Saturday, June 29, 2002

Monday, June 24, 2002

Ilyan Kelanister, very quick, pretty lousy sketch. I was falling asleep as I did it... Original incomprehensible handwriting replaced with similar phrase.

Breena on throne. I was inspired by the beautiful dresses in The Court Jester, one of the funniest movies ever made. She's a little off, because she's not supposed to be small and delicate at all (and her hair is curly), but I still really like it.

Arant flexing. Um, I was reading tutorials about male proportions, in an attempt to make my guys look less like, well, girls. I'm playing around with adapting it, because most of my male characters should be far buffer than I've been drawing them.... This was the better of two, the other was just too extreme and the face was horrible. And here he wasn't originally s'posed to be flexing, he was supposed to be holding something and looking at it, but I didn't feel like messing around with that. But at least he finally looks buff enough to drag around that broadsword he's always carrying...
Becky had too much free time at 11:58 PM

Grrrrr.... Both of my main beta readers (Leah and Nic) are out of town. Damn it.... Anyone want to beta the next Saga chapter? Please? Let me know soonish if you'd be willing... You'd get my undying love.
Becky had too much free time at 12:26 AM

Friday, June 21, 2002

Comic page 1
Comic page 2
Comic page 3

Notes: page one is my favorite; I really like how the globe from space turend out. Can everyone say "yay for the could filter!" ... Good job! have a cookie. In the bottom pannel the cut off island (which is far too large, actually) is Arpiar... Same universe, different part of the world. *shrug* There's a chance that season 3 (or at least part of it) would take place on the main land. It all has to do with the Rift and such...
Page 2: Jesus Christ, those books took a long time to color....
Page 3: I like the way the two priests came out, though I wish I'd drawn some sort of background. I'm not very good at that, though, so it's no surprise that I didn't. I even like the way the profile came out (adding a giant beard to hide parts of it helped.). I was surprised, because they didn't take hours... Probably about an hour total.

Clearly, if I continue this, every page will not be computer colored. I don't know if I will continue it, though; I think it would be interesting, but really hard to do. I'm getting better at drawing, and while it might help me continue to improve, it would be a real bitch and a half and I'd never be satisfied.

Oh, also, note the comments link. I'd appreciate it if you'd leave some... Please?
Becky had too much free time at 1:41 PM

tesssting?
Becky had too much free time at 12:54 AM

Tuesday, June 18, 2002

So first. The goodguys:
Crappy sketch of Arant with (illegible, but still in tact) information about him and the Guardian's job.
Arant character sheet. This was the first one of a set; done before I got lazy... (You'll see.)
Kaiya plus info, her (disgustingly simple) costume design from the beginning of the story, before she kicked ass.

The Badguys:
Daevan design. I like the body and costume here, but HATE HATE HATE the face. It does not look like Daevan at ALL, and this angers me greatly.
Daevan character sheet. Far more simplistic, far better results, sort of... Someday I'm gonna learn to draw people in profile, really.
Myrca "Mercy" Shayis. Daevan's girlfriend/wife (I'm undecided which) and general sex kitten. Her first ever picture, playing with costume design.
Myrca character sheet - see, by this time I was really lazy with it. Mercy is way easy to draw from the back, just a cloak and hair...
Kain Erias - Daevan may be a villain, but Kain is the actual badguy. Or rather, the actual badguy's best lackey and general henchman. Kain is pretty cool, too, but he's eeeeevil. Ish.

Believe it or not, there's more, but it needs to be photoshop'd before I can post it. But that should be enough for now... Man, I miss having my own scanner.
Becky had too much free time at 2:20 AM

Monday, June 17, 2002

Friday, June 14, 2002

Not that that's so bad, I mean, it's a bit much, but then, my actual parents are 20 years apart. Most people are shocked when they find out, but Mom and Dad love each other. (I mean, 25 years. Damn, that's a long time, and they're still in love.) So I guess Kara and Daev could work....
Becky had too much free time at 1:34 AM

Thursday, June 13, 2002

I actually like the way the Giant Broadsword o' Doom (read name: Keysword) came out. The top is a little wonky and leaning to one side, but given that it was 90% drawn on the computer... 'cause, see, I can't draw a straight line to save my life, and when I tried to color it, it was all wonky and clearly messed up, so I erased everything but the guard and part behind his hand and redid it with the line tool... then the top was really messed up, and I redrew everything above the pommel too... It's still leaning a bit, but better than I thought I could do.And I really like the way the shine on the sword turned out. Yay for shine! (Same with the glow in his hair, too. And how does he kee his hair so glossy soft?)

