Shard Twenty-Three - Creative Convolutions

Been a while since I wrote a new entry. Funny how those "I'm going to write at least one entry every week" resolutions so very rarely work out.
But time is irrelevant for my purposes here, so let's move along, shall we? Today I'd like to...

...well, I'm not positive what I'd like to do today here, but the one theme stuck in my head is "creative process", so let's see where that one leads.

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The creative process is an odd thing; while lots of people share similar methods of expressing that creativity, the very nature of the beast is that everyone goes about it in a fairly unique manner. Sure, lots of artists might play music while they work, and let it inspire their results. But what are the chances that they all share the same way of hearing that music, gathering the same inspirations, applying those inspirations?

I'll stop myself before I launch into a philosophical ramble. I'm here to talk about my own creative process, of course, so let's get down to business.

Now, I've already outlined my creative process in terms of my visual artwork, and mentioned my creative processes in general a bit here-and-there over some of my other entries, but I'd like to get into more detail today on my storybuilding process.

Like most of my artistic work, I'm self-taught in storybuilding; as a result, I really don't know much about how other writers and storytellers construct their stories. So I'll try to avoid calling my own process "odd"; it certainly feels like it's an odd way to do things, but what do I know? It's the only process I've seen in practice.
Anyway, that's enough explanation; I'm putting off actually writing about writing.

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My Fragmented Infinity storyworld is, ironically, quite fragmented. With a plot that centers around a main character who can traverse worlds, it has to have a lot of worlds to traverse, of course. And these are worlds filled with yet more unique characters, odd traits, quirky customs... not to mention stories and plots all their own.

My process tends to start with an inspiration. Sometimes I think of a character first; this is the most common occurrence. Maybe I had a weirdly interesting dream, or I just heard another story, and suddenly my mind's whirling with ideas. Sometimes I even just stumble upon a character design while I'm working on something else; at least one character of mine has been inspired by an artwork I made. (it was a contest entry, and the focal character was just a generic, unnamed young man; I ended up getting attached to the idea, and decided to expand on it.)
So now I've got a character, but he (or she) has no place in the storyline, doesn't live anywhere, probably doesn't even have a personality yet. Sometimes these little fragments just end up getting discarded, or filed away; there's no point in shoving them into a story they don't belong in. But sometimes they just slot right into pre-existing holes in the story, or even make their own holes.

I feel like I'm getting ahead of myself here, so let me pause for a moment and explain something a bit.
My storyline, as a whole, doesn't start at the beginning. I tend to dream up plot points from the middle, the end, the start, all in random order; true, it had a starting point all along, but the plot itself wasn't always connected to the story. (if that makes any sense whatsoever.)

This is how these odd characters slot in, sometimes. Until fairly recently, I had a bunch of storyline worlds, each with their own characters, and I had Jio and Anji (my two main traveling characters) connecting it all together. But they weren't connected particularly well. The plot started with Jio arriving on Vynaiocc, meeting Anji, and after a certain point, taking off to a new world. But which one they went to first was entirely up in the air. I didn't even have a purpose for the story; there was no goal. (this is the part where I consider my creative process to be odd.)

But you may notice, I did say "until fairly recently".
Fairly recently marks the entry point of another character, but one I'm keeping fairly secret for the time being. No, that's not quite right; it marks the entry point of a big chunk of the plot, and the new character sort of came attached with it.
I won't go into much detail here, partly because it's still a working process (even some of my major characters have gone through changes over time), and partly because it's such a big part of the storyline.

The main point here is how it all fits together. In a timeline, my storyline's creation is all over the board; plot points come in, characters appear, but wait, these characters are from even earlier in the story; they affect the plot, which leads to new plot points, which leads to new characters, which suddenly connects two parts of the plot that were previously floating about aimlessly.
It's like a jigsaw puzzle, but oddly, one with multiple configurations and more pieces than it needs.

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And what is my ultimate point? The moral to this entry? I'm not entirely certain. I mostly just wanted to get some thoughts out my head. But I suppose there is some advice I can leave you with.

As a creator - be you an artist or storyteller, or even a self-titled "normal person" - never discredit yourself for using a seemingly odd process. The only important thing is that it works for you.

And in case you were wondering, when all is said and done, yes. I do believe my odd process works for me.

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ĜЄΘ.>

Shard Twenty-Two - Evolve/Advance

Let's talk art. (or specifically, talk about it in more detail than I normally do.)

Lately I've been noticing a lot of things about my own art. I don't know what exactly to attribute this to; perhaps it's the deviantART chatroom I've been hanging out in lately, perhaps it's connected to the changes I've been making in my style, or maybe it's just the weird mood I've been in. (which itself may be attributed to the long nights I've been having over the past few days.)

