total I've belatedly learned doesn't work for me since I'm neurodivergent and I get what are now called 'intrusive thoughts') some silence, white noise, or my countless playlist titles on loop.

I'm also introverted and could never write in a cafe. Too many folks milling around. 

I also draw and can't tell you how many times folks will interrupt while you're working. 

I can people-watch and eavesdrop and later distill into things once I'm home. 

Why I can't, as a creative, do my work out in public is because much of mainstream society doesn’t think creative working is 'work' at all.

That's why in my webcomic, my artist/writer MC prefers the library (like I used to), or she works in the rear of her local bar. Lights low and enough folks talking to create white noise for her. 

Before, she had to field off advances, flirtatious, and pick-up lines, but now she uses them in her own work... And holy cr@p, I think I just came up with another scene I should draft soon! Hahaha 

Just A Quick Thought

Artistic skills, abilities, and talents do translate/transfer well into many career paths, if education and industries would just show the respect and time for the arts they show for others.

From the Twitterverse... Have some techniques to catch up on

So glad I went back to markers. I loved especially drawing with highlighters when I was a kid! 

But then middle school art class introduced me to color pencils and I stuck with those for many years because I assumed color pencils were more sophisticated.

Right now, dual-tip markers are my favorites again and I did return to watercolors. So I'm a mixed media artist again. 

And once I get most of my rearranging done, I can take some of my old color pencil set from one room back to my bedroom. I'm not over color pencils, it's just a good idea for me to get back into an old medium that brought me so much joy as child.

Here's a list of what art mediums I've worked in:

Regular pencils, crayons, pens, markers, charcoal, pastels, color pencils, calligraphy nibs, ink nibs, watercolors, MS Paint,  QuarkXpress, MS Publisher, Adobe software suit but mostly PhotoShop, some Illustrator, and PowerPoint. 

I need to get back into some of digital art software but I keep getting distracted by doing things manually and only using the artist softwares to edit or touch up my stuff. 

My writer group mentioned maps in one's world and I think I'm going to practice the software I currently have on my laptop to practice making maps from my stories!

 #Artist #ArtistLife

Musings from a journal entry - 11/3/18

[Originally from 11/3/18]

I've never felt comfortable with my technical skills. I envied those book cover artists I grew up admiring. Landscapes, urbanscapes, ruralscapes, I wanted to draw them but think I lacked skill.

I've since used Inktober to do my own Vintage and Art Deco pieces. Studying the whimsical, fluffy, and effervescent backgrounds and settings in illustrated children's books all the way to the highly technical and detailed in many Japanese manga. I bumped up my Watercolor skills last Inktober and this year, I needed interiors and backgrounds. 

I also drew most of my scifi characters from memory. I did five backgrounds - 3 dorm room interiors, and two urbanscape. If I can consistently draw several longstanding characters from memory. If I can do better backgrounds, I could greatly expand and make myself more commercially viable.

Increase the odds of more illustrations published or showcased. With a new medium such as designer markers, it seems I can do just that. And if I use graph-- dot grid journal paper, I feel more comfortable doing buildings and structures. I can do a blend of technical with fine art since I favor impressionistic paintings over photo/hyperrealism.

My Writing In A Nutshell

I've been writing my own stories since Pre-K, and get frustrated because I didn't know enough words. With parents showing me how to use a dictionary and encyclopedias, I wrote for fun. Then by 4th Grade all the way to high school, I wrote and drew stories to escape bullying and harassment. 

Now I use my stories to do what bards, griots, and other cultural storytellers do, tell the stories that will help others to not feel alone. To let them know that problems aren't unique but are familiar and shared. And therefore, there is comfort in the idea one isn't in a box and cloistered. 

I have been inclusive with my characters from the get-go. Especially now in hindsight of being this age. In this age. When I remember showing my character sheets, the comments were cruel enough, uncalled for, that for a long while, I doubted my abilities and capabilities.  

"Why is his skin so dark?" (We forget there are darker-toned people in this world?)

"Why does she look gay?" (Don't know how someone can 'look their sexual orientation' but the characters that were pointed out as 'gay' ended up being future LGBTQA+ in their stories)

"This girl has thunder thighs." (Aren't there many body types?)

"Why does this character have a foreign name?" (We all have names from countless cultures/ethnicities/and belief systems)

"Why do you make your characters SO OLD?" (They were in their mid-20s to early-30s. People also spoke out with my actual elderly characters. Why do characters have to be super-young? Won't there be other kinds of adults in one's world?)

I continue along this trajectory in my writing. I don't understand the limitations people impose on characters. It's an imaginary world. This reality has limits. Shouldn't the skies and imagination of the creator be the story's limit? Diversity and inclusivity are simply the tools to stretch the already imposing limits placed on a work of art. On a creative project. Not only must art reflect one's world, it must push further the boundaries of one's world. 

Why can't there be various ethnic groups in space or meeting aliens? Why can't a fat woman be the next wife to an emperor after the last wife passed away in childbirth? Why can't elderly people be leads in a scifi epic? Why does the lead have to be a certain shade? And why can't there be multiple characters who are LGBT+? Who is to tell me that the Patwah I grew up with can't be in the same scifi with aliens living among us? And why should I erase the reality that give my imaginary worlds' gravitas? Heft and weight? 

The disheartening comments reveal more about the persons than about my talents and ability to tell a story.

I Finished INKTOBER 2019

The last day for Inktober was yesterday, Halloween, All Hallow's Eve, or Samhain... And I feel--incredibly sad. 

I'm not sure why, but since I started to participate with Inktober 2016, this was my first year following the prompts. One year, I just drew what I wanted. 

