Sailing against the wind

Writing can be a strange process. Sometimes you have a clear path and a destination just on the horizon. Other times your characters pull a fast one and take you in a direction that you haven't considered but end up becoming far more interesting than what you have previously plotted.

Take the following for example: A character I had originally created to act as one of the novels primary antagonists has throughout the course of the writing transformed herself into a protagonist who will necessitate serious rewriting of early parts of the novel. She be came someone who I wanted to know more of the more I wrote about her. This has happened several time during the course of writing the first draft. Similarly, a character who I hadn't planned to expand upon in this novel has, due to uncovering a gaping plot hole, has needed to become an integral part of the story. Originally I hadn't planning to deal with her at all until part two of the series.

Woooo! Look at me! Already planning book number 2? Ambitious ain't I!!

One of the many things I've learn over the course of writing my first novel is how much of an organic process writing is. A plot is at best a loose map and not a thing carved in stone. Also, characters have a mind of their own and can demand that you give them a voice when you would have them behave themselves.

Every time I sit my ass down to write, I learn something new. Where as writing used to be a chore, now it is a pleasure. Make no mistake, it is work. But my G-d its a pleasure.

Yes I can her all you published writers scramming all over the world "Just you wait until you're working to a deadline. Then see how much of a pleasure writing is!"

Hush!!

Back to work.

90% perspiration

"It’s like they always say — 90% perspiration. Or as my fine art buddy Dan Attoe says, “Painting is like mowing the lawn.” Slow, tedious work. You feel like a leper – crumbling over your little drawing desk – while life passes you by. But life passes by no matter what, and at the end of a day, or a month, or a year — you have something to show for it. Like the Velvet Underground says, “You’re gonna reap just what you sow.” (Or is that from the Bible?) My main barrier in the past was starvation. Now it’s hand pain and business crap and self doubt and blahblahblah. We’re not alone in the struggle!"
-Craig Thompson

Good work takes time

"Ten years from now, no one is going to care how quickly the books came out. The only thing that will matter, the only thing anyone will remember, is how good they were. That's my main concern, and always will be."
-George R.R. Martin

Peace and quiet make Josephus a creative boy!!

So I discovered early this week that the Royal Festival Hall on the South bank is open from 10am to 11pm everyday, all year around. It has free wireless internet and tons of floorspace. It's quite a social environment, with students, artists, social groups, graphic designers and the Comica Social club making it their meeting spot.

But most importantly it has the one thing I crave in order to be creative: peace and a lack of interruptions or distractions.

Its a short train ride from my house and a small price to play for a creative atmosphere.

In fact I'm there now, writing this post.

Tomorrow I'm going to bring along my French homework and my brush pens to fill the day with art and the French language. Until I, like Val McDermid am successful enough that I can both afford to own my own house and build a small office in my garden where I can be a writer/artist, the various libraries and festival halls in London will have to suffice.

May your weekend be as productive and creative as mine.

Have a good one.

Right. Back to work.

The difficulty of finding plus size female reference

So I've started collecting reference for the illustrations I want to create for my novel and I'm finding it difficult to locate imagery of plus size women that isn't located on porn websites.

There are no photography books dedicated plus size women. None. Believe me I've checked.

It appears that noone deems plus size women interesting enough to photograph. Or maybe the prevailing notion is that BBW's are a fetish subject. But even then you would assume some photographer would have created something to cater for that market. Not the case. So all I'm left with is a ton of adult imagery which I will have to compile into a pull file for later use.

Christ I wish I was competent with a camera. I would make it my mission to create a book of plus size nudes.

(If your wondering why I'm trawling through the net looking for picture of plus size women it because my main protagonist is a ginger haired freckled plus size women)

Figure the world need at least one ginger haired, freckled, plus sized heroine.

It's done!

Slowly getting arseholed on cans of London Pride as celebration.
Whiskey tomorrow.
Plotting for novel 3 on Sunday.
Maybe.
Depends on the strength of the hangover

National Novel Writing Month or 30 days of coffee induced sleep deprevation

I feel like a challenge. I feel like testing myself. I had an idea for a novel growing in the back of my mind for sometime now and very recently a plot has begun to emerge.
It deals with 70's terrorism but from a fantasy prospective. The Baader-Meinhof complex or Black September through the lens of Hellboy, Planetary and Harry Potter.
A cat and mouse game that criss crosses a world not unlike our own, but with differences. Some minor, some large.

