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September 30, 2014September 30, 2014

Review Day Tuesday: Dragonswood

Here is Exhibit A: a Young Adult (YA) novel called Dragonswood.

There are a lot of things that are remarkable about this book. Let’s go into them right away!

This is not like other YA novels.

Here’s the typical YA formula, which I discovered the other day browsing through Tumblr:

White girl has magic powers and falls for a boy, but also falls for another boy and must choose between the two and save the world at the same time.

While Dragonswood does take place on an island by England in the 1000s, (thereby having lots of white people), and the main lead does have a special power, here’s what makes the book different.

It stars a domestic abuse survivor.

Tess, the main lead, has no romantic interest in men from the start. She distrusts men because of her experiences with her physically abusive father, and the book does a great job making you understand Tess and her father’s circumstances.

Yes, she has a magical power – seeing prophetic visions in flames, called Fire Sight – but the visions are not straightforward, and often they don’t even come to fruition the way you expect them to. Hell, her ability doesn’t change the world, and it’s not the catalyst for saving the world either. it’s just a thing that she can do.

Of course, her ability makes her stand out from the world she lives in. Most people consider her strange already, especially since…

She lives in a medieval world with a twist.

Tess’s journey begins when a witch hunter comes to town, and Tess is accused of witchcraft by her village: she was spotted running into Dragonswood (the forest next door) when she occasionally flees from her father’s fists.

Of course, Tess also feels a calling to the forest (though it’s not witchery. Witches don’t ever appear in this book). The forest itself is a refuge for fairies and dragons, and townsfolks are afraid of Dragonswood and its inhabitants. They want the forest torn down so they can have lumber and farms.

The world of this book is marvelously and surprisingly complex. As you read you see the world reveal itself even more. There are strong political undertones and Tess questions authority multiple times throughout this book.

However, be warned that in the first few chapters, Tess is brought into questioning by the witch hunter, and she is tortured. And it is a graphic scene. Don’t read it if you don’t want to read about thumbs being crushed.

After she is tortured, she flees with her friends into Dragonswood, where they are rescued by a woodsman.

Enter the Potential Love Interest. And the good news is…

The Love Interest is not a condescending smartass.

Remember the typical YA formula? With its two boys that forces the main character to choose one over the other? It’s all over the place, from The Hunger Games to the Mortal Instruments series. One love interest is a sweetheart, and the other is the bad boy that eventually warms up to the lead character. We’ve all read it before.

Dragonswood has none of that.

And at first, Tess doesn’t even have romantic feelings for the huntsman, Garth. It’s part distrust of the male sex, part fear that he’ll turn her in to the witch hunter for a reward. Tess is a survivalist, and she will cut any bitches that get in her way.

But Garth? Garth is actually kind of a sweetie.

Garth has incredible patience with Tess. When she is frightened and flees from him, he gives her space. When she snaps at him, he doesn’t argue. He even gives her paper and ink to draw with, something that no one in her village ever did.

In short…

Give this a read.

The things I mentioned are just a small part of this marvelous story. It’s not even half of the book.

If you’re tired of reading the same old Young Adult novel, read this book. It’s a breath of fresh, fantasy air with wonderfully developed characters and a complex world.

If you’ve read this book before, let me know what you thought of it in the comments below!

Have any suggestions of books for me to read? Leave those in comments too!

Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you on Friday.

September 26, 2014September 25, 2014

An Open Letter to My New Tablet

Dear Tablet,

When I went to upgrade my phone the other day, I saw you sitting on the shelf, covered in fingerprints and possibly biohazardous germs. Initially, I was unsure if I wanted to own you or anything like you.

Sure, a lot of people I knew had one like you. From what I saw, though, tablets like you did the same function as my phone, only larger and more cumbersome.

How wrong I was to judge you.

I decided to get you, at first, to have something to show off my art at conventions: you had a larger screen than my phone, but were more compact and easier to wield than my laptop. Plus, you didn’t sound like a jet engine in take-off or overheat so much you could bake my knees off.

