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Update!
Just popping in for a StormCalmer update. I hear that most people in publishing are running WAY behind right now, so I still sit, waiting...
But that’s okay! When you’re waiting through submissions, it’s common to start to work on the next pitch, and I’m doing so! I won’t be publicly releasing this one, but I am going over it’s creating in depth over on my Patreon page, just for a more private space.
I will be back with more news, hopefully soon?? Who knows, this is why I always get impatient and publish through my own company!
As always, feel free to ask questions any time!
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Merry Christmas!
I’m currently shopping StormCalmer around to agents, which has been a great learning experience! In the meantime, I’ve been messing around with some of the story bits that probably won’t make it into the final script, but were still fun to work on.
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Every time I tell a story with magic, I get to decide how I want to showcase that magic. As much as I enjoy the design phase of a piece of art, I honestly can never seem to decide on the magic effects until it’s on the final page, and I can see how it looks in a composition.
I’ve tentatively got a solid visual representation, with occasional glow as needed. I try to go easy on glow, because it can quickly get out of hand! For those who work digitally, the glow effect here is an overlay layer, color white, or a light version of the magic’s color.
That’s another fun fact: not every color works well for a bright glow. It has to do with how chroma varies between different colors. Wavelength stuff.
Until next time!
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This is actually the bottom of one page, and the top of the next. The cool perk of having a limited color palette is that, no matter how wildly different two pages seem, they will be linked by shared colors (the first is very desaturated greys, and the page turn feels like a burst of color in comparison, even though these colors are also desaturated).
This is my first time working with a range this limited, so it will be interesting to see what decisions I have to make when I put multiple characters together. Right out of the gate, I had to use two different magic (or special accent) colors in one page.
Can you guess the special colors??
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Once again, tools don’t matter.
But also, they do.
I’ve been trying out the Pilot Hi-Tec-C .04 for sketching, and boy is it fun! It’s a 100% normal gel pen, but it’s smooth, with a nice needle-tip point. I’ve been trying to loosen up, especially in wider shots where there should be less detail, and this pen is helping me to do so! It’s very precise, yet as soon as it touches down, it writes, so I can’t get too concerned over mistakes.
It’s given me some of my favorite sketches (this one is TINY!) and is helping me to look at my final linework in a new way. Speaking of final work...
StormCalmer Pitch Updates
All the pitch text is complete! I just have to finish up the new test pages, and tie them into a pretty package, and I’ll begin sending out queries to agents. The road to publishing is long, and I feel some guilt, as StormCalmer was intended to be released in 2019, a year after Woolmancy. But I figure that I book that will be well-crafted and more widely released will be worth the extra wait!
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Can you spot the difference between these two images?
This week I’ve been exploring lines. Having gone through much of my career working traditionally, with ink on paper, so finding the right look digitally has always been a struggle. I’ve also been playing with Procreate, which has a whole different feel from the Cintiq, and a different set of brushes than Photoshop.
On top of that, every book has a look, and line quality is part of it. So I’ve been playing with what looks right for the mood of the book, balanced with what I enjoy seeing and drawing. I don’t often stop to think about making the process fun for myself, since my brain sees it as just another step in the process.
If you’re wondering, the brush I’m testing out at the end of the clip is a variation on Frankentoon’s free Cheap Liner 0.6. Still seeing if it’s the right fit for me, but it looks fairly right, after a few adjustments! It’s not just down to looks, but how the brush actually feels when i’m using it. I could get the same look, but creating it was labored, and you can tell that the line work isn’t as relaxed as when I have a brush that’s responding the way I like for it to respond.
I will wrap this up by saying that it’s true, tools don’t matter. But also, TOOLS ABSOLUTELY MATTER. It’s the difference between struggling to get a certain effect, and doing so effortlessly. So even though some artists will shoot you down or criticize over people asking what tool they are using (when it hasn’t already been stated), that is a problem with that artist, not you. I will always be happy to share the tools I’m using. The point in that phrase is that the greatest tool in the world will not take the place of skill/practice, which is also very true.
Tools matter And targeted practice matters. Both, not either!