Last night whiles watching the Carlos the Jackal mini series, i came across a link to the National Novel Writing Month competition or NaNoWriMo colloquially is its called. I though about participating last year, but retrospect it's best that I didn't. I didn't anywhere near as much confidence in writing then as i do now. I had a unhealthy fear of the the blank page which used to take me days to overcome. Not now though.

The deal with the Novel Writing Month, is that you have 30 days to write a novel a minimum of 50000 words length. Which works out at something like just over 1500 words per day, everyday during the month of November. The competitions goal is to inspire creativity and short deadline liberates the participant from major rewriting and editing. The idea is to get the idea on paper no matter what. You can plot the novel before hand and do research, but the 50000 words have to be written from scratch during that 30 day period.

Sounds steep. huh? Well not really. Either way, want to get from the experience is the pressure of having to work from to a deadline and the liberty from rewriting and editing during the writing process. Christ I'm looking forward to this!

Well I've just under four days to read several books, watch several documentaries and write a plot.

See you in 30 days.

Who knows. I might even illustrate the novel I'm going to write.

Wouldn't that be cool?

Addendum: Is anyone else whose reading this participating the the competition?

Test

Test
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

DONE!!

Almost a year to the day that I started, I have FINALLY finished the first draft of my first novel. 63,343 words. 236 pages.
Now I have to write the second half of the novel! However, before that I'm going to get me some BLOODY SLEEP!!

The last hurdle. The last chapter

51954 words.
293802 characters.
167 pages and counting,
and I'm still not done.
I can see the light at the end of the tunnel so clearly that I can feel the cool air on my face. But this last chapter has thrown a barrier in my path that I'm having to slowly navigate my way through.
I read somewhere that the first and last chapters of a book are always the hardest to write. Well I'm here to confirm that little rumour. I'm have to slowly piece the conclusion of the novel together with tweezers and a magnifying glass. It helped that the book mostly out of order. And that I plotted the novel well before I started writing it and wrote the conclusion second just after writing the first chapter.
But now that I'm approaching the end I'm finding that the writing has slowed to the speed of a crawl.
It's frustrating because I know what happens and I know how to get there. It feels almost as if I'm laying a railway track and the more I lay then the more track I feel I need to lay and the greater the distance becomes.
Things are occurring to me as I write which are elongating the writing process.

And this is only the first draft.

What happens when I start work on the second, third and fourth drafts?

It's strange. A part of me enjoys the process and doesn't want it to end. While another part of me is anxious about holding a finished manuscript in my hands. Because I gotta tell you, this is the first time in my life that I've ever committed myself, mind body and soul to complete something as demanding as this. I'm emotionally invested.

This is no longer for a grade, or for kudos.

This is completely for me. I'm doing for myself.

I just want it to be over. I want this story to leave my head and enter the world. I want other people to be able to react to my work. I want to hold my work in my hands as physical proof of my ability. I want to be done.

But I don't. Because I'm enjoying it too much. Writing is the most rewarding thing I've ever done. More so than the art.

So what is the solution, then.

Just keep doing it I guess.

Only another 2000 words to go.....i guess.

purge

purge
Originally uploaded by J.E.Cole

Working in isolation.....

...is never good. Being locked in your own head with your own thoughts is completely counter-productive. You, or rather I need to be an an atmosphere where I can have people who know what their talking about to offer advice and criticism. As said previously its rare that lecturers come to a piece without an artistic bias.(Remind me to tell you about the time someone told me that using a light box to render images using reference I had taken was cheating. And that if used a lightbox to create my then I shouldn't be an called an artist. What narrow minded BS! Try saying that to Tim Bradstreet and Sean Phillips and see the reaction you get.)

But every school has one or if you're really lucky two teachers who are exactly what an artist needs. They're wise, open minded, well read, full of ideas and approaches you haven't considered and EXTREMELY knowledgeable.

A tutorial with the illustrator/lecturer Derek Rodgers this afternoon was deeply rewarding. But then Derek Rodgers is a deep individual. I showed my layouts and told him the approach that I was taking (A heavy use of reference and models) and I showed him two books as representation of the images I wanted to create (ARCHETYPE: The Art of Tim Bradstreet and The Gibson Girl and Her America: The Best Drawings of Charles Dana Gibson ) He suggested making use of resource that I hadn't previously considered. Specifically the many drama students of the Drama degree that runs at our factuality and the photography facilities that are readily available.
I felt like a light had gone off in my head. Why didn't I think of this?
Sometimes you need someone to help you see the woods through the trees. And if you're an artist you definitely need a support structure to help you see the woods through the trees.