His feet are messed up, but his hands are ok, which is kind of the opposite of how it usually is for me. Heh.

The background is kind of pepto-bismol-y, but I wanted something to sort of go with the background here but in another color, and I couldn't use blue/green/brown/yellow, so I went with pink. (Red was too much.) So there you go.

Oh, Arant and Kaiya are partners. I'm not sure I've ever mentioned that. Yep... Well, eventually; our story begins when she's a suicidal prostitue and his daddy has just been murdered and Daevan is busy being a smug ass because, well, he's Daevan and that's what he does.

I think I'm gonna try and do character designs for Kain and Mercy (real name Myrca) tonight. I should probably do Daevan's as well, I mean, I know what I want him to look like but can't seem to be able to draw him... And probably Daddy Bladedancer (um, Kyrvan) as well. And Mythan.... Then I'd have my core cast, even extended a bit (since I already have Kaiya and Breena, and now Arant as well.)

Not that I'm thinking of attempting to do this project as comic. No no no....
Becky had too much free time at 7:50 PM

Some random things...

First, it was my parents 25th anniversary yesterday (wow), and as I had no money, I drew them this, which is based off one of their wedding pictures. I like the way Dad turned out a lot, though Mom looks kinda wonky. Her dress was really pretty, though, and I loved the flowers in her viel... In the real picture, I mean, not so much here. But you get the idea.

And then there's this. I ended up coloring Arant in a fit of boredom, and I really really really like it. He's such a cutie. And a genuinely nice guy. Awwwww. Daevan will probably beat the snot out of him at some point, but still. Awwwww.
Becky had too much free time at 4:13 PM

HaHA! I think I sort of more or less have a way to humanize Daevan a bit, AND explain his bizarre behavior at the end of part one.... I don't remember if I've mentioned Daev on here; I wrote a whole post about him, but blogger ate it, so the short version is that he's a generally nasty punkass bitch, what with the killings and the stealing and the being a nasty sonuvabitch, but he's probably one of my very favorite of my characters. The thing is, I always want to show him as not as bad as he really is, because I love him, but to keep him in character and have him make sense in the story, he HAS to be a punkass bitch, and because he's the villain, he has to do horrible things to the goodguy. But I don't want him to be totally evil, because he's sort of not really the villain and so I had to come up with a way to have him be a terrible person, but still liked by readers.

I have an idea, though I don't know if it'll work.

But I definitely *heart* Daevan. (He's in my top three, with Kalin and Cleran, and I really don't know how the top three goes...)

Oh, and...dum dum DUM....

Kalin is my character match from The Saga of Moon & Sun .
Find you your match.

Tuesday, June 11, 2002

Kaiya with Arant's sword. I like her face; the rest is pretty iffy.

Kieris Alayrin. Very sketchy.

And finally, colored no less, Dysis Serathi. I like that a lot.

Two notes; one, I've started actually, y'know, writing Arant and Kaiya's (and Daevan's!) story, but I think the style is slightly different than what I've done with the stuff I have online. Still, though, if anyone wants to read it, let me know and I'll either send it to you or post it or... something.

Secondly, I wish my characters would tell me their orientations a bit earlier in their stories. Example: my nanonovel, I was on day 13 (almost halfway done) by the time I realized Quin was gay and he was gonna hook up with Damon. It would have been nice to know sooner.

But the thing is, Dy has been a bit, um, bicurious lately. I don't actually think he's gay, but I don't think he knows, either. He's almost completely asexual, so no avenues are particularly closed to him. And every time (until the above) I tried to draw him, he looked very.... Um... Fey. ^^; I know that's part of it.