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Being an author/illustrator is incredibly fun and rewarding, because you get to touch more than one aspect of bringing a book to life. Sometimes I play all of the roles from idea to shipping off final products (minus the printing!), so I can get the full thrill of creation.
However, what it also means is that I can spend a week without having drawn anything super exciting, because I’ve bee writing! And boy have I been writing. Script writing always seems like a bother when I start, but once I get rolling, the pages just keep pouring onto the page!
The image above is a test from the new opening. I’ve decided to make color play a large role in this book, as always, so I’m keeping the line work fairly simple BUT I’ve finally drawn some evergreens I’m proud of! It only took 30 years, but by George, I think we’ve done it!
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Designing a new book can make you feel like you’re going a little crazy! Not only are you studying and trying out new techniques and designs, you have to test these ideas out on the same subjects repeatedly, just to see if they work!
These lil’ goofballs were some of the early iterations for the wind wraiths. They’re the main nemesis for our travelers, so I want them to be menacing, but since my work is always safe for a middle grade audience, I like to start off with innocent, goofy designs, and add a hint of sinister to them in later iterations, so they don’t get too scary.
I am also testing out the new color palette! There are rules that the color selection has to follow, so it’s interesting to work within limits. It’s often mentioned that people are the most creative, when they have constraints to overcome!
I changed the hair, clothes and skin tones in this image at least 20 times, and I’m still not 100% positive that I’ve settled on the right combination! Halvdan and Imolia were blonde, brunette, auburn, raven, and everything in between at one point or another! But this is what it takes: trying things over and over, until you get it just right.
#color palette#limited palette#color#wraiths#wind#magic#illustration#comics#graphic novel#StomCalmer#character concept#design
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Working with limited palettes is really interesting! Even if you’re only using two colors, you still have to decide whether you will use all of the permutations that those two colors make. Art is all about decisions. The more you create, the better you get at decision making.
I’m currently working on using fewer and fewer colors, that all work harmoniously. Here, I could take out that base color of green, but then I wouldn’t have quite so many yellow variations. Does that matter? It’s up to me!
Do I get to change the saturation (richness of the color)? The tone (how much black is in it)? Again, it’s all up to me! So I get to make image after image, testing out all of my options.
How you apply the colors matters too. Same palette, different ways to apply the color.
It’s all about playing around to see what works.
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StormCalmer began life as the next book in the world of Kanvala, as a follow up to Woolmancy. Those who pre-ordered a certain level of Woolmancy got to be drawn into this new project, as tradition dictates, and it was set to release in 2019. Then I realized that I needed to work a bit more on the story concept for a few months (and I went out to sea and started working as science communicator, go figure). Then 2020 rolled around and shipping became impossible, so I took the delay to work on these test pages.
I decided, instead of publishing this project myself, fighting with these changing times, that I would instead seek an agent and publish through a publishing house. After some sage advice, I’ve finally tacked down a solid, marketable, pitch and hope to be picked up by an agent and publishing house soon.
All of the people inserted into the book are still in the script, and will grace the pages of the final published book! It’s a pretty exciting future, albeit slower than the pace that I usually output books (I’m looking at my watch thinking 2019 was forever ago, let’s get on with it)! But making a quality book with a quality story takes more time than I’ve been allowing myself to take, and once this book is done, it will be head and shoulders above Woolmancy.
Until then, I will continue to update this space each week with fun promo art and news. Books may take a long time to come out, but there’s always work being done!
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StormCalmer
Chapter One
Page Sixteen
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StormCalmer
Chapter One
Page Fifiteen
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StormCalmer
Chapter One
Page Fourteen
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StormCalmer
Chapter One
Page Thirteen
A Monk’s Tale is currently safehoused in the Trading Post’s archival manuscript room, occasionally brought out for viewing. It is a short tale involving young Tarlk, several dream monsters, a Cheshire and young Imolia lost in a blizzard.
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StormCalmer
Chapter One
Page Twelve
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StormCalmer
Chapter One
Page Eleven
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StormCalmer
Chapter One
Page Ten
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