But whatever the reason, I've been having an easier time sitting back and looking at my art; not my artwork, but my art in general. my style.
One thing I've always been striving for is speed, as a matter of fact. My goal has always been to get comfortable enough with my artistic talents to be able to just sit down with an idea in my head, and within the day, have a finished piece of artwork. A result that I was actually happy with.

But looking back, I noticed a trend. Yes, my artistic talents keep getting better and better. More details, less mistakes, better quality in general. (nowhere near perfect, but progressing nicely.)

But I've also been getting slower and slower as a result.

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It's brought me to re-think my goals a bit. Why am I getting slower, even though I'm getting better? It's my nature.

I'm learning new techniques time after time, and with every new tip I gather, I turn them into tricks to apply to my work.
And I've built up a pretty good pile of tricks.
Now, sure, I could probably emulate some of my older works even faster than ever. But it's not in my nature to "waste" my skills. So when I work, I apply all my tricks.
Now don't misunderstand me here; I'm quite happy with my style, no matter the speed. A few years back, I wouldn't have guessed I'd be working at this level. I still have even loftier expectations, but it is human nature to constantly want to be just a bit better than you are.
But the end result is, I have more skills. And I use more skills. And I take more time.

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So here comes the re-thinking.

It's just not in my nature to learn skills and not put them to use. And for me to realistically just get faster, I'd need to not learn new skills, but simply master the ones I have.
Which is a great option, but not for me.

It isn't my style.

I'm constantly learning new techniques. Evolving my style, morphing it. My latest art project is an image of Myrkr-sefa; I've been working on it off/on for about two months now, and my art style has already changed halfway through the project. (I'll probably end up going back and re-doing some of the earlier sections as a result.)
And I wouldn't trade that advancement for anything. It's why I enjoy art. The feeling of learning something new - that sense of accomplishment when you stumble upon a new technique - it's pretty great. So what if it means your three-layer Photoshop project now has five layers in it, and takes an extra three hours to finish. (on that note, my Myrkr image currently has upwards of five layers, per finger, per hand, and a total of probably fifty-plus so far.)
The results are worth it. When you can put the final touches on a bit of artwork, sit back, and say, "this makes my last project look like crap in comparison."
And sometimes you can't top your last project that easily. But that just makes the next best artwork feel that much more rewarding.

So what are my goals now?

I'm not sure.
It's certainly not speed anymore. Sure, I want to be more comfortable with my style; but in the meantime, I'm perfectly happy with spending a few extra hours - or weeks - on a project to make it that much better.
I guess the one goal I had before, and still keep, is to just keep getting better.

And really, do I need more?

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ĜЄΘ.>

Shard Twenty - Pieces Coming Together

Gasp. I haven't updated my blog in a long time.
Haven't really had a lot to share, actually. I do a lot of smaller updates in my deviantART journal, so I don't leave much left over for here. But with any luck, starting now - or soon, at least - I'd like to keep this blog a little more up-to-date. And perhaps a bit more focused; it is named after my Fragmented Infinity storyline, so why not dedicate the blog to some behind-the-scenes information on that?

To make it sound a little more enticing, let's call it "inside the mind of a budding storywriter" instead of just behind-the-scenes. I've been having an amazing experience thinking up my stories, as well as a rather frustrating one. Seems like an interesting topic to work on.

So to sum it all up. The blog, from here on out, will focus primarily on my experience working on Fragmented Infinity, as well as my occasional personal updates.
I'm working on writing the story, as well as making visual art based on it; digital paintings, 3D models, you name it. And on top of all that, I'm currently redesigning the Fragmented Infinity website.
So all in all, there's a pretty wide scope I'll be able to cover here. Assuming someday this story ends up being a success, I'll be quite happy to have the journey documented. And hey, if it ends up a failure, it'll be a good lesson of what mistakes to avoid.

Hopefully it turns out well!

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So, lets jump straight in to the topic, shall we. (No reason why I should wait until the next blog entry to get things started.)

I've been finding inspiration in such strange places lately...

Anyhow, a recent example of strange inspiration is a design for Jeni Senka. I've played around with possible weapons for her for a while now (I don't know how long it has been since I created her), but a katana-style sword is the idea I keep coming back to. (At one point it was a sword with a hinged blade; I appear to have lost the envelope I doodled it on.)

Quick scenario buildup. I've been working on a few visual art projects recently, one of which is an image of Jeni. Outfit design as been a major focus; I've got Jeni's body style roughed up in 3D using DAZ|Studio, and one small accessory I added was a small knife holster on her ankle. The rest of the design will probably see a good number of zippers and military-looking straps and belts.

Jeni's ability, which is currently named "Shadowcall", has also been fresh in my mind lately. When she was created, Jeni had a carbon-copy of Jio's Shadowmeld ability; the ability to "meld" into shadows. (for the purposes of this ability, shadows are more than a simple absence of light, it is a substance all its own.)
But having two characters with the same ability seemed, for the lack of a better term, just redundant. So I set about making her ability different, yet the same; in its final form, where Jio can become incorporeal shadow, Jeni can instead make shadows physical. The reversal makes her style entirely different, while still maintaining a strong connection with Jio's Shadowmeld.

