2025 IS HERE

My webcomic came together once I began using dot-grid sheets for my rough comic sketches. Recently learned SecondLina of CROW TIME & NAMESAKE as well as Mishacakes of ELDRITCH DARLING & ALICE And The NIGHTMARE makes me feel closer to this webcomics community I came late into!🥰

Graphic novel is finally being FINALIZED

I began finalizing my graphic novel, SUMMER TO WINTER, last week. If anyone asks, I will give 2018 as the official time I started putting the story together, but off-the-record, it is actually 2001 when I wrote down the idea.

The premise about my protagonist having a crush on her high school teacher came from a rumor when I was in high school. When I did decide to start working on my comic stories around 2001, I was still practicing writing down synopses, loglines, and "pitches" for what I thought would be short comic stories. 

Only a few years back, I was in a creative writing course for the first time and the professor taught us about summarizing our story ideas into a small paragraph and as a single sentence. So I practiced what she taught us and because I was early in my writing professionally. 

SUMMER TO WINTER is a lifetime project. It has gone through many incarnations but I am now pleased by the look it has now, which is why I can start to pin it down to what it must be. 

For those who follow me on Instagram(handdrawnbycarmenjr), you can see the story in its roughest format. Because I've posted the official 2018 pages until now, though it isn't in order, you can roughly follow most of the story. 

[2 rough sketch pages in a public library & a spoken word poet performing & talking to protagonist]

[Finalized page 8in × 11.5in Canson comic/bande dessinée/manga paper - I merged both pages since the original pages are 5.5in x 8.5in]

I Won July Camp NaNo 2019

I WON CAMP NANOWRIMO.

I needed to complete another story project, so for this July Camp NaNo, I decided to work on two stories simultaneously: a continuation of the April Camp NaNo story project and the start and hopefully completion of the second story.

I set my sights on 9,000 words, just as I did for April, and made it to 9,099 words!
Now to work on revising and editing both projects. During July Camp, I also added more to my online world-building encyclopedic blog.

I also did a video series of coloring a sketch on some of the characters and uploading to Instagram. Though I kept tight notes on the videos, they still ended up out of sequence. I'm really exhausted that I did this to myself. But... I won and that means I beat my record from last time. While being distracted with other projects such as the world-builder blog and art-process videos.

And no, I'm not posting to YouTube. It's already been suggested. I have my reasons. I don't need to be on so many social media platforms. I work in several genres and need to get my projects and acts together, and, right now, I use events such as NaNoWriMo and Inktober to get those ideas off the ground. I mean what I say. Social media is work in and of itself, and right now, I'm at a tolerable level.

Thank you. And as always, when I have something new posted or upcoming assignment, I will let you know the details, my Dear Readers.

When Artwork Imitates Writing

Just completed a draft sketch of my feline witch characters and it made the gears start turning again for my story.

I did what is called a 'gesture drawing' and it's when the artist draws a person or people quickly but in a dynamic way.

I started saving my art references not just in Google but as screenshots on my phone so, in case the internet is down, I can have easier access.

Drawing, sketching, drafting calms me but also makes me closer to my characters. Once I have a visual on them, questions occur, personalities start to become real, and I learn new things about them.

If you want to see my work-in-progress, you can hop over to my 'secret account' on Instagram: handdrawnbycarmenjr

Inktober 2018!

I realized this Inktober that if I just draw my characters from my head, it helps to draw them quicker than last time. And when in doubt, just move on to another character that needs drawing.

After I completed my Inktober quota this AM, I quickly sketched 6 character headshots. I can point out each person's ethnicity/culture & possible religious affiliation. I've always come up with diverse characters.

After this nap, then I'll work on some more sketches.

"I'm SO sorry!"

"I'm SO sorry!" 1st draft

"I'm SO sorry!" final draft

Here are two renderings of the same scene. The chapter this scene originates has already been drafted. 

Here, Stacey Hankin is looking for her friend, 'Slash', who, after being left for dead, the young woman found help for him. 

When he's mostly recovered, he disappears, leaving his forwarding address with their mutual new friend.

Stacey goes looking for him, and finds him recovering in his family house.

However, when she is led to him, he's sleeping and wakes up shirtless. Stacey is embarrassed enough to quickly turn away, much to Gina Castellano's amusement.

Did more research in order to render the clothing on both women. Also, by Stacey's dress, it changes the day the scene originally took place. Now, I may make changes not only to the next draft, but also within the story. *Sigh* The life of a writer/artist.

'Stacey Hankin' as a little girl (circa 1922)

Yay! Art again! Sheesh... It's not productive OR fun when one's sick for awhile.

Here is my heroine, as a very tall 7 year old in the year 1921. So that puts her birth year in 1914, and the next year (1915) should be an important year North Americans, as well as anyone else who cares about history, should know. That is the year when the film, "Birth of a Nation" was released in theatres.

What is "Birth of a Nation"? Well, controversial is too mild a word to use.
Simply put, based on a bigot's book by the same name, both movie and book claim that the Ku Klux Klan won the South and freed it from the tyranny of blacks, who were demonized in both the book and film.

