Playlist for Creative Inspiration

Don't laugh but my introduction to the use of an official playlist while creating is when Stephenie Meyer posted hers for Twilight. Evidently, while she wrote, she was inspired by the likes of "Muse" and "Radiohead". Back then I thought, "how can you listen and create at the same time?" Well, I've come to realize that listening to music, especially instrumental, unlocks some part of my brain that encourages the creative juices to flow freer. I found it especially helpful while drawing Jorg Ancrath from Mark Lawrence's Broken Empire trilogy. Don't ask me how or why, but these three completely unrelated songs were on continuous loop on Grooveshark while creating Prince Jorg. Civil War's "Barton Hollow", Ryan Dan's "Tears of an Angel", and Two Step From Hell's "Strength of an Empire".

Go figure.

So, while finding links for these songs, I happened upon this on YouTube:

 That picture of Samwise is my very first attempt at LOTR fanart from way back when. And for some reason this person has used it in a musical montage of  very "Sad Piano" music that WILL MAKE YOU CRY (they need a disclaimer). Talk about random. 

So there you have it. A playlist for an imaginary character and an imaginary character for someone's playlist. Will wonders never cease?

SO...what unlocks your Muse? Twilight soundtrack? Classical? Rock? Disco? White Noise?

Vin from Mistborn

 Ever since I picked back up with my art, I've enjoyed doing fanart from books and movies. There are many authors who can create such convincing characters, I just have to try to see them visually, on paper. If you aren't familiar with Brandon Sanderson, I suggest you pick up his Mistborn trilogy to start. I read the first one years ago and was so upset about the death of a certain character, it took me 2 years before finally continuing and finishing the series. It's one of my favorites now. After finishing the first book, I wanted to draw a scene that happens at the end. Vin, the main female character, goes off into the night to grieve. She simply gives over to her sorrow and anger and floats above the city, questioning her purpose and future. The mists come and envelope her. Here is the first pass of oils on board. I have no idea how I'm going to pull the tops of the buildings up through the mists....always a struggle to put on paper what I see so clearly in my head.

FYI: These are photos so the colors are slightly skewed.

Kvothe... an Avenger??

I admit, I am not a big comic book fan. My grandsons and sons have enjoyed a few of the Super Heroes but not to the extreme. I usually catch the big blockbuster comic movies on DVD. I've been without internet for 2 days (I'm using my neighbor's weak signal to post this....Shhhh) but this morning, I had a former librarian buddy send me this link on Tor.com. They've made a list of "Epic Fantasy Avengers" and if your scroll down, Kvothe from the Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss is listed. AND my illustration is used. That's pretty darn cool, don't you think? Just thought I'd share this. (Thanks Mike, for telling me).

Finally!

I can't even remember how long I've had to keep this silent but it's been at least a year. I was contacted by the folks at Hanchett Book Group to submit some of my fanart from the Twilight series. I had to sign a non-disclosure contract because this was super secret. Well, The Twilight Saga: The Official Illustrated Guide came out today and two of my drawings made it in...I think. I still haven't seen a copy but my book is on it's way. I was so surprised to be contacted in the first place and again, fan art has proven to be a good luck charm for me.

Wise Man's Fear

Well, it's March 1st and with two jobs due this week, I can't finish this as planned. Did work more on it and began painting it in Photoshop, but just barely.

The worst part will be staring at the book from across the room, while it taunts me to come and read. No can do until commissions are done.

Countdown to Kvothe

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss took me by surprise. I didn't know what to expect. Orson Scott Card had given it a huge thumbs up and I was going on his review of the book when I invested in the hardback. Rothfuss had me under his spell with the prologue. Loved the book and like many of his fans, have patiently waited for the sequel. Well, it's almost here. March 1st, Kvothe's saga continues with Wise Man's Fear. This is good storytelling, folks. Great storytelling. Even my sister, who doesn't read fantasy, liked the book well enough to pre-order the sequel. My Austin-loving daughter liked it. Now there's an endorsement for you.

Someday, I hope I can meet Mr. Rothfuss. His book signing tour isn't coming here (no surprise) but I was able to secure a signed copy. Yeah...I'm excited. I'm going to savor every page.

During my "sketch time', in-between the deadlines, I've been doing some fanart, attempting a sort of movie poster version with Kvothe being larger....we'll see if I can make it work. Bast isn't new (lower right-hand corner), but my take on Denna and an older Kvothe is. I've done a younger Kvothe (see above). Thought he should grow up a bit. Goal: have this done by 3-1.

Warded Man in Colored Pencil

As usual, I wasn't happy with how the oil painting version of Arlen was going, so I turned to my old stand-by, colored pencils. Once I had built up several layers I took some solvent and brush to the waxy layers and blended away, creating some depth in the shadows. Still have his robe and sword to do but I thought I would post this photo.