But then I got some apps on you…

And then I started writing my comic scripts on you….

And then I discovered you were the perfect device to read digital comics on. Comixology, webcomics, it didn’t matter! Your high resolution screen and fast internet connection meant I could read as many of my beloved comics as I wanted.

You have done wonders for my reading and writing time. And I look forward to spending more time with you, you lovely slab of technological wizardry.

Sincerely,
Kelci

Thank you for putting up with my open letter. As a reward, here’s a warm-up sketch I made recently.

Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you on Tuesday.

September 23, 2014September 23, 2014

Review Day Tuesday: Shadowbinders, Book 1

Shadowbinders, Book 1 is one of the few books I picked up at Intervention Con over a month ago. Before I go into my review, let me talk about what the story is.

The book I got is actually a collection of the first four chapters of the webcomic Shadowbinders. The story follows Mia, a 17-year-old high school girl with average teen girl problems… until she receives a gift from her grandmother. The gift is an old book full of drawings and a ring, both of which belonged to her late grandfather. However, when she tries on the magic ring, she’s whisked away to a fantasy world – the same world shown in the drawings of the book!

Now, before I read this, I did not know what to expect, really. I didn’t even know who the target audience was. I mean, the art looked relatively friendly to everybody, but I didn’t want to make assumptions – I’ve seen relatively child-friendly art illustrate blood and gore (thanks Hunter x Hunter).

With that said, Shadowbinders is actually pretty safe for everyone to read. This is what I would call an all-ages series, even with one or two innuendos and one scene with someone getting stabbed. It’s not even all that graphic.

Anyway, the set-up is sort of cliched, but the world is at least imaginative. It has a steampunk aesthetic with crazy types of animals and fun magic that is easy to understand. Even the action scenes are fun, and thankfully they’re easy to follow. So many artists can make an action scene unreadable in comics, but thankfully that is not the case in Shadowbinders.

The story and characters are…slow to develop. I didn’t really get invested in the characters until the end of Chapter 2. I do, however, want to stick around with this series to see how it goes.

I did have the chance to talk to the artist of the series at Intervention Con (the writer was out at a panel). I remember when I picked up this book, he expressed what I like to call, “The Artist’s First Book Lament.” I suffer from this, as well: it’s when an artist looks at the first book and goes, “AUGH, the art looks so awful! I’m glad I improved, but geez!”

Since he said that, I’m actually pretty excited to read the rest of the series. I want to see where it goes and see the progression of the art style. As fun as it is, I can see it only getting better.

So have you read Shadowbinders? What did you think? Let me know in the comments below!

And if you have any suggestions for comics or books to read, please leave them in comments as well.

Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you on Friday.

September 19, 2014

6 Things That Influenced My Art

Or: Now You’re Just the Fanart That I Used to Draw

I wrote about my inspirations before, in a previous blog post. Today I want to talk about the shows, games, and movies that made me pick up a pencil and draw.

When you first start learning how to draw, the natural thing to do is to copy those who have done it better than you, right? Actually, yeah. For a while. As long as you don’t try to be the kid that says, “Look at this story I completely made up on my own!” That’s a dick move.

But if you’re copying and you’re like, “Look how well I drew this other cartoon!” That’s ok. That’s how people learn to draw at first.

For me, these were the things that got me to draw. These were the things I drew over and over, and these things still influence the look of my art to this day.

Dragonball Z

The first influence on my art was this show. I drew so much (bad) fanart for this series I could have made my own graphic novel out of it. I especially drew the villains, notable Cell, Buu, and Raditz, because their designs were (and still are) pretty outrageous but fun.

There’s still a touch of the style in how I draw eyes sometimes, or how I draw body language. You can actually see a little of the influence in this early Johnson & Sir strip.

Jak II

This game probably still holds the most influence to this day. I mean, the banter between the villain’s minions is what inspired Johnson & Sir, for Pete’s sake. And you can still see the elf ears carry over in the comic, as well.

