Now that you’re holding your breath, you can go for a bag of popcorn, some chocolate, and a drink of water . . . actually, hold the water.
The narrator has entered the story, and now he can give direct hints about creativity right in the story. Radalus didn’t give Uendyr much warning, but happily, physics and logic don’t always apply in the world you make in your mind. It’s time for Uendyr to get busy. This fall is just the beginning, just as Radalus said.
As you can tell, I am not quick to get to each creative point. I guess the story is more than just about creativity. The journey has to be fluid and unforced. There are better, faster ways to look at creativity, but it doesn’t work in a vacuum. So you can call the first 9 spreads the setup. (Including one cover, one title page, and a bonus cover).
An early page! I finally have caught up, if only for this week. Happy Valentines!
Poor Uendyr, with memory loss, falling from the sky, and those extra arms! Most creative journeys do not include memory loss, but I have many times dreamed myself into situations, and not realized who I was, or where I was, and I’ve met people that don’t exist, yet I dream that I know them. Dreams are amazing that way!
As I have said before, my most frightening dreams were falling dreams. Distances are completely irrelevant when you’re dreaming, so falling can be wonderful, or awful, depending on what you expect. Time itself passes in a strange way in dreams.
Who is this voice, giving him help in his head? I guess you have ideas, since he was mentioned on the first page, and his picture is on the cover. I’ll get further information about him in later posts.
The first view which Uendyr has of the Isle Obscura is of a few small mountains in a sea of water. Not a lot can be guessed about how large the island is. Or if it is actually an archipelago.
The left of the page is actually older than what came before it, because I knew what I wanted to happen here. This used to be page two! But I am so glad I was finally able to pull the earlier events together. I did have to edit this panel considerably, improving the lines, colors and contrast. It never looked so good until today!
The right of the page is completely new, and helps the story/page rhythm immensely.
I sure hope that future readers will agree. I am very critical of my work, and I know I am impatient to get these uploaded in full color story. I also have played this story out so many times that I don’t know how a fresh view judges it.
Thanks to anyone who views my “novel” in the future!
I used to have an aquarium, when I was a kid. I would dream about it, being full of strange plastic toy creatures and strange floating fish with extra arms or fins. I have never been scuba diving, and my real fish were pretty plain, but those were strange dreams, that inspired this panel (drug-free, of course). These dreams made me see things differently, like changing reality for a moment and giving me a different point of view. So alien, and so unexpected, yet my brain made it from the experience of having an aquarium. I had one small shark, and a plecostamus, and a large snail.
I love the way you can learn from getting in unfamilliar circumstances, like seeing an independent movie, reading a book from a different genre than usual, or going to a foreign country. It can be a small thing, like trying a foreign dish, or it can be big, like the way a dream can be like an alien planet.
So, if you are looking to be creative, get out of your usual circumstances. Buy some colorful fish, and watch them for a while.
Here I am back fully into the meat of my first try at a graphic novel. Since I only have one long story, I first tried this as a 12 page comic, to give away free. It was too rushed to really work, but contained the bones of the beginning of the story, when Uendyr gets picked up by a huge cyborgish crab. Saved from the clutches of a dreaded octopus-thingy, which I admit is a very common sci-fi-steampunk antagonist, and therefore not very creative. The monsters do get better from here on, though.
The right panel is newer, made to preview a few of the strange adventurers, and fix the pace and rhythm. It was quite a challenge to arrange the figures together, and I had to resize and move them independently several times.
From the beginning I loved the idea of having a bunch of odd adventurers gather on the deck of a ship, and introduce themselves to a huge gold crab. The next page continues on this vein, if you are wondering. I have danced around lately, without landing on plot or characterization, but now it begins. Hope I can improve their communication skills though.
The ship is, of course, the well bucket, and the sails are sheets of half baked sketches and plans. The sea is initial consciousness and desire for action. The red cat is my youngest son, and he loves cats and red and karate and swords. Sounds like a dream for a kid, huh?