The Warded Man WIP

I've added more layers to Arlen, the main character from The Warded Man. In the next step. I will pull the shadowed face out of the dark background so the edge of the face isn't so lost. Need to paint the spear too.

SAD Book Fanart

Finished reading this great book, The Warded Man by Peter V. Brett. Quite intrigued with the characters and where he will take the story in the next volume, The Desert Spear, due out next April. My Sketch A Day (which I hope to finish this week) is of the man character, Arlen.

This is what the author said about him in an interview: With Arlen, I wanted to write about a hero who had to really earn his special abilities. I was tired of heroes who were born to privilege and power, or who were given some magical trinket that made them special. I wanted to tell the story of a normal person who had to suffer and knowingly give up everything that made him human in order to survive.

Emmett and Faery Children Sketches

Finished up this sketch I did of non-movie version of Emmett Cullen in graphite on vellum.

Just some sketchbook doodles scanned in and then toned and highlighted in Photoshop. Playing around with slightly exaggerated anatomy of children to adapt into faeries.

Second Attempt on Bast, Prince of Twilight

I posted this last week, but something wasn't right about him so I tried again to fix the problems. Hope this is better. As I said before, Bast is this rather mysterious character from Patrick Rothfuss's book, Name of the Wind. He is the apprentice to Kvothe, who is the main character of the story. We know he's Fae and can be fiercely loyal to his master. He's 150 years old and his appearance is altered for human eyes through a glamour spell. I think. We still don't know much about him. His full title is Bastas, son of Remmen, Prince of Twilight and the Telwyth Mael.

Fan Art Process - Part 1

I have been asked a few times how I go about drawing fan art. I guess the initial start of the process is finding a book I connect to. . . how much I want to envision the character(s). Let's take one of my favorite finds last year: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. Could not put it down and am anticipating the next in the series, Catching Fire, due out in the fall. The main character is a 16 year old girl named Katniss Everdeene. Say I want to flesh her out of my head on to paper. First I start with the author's physical description which surprisingly, wasn't a great deal. On Wiki is gives this info: Katniss has straight black hair, which she normally pulls back into a long braid, olive skin, and gray eyes. She is slender and athletic, especially skilled in wilderness survival. Archer.
I also go through the book and highlight any scenes that disclose to me particular characteristics of her personality...kindness, anger, selfishness, determination, tenderness....etc. Then I go hunting. First, I try to remember any actors that have an interesting face. For instance, one of my very first Twilight fan art of Edward and Bella had me going back to an actor I remembered from a Mel Gibson film called Gallipoli. His name is Mark Lee and played the unforgettable character, Archy Hamilton. Though he was blond, he had the chiseled features that I envisioned for Edward. Plus he had portrayed the goodness that I felt was part of Edward's personality.

For Katniss, I remembered an actress....didn't know who she was at the time, who played Becky Thatcher in a 1995 film of Tom and Huck. She was tomboyish and yet you could tell she was going to grow into a lovely young woman. I discovered it was Rachael Leigh Cook. Had to do some digging, but found a photo of her around 16.
Her hair isn't in a braid, but it's dark. I can work with it. The ragged t-shirt is a good start for her clothes, although the Nirvana underneath will have to go as will the eyeliner. But she has potential. I wish the lighting of the photo was better, but I can work with it. If there's no one I can recall, I will go through faces on Flickr, modeling agencies, etc., hoping someone will jump out at me. If it's black and white and good lighting, all the better. So, this is how I start. Next will be the beginnings of the sketch and the use of other references.

Kvothe Sketch

I've already posted how much I enjoyed The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. Today during sketch time, I tried to see if I could come up with a idea of how Kvothe might look. Not finished yet, but I think I will keep working on him.

Blog Revamping and Twilight Fanart

One of the myiad of things I need to do since attending the MIC is revamping both my blog and website. The header on this blog has always bothered me because it's a photo instead of a drawing. So here's my rough sketch of the new twirling dragon. I think I'm going to put an aviator scarf on him as well.

I've also realized that though fanart has provided a wonderful outlet for me, I need to stop. One: other than giving me a chance to practice sketching and portrait work, it really doesn't further my goals. Two: (this is the biggest reason) It keeps getting stolen...at least the Twilight fanart. I'm sick and tired of finding my fanart posted on Deviant art or some other site without my permission and another person claiming it as their own. It's such a hazzle to report and get them removed and frankly, emailing these people who are breaking copyright laws gets a tad messy and mean. I truly appreciate all the good people out there who have my back and let me know when they see my stuff where it should not be. But it just isn't worth it. Someday, I hope to have a place where I can put my Twlight fanart but for now, it's been pulled off this blog and the other websites.