a concentrated story

i've been working on a graphic novel, and then i had some side-stories to add to it.  and then i got another idea for another chapter for it, which would be a second book.  each book is a chapter, but since they're graphic, each chapter makes more sense as one book.

so i have this idea.  it was something i've been thinking about for a while, and it's a bit dark, but it's the perfect idea for a novel.  i've started a few novels over the past 5 or so years, around 3 of them i've started.  but the most recent one, the one i wrote like a years' worth of notes for, i started.  got the farthest in that i'd ever gotten before, but then i just got lost in the story.  it wasn't just writer's block either.  i just realized that i really had no plot.  i had so many characters and areas that i loved so much, but i had no story.  and the story i was trying to force was really complicated, and the places that were involved were all really complicated and would have had to have had a ton of research behind them all in order for them to have even made any sense.  i had characters in paris, and i've been to paris, but describing the streets that they were taking would have been massive research.  so compound that with israel, japan, and jamaica, and it would have just gotten out of hand....lol, at least out of hand for me.  

but the stories i'm working with now are a lot easier for me.  the first one is the main one of the graphic novel, and the second one is the main one for a book.  

the second story is really comprehensive and it's definitely not as complicated, and i definitely have a plot for it.  i'm excited to get started on it, and i think it's going to be really successful, probably one of my successful pieces ever.  and having considered it for some time, i reached a cool milestone with my writing because for a while i was having a tough time getting the concept of a plot.  i would think of a lot of interesting premises and characters, but to have a story, with direction and an end didn't come to me at all.  until now....phew.  that was close lol

Lost.

i'm wondering, for anyone who's been reading my posts for a while, if they're feeling like they're reading the same thing over and over.  i feel like i've been doing the same things over and over.

i have the same ideas, and the same interests, i write them out, explore them a bit and then move in the same circular way that i did over and over before.  i really don't mean to.  i mean to come here to document progress, to share ideas and i would love to start a dialogue with any of my readers.  i'd really love to find a community of people who create things to be able to interact with.  

but i don't stay on one thing for very long.  i think it's because i think i need more time to put towards the things i'm interested in.  i've tried to just do the thing i'm most interested in, and that's painting, but it's a bit of a process to get into and out of each session, and i think having a newborn and a 2 year old, i'm already severely overwhelmed by just my home life.  

i'm also interested in writing, sketching, inking, and making films.  and i'm really doing nothing more than posting youtube videos from my phone.  lol, that definitely doesn't feel like enough.  and i see these artists, who are sooo good.  and i think, yeah!  i just need to focus on practicing.  i just don't know what to do.  it all just feels like a pity.  but, things i can definitely overcome pretty easily.  it's not like i'm not trying.  i just haven't gotten it right yet.  

sidetrack on webbage...

*PREVIOUSLY-WRITTEN, SAVED DRAFT...published just for kixxx*


a little update on the things i've been working on....i'm trying to make my website a little more interesting and a little more dynamic, so i've been looking towards animation, i think that i've already mentioned that, but i'm actually not sure.

but starting out in animation, is pretty tough.  maybe because i've approached it by beginning to learn programming first, but maybe there's another approach that could go alongside learning programming, since programming seems to be a lifelong relationship.  i've gone back to learning off of lynda.com, and i've started the courses through mit courseware,  but i'm most likely only going to have my subscription to lynda for the next month, so i'm considering just doing an intensive there of all of the things that i'm interested in and then at the end of the subscription month officially starting the courses, in the kinds of time slots that they were intended to be in.  

Part II....Where are you, but I'm M.I.A. too....

woah tiger!  part II is coming...i think i can promise that without becoming a liar. but i think this is more about spring (fall/winter) cleaning.  my house is going through it, along with my mind.  and my car!  should i be ashamed, i hope not, and i really don't think so because i'm still making progress, i'm still on the way, it's just that there's a bunch of stuff that's cluttering my space, so the time used in getting all of that nice and open is worth the time.  

in the RFC, we travel on two roads, parallel roads that are both going to the same place, in the same direction.  both are about getting there, and making progress, just one road is more geared towards the academic, and the other is more about fine art.  so, we've been diligently traveling those roads.  