Another year, I practiced urban and interior settings by doing progressions: one day for pencils, the next day, inks, and the third day of the piece would be coloring. 

But now, with the final being a totally cartoonish piece and the last day, I think I grow more as an artist every Inktober. 

This year is particularly poignant because I'm working on outlines and clear goals for where I want to take my writings and my art. From sibling's suggestions, to parent's encouragement, as well as a random stranger on Twitter, I beginning to get a sense of what I want to present to the world as well as how to market it. 

I have had better luck with my writings and how that may go but I have often struggled with my artwork, which has actually been longer with me than the writing. 

Perhaps I'm so close to it that I felt I couldn't release it. And perhaps that's the reason I'm feeling bittersweet... It's time. I finally know what I must do. 

NOTE: As with everything, I will update on website, blogs, and other social media platforms I'm on. And, as always, take care Dear Readers.

"Tribes of Kai" micro-review

What an incredible graphic novel...

You were too short a story and I love you.

I first read "Tribes of Kai" while it serialized in the short-lived Frazetta Fantasy Illustrated Magazine back in the 1990s. The same periodical that showed a new ElfQuest story from Wendy Pini!

Tribes of Kai takes place on a prehistoric world. The technology is Stone Age. Belief system is in its nascent stages. Knowledge is passed down orally and language are cave dweller drawings. Anthropomorphic wildcats that have 'centaur' like bodies are the dominant species and the main characters. One such individual thinks differently from the tribe and is exiled. Through lush painted comic panels and a hypnotic narration, the reader wonders: is the protagonist a harbinger of doom? Or a savior?

Tribes of Kai is written by the mesmerizing storyteller Lance Haunrogue (Writer) and each-panel-a-gallery-masterwork Daren Bader (Artist).

Please look for Tribes of Kai where ever books are sold, on eBay, or through Flesk Publications website and you can check out the publisher on Facebook!

I'm ranting again

There's so many reference books I'm enjoying reading now while I'm also writing and scripting. I also have some miniature sketchbooks I've been keeping in my purse so ideas don't escape me while I'm at work or out and about.

Will post some of those books because you all may want to read one or two titles!

Anyhoo, I'm still working on the science fiction short story and have a new feline fantasy short story that's been years in the making. If I can finish that as well as two others, I can feel I'm back in the furry game. I actually feel bad that I have not gotten a new Tabber the Red story published in a minute. I'm actually sad.

The artwork for it is also slow in coming and I don't want to make the excuse it's because I worked on other things but it's the excuse and reason I have to make. Because, while I'm working on one thing, something else gets put aside.

It's the reality of being a creative type and it gets me angry when other people don't understand this. Or even think that I and other types are *gasp* wasting our time/fooling around!

Inktober 10/30/16 - Submission #26 and #27

Antonio Castellano(c)

Stacey's father. He's a Pullman Porter! An important job that played a historic role in establishing the Black middle-class.

Hobart Hankin Jr.(c)

My guy Castellano's Roma father. And with him, I conclude my Inktober adventures.

 

Thanks everybody for the support, thumbs ups, loves, and encouraging words. 

This is Inktober, the last day of Inktober 2016.

'Til next year, God willing.
 

More Inktober coming up!

Already sketched out my ideas for today, last day for Inktober 2016. I'm sketching the protagonists' fathers next. Will need to stop by art store to stock up on black designer marker and some Staedtler pens (if I can as they're pretty pricier than the designer markers).

Inktober 10/30/16 - Submission #24 and #25

Margarita 'Rita'(c)

Beatrice(c)

Stacey's mother and Castellano's youngest/baby sister. Inktober is helping me recreate updated looks for many characters. My last submissions for tonight. Inktober 2016 finishes tomorrow.

Inktober 10/30/16 - Submission #23

Angela(c)

Here's one of Castellano's sisters. I killed my black designer marker. Now I must buy two this week. So I had to use alternate colors and it worked out well!
Stacey's mom is coming up. Wait for her. This is Inktober 2016.

Inktober 10/29/16 - Submission #22

Gina(c)

This is Castellano's mom. My last Inktober for tonight. I'll be drawing Stacey's mom tomorrow. I was going for 5 pieces but I'll settle for two. By the way, this is illustration #23.
Night, you guys.

Inktober 10/29/16 - Submission #21

Redmond aka "Redboy"(c)

Another character for Inktober.

This is my New Orleans Jazz musician! My first illustration of Redmond. 

Inktober 10/28/16 - Submission #20

Dorothy aka 'Dot'(c)

After work, will do more Inktober submissions. 

This is illustration #21! Another character from Depression-era novel. She's at home. I now realize I should have outlined her shoes in red only and without black ink. Oh well. This is Inktober 2016.

Inktober 10/27/16 - Submission #19

Hortense(c)

5 more days before Inktober ends. My submission of a character who is in my novel and also in my published short story "Night Sounds". I know one person who will be happy to finally see this person visually. Hope you won't be disappointed.

Inktober 10/25/16 - Submission #18

Mrs. Burrows(c)

Another piece done on Mrs. Burrows. Done in the style of Art Deco artist Erte.

Inktober 10/24/16 - Submission #16 and #17

Another Inktober submission. Will do another of a male dog facing the female.

Mock title page A

Next Inktober illustration! Really excited by this. Will have a caboodle of illos to scan and clean up before uploading to my DeviantART page.

Mock title page B

Inktober 10/23/16 - Submission #15

*Singing* I'm falling behind... But no worries. The novel is still being written. ere's Sethrine or 'Cissy' as she's called. Stacey's big sister. As I'm drawing these, all I can hear is 20s music.

Sethrine or 'Cissy'(c)