I've Got Sketch Appeal

So here's something that I haven't really blogged about or shared w/ you all yet; I've got a thing for drawing.

And all of these drawing is sort of a walk-through of my style and how it drastically changed--for the better! These two characters are my two main characters of the novel I'm currently writing, so I've been drawing them for quite a while now, at least 8 years. That's at least how long this novel has been consuming my writing imagination.

So a little introduction? The blonde girl's name is Chiko and she's very much a zero-to-hero character. She's a small-town girl that travels the world where she learns a lot about what she can do, and a lot about who she is. She thinks by keeping her talents secret, she's safe, but once she's open about who she really is, it saves her life--repeatedly.

The brunette is Kokishi and she can manipulate fire and her confidence burns. She likes to be brave, actively seeks adventure and doesn't say no to danger.

So here I've got 'em in order of when I drew 'em and such. The colored ones towards the end were done w/ photoshop--I've got the sketches on one side and the other is what's called "vector art" where I've colored/painted them through photoshop. They take forever but they really bring out the characters! Sometimes, if not every time, I learn a little bit more about who I'm trying to write about when I sketch 'em out. Tell me which one(s) are your favorites, but otherwise enjoy this display of what I love!

The pink arrows sort of show all the earliest pics I could find of "Chikaz" or Chiko. The green arrow? Kokishi!



This is actually one of the first vector art projects I tried and I definitely learned a lot from the process.

 

This was my second project, and I love it so much because even after a few years, I'm completely happy w/ it.

In many ways, I'm beyond happy that these ladies got costume make-overs. After writing more about them, I had to give them something that would match their personalities, but would be realistic to fight and travel in. What do you think?

"21-year-old Me", Meet "high school Me"

“I was outnumbered, unarmed, weak, and screwed. In that order.”  Jennifer Lynn Barnes' Raised by Wolves

Well, it’s sort of been a while since I’ve written, and I have a very good reason for stalling! It’s a big under-construction post that will be coming your way, I promise! Just a reminder, the poll is still going until July 1^st! But…I’ll probably just extend it anyway.

With such a long time here at home away from school, I’ve been cleaning through my things to get rid of things that I don’t really use anymore, while having a very interesting experience looking at the middle school/high school me. I’ve already blazed through 3 years of college and it’s amazing how much I’ve changed and it’s sort of weird; time can feel so short and so long at the same time.

One of the things I found was this silly book called The Totally Righteous, Awesomely Cool, Simply Outrageous List Book. Yeah, blast from the past, huh? It’s a book where they have a bunch of lists of like top 10 this, all-time favorite that, most of which, if not all of them are just as corny as the title of said book. No wait, it gets better! It comes with stickers—with phrases like “the bomb!”, “as if!” “phat!” and “not even!” Let’s just say I never got around to really filling out every last list.

It just floors me how much pleasure I get out of making lists—and if it’s a “to do” list, I get a kick out of crossing things off! Woot! One list that sort of floored me was this list I wrote in the back of things I wanted to be when I “grow up” or really, things I wanted to accomplish while I’m alive and ready to live. Here’s the list:

I want to be a:

• novelist
• mother/wife
• world traveller
• graduate
• musician
• missionary
• artist

These goals sure haven’t changed!  It’s crazy to think that I’m getting really close to accomplishing all of these things! Heck, I’m going on a mission to Berlin in less than 6 weeks!  Every time I think about it, I feel so grateful that I’m finally accomplishing one of my biggest goals I’ve ever set for myself. Granted, it seems a little scarier than I imagined as a kid, but I’ve spent so much of my life telling others that I had what it took to serve and that I could handle the pressure and reach out to complete strangers, and here’s my change (finally!) to make that possible and make the ones I love proud of me.

However, now that I’m thinking about it, I feel like I need to update this list to make it slightly more specific and yet things I’ve been thinking about adding to the list. They’re not in any particular order, just in order of subconscious thinking:

• be the best sister missionary I can be
• not be frustrated while re-learning German
• publish DS [my affectionate nickname for my novel]
• be a [published] writer
• get a job as an editor, somehow wheedle myself into the publishing business
• graduate from college!
• keep this blog going
• get married/be an awesome mom & wife
• keep in touch with as many friends as I can
• keep travelling! I just cannot stop!
• be the best hip-hop dancer I can be
• go to a renaissance fair WITH a homemade costume!
• choreograph a full song’s worth of MOVES.
• Huske danske efter min mission, ellers lærne igen!
• try to not compare myself to others (there’s gotta be a plus for being a “jack-of-all-trades”)
• host more parties (when I get back to Provo)
• get far enough as a writer that people actually know who I am and yet don’t berate my work like so many people have with Twilight.

I think that’s a good start; I’m good at adding onto these sorts of things. Just after writing this past sentence, I added 2 or 3 to the list! I’m tellin’ you, it’s like a crazy twitch! Do you have a bucket list? If so, share it w/ me, it might give me some great ideas! It’s amazing that as kids we dream so big, and what’s even more amazing is how willpower can really get us there, despite how crazy the world and life can get.

P.S. I couldn’t end this blog w/o sharing a ridiculous list I wrote in the back of this book. I wrote it w/ a great friend of mine Karin Allred (affectionately called ‘Charlotte Blackwood’ as well) and it’s called:

Things NOT to do on a Plane:

1.  Move your seat back and forth when the person behind you has food on their tray.
2. Open your carry-on and whisper loudly, “got enough air?”
3. Get up frequently to go to the bathroom if seated by the window.
4. “Test” the help button—just to make sure it works.
5. Claim to your neighbor that you made the plane and keep saying, “it’s not supposed to do that!”
6. Laugh constantly during the in-flight movie.
7. Remind your neighbor, “As my mom always says, what comes up must come down!”
8. Make a point of showing your neighbor your fake gun in your pocket.
9. Constantly open and close the small tray in front of you.
10. Bring a hamster
11. Mimic the safety procedures
12. Steal others’ bags of peanuts.

I'm not sure if we actually came up w/ all of these or were under the influence of the internet, but we were rather creative back in the day [if not still to this day!]

new identity?

“It makes me nervous when someone says, I agree with everything you say. Not even I agree with everything I say.” Jeremy Rifkind

So basically within the last month I got a new pair of glasses AND a drastic haircut--the shortest I've ever dared to go. I'm still getting used to it, and I hope that I find some fun stuff to do w/ it, because I can barely keep my bangs out of my face, they're super short!