Leah has started giggling about Dysis/Ilyan slash. This will not appear in the series. But it is a fun thought... Heh.
Becky had too much free time at 12:53 AM

Wednesday, June 05, 2002

Then, on a whim, I did this, of Arant. It's the first picture I've done of him outside of my American Studies notes.... I like it; he looks a bit too young, but it's a pretty good picture. I may actually do something with it instead of letting it sit and rot.
Becky had too much free time at 11:51 PM

Oh, right. We're gonna pretend I had this finished and up with yesterday's Saga update.... Everything I said about black-on-black being a bitch? True.

Once again, Journey lyrics are fun. The companion to this picture of Islana.
Becky had too much free time at 3:39 PM

So since I've been good and drawn pretty much a lot lately, I figured it's not surprising if I do daily sketch posts or what not. But anyway... I was copying some random stuff from an old yearbook last night, trying to look at positions and poses and whatnot. Most of it sucked, but one of them was all right and the posture reminded me of.... someone. The legs are a bit messed up; I'm sure I could fix them up if I felt like putitng in the time and energy, but I don't really. I like his hand, though.

That's Eric Donnelly, by the way. I haven't updated the lads in quite awhile, but it's not like I've forgotten about them. And I'm deeply annoyed because I'm inspired to write for Silver and for the Lads, and I have both of their stories started, but they're on Sam, in the shop. And I'd have to start them both. Again. Which would be at least the fifth time I've started this damn Lads story... GrrrRRRrrrrr.

Anyway. Yes. Eric.
Becky had too much free time at 2:57 PM

I didn't really put any notes after episode thirteen (which is up, of course), but there are a few comments I have. BUT this is all really spoiler-tastic, so if you haven't read chapter thirteen yet and care at all, get thee to a nunery... Or, um, the chapter. Then come back if you want. ^_^;

First of all, all of my talking about Cleran as Jesus? Yeah, that should be pretty obvious now, I think. He's the son of God, and the prophesy says he's got to die to save everyone. Jesus? Check and double check. Except that Cleran is way sexier. But now that I think about it, Kalin was Jesus too.... A little less obvious (though not much), but he definitely was. He died and his death redeemed everyone around him. Oh yeah. Jesus. Except that... Ok, more on that in a bit.

Islana is all psychopants now. Craaaaazy. But not. As Nic put it, she's very Hamlet. I think in all rights the heading should probably say "Cleran's Story" now, because, um, it is. They really share the title of Main Character, even more than, say, Kalin and Riss. Because that story was clearly about Kalin (maybe Taylin... No, Kalin) and everything centered around him. This is a lot less clear cut. Especially in the upcoming episodes (not really the next one so much, but after that) the story really will be following Cleran for awhile. But I'm all right with that. He's my favorite, after all. Because I'm sure none of you could tell from how horribly abused he is....

Being a Prophet is really pretty bad for Cleran's health, though he'll get better soon. And stop passing out on his nose. That's what Sundancer is for... She was mistakenly assumed to be the First Prophet of Ocando, but was really the second (and their only female High Priest; their culture is far more sexist than that of Kalatsu), and Cleran is the third. Someone's gonna later do the math and figure that out, and wonder just who the the First Prophet was... But that's a secret, and would probably come up in the Hypothetical Third Season. ^_^

But Prophet is kind of a misnomer; Sundancer was actually a Prophet, what with seeing and writing down the future and all, but Cleran's glimpses of the future are hazy as best, not even as clear as, say, Ilyan's... And Ilyan can't see what's going to happen, just gets vague impressions, so there you go. BUT Cleran is an Avatar of Ocando, which I'm sure they'll define in the story eventually, but for purposes of the Saga, the Avatars are actually more powerful than Angels; the difference is that Kaleal, for example, splits all of her power up between a lot of people, but their power is pretty sketchy (well, it's a lot compared to mortals, but not so much compared to a diety or an avatar) because it's spread so thin. The only real exceptions to that are the Arch Angels (the angels of Life, Death, Peace, War and Freedom... And for the record, our own darling Kalin is in that group.) But even the arch angels aren't as powerful. But yeah, Kaleal has many helpers, but Ocando chose to let three people do it all: Sundancer (whose name is Analla, which by pure coincidence and lack of creativity on my part is also the name of Taylin's wife), Cleran and the Mystery Prophet. SO when Cleran eventually grows into his power, he is going to be damned impressive.