I am posting this page, and possibly future pages, when I get them done. I simply haven’t had time or resources to post last Friday, and this one is, again, complicated. Anyway, it appears that I have avoided any regular readers thus far, so I am free to give myself a break. I do still hope and work to get each page within a week, approximately.
To the point, this is the introductions on deck. We analyze our motivations, just enough to see we’re headed in the right direction. We go with intuition, and we start looking for supportive friends. The captain with the long name asks us questions, and we answer the best we can. We get feedback on our initial idea, and ask ourselves what we want.
Ideas can get stuck at this point for a long time, lacking clarity, or motivation, or courage, or training. We move on when we are ready.
Another important detail to remember: Withhold judgement and be flexible. You’re just starting, so you are free to learn, make mistakes, and change your mind. This first step is about getting something going. It took me thirty years to get off the ship and on the beach. Now, of course, I am running fast through the underbrush.
One of my favorite characters, but one that I couldn’t find a place for, Captain Q was envisioned as mysterious, powerful and legendary, a little grouchy and controlling. And made out of gold. When he went steampunk, I dropped the gold part.
He welcomes the various adventurers with questions, because they need questions before they can understand the answers. Use your questions to help you press ahead. Focused effort towards a creative goal requires deliberation and determination, otherwise you flounder like a fish.
Uendyr is forgetful. Didn’t he just hear from Dr. Fundergast? If this conversation seems to have spiritual undertones, it is meant to. I believe there is much under the surface of activities and interaction, much that is misunderstood or invisible. But it seems obvious that we are alive for reasons, and they are worth trying to discover. Especially knowledge of our maker. The source of creativity is the inspiration behind much of my story, and my life. More on that later.
Captain Queroclutesor was huge from the beginning, with a name to match. I have always been a questioner, and incessant questions can perturb the impatient. Especially when many questions are unanswerable, or require more research or trial and error. But the thirst for understanding, for discovery, puts the creative mind in the right spot for learning, so I keep that habit.
I hope you like this one. Please be patient with Uendyr’s questions.
I am back from Sweden, let the story proceed! It’s been almost a month since I posted, but nobody seemed to notice. I did miss working on the story a little, but I hadn’t been on a plane for over 17 years, and I had plenty to do. I went to a real ruined castle, walked through the Royal palace in Stockholm, and viewed a recovered sunken ship. Other than being tired and allergies to Birch pollen, I had a complete blast!
As for the story, the introductions conclude, with some cleverly averted violence from Xerko, a familiar figure. How did they get in here? You can’t choose how people use their creative options. Don’t ask why he chose to be a dog.
Not a lot on the process of creativity, except be ready for surprises. I didn’t like the old right panel, so I did a new and distorted drawing to get more dynamic action here. The hint is that the view focuses on their different responses to sudden danger. Can creativity be sudden or dangerous? Of course! My prerogative.
How do you connect what you want, and who you are, to what you do? I came up with a goal to write this book, but until I was clear on what I wanted it to be, and what my skills could be, I made only grinding, jerky progress. Books and pages of half finished drawings and notes. As I discovered myself, and a passionate direction, it became clear that my book had to not have a ton of writing. It had to be pictures, and it had to have a focused plot with symbolic meanings. A tall order for a novice.
Jules the dog was strategically placed, you might have noticed, to separate the somewhat reasonable goals from the dangerous. I’ve known people who thought like Ondi and Xerko. Have you?
Not to say that their goals won’t change. They have quite a variety of motivations, and even Uendyr has several, which he isn’t sure about. I have been driven toward this story, even when it didn’t make sense and others laughed. I knew there was something in me, waiting to be expressed, until I knew how.
I never really had another story. I am a one track man. I love variety, and visual interest, but I need it all to come together for a grand purpose. Another tall order. We’ll see if it works.
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