Long story relatively short: after watching an episode of an unrelated anime (To Aru Kagaku no Railgun), I jumped on my bed and pretended to swing dual swords. (totally normal.) After a moment of studying the differences between backwards and forwards sword stances, it somehow all came together into Jeni's final weapon design; two swords, her primary being a mechanical katana (the mechanical part is still in a rough form, but aside from that, it's a normal blade), with her secondary being a mere sword grip and hilt, which she keeps in that knife holster on her ankle. Combined with her Shadowcall ability, the sword grip simply channels her ability to create a shadow blade, in roughly the same katana-style sword as her mechanical sword.

Explained like this, it seems to come together in a roughly logical fashion, but in context - the image has been in the works for a few days, the ability was worked out a few weeks ago, and the final design came together in a five-minute brainflash - to say it was a shock for me would be an understatement.

If I had to give this story a moral, it would be

"When life's got you stuck, jump on the bed."

...wait, that doesn't sound right at all.

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ĜЄΘ.>

Shard Sixteen - Still Alive

Ah, how wonderfully that "let's post at least once a week" deal worked out, eh. Last entry was what, over a month ago?

Apologies. Let's try to get some updates rolling...

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Well, in some personal news, I've cleaned my room a bit. "But Geo," you say, "that's not special at all! Lots of people have rooms, and most of them clean them every so often!"
To which I'd have to respond, firstly, that you shouldn't say such things so carelessly; think of all the people who don't have rooms to clean! For shame.
And secondly, this is mildly special, if you've ever seen the state my room is generally in; even now, post-cleaning, I have boxes of random stuff piled around the bed, cards on everything, and dust on everything else.

But yes, aside from that, it's not all that special. I just wanted to mention it. Moving on...

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My Fragmented Infinity storyline has actually made some progress recently; almost an entire chapter's worth of writing is saved on my computer now, although unfortunately, it's almost all of the final chapter in the Vynaiocc arc. So it's sort of the end of the start of the story (I'd like to think the story doesn't really start until that point).
Of course, it's a huge spoiler in the storyline, and offers absolutely no insight on the backstory whatsoever, so I can't even preview it for anyone. But it's still a bit of a milestone to actually have that much of the story written down. Even more of a milestone in the fact that I haven't felt an overwhelming urge to completely re-write it yet. Could I have possibly gotten it the way I wanted on the first try? We'll see.

However, this does help cement the story in place a bit; I have the part leading up to the part I just wrote, finally coming into focus; that will introduce three new characters (one of which was originally a main character, then a side character, then cut from the story, and now re-introduced as a side character again). We'll also see some good "action" sequences perhaps. Not sure how well I can write a fight scene in there, but we'll find out.

Horay for writing stories backwards.

But once that is in writing, perhaps I'll have something I can preview for you all, eh. If not, I'll at least be able to get the start of the whole story going; then we might see some actual released story for your reading pleasure. (or displeasure.)

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On the subject of artwork, I've got my main Fragmented Infinity character group shot coming along well; the project's sort of on pause currently, as I try to finalize Myrkr's outfit, but the picture is far enough along that it will be finished eventually. (too far in to quit now.)

I've also got a basic style set up for general character pictures; these pictures will eventually be finished for every character's profile page on the Fragmented Infinity website. None of them are done yet, but I've gotten started on them; the nature of the images makes them a little simpler to make, so I'm hoping they won't take too long to get underway. Jayael (a character from farther along in the story) seems to be the closest one to paper so far.

A few non-F.I. artworks still on the back burner as well, in various stages of completion; I might have to get one of those finished up if I get totally stuck on my F.I. artwork.

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And a final note on my guitar status, for anyone who's curious. (if I remember correctly, it was the main subject of my last entry.) I still wouldn't say I can actually play the guitar, but I'm certainly closer then I was last month; I can do some simple chords freestyle now, although I haven't gotten the hang of strumming single-strings consistently yet. (fret finger positions are tough to get, and it's hard to strum just one string without hitting the adjacent ones.) But hey, I'm getting a feel for it. I don't expect to become any sort of rock star, but getting some basic rhythms and tunes memorized doesn't seem far off. And chances are, if I get into music creation, I'll be doing a lot of digital work with samples, so that could work out great.

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That's it for now. I think this entry came out a little long, but that might at least make up for the month of silence a little bit.
I'll try to stay more active from now on. No promises, but I'll certainly try.

Keep an eye out for some more artist features, by the way. I'll be doing at least one more soon, I hope.

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ĜЄΘ.>

Shard Thirteen - Getting Stuff Done

Heya everyone.