myself, i've been continuing to study japanese, and have started studying it along with 4 other classes via MIT OpenCourseware.  it's kind of an awesome program, highly recommended!  and i've also been continuing along, rockily, with the illustrated novel.  but i got sidetracked because in the process of updating my site, which is about just as badly behind as my blogs, i wanted to do more with it.  more more more, like billy idol.  that's what's on, in my turtle beach earbud....btw, thank you turtle beach for this awesome gift!  but, yeah.  i wanted to do more with my site, i wanted to add some movement, which led me to thinking about learning flash, which led me to thinking about programming in general.

so i got a little detoured.  and now, i can't decide whether or not to leave it alone or add it in, but i'd like to see more distinct progress, but i'm really interested in learning programming.  what to do?  i don't know.  

so that's the kind of stuff that'd been happening.  nothing, but something because it's clearing the way for more things, but essentially nothing is the category of finished projects.  but i've gotten my lists updated, and a new planner, a new phone with new scheduling agents and listers.  so today, it's update blog 1 & 2, update my YT channel, and updating my website.  then, tonight, when i get home, it's journal about my past year...because i've also been behind on journaling, and then some writing about what i'd like to have come.  and then an evaluation on my wants and goals....that part in efforts of reducing...or better yet, refining the load to be more streamlined and specific...and then at the end of all of that a new plan.  a few years out, goals, and a proposed way of getting there in good time.  

so.  now onto updating blog 2....telling the man to SUCK IT.  adios!

stay tuned for part II, but for now~

still k.i.t. for those pictures to go along with that nibs and inks post, i hadn't been able to find my camera for a while and while i was packing my backpack to go out and do some work, i'd discovered it at the very, very bottom.  it's been over 3 weeks since i'd seen it!  i looked in every bag i'd taken out, in drawers i thought i might've randomly put it in, and then i figured that it was just lost.  

that triggered me to look for a new camera! lol....i was like, 'eeeh, why not??'  i'd been wanted to be able to create higher-quality videos anyways.  i started looking for SLR's and DSLR's....most i found were waaaaaaaaaay out of my price range.  i only wanted to spend $100 or less, i know, hardly anything, but i only wanted to go up a couple of levels because my vids with what i had weren't too bad, but what pushed me a little closer (away) from still using it is that when i went to edit some recent footage, i noticed that there was a ringing in the audio.  i know i could've cleaned that up at least a bit in editing, but that's just surface buff.  and i'd noticed some streakiness there too.  it could've been from the sunlight coming through the window that i was sitting near, but still.  you know?  these things should be just cool, that's what i was thinking.

so i started looking some more, and i started veering towards point and shoots.  and something that shot in HD.  i saw a couple of things, lots a couple of auctions.  then i added camcorders and video cameras to my hunt.  i'd found a few there, bought a buy it now mini-cam....it came, it didn't work, i sent it back and i'd also put in a best offer bid, but as i did that i found one that i liked even better.  

i was in a work meeting when there was 5 minutes in the auction.  i got the stink eye from my boss when i looked in my phone to check up on it.  i got the look, saw that there were 4 minutes, so i got up from the meeting, went around the corner in the hallway, and started bidding.  first bid, outdone, next, immediately outdone.  one second left, on my phone, delayed reaction, desperation bid, 1 sec goes away immediately as i hit confirm, the auction ended.  i was the high bidder :o)

it's a canon camcorder, FS200.  a little old-school,it came out in 2009, but it has a mic-input jack and it records sound in stereo, and it also has HD capabilities. never mind.  i just learned that it's standard definition.  well, that's a little disappointing. rrr...lol.  nevermind.

i can put it on a tripod, it has nice digital and optical zoom. it was $56 & $10 shipping.  originally it was around $400.  also, i don't have a camcorder now.  so i found my camera.  gonna try to milk that a while longer while i put some good use into this camcorder, and i just got a new (used) phone.  an LG G2x.  

the G2x has an 8mp camera just like the samsung point and shoot that i have (just found), the samsung has 8.1mp.  but the G2x has HD capabilities, 640x something on the samsung, and 1920x1080 on the G2x.  so my phone has the best resolution of them all, haha!  ridiculous, but also very good too, i'm very thankful for that.  and the point and shoot was a gift, and the canon has great sound, and i can use a tripod with it.  and a mic if i wanted.  

