Pavane in Pearl and Emerald
Word count: 95846
Confessions of a Creataholic
Pavane
Pavane in Pearl and Emerald
Word Count: 90750
This and That
Pavane in Pearl and Emerald
Word Count: 85426
The title picture for Flag in Flames progresses. I managed to paint flames on the flag that look somewhat like flames, but I didn't get that “yeah, that's it!” feeling. Boyd thinks that the flames themselves are okay, but they're distributed wrong. For the lack of any ideas of my own, I will probably try his suggestions and see if I think it's an improvement. I also appear to have done something funky with the texture on her hand blaster. In the test renders the blaster was small enough that the funkiness of the texture didn't show up, and at this point I'd far rather postwork it than re-render anything. Other than that, I think I just need to do something with the title text, and then I'm on to modeling Tortuga Station so I can use it on page 2.
I haven't been getting any work done on Chaos Circle, which is theoretically my current alternate graphics project. It seems that I don't mind switching from modeling something to working on a different picture, but I can't convince myself to switch back and forth between two different pictures. Interesting.
I have also started a new project. (What's that I hear? Cries of “good grief, not another one”? But I have a good excuse, honest!)
Ever since I finished the Flag in Flames sketches I've missed having something to work on when I'm not on the computer — like when I'm rendering something and its going to take at least six hours, and anything I do on the computer at the same time will slow it down. So I decided that that other idea I had that wanted to be a graphic novel but that I had been ignoring (mostly) because Black Flag had priority, would get its turn far sooner than anticipated. It's just this little romance I dreamed up (literally), that I'm currently calling “Scent of Spring”. I'm going to draw it. That is, draw it for real, and not just sketches.
The drawings will probably be disastrous — especially if my five year old keeps coming in and jogging my elbow — but it'll be a fun learning experience anyway, right?
I've been reading “how to” books and some talk about setting up a studio, and I'm thinking yeah, right! I'm going to be working in bed –or if my kids are in my bed because they wanted to use my laptop to play Sims2 or multi-player something and didn't bother moving it elsewhere, I might be working while reclining on the couch. I need something that is portable, and non-spillable. Which means, no nib pens and india ink, nor a lot of other stuff they recommend either. Current plan –> colored pencils.
So far this week I've done twenty five pages of handwritten script. (Only it's really more like twenty three because of all the scribbled out bits in the most recent part.) I'm about half way. 🙂
Pavane
Pavane in Pearl and Emerald
Word Count: 80794
Got to write some fun romantic revelation type stuff this week. (Fun for me anyway, my main characters seem somewhat distraught — bwahahaha!)
I also got my first ever personal note from an agent. Yay!
I probably ought to send him a query for something else.
And, Boyd's copy of Cantata in Coral and Ivory arrived from Lulu today.
It looks remarkably like a book.
Wrong picture
Pavane in Pearl and Emerald
Word Count: 77636
Apparently the cover image for the Polaris anthology I posted the link to (and put up on my website) is not what the book is going to look like. Marketing has decided Polaris needs a new cover. Why? Because it has been deemed as “having a broader appeal than first realized.” Aha! They finally figured out that my story is only masquerading as hard science fiction, its actually a murder mystery, and therefore the anthology is a shoe-in for a mystery cross-over audience.
Okay, maybe not.
Still, “broader audience” sounds kind of cool. 🙂
I haven't done any words today though, so I need to get back to that. I've been having a slow week, and I'd really like to break the 80 000 word mark by Saturday.
Progress Report
Flag in Flames, the first graphic novel in Brotherhood of the Black Flag has got
5/60 characters created — 8% complete
2/40 constructions modeled — 5% complete
0.5/204 pages completed — 0.2% complete
Estimated completion date… 2011?
More Progress
Pavane in Pearl and Emerald
Word count: 70518
I decided it's been too long since I did any actual pictures for Black Flag, so I spent a couple days putting Bonnie Anne's father together. I still need to do a bit of work on his clothes, but I got far enough that it didn't seem unreasonable to do a character render. The only problem being that now that I have the render, what do I do with it? He isn't really a major enough character that he merits his own page in my notes. I guess I'd better get back to space ship modeling, so that my next render will actually useful for something. 🙁
Progress
Pavane in Pearl and Emerald
Word count: 64994
I think we have Cantata ready to print. It worked out to 350 pages. The cover art is rendered — 4 hours! — and I've added the title and a back cover blurb and all that.
For Black Flag I took a break from modeling and have been working on rewriting the Flag in Flames script so that its in actual comic script format, with descriptions of each panel. Boyd says 'Why?' and I shrug and say, “Well, for one thing, it's easier to back up a text script than 193 pages of sketches.” He acknowledges that I have a point there.
For Pavane I need to spend some time thinking seriously about what my antagonists are up to. My knowledge of how things end has progressed, (or is progressed the wrong word when I'm working my way backwards through time?) but I need to know what happens between then and now, or at least, enough of what happens that I can write the next bit. Boyd was curious as to how long Pavane was going to be, and I really don't know. I told him my goal is 100K words, because its such a nice tidy number, but I have no clue how close I'll come to hitting it.
One half hull….
Pavane in Pearl and Emerald
Word Count: 60592
I have completed half a hull for the Celestial Class ships (Jolly Roger and Penzance). Since I will be using a mirror tool to create the other half, that means I'm done with basic structure, and I'm on to detailing. Unlike when I was building the Revenge, I'm going to need to do some interior work on this one. I've figured out how to partition it into decks without too much pain and agony… I hope building interior walls proves to be equally simple.
Today I'm supposed to be working on Cantata, however. Ho hum. Copy editing a glossary isn't nearly as much fun as building model spaceships. (Not to mention that after spending an entire day working on a pronunciation guide for each word, Boyd decided he just wanted a brief “these are the general rules” bit at the top instead. ::grumble::)
Pavane
Pavane in Pearl and Emerald
Word count: 57607
I was feeling quite sluggish today, and really had to push myself to get started writing. The first 600 or so words came rather slowly, too, but eventually I seemed to pick up speed.
I couldn't figure out how to assign a quota for the 3D modeling I am doing for Black Flag, so what I decided to do was, after meeting my writing quota, to alternate days of working on Black Flag, and whatever my other project is (right now its getting Boyd's copy of Cantata printed). Yesterday I spent fussing over pronunciation guides for the Cantata glossary, so today I'm off to do some spaceship building.