Alright, no excuses in this post. I'm not keeping up with my goal of an entry a day. But hey. I'm certainly keeping more active then I was before, right?
And I've got some good content upcoming. I plan to start "interviewing" and featuring fellow artists here, along with my normal rambling posts. Those should be fun; for me, at the very least. I've already got one almost finished, that will be Shard Fourteen when it's done. Look forward to it.

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Alright, let's cover a fun topic now. That is, my art.

More importantly, my art process.
This is a first for me, but I've promised to post this sort of stuff already, a while ago, I believe. For those of you who don't know, I use a strange process now when I'm creating an image from scratch; I first make a rough of the image in DAZ|Studio, in full 3D. That allows me to adjust and mess about with the pose before I start drawing, and also serves nicely to circumvent my horrible grasp of human anatomy drawing. Don't get me wrong, give me enough time and I can draw a proportionate picture of a person, but I spend so much time erasing and re-doing body parts, it's just not worth it for me. Not yet; the hope is that with enough work like this, I'll get better at drawing.

Anyway, the rendered base image looks a bit like this one (click on the image for a larger view):
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...that's quite detailed and good looking on it's own, but it's got very little "personality". (do note that the 3D models do actually have realistic textures, I remove those in favor of blank white textures to make it easier for me to use it as a base.)

And image such as this one gets shipped off to Photoshop once it's rendered and I'm happy with it; in Photoshop, I start the actual drawing process, generally right on top of the base render (seperate layer of course, and often with the opacity on the base image turned up so the lines are easier to see).
The drawing now can be a few different styles, based on what sort of result I want. I generally sketch roughly with my tablet for the image, but I generally come through later with the eraser to clean the lines up. In some cases, I'll use the Pen tool to make vector-based lineart instead, although this is generally time-consuming, and I'm not the most patient artist. (from previous experience, I tend to get bored of the project before it's done if I take too long.)

As you may have noticed, the base image is sans-clothing; there are 3D clothes for these models, but generally not specific enough for me to use, since I'm attempting to design my own outfits for my images. I draw the clothing in later from scratch; once the figure has been drawn, it's not too hard to draw the clothing in over the figure.

Once the lineart is done, I color it using my usual style. I haven't quite got a coloring style set in stone yet, so I can't really explain that part; but perhaps that will be a good topic for another post, yeh?
I'll try to remember and take some "in progress" screenshots of this image in particular, and perhaps make a more detailed blog entry on that when it's finished. I'm sure that'll be a fun one.

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Alright, and that's it for now. Look forward to my next entry, which will be my first featured artist; of course, all the artists I plan to feature are artists I like, but this guy in particular is quite deserving of a feature, I'd say.

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ĜЄΘ.>

Shard Eleven - Virtually Musical

Alright, no excuses. This post's late. But I apologize for nothing. NOTHING.

...so, good news. I'm back on schedule. (if I was going to make an excuse for why this post is late, that would be part of it.) Took a full day of sleep and a fun night and day of being awake to get me back on track, but I am. Up in the morning, off to bed at a reasonable time. Just need to make it last now.

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So, what's new. First off, I've gotten around to trying out my demo version of FL Studio (previously known as Fruity Loops)... it's actually much more user-friendly then I had expected. I've yet to make much with it (being a demo version, I can't save project, although I believe I can save music files, providing I can make the whole song in one sitting.

But I'm certainly interested in it now. Every time I start it up I get at least a little something up; generally just a simplistic beat, but it's a start. I'm running into the same problem I have when working on graphic art; that is, I can't get the project up and running fast enough to beat my shifting mood (by the time I'm halfway through getting the layout, I don't feel like doing the artwork anymore). But I believe that's something I can fix with practice; less stumbling around the program, more actual progress. It's the same way with my graphic art, if I can doodle or pose a rough of the image I'm planning to make, then I have enough on paper (or screen) to make the project more feasible for me to finish.

I'm excited to see how this all works out. The demo version I have is of the full "XXL" version of the program, with all the little features; it's the most expensive version, but happily, I can still get it for a fair price, so should I get into that, it'll cost me about the same as the electric guitar I was going to get. (although to be honest, I haven't quite ruled out an electric guitar as an option yet.)
There's a lot of fun stuff in the program; virtual piano, synths, various drumsets, electric and acoustic guitar samples... with enough time and work, I think there's a ton of musical genres that can be squeezed out of it all. It's just that time and work thing I'm still getting the hang of. I haven't even played around with half of the instruments and samples that are in there yet.

I still really want a keyboard as well, but I'm willing to wait a bit on that one; the ones I want the most are fairly expensive, for my budget at the least. The virtual synthesizer options in the program are enough for me for now.

And hey. If I can figure out some actual music, perhaps I'll be showing off some of that here sometime, eh.

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ĜЄΘ.>