So, this weekend will mostly be spent writing and preparing for next weeks potential photo shoot. The future is slightly brighter this evening. And I have Derek Rodgers to thank for it.

Next, I'll talk about an interesting point the illustrator(or finished artist as he refers to himself) Leif Peng made on the Escape From illustration island podcast.

Back to work then.

A pleasant surprise and the ball is now firmly in my court

Long story short, my head of illustration, the illustrator Peter Lloyd gave me the go ahead. (Fully?) embracing my proposal. Though he did voice certain concerns.

1. Firstly, I told him that I was planning to redo the majority of my 2nd and 3rd year as I felt it wasn't and accurate representation of what I am capable of. A artist portfolio of work should contain work that is all of the same standard and i am not pleased with either the level of quality or the amount of work I've produced. You only get one opportunity to make a first impression.
2. Secondly, and rightly so, he voiced the concern that I had been working almost completely in isolation and that he hadn't seen any of work and thus had no idea what I was working on. I responded that I didn't feel that I had anything worth showing yet so there was not point in me setting foot in uni. Which is a bullshit reason truth be told.

Teachers are resources and although their opinions may and often do differ, they're still valuable. Within reason. Most artists have an artistic biases. Its rare that you meet one who can be objective and look at something and judge if for what it is and instead of what whether they like of not. You have to walk a thin line between taking advice on board because their advice and criticism is valuable will can improve your work, and taking advice because you want keep lecturer X happy. I've seen way too may young illustrators whose work are carbon copy clones of their lectures. Copying the surface, without understanding how and why things work. Nothing but third rate clones. It's sad that so few lack the courage of their conviction, nor are able to look at their own work critically and work to make their influences less apparent. But these thing take time and more importantly education. A critical eye had to be taught and honed. Very few can be objective out their own work, because they're too close to it. But then some people are too critical of their own work. I guess its all about balance.

Yes, I know, I went waaaay off track didn't I? Where was I? ah yes.

Anyway. the ball is firmly in my court. When I informed Peter that I was intending to render all my images in pen and ink instead of a brush pen it was suggested that I reconsider. I told him my reasoning for this was two fold.

1. I have far more control over a the outcome of a line using a dip pen that i did using a brush pen. (As when using a brush you're at the mercy of many factors. How hard you push, the direction you're moving the brush in, how you hold your hand, how much ink you have in brushes feral, etc, etc.) Where as with a dip pen, you have full control over your line weight and the distribution of ink to the page.
2. I want my work to look like the artists whose work inspires me. The great golden age illustrator such as Joseph Clement Coll, James Mongomery Flagg, Charles Dana Gibson, Howard Chandler Christy. And modern illustrators who continue the pen and ink tradition: Arthur Ranson, Mark Schultz, Tim Bradstreet, Gary Gianni to name a few. I want to follow in their footsteps, to continue that lineage. I find something very..arousing artistic in the application of their technique. The use of hatching, cross hatching to create shadows and texture and weight. Sure, they all used a combination of the pen and ink and brushwork but their primary tool of choice is a dip pen. I want to bring into my work what they have. I'm under no illusions that technique without and understanding of structure and what makes a good drawing make for poor artwork, but I desperately want to bring back- single-handedly if need be- those traditional values.

Peter suggested that when he thinks of my work he thing of the brush pen, The brush strokes. The energy. Well, maybe he has a point. I'll certainly give it a shot. Combining the two that is.

Right o. That took far long that I thought it would. Back to work.

Distracting...

It's very distracting to to be working on the first draft of your first novel at 4.30am and have your housemate shagging some fella next door.  And doing so whiles have her arse slapped.

Or his arse.

"Sigh". For the first time EVER i actually feel old. I've really gotta get out more.....when its done.

Back to work.

Doing things traditionaly

I used to make things up.  I used to try to draw things out of my head without knowing how they worked and what they really looked like.  I used to draw without using reference.  And it always showed.  My work was terrible.  It looked completely unprofessional and when held next to the illustrators who inspire my work, it looked EXTREMELY amatureish.

This came from unconscious (concious) desire to draw EXACTLY like the illustration greats never being prepared do the hardwork nessecary to improve.
I wanted to jump to the steps that every artist goes has to go through because I could fake IT. 