Also, looking at the concept art for this game is what got me into drawing with markers. The colors in this game are just gorgeous, and the gritty, mechanical environment design is something I may drawn on when I work on The Uthers (working title, mentioned in this post).

The Emperor’s New Groove

I didn’t draw the characters or scenarios from this movie in my sketchbooks. But the colors and unique line quality still had a subliminal influence on me. I watched this movie on repeat for a long time, and during that time, I could see my art begin to get more colorful and vibrant.

This film touched me more obviously in my writing style than in my art. There’s something to be said for its silliness, its characters, and its well-paced jokes.

Rurouni Kenshin

So Dragonball Z was the first artistic influence on me. Rurouni Kenshin is the second. To be honest, though, I didn’t start drawing the characters until the Jupon Gatana showed up. And then I went nuts in my sketches.

This show is where I got my line quality from, and where I got a lot of TERRIBLE costume ideas. I’m glad those ideas fell by the wayside as I got older.

I also practiced the swords from this series a lot. While a few of them are not very realistic (Chou’s whip-like sword seems the most improbable to me), the ones that were were fun to practice.

Hunter X Hunter

This is perhaps the newest on the list, because I didn’t discover this series until the later years of high school. I still flip through some of my more recent sketchbooks and see sketches of Gon, Hisoka, or any member of the Phantom Troupe. I especially drew Uvo over and over, because men who are built like tanks fascinate me.

This is also the manga that influenced how I draw faces. A lot of expressions and proportions I practiced came straight from the pages of this series. Noses especially caught my eye, because almost every character in the series has a different type of nose.

The other day, I took some of my old sketches from my sketchbooks and made collages. A lot of those sketches were Hunter x Hunter sketches. That, and the last feature on this list…

Kingdom Hearts II

Not so much the first game, but the second game in the series had a hold on me for years. Sure, it’s awesome to see a lot of Disney worlds in a video game. However, I was especially fascinated with Organization XIII, and they frequently appeared in my sketches I made years ago.

Many of them had similar face shapes, but Xigbar I drew over and over because I wanted to master his cheekbones and chin. His face stood out the most from the rest of the Organization. Xaldin also appeared a lot in my sketches because I wanted to draw his braids/dreadlocks and sideburns until I got them right. Luxord was especially challenging (at the time) because his face was so square, but it had the best beard. And his piercings are still a carry-over in a few of my character sketches, notably those for Charlie & Clow.

So those were the features that got me drawing in my early halcyon days of illustration. Nowadays I draw influences from many different sources. But these features listed here were what got me started.

So what got you started drawing? Who or what did you draw a lot of when you started drawing? Do you still like those works? I’d love to hear about it in the comments below.

Thank you for reading, and I’ll see you on Tuesday – where I’ll finally have a book to feature for a review!

September 17, 2014

Old Art Canvas Collages

Yesterday I spent a good chunk of my day on something I mentioned in my previous post.

I took some canvas I bought, some old sketches from my high school days, and some Mod Podge, and I made collages.

Here are some photos of the final results.

I even have a few close ups of the first one…

And some close ups of the second one…

You may have noticed that there are smatterings of sketches of Kingdom Hearts or Hunter x Hunter characters in the collages. I’ll be talking about that in my next blog post.

So why did I do this?

Well, I didn’t want my old sketches sitting in a box being unused and unseen. I wanted to start making a large catalog of my art, so that the artistic transformation can be seen more readily.

As time goes by, every artist improves in their craft. I am no different. I look at these sketches, the first set dating to 2006, the second set dating to 2007, and I see such a huge difference between them and the art I make now.

I wanted these sketches up on collages to remind myself of how far I’ve come, and see the progress I have made.

I intend on making more collage pieces with my other older sketches. My goal is to make one collage for every year. That way the progress can be more noticeable.

But this is just a personal project.

For now, I still have a lot of freelance work to do, so it’s back to the drawing board with me.

So what do you do with your old sketches? How long has it been since you looked at them? What are your thoughts on your old work? Let me know in the comments below!

Thanks for reading and I’ll see you on Friday.