Journal of a Something or Other

Oh god, I failed this last last two month’s focus.  I did not make an animatic.  Oh, but that’s because I used the paintings I did to make this.

And I spent a bunch of time making this

And writing like 7,000 words of the sequel to The Audacity Gambit.

And researching how exactly San’s cape in Princess Mononoke works. Talking to Chase about his show, which is now next spring (a good thing!). Being excited with my favourite people about their new house and looking at fridges with them. Watching ALL the Adventure Time and drawing this.

I don’t know if the focus months are necessary any more. The reasons why I needed an outside force to make me stop feeling like I was neglecting things, or leaving things unfinished have eased up. The stress of the commute I used to have is in the past, my brain is sort of coming together, I dunno. but I want to make stuff unbound.

Oof.

A combo of my work moving locations, a change in focus of Chase’s show (now in October!) and a sudden trip to the coast (doctor’s orders, because it’s been two years since we last went, and both Chase and I needed out of the city to refresh), and and and.

Point being, I’m behind in goals and dammit, it’s the summer. So I’m extending this focus a month. I have got a lot done, just not enough (so many thumbnails, if you’re following me on Instagram, you may have seen some). So, excuses but whatev. I’ll leave you with a finished frame from the new chapter written for draft two.

If you follow me on Instagram (handle is bzedan, just like it is everywhere), you may have seen some thumbnail progress for the animatic.

Chase and I went on a drive, listening to the song that always seemed like it’d be perfect for a trailer for The Audacity Gambit to me—Fairies Wear Boots. Which, obvs, cannot use that song, but Chase plus synth can get me the feeling I want. We parsed out what scenes would work for a trailer, without giving anything away. I made a list of them when we got home and I’ve been thumbnailing them out since.

Style-wise, they’ll be along the lines of what I did to illustrate Morningstar. I want plain black and white stuff I can drop into the POD draft 2 copy.

Plus! I’m about halfway through the edits Chase made, and I’ve dropped in the first of the scene inserts. He’s got about 25 pages left to read! I really want to be sending this thing to Lulu, illustrations and edits and all, at the end of the month. Might be able to make it!

Not a lot of progress this past week, though I’ve begun typing up the chapter that will be inserted into The Audacity Gambit. Funny how this month’s focus was supposed to be working on the second book but ended up being equally focused on revising the first. The stories go hand-in-hand, though, so it makes sense in a way.

Regarding July’s focus, there are some big changes at my work that will be taking up a lot of brain space, so that is going to have to be a consideration. At least I’ve regained a lot of traction with writing, so revising the old and writing the new will continue, just at a slower pace.

This month has Chase’s birthday, so I asked him to pick three focus topics and in the end just made him decide which one.  He picked:

1. Animatic for The Audacity Gambit
2. Sewing: clothes
3. Ink comic from last February (Richard III)
4. Nails
5. Photography: make sets, pick direction
6. Library
7. Garden
8. Cooking
9. Painting
10. Fashion blogging
11. The unfinished/begun monographs
12. Final Space Goth chapter
13. Chase and Brenna collabs
14. Miniatures
15. Get rid of old art
16. Printmaking
17. Papier mâché
18. Old photos

Finished:

• Ma-me’ branding
• Airbrush
• Sewing: mending & Old work archive/organise
• Secret show production
• Embroidery
• Next book

In the end, he picked the animatic ‘trailer’, which is sweet of him, since he will be helping me quite a bit with it and it keeps me in the writing world, helping us both finish the tasks we have to in revising and outlining.

We just finished a lovely evening drive where we hashed out the roughest sketch of what will work best.  The crazy thing is now I’ve got to draw Emily for the first time.