I've finally accepted that this is not the case.

One of those steps is collecting reference.

Every great illustrator has a pull file.  A collection of reference material that they have access to that enables them to draw anything they want because the have photos of what it looks like it the real life.  You want draw to VW golf?  Go out and find/take a photograph of a VW golf.  You want to draw the Buckingham palace?  Find/take a photo of Buckingham Palace.  You need reference of a bloodied warrior woman wielding two swords after going 10 rounds with a 15 foot giant?  Persuade one of your female friends to allow you to photograph them in the position needed then take a photo of yourself in the position needed for your giant.


You can't make this shit up.  If you try to IT WILL SHOW.  And your work will NOT LOOK PROFESSIONAL.  Do you think the illustration giants you admire make that shit up  off the top of their head?

It's hard work but my G-d it pays dividends.  And do it enough, your work will improve.

Or my work will improve.

Character Specific and thematic illustration and creating a rod for my own back

This post is going to be kind of long winded so you're just going to have to bare with me.

Here we go.

Normally when you want to do something creative in the shape of something that already exists you have to do the research. You have to find example of the things that you want to do so that you can learn for them. You have to follow the trail. You have to learn the thing those who have gone before you had to learn.

You want to learn how illustrated books are created and conceived, you have to go out and research in to the creation of illustrated book. You have to ask the questions. You have do the hard work. And so in the source of following the trail I've noticed that there are two distinct type of book illustrations:
There's character specific illustrations
and thematic illustrations.

Character specific are, well character specific. They highlight a specific character instead of illustrating a specific scene or passage.
Thematic illustration are illustrations are that illustrate a particular scene or passage. They dramatise and breathe into passage.
Most illustrated books tread a fine line between an equal balance of the two whiles some are made up primarily of one or the other.

You, sometimes ambition can be a rod for your own back. It really can. Doing this project is asking of me more than I've ever given before. In stating that I wanted to throw down the greats of illustration I created a certain level of expectation. Indeed it forced me to up my game substantially.

I'll give you an example: I've just spent two days working on the composition for one illustration.

Two days doing thumbnails.

Two days.

I've had to do loads of layouts. Hundreds - Okay. Maybe not hundreds- lots of thumbnails of how I want a particular character to stand. Working on it over and over again until I've got it right. Then lots more thumbnails get the posture correct. Then even more working out the separate elements. Then, finally marrying the two together. I tell you, I've got new found respect of illustrators who labour tirelessly to get their work looking perfect. So much so that it looks effortless. It reminds me of a quote attributed to Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche:

""You admire the beauty of my spark, but you don't feel the cruelty of the hammer on the anvil that makes it happen."

Yes. Now. Finally I'm being to feel and appreciate the cruelty of the hammer on the anvil. In truth a part of me has always what was necessary for me improve. And i've known that I was dodging the bullet. A part of me has always know that I need to work far harder learn what I need to learn. But I was always afraid of the pain that came with it.

Well, now, I've finally reached the point where the hardwork can no longer be avoided. The bullet can no longer be dodged.

Lets call a spade a spade: I've been a work shy bastard. Now I have to learn on the job. Its going to be painfully but its a rod i've created for my own back.

Still. What I'm doing isn't impossible. It just gong to take very hard work is all. Very, very hardwork.

Tomorrow, i'll talk at length about what i find inspiring about the artists who inspire me. I'll try to tackle one artist a day for a week. Lets see how that goes.

Frostfeld illustrations Inspiration

Final Major Project(Frostfeld Illustrated Book) Inspiration
Originally uploaded by J.E.Cole

Well, here's where I start crating the layouts of the images I'll be creating based on the novel I'm nearly finished writing.

I'm still taken aback whenever I say "the novel". I still have some difficultly coming to terms with the notion that I'm actually doing something that I enjoy and That I'm creating something which previously had only existed in my head.

WOW!!

Any who, there are the guys I'm going to be looking for for inspiration. In my proposal for my project I wrote:
"Firstly, I wish to create work in the spirit and with the same values as the great illustrators of yesterday. I want my work to encapsulate that same draftsmanship accuracy and bravura as the pen and ink masters of the turn of the 20th century. E. H Shepard, Joseph Clement Coll, Charles Dana Gibson, Alfons Mucha and Arthur Rackham to name a few. Although this is a high bar I’ve for myself I believe that you should always aim to create work that stands toe-to-toe with those whom inspire you.