so my next videos are going to be a combination of all of these. maybe a few reviews or walk-throughs/demos w/commentary to start out.  and!  those pictures of the inks and nibs.  the (???) is coming along well!  i'm not really sure what to call it.  it's not manga, but manga is what it's closest to being.  it's not an illustrated novel or novella, and it's not a comic.  i guess, maybe illustrated short stories?  well, i guess that's it for now.  it's going well, i'm working through the layouts now.  setting the panels, i just finished rewriting and doing a little reworking to the narration, so now it's the first rough draft of how it's going to be set up.  maybe i'll take some pictures of that too :o)  

stay tuned!  on the way home to pick up the new canon-mail and see how it goes!  take care :o)

jt 

the g-pen is king

since having started on a sort of illustrated novel/american manga/comic type of book, i've concentrated on practicing pencil-work and pen-work. 

with all of them, i've been using everything i have, and buying a little bit of what i didn't have before.  i had all of the basic sizes of milli (multi-liner) pens, and i really wanted some copic ones, so i bought the fine set of those, going down to .005.  i had other brands going up to 1.0 and small brushes.  

i already had some nibs (dip-pen tips) but i had never owned a g-pen before.  really, i never looked into what the manga-norm was, i was using primarily multi-liners and when i did dip, i used a range from mapping to what the japanese would call as seiji.  i think that's how it's spelled.  but it's the one that flares out into a traditional, old-style kind of shape.  when i heard of the g-pen, i was thinking that it couldn't be much better.  especially since i had bought an extension set to go with my already-owned mapping.  but what i found, is that the g-pen is king.  no exaggeration.  

the g-pen has a much sturdier feel, and you can use it in a lot more directions than most pens.  including flipping it over and using the top to make thin lines, the ink still flows pretty easily when you use it this way.  it also holds more ink, and uses the ink more efficiently, without accidents or mistakes.  other nibs tend to run out of ink a lot faster, like a super amount faster.  the g-pen goes on for a really long time!  it's pretty amazing.  you don't get interrupted by having to reline certain areas or dipping so often.  

and with inks...i've used 3 types at the same time for now, to test them out compared to each other.  i'm away from home, so once i get back, i'll take some pictures and go into more detail about them.  also, i'll do the same about the nibs.  

i haven't used manga paper, i've never really concentrated on an illustrated novel the way i am now.  but what i've always liked has been really heavyweight, mixed-media papers.  also, not too smooth on the surface.  my least favorite kind of paper for anything is lightweight, ultrasmooth.  i can't even use that stuff.  except for writing notes ;o)

so, stay tuned for part II a little later on when i get home and can get some pictures up!

the current project equals many of the ideas combined

for the past while i'd been struggling with what to work on.  i get many ideas, but when it comes to concentrating on them, i have an incredibly tough time.  but i feel that if i were to concentrate on one, i'd be in good shape.  especially if i were to continue with that momentum.  

should i even talk about what i'm working on now?  well, i will...i guess it's an american manga.  it's more along the lines of how manga is, being more personable to the characters and the story and a little less dialogue, but it's not in japanese, and i'm not japanese, so i can't really say that it is manga.  and it's not like a traditional american comic, like when a team is working together on different parts of the project en whole, or like how american comics tend to be more about the overall story and everyone involved and having (in general) more dialogue.  

i'm in the coffee shop.  all i can think, and all i've been thinking lately is that people are strange.  am i this strange?  or, at least, do i come off as being this strange?  

but yeah.  i wanted to write a book, and continue sketching, and tell a story.  i was thinking about telling the story really through a short film about atlanta.  and then sketching for practice, and continuing to write the book.  and paint.  but for many years i've been getting lost in my ideas.   think i need to ask one of my painter friends about this.

https://www.facebook.com/merrillfineart

  he and i had this conversation a few years ago, about creative types who have many ideas, usually at once, and getting bombarded by them.  

but now i'm concentrating.  i have an ongoing homework list that i work diligently on, so i figure that if i keep on, that i'll make it through.