The Sunday Workspace: Now with more writing

Alright, I admit it; I almost forgot that I’d promised a blog today. I’m a very bad writer/artist/blogger (person). What matters though is that I’ve remembered and have written this lovely, albeit brief, entry so please don’t pelt me with old fruit or run away!

So getting on topic, in my workspace for the next week are;

1. A series of Sketchbook Project Illustrations. Primarily they’ll be those of the world wonders, some will be the bases for a couple of fold out pages. I’m hoping to get some cutting and sticking done as well as a bit more water-colouring (I really do enjoy watercolour), all on those few pages that I have planned.
2. Further outlining for NaNoWriMo. So far I’ve got the separate scenes (mostly) outlined on individual note-cards. I can expand each scene on the back and move them around (yes I am so much of a geek that organising excites me).  I’ve got to get the order set and ready for expanding.
3. Lots and lots of research. I’ve got various areas that I want to research based on my novel idea; mostly surrounding the supernatural and the various mythologies surrounding those topics. I’m starting simple, using Wikipedia (I know, I know, it’s not 100% reliable however I’m adapting the info to suit me it’s not that big a deal) but by the end of the week I hope to have made a few visits to the library (that is if I get over my weird fear of going to the library alone out of paranoia that the books’ll eat me... ooh idea!)

     I did want to be a pantser (someone who rights by the seat of their pants) but the organising geek in me just couldn’t avoid the whole basic-outline-outline-by-scene-character-profile-exactly, thing.  That also reminds me, I need to come up with some more names for my characters along with descriptions, personality, backstory etc. I accept and acknowledge that I’m weird about this stuff but I reckon that’s part of the joy of being a writer. I just don’t think that Bethany is the name of my MC (main character for the non-writers on here) and as a result I gotta fiddle with that...AGAIN.

      (Here’s a bit of whining/self-pitying, just to show that I’m not this mad happy gremlin that runs around Nottingham.) I accept that I’ve gone off Witchan for the time being. Maybe I started it too soon, I don’t know, I did put up the first pages before I’d even finished the Introduction when it’s possible that I should have waited until then. As it stands though I’m just going to focus on my writing and see if that gets me any closer to reaching my dream of being published. When the urge to draw a page or two strikes me though I’m not ignoring it and hopefully I can and will get a buffer going. I’m not going to force it though (forced art is bad art!)

So that’s what I’ll be doing this week. How about you? Any trips? Anyone else preparing for NaNoWriMo?

The Sunday Workspace: pretty much the same as last week

So to be honest, my workspace is pretty much the same as last week. I'm working on my novel, the new idea and the Sketchbook project.
Today I went for a walk and came across a bunch of pottery scattered across a field. I grabbed a couple of shards and cleaned them up with my thumb as I carried on with my walk. There's a fabulous pattern on it that I fully intend on copying into the Sketchbook. I like the idea of including images from when I'm actually travelling, even if it's just a walk around the village or the country park and fully intend on wandering around in the next few days with my camera and art journal so I can sketch some scenes to draw in. I did have a bunch of images planned to include but I'm fully happy to replace those with my walk pictures.
In other Sketchbook Project news, I'm also working on the first full signature this week, drawing loose pencil crayon images and water colour paintings of the wonders of the world. I'll explore more about that once I have some actual pictures to show, which will hopefully be on Wednesday. Provided I don't get distracted again by a ridiculous job interview, stage two that is.
In terms of the two novels, I hope to write a few more chapters, or at least further what I've already written. It's a bit tricky, referring to chapters in my writing at the minute as, because it's a first draft, I'm now just writing as I go. I will write certain things seperately if the idea for later parts come before I actually have reached them with my writing. For the other novel I hope to write a clearer story outline and a few character profiles as well. I may, if I manage to develop my notes enough start on the Snowflake method, a method of writing found on the internet that I will explore more fully in Friday's link post. I also plan on doing some research for the idea too. So come Wednesday I may well have a bunch of papers to show you. Here's hoping at any rate.
In terms of Witchan, I hope to have some more page layouts organised, and hopefully, fingers crossed, I'll manage to sketch out the pencil lines for a couple of those pages. I also want to get the colour on at least a couple of pages finished. Considering the amount of detail that I've drawn into each panel though, it's looking slightly harder though but I'll try anyway. Either way, I want to try and create a buffer soon so that I don't have to keep the comic on hiatus for too long.
Whelp, that's it for today's post, I'll blog again soon.

The Sunday Workspace: A bit of everything.

So it's the first Sunday Workspace post. I've got a lot of projects going on at the minute so there's a good chance that this is going to be a ridiculously long post... you know, just for a change. Sadly, the photos aren't exactly the best quality, given that I spent most of the day hungover, unable and unwilling to do much more then shuffle between the kitchen and the living room. Enough of that though, I'm fully recovered now and intending to start and finish this blog.

First up, this is my big pile of crap. It's basically a shelf where I place everything that I'm working on, whether writing or drawing or a book I'm reading. It could probably do with a bit of tidying and I fully intend to get on that... tomorrow. On my pile of crap shelf right now are my journals, several books that I'm reading and the little pile of Works in Progress. At the bottom of that pile is also the stuff that needs to be put away or is waiting to be stuck into the Sketchbook Project book.

Speaking of, this is my Sketchbook Project stuff. Those scraps are hopefully going to go towards creating an image for one of the pages. The covers need a bit more work but I'm going to do those at a later date, once I've gotten the pages a bit fuller. I just love that filling of a book slowly filling up and looking through to see more and more pages being filled. I really need to get some PVA glue and more paper scraps though so that I can start sticking stuff together.

 These are my story notes, right now there's two different sets; one for the novel, in the green portfolio and the other for a new idea that's gradually taking shape in the notebook and sheet of paper. As I'm slowly getting back into the swing of writing for my own amusement there's only 2 but at some point I know there'll be as many as 5 or 6 sets of notes there. It's the way my brain works.  I prefer to write the basic info by hand, as well as usually the first draft. It takes a long time and my hand ends up sore but that's just the way I like to work. It does lead to me having a lot of notebooks and pads of paper lying around. It gets worse once there's loads of written loose sheets everywhere. We'll find out how I solve that problem at a later date though.

These are two of the pages for my webcomic. I'm slowly getting the hang of a new technique I'm trying for my pages so these are really quite experimental. I'm attempting to blend both traditional and digital media for this next chapter as it seems to be easier for me to draw most of the page on paper. I find it comes out how I want much, much better. This pictures a bit unclear but you can also see the handmade notebook I have where I sketch out individual page layouts before I put them down onto paper. That too is something I'll come back to another day.

As it is, this is what's in my workspace right now, I'm going to be working on several of these things in the next week and who knows, I may have new images for you to have a nosey at.