Secondly I want to create material that inspires the reader in the same way that I was inspired to be a storyteller when I was a child. I find that too often people aim to create work that is merely acceptable and rarely attempt to create work that fantastical."

Now know that I creating a rod for my own back, but my G-d, If we don't at least attempt to be ambitious in anything we do then what's the fucking point?

Missing for this picture is Alphonse Mucha:The Spirit of Art Nouveau.

I've already taken almost all of the photos I'll need for reference and I've laid out the compositions for a hell of a lot of the images I'll be creating(I took an evening off from partying in Prague to put some ideas down on paper and ended up down way more than I thought!!) but I've barely scratched the surface. I'm aiming to have all the roughs done by Friday so that I can send them to my models and hopefully have the photos in my mailbox by the end of the next week.

To work then.

It occurs to me that....

It occurs to me that I really should be working on the images for the book simultaneously as finishing the first draft of the manuscript.
The reason for this is obvious: It will take me far longer to created the images to the level of quality I need them to be then it will for me to finish working on the manuscript.
(Why am I not calling it a novel)
Everyday that I spend on the novel instead of working on my illustrations is another day lost to make them look amazing.
I'm going to have to set myself a flexible routine that will allow me to juggle my many balls without dropping them. The finishing novel (Ha! See now, that didn't hurt did it?) will be far less work intensive than finishing the artwork. And besides, I'll be getting marked based on the images I create instead of the words i write won't I?
I'll have just have to do as much as i can for Tuesday then present them the manuscript as work in progress that is closer to being completed than it is to being half finished.

And I really, really need to start getting some early nights in. This waking up at 10/11/12 and sleeping at 2/3/4 at night malarkey is completely counter productive. I need to start getting up at 8 in the morning. 9 at the latest.

Crape diem

I hate Mondays:(

So, I'm mostly recuperated and I'm back on the ball. By Tuesday next week I have to have done the following:

Finished the first draft of the manuscript.

Have layouts of the images i plan to illustrate ready so that I can:
Send them to my models so that they can photograph themselves in the positions required.
Construct a list of places I'll need to visit in order to collect reference.(Thank Hashem for the Prague trip)
Have character designs completed.
All of this will be handed over to my lecturers on Tuesday morning.


Tall order? You think?

Wish me luck.

No. Scratch that. Pray for my arse!!

Reclaiming lost days

I've spent the past 5 days in bed with a nasty cold. I wasn't able to write or draw for 5 whole days. That's time lost. And I'm steadily running out of time to waste.
On top of all that I have to accomplish I have to keep a record or diary of my work process during this project, It's to enable the lectures who'll be marking my work to see and understand my decision making process.

Understandable as the journey is often as important if not more so than the destination.

So I'm sitting here and I'm thinking: I've written the proposal for my final major project. But I know I going to encounter difficulty in getting them to believe I'll be able to accomplish the extremely ambitious project I've set for myself. Why? Because I've no previous examples of me being able to accomplish anything of this magnitude.
They are going to have to take a lot of what I'm going on faith. And I doubt whether they are going to be that lenient.
The way i see it one of two things is going to happen.

1: The will activity force me to undertake a project that is less ambitious and demand that I abandon the frostfeld novel and help me to create this less ambitious thing.

2: They will leave me to my own devices and allow me to create my project the way I see fit. But in doing so they will withdraw all support.

I want and need them on my side. I need them to help me to create the images that I want to create. So what do I do to get them on my side instead of actively working against me? And yes, it happen. I've seen lecturers- though thankfully not at this institution. The lecturer at my uni actually give a damn-go out of their way to sabotage students project because they didn't understand/like/agree with/appreciate what they were attempting accomplish. And that I believe says more about the lecturer than it does about the student. Surely an image should be judged not on whether it is liked but on how well its communicates it's message/idea and whether it work?

Style is worthless if your image doesn't work. Style is worthless if you can't draw.

I'm ranting aren't I? Sorry. Where was I? Ah yes.

After a long conversation with an artist friend I've decided that there is only one way to ensure their support: To present them with the finish manuscript and character designs. By presenting them with evidence of the level of work and the commitment I'm prepared to make in order to complete this project I believe this will go a long way to to get them on my side.

This is what I should be been doing over the last week. Now, I'm going to have to shorten my time scale by a week and speed up this part of the process.
More tomorrow.