I'm listening to this podcast done by two former accountants that are now writers (well, one if a fulltime fiction writer the other is almost there but widely published) and it's interesting because it's all the business side and not too much of the touchy feely (except when they geek out). So, today I'm listening to them tal about short v. long fiction, and they're like "yeah my fat, chunky novels are 150k to maybe 200k, and so-n-so is crazy and gets 300k, but usually novels are 80k-120k". And I look at my word count on Rebs pt 4-- 79k and counting. 😅😅😅 Either I'm using a chainsaw in editing or this could be legit books, not just "books" in the way it's broken up.
I've been thinking more about Mioko as I continue the rewrite, and heres a bit of the process of discovering if I need to (gasp) change his name!
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In the video I forgot: Mioko's sister is now named Haru 😁
I also forgot to mention that some of the coolest bits in keeping his name the same is that one of the possible meanings of his name is "waterway" or "channel" which goes really well with his connection to the sea/the fae and his channeling of their power. So yeah!
HEY LOOK I finally recorded something again. It's audio only since I was driving... ha
But basically, I'd been tossing around new thoughts for Mioko's backstory (how he becomes bound to the crystal) and in the time it took for me to get to record this, I made up my mind on which route I wanted to take. It's kinda rambly, and there are car noises, but it's not bad! I may have to do more like this.
I talk around this in ep. 15 and mention it in the second intermission story spitballs. Time for research; here comes the marriage pool episode.
Who has dressed you in strange clothes of sand?
Who has taken you far from my land?
Who has said that my sayings were wrong?
And who will say that I stayed much too long?
Clothes of sand have covered your face
Given you meaning, taken my place
So make your way on down to sea
Something has taken you so far from me...
Nick Drake, Clothes of Sand
The haunting mood and lyrics of this song begged me to draw Sapphyre for it years ago. It fit her story of being taken away as a human and returned as a mermaid (aka... clothes of sand!). My first attempt in pencil was intricate and detailed, but I was never quite as happy with the more overhead/head on angle.
When I rediscovered the original drawing while scanning in some older pieces, and I decided now was the time to try drawing it again. I drew it digitally and tried a different angle, and at last, I have a piece I am proud of!
They added clydesdales to Hero Forge, so I upgraded Ember! And of course, you can't have Ember without Gemini 💙
“Courage friends,” came Prince Rillian’s voice, “whether we live or die, Aslan will be our good lord.”
- C.S. Lewis, The Silver Chair
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I an continuing through The Chronicles of Narnia, and they are such interesting books. C.S. Lewis is such a clever writer, creating books that can be understood as children and continue to grow in meaning for adults. And if you're a Christian, the symbolism and parallels with Christianity are very powerful.
So, of course I wanted to draw Aslan, and I wanted to make sure I got his splendor in all the waves of his mane. Wisps of magic and power flow, and the light itself is created in his step.
The amount of layers and layer blend modes I used in this one is insane... but it came out exactly like I had hoped :)
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"Are-are you there too, Sir?" said Edmund.
"I am," said Aslan. "But there I have another name. You must learn to know me by that name. This was the very reason why you were brought to Narnia, that by knowing me here for a ...
I have no idea what to call these anymore lol
In 2006, Wildcard happened! Finally a use for the random instrument choices lol. While I did write them into forming a band in the first draft of book 1, I removed it because it just seemed weird. Mioko still has his flute, and Ace still plays guitar, but forming a whole band is no longer happening canonically.
What ended up "spinning off" Wildcard into a modern band setting was a web forum where we all shared stories and wrote crossovers with each other. One guy had a band called The Outcasts (which was made up of mostly Disney animals) and Wildcard went touring with them.
See? Adorable lol. From an artistic/character design lens, I was still not quite there with different body types. Everybody's just super skinny at a different height, heh. It was still only 2006 tho.
And in 2007 they had matching shirts?? Absolutely adorable lol. Side note I forgot I designed their logo and it's actually still really dang awesome. You can't really see the whole thing but it's a spade on one side and a guitar on the other and "strings" between. Snazzy.
Modern Crusaiders, December 2008
Getting back to the main story, this was both a way to make a cool group shot and also try out new outfits. Always really liked this one; I have a digital version too somewhere.
Angel of the Odd, September 2006
Out of order, but I forgot this one also started off as pencil. I think this was the first drawing of Ed ever; his appearance was loosely based on Steve Balsamo from Eric Woolfson's POE musical, and his outfit similar to what I wore in the old The Raven video me and my brother did in the olden days of YouTube lol. I kept the two-winged motif as tattoos on his back.
It's the knights! The jousting tournament story is one of my favorites, and it really ends up being a pivotal moment for a lot of characters now, so that's cool. Ace tries really hard... and looks so out of place lol.
There's no date on this one but I assume it's around the same time. You get 'em, Sir Gallagher!
