Aftermath of 2016

I’ve been hard at work on Chronicles of Arkyria, which is why the blog has been neglected. Blogging tends to help me organize my thoughts, so I’d like to do more of it moving forward.

While I was building out the world of Arkyria, I had this completely ridiculous idea to have a small country run by a parody of Donald Trump. I figured it would be a game of “What if this doofus actually won the election?”

Then he won. I’m still baffled. The ridiculous idea wasn’t so silly.

When I was creating the world of Arkyria, I wanted to make a place that didn’t have the same bigotries that our world has. That seems naive in hindsight. I think the better move is to work that stuff in so my heroes can call it out. I’m mulling it over. Other writers will handle it far better than I will, so maybe pure escapism isn’t such a bad course for me. I have a while to figure it out.

The hardest part of 2016 was losing our dog, Mikenna. It’s been two months and I still expect her to follow me into the kitchen or burrow under my blanket as I’m on the verge of falling asleep. She was an amazing friend and I miss her.

Comic starts Friday!

I decided that it’s time to start putting my comic out there. I don’t think I’m ever going to feel ready, and the longer I wait, the more likely I am to let the project fizzle. I don’t want the project to fizzle! I want to see it to completion! So I’m applying some pressure to myself.

The comic is called “Chronicles of Arkyria”. Come back on Fridays to check it out! I hope you like it. I’m having a blast writing and drawing it.

Meet Corva! (I’m working on a thing!)

I’ve been quiet on the blog for a while, and I’m pretty sure in previous posts I’ve done that thing where I indicate that I am working on something, but no, I’m not going to talk about it because of reasons.

I’m working on a thing!

Around this time last year, I caught the drawing bug. Me and drawing have had an on-again/off-again relationship since high school, when I started copying Dragon Ball and Sailor Moon pictures in my notebooks, but last year it hit hard. I bought a few art books and started practicing every day, and it wasn’t long before I found myself wanting to make a comic.

Lesson 1: Comics are a lot of work.

Lesson 2: Comics are a hell of a way to tell stories.

Over the course of the last year, I’ve read many art books and tutorials, as well as interviews with my favorite comic book writers. I’ve spent a lot of time drawing and re-drawing the same characters, swearing at their malformed hands, and writing. I have 80 pages of comic scripts so far, and I still have a TON of stories I want to tell in this world. Of those 80, I have drawn 4 — drawing is hard.

But I’m getting better and faster, and as soon as I can average about a page a week, I’m going to start posting them. I want that to be soon, because I’m so ridiculously excited about this project and I can’t wait to share it.

So! Corva!

Corva’s the main character. She’s good with a sword, and a damn powerful spellcaster. Unfortunately, she recently got her ass kicked by a monster and lost her spellstone, so her magical abilities are somewhat diminished at the moment. Also? She has a sword that can talk. Now she’s mostly healed up from her encounter and ready to get back on the road!

I’ll be sharing more stuff in the coming weeks, so check back!