The author, whose name I will treat as Harry Potter's nemesis, I will not write it here on my blog, became a celebrity and his viewpoints were agreed by other racists across the country.
When Hollywood got wind of the book, instead of letting this dangerous volume remain within pages, decided it made a good film, no matter how disastrous and historically inaccurate it was!

Now, you see a cute picture of my protagonist and wonder why I am such a downer about mentioning this? Simply put, while researching my characters and their background, I began to wonder, what it must have felt like, being Black, or being any kind of minority, and what were the emotions when this film was released?

What terror could many American blacks have felt? What measures could they have taken to protect themselves and their communities? And worse of all, I have learned that the Civil Rights' Movement did not start in the late 50s and early 60s as many of us are taught in History class, but actually, many decades before.

What damage did "Birth of a Nation" do to the Movement? How much did this book and its companion movie set progress back?
****
Research this, DON'T use Wikipedia, I implore you, but more legitimate sites to research the author, his book, and the movie.
Maybe the film is even on YouTube, but PLEASE, see for yourself... And ask me why I write this with my character's art.

'Slash' with little girl

"Slash with little girl" (c)

This is a darling picture, but without giving away the plot, I can tell you I outlined the above scene.

Miss Francis as a young girl (circa 1923)

"Miss Francis as a young girl" (c)

This is my gangster's secretary, at age 13 or 14, I believe.

Man, I just love that little gem I discovered online: "Children's Fashions 1900-1950".

Miss Francis is about to enter her apartment building. In the scene where this image comes from, she will encounter her future employer.

I am studying Hester Street, an area famous for being predominately Jewish, with immigrants from many Eastern-European countries.

Isabella Spinoli

"Isabella Spinoli" (c) by Carmen K. Welsh

Someone noted that this character reminds them of those "Rosie the Riveter" WWII posters, and it makes sense.
She is no stranger to hard work: as a young child, she labored in the factories during the 'Teens (circa 1913, 1914, and 1915).

Isabella is my gangster's childhood friend. They grew up on the same block. Because of Slash's reputation and lifestyle, she does not keep in touch. However, when the gangster shows up again to do him the favor of checking out his young pal, Stacey Hankin, Isabella feels a new affection for him that he trusted and thought enough about her to such an important task.

"Gina" - Older vs. Younger

Here is my male protagonist's mother, the feisty Mrs. Gina! When I originally drafted her - before this sketch- I envisioned an elderly Italian woman in black with white lace. The more I wrote the story, the more I realized the character was anything but ordinary or typical! Gina is proud of the fact her husband was a Roma/Gypsy, as well as a wolf, and tries to instill that pride in their children.

I also realized that because Gina married her husband at such a young age, she is only middle-age and has grandchildren, so she is quite young for a grandmother!

What I will do is redraw her in the black shirt with lace in a different manner - she will dress this way sometimes when attending Mass or a holy day - and remove the puffed sleeves. She's also a little stouter than what I originally intended for her body type.

In the second sketch is Gina and my gangster when he is several months old! This is the youngest I've drawn him.
The draft is inspired from many Ellis Island photographs I've viewed over the years, as well as what photos I studied from the now extinct gathering place for many immigrants in the late 18th to 19th century.
Before Ellis on the East Coast, it was Castle Garden.
Castle Garden went by the wayside, I believe I read, in the mid-18th century, to make way for Ellis Island to become the gateway to the U.S.
The West Coast had its own whose name now escapes me, but when I remember, I will mention in a future post.

I also altered Gina's hair, making it more lush and thicker. She's a young woman, a mother of 15 years, and many women in the 1870s-1900s wore their hair long, usually piling it on top, or pulling it back in a bun or ponytail or other headdress-type coif. I realized this and added more hair to her younger picture, using a dark wash pencil to represent thickness.

Older, and during the 1920s-1930s, many women wore their hair short, often pixieish, so, I will change the older Gina's hair in a final draft.

"Grace & 'Slash'"

And while we are on the subject of couples, please know that my canine crime boss is very much a lady's man!
Grace and 'Slash' Castellano met at a casino and have been together for 5 years. Of his many girlfriends, she's his favorite.

Characters determine your story. You have no say.

Ay yi yi! The research for this novel is kicking my butt! While I tackle with this, I will also post current reference titles (Don't worry, they're doozies and humdingers!).

Lest one thinks this will interrupt my flow of new sketches, fear not, for I have more art to upload.
I noticed, however, that it was a good decision to edit my sketches (means removing the notes to myself - explaining character quirks, physical attributes, etc.) before uploading.

This has become a blessing in disguise as I realize names have changed, even which offspring will be whose in the making of this story.

I thought I had a set amount of children born to the different characters. Now, just as in real life, we cannot determine how many kids will make a family. Even this story is changing that presumption.

So, thankfully, when I upload more pics, you will notice there are no names or explanations, except, of course, what I place in the captions.

*Chortling* Anyone who tells you 'It's your story, you can do whatever you want with it' clearly isn't a writer!