Speaking of relative power and whatnot, Ilyan is also an exeption to the Angels-aren't-that-strong rule, because he's not just an Angel, he's also a Kelanister. (Man, that family has issues.) He's got the bloodline that's literally tied to the land backing him and giving him psycho amouts of power, so while he's not really a match for Cleran (the middle strongest of the three Avatars; Sundancer was the weakest and Mystery Guy was by far the most powerful) he could hold his own against, say, Kalin. And he can hold his own against Analla, but it takes a lot out of him. Much to Analla's annoyance. ^^;

Right. And speaking of psycho amounts of power, our boy Kalin... This is the major MAJOR spoilery bit, so make sure you've finished the chapter. ^^; But yes. Kalin is alive... Um, more or less. See, the thing is, becoming an angel is a bit of a shock to the system, and usually people are pretty incapable of dealing with it. (Hence Cleran's fainting spells... He's been coming into it slowly for awhile now, and isn't really there yet.) But that's why angels are, y'know, people who've died. Once you're dead, human limitations are lifted a bit and so one's brain is less likely to explode... What people think happened is that the cliff didn't kill him, but his brain was kind of shutting off due to the shock of having just, y'know, jumped off a cliff and that that allowed him to safely be made an Angel while still alive. But it's not entirely correct... Kalin is an angel and alive at the same time, and it was being made an Angel that saved his life (those wings are darned helpful when one is falling from a very high surface...), and his willingness to die that let him become an Angel, but he hasn't come into his power fully yet. That won't happen until his eventual death. ^^; So he's really more half-angel, augmented by the fact that he shares a tight bond with Kaleal as her Voice. The presence Dysis felt was her; Kalin sort of carries her around in the back of his mind, and sometimes she's more there than others. And when she's REALLY there people can feel it. She's a bit intimidating.

And if you read Kalin's "death scene," at the end of season 1, you'll note it never actually says he dies. ^_^ And they never found his remains....

Two last things. One, Leah beta'd the chapter. She rules like that. And the second is... bum bum bum... Spoiler image! I really like the way Kalin and Erra turned out (yes, that is young Erra, not Ilyan, they just look a lot alike...) though Jall turned out, um, less good... But I really like the picture. ^_^

I think that's it.
Becky had too much free time at 1:39 PM

Tuesday, June 04, 2002

And I did it. I actually archived all of the art. By hand. And my eyes are now glazed over, so I hope y'all appreciate it. But here you go... The Art Archive.

Now I must get off of this damn machine for awhile.
Becky had too much free time at 5:49 PM

Hah. I kept saying I was doing restructuring. Checkitout; pretty much all of the decent stuff from Blue is here now, and Blue will soon be going the way of the dinosaurs. I will eventually be sorting through here and separating out all of the various profiles and posting them somewhere, all nice and HTMLized, and hopefully writing descriptions for the art (a la BNI. But yes. Restructuring is good. It makes the place more sitely and less unsightly.

Ahhh, wordplay. I crack me up. Which is good, 'cause no one else cares.... La la la... Tell me what you think, k? Thanks.
Becky had too much free time at 3:37 PM

...And I'm back.

Islana. Colored! (gasp!) Obviously I messed up a few places, but still, not bad, given it's the first thing I've colored in... Um... Months and months. Yeah. So I guess I'm happy with it.
Becky had too much free time at 3:21 PM

Monday, June 03, 2002

Baelarion: anyway, yeah, cleran's WAY hotter than jesus!
TezGray: well, yeah. of course.
Baelarion: heheh
Baelarion: and jesus didn't have flamy wings.
TezGray: true, true
Becky had too much free time at 9:53 PM