Here's what's up

     In a ditch effort to keep my identity as a part-time blog enthusiast, I've decided that I need to, ya know, actually blog once in a while. So that's just what I'm gonna do. From now on, I'm saying no to these weeks and months of no word of my adventures. No more of these slumps where I allow stale posts to clog my feed. I'm planning on adopting the same sort of mindset I had during my Jack of all Trades project, which was, "post every day". I feel that my writing skills are gaining nothing but dust, and that goes for my creativity and my double for that forgotten voice in my head that encourages me to try new things, and to see new places, and to never accept things just the way they are, and (most importantly) to be OK with making an ass out of myself every now and then. Even though I'm not totally clear about what I want this blog to be, I know that I want it to be updated as often as I plan on improving as a person, which is constantly. I want to consistently immerse myself in creativity. I want to condition myself to argue ideas poetically, and effectively. I want to look back and see nothing but leaps and bounds of progression. I want to expand in all directions, and become well versed in all genres. I don't hope for improvement, I demand it.


 I'm back, I'm recharged, and I'm ready to blog. =D

Project Kids book Update 8

Hey there, remember me?
It's me, Kyle.
You know, the kid that was writing his own kids book and was updating his progress every so often for nice people of the internet like you to see?
No you don't remember?
Well that's a shame, but it's not like I can be sour at you for forgetting, it's been a while since I last updated you with news about my little kids book venture.
Sorry it's been so long, but you know how things are, I've been busy and all, and I didn't really feel like typing anything most days, and I get this annoying narcissistic feeling whenever I write these posts...but here I am, and here's your update.

     The story is about as done as it's gonna be and the inked illustrations are drawn up (those bad boys were a major part of the holdup).  I've recently upgraded to a computer with more computing power than your run-of-the-mill stopwatch and am using it to add color to, and edit, the 17 or so 17x11 inch pages that make up the illustrations. The Photoshop process is a tough one, and one that I'm not well versed in, but I've enlisted the help of Mouse (who happens to be a wiz on the subject) to try and teach me anything he knows, cause God knows I could really use it. At this stage, I'm really digging how the art is looking. Gadget (the robot, ya know, the robot that the book is about) is full of color and looking fine. I'm still testing a few ideas out that I'm not sure will stick; I've been thinking about making the background semi-opaque so that the characters and objects of interest would pop out more, but I haven't decided either way. I was also thinking about color schemes and whatnot, but that's all boring technical mumbo-jumbo...and that's when I say, on to the exciting news!

Rough take on the first page

     So I don't know how much you all know (cause, well, I don't know you), but I've got some exciting news to type about. My aunt (whom I owe a great deal more than just a big hug), has somewhat of a connection in the children's book game, and she has been so kind as to send my work-in-progress of a kids book on to the powers that be over at Random House Publishing. She sent my stuff to a woman named Alexandra, who looked it over (and hopefully enjoyed it). I'm going to be a little vague with the details of the rest of this story, partly because I don't know the entirety of what's happening, and partly because I'm scared to be too optimistic. In a nutshell, what happened so far is this; I got an email back from Alexandra a couple weeks ago (which both blew my mind and made my day all at once) saying that she had taken a look at my work, and that she was "impressed". She said that robots are "in", and that she thinks that it has "wonderful potential to be a series", which made me fell all sorts of happy when I read it. She wanted to know when I'd be able to have her fiance (who is an agent for the company) take a look at it so it could be presented to somebody in their children's book division. Since then, I've received a few emails from her, which I'm super stoked about considering how busy she must be. Her emails have always been helpful and much appreciated.

Fancy brick layering n' such

     Again, I don't know what all this means, but it sure is exciting. Thanks to my aunt, I've got people (who make children's books professionally) taking an interest in my book. My jaw feels like it is still in the dropped position due to the sheer amount of kind words heard and support offered to me since starting this project. I can't stress just how much I appreciate the interest friends and family have taken to the book, and that only solidifies my desire to produce a quality work, that I'm truly proud of. Thank you!

P.S. I still don't have a tittle.

Fear

I believe that I am fueled by fear,
I believe that as far as fuels go, fear, is by far the most potent
Fear of slowing down, fear of losing my "prove them wrong" attitude
Fear of being boring

I'm afraid that there may come a day I'll be told, my life is just like one that's already been lived
That I have failed to be bold enough to be distinguish from the crowd
That my trials and victories were not uniquely my own, but a cheap imitation

I believe in a healthy sense of denial towards what other people think
And that your foresight has as much potential as your reflection

I believe that it is an insult to the astronomical odds stacked against my very existence to waste a single day of my life on people and things that I don't absolutely, wholeheartedly, love

I believe that fear isn't something that should be conquered, but rather, something that should be harnessed.

Some Non-kids book project doodles

yep mmhmm. Kid's book is still on the tracks, but I've been keeping busy with some other ventures.

Project Kid's Book Update 7

     Heyyyy, long time no see eh? Yeah, sorry bout that, I'd like to be able to say that there's a good reason why I haven't posted anything in a while. I'd like to say that I've been too busy with adventures and side projects to even bother with the idea of updating the blog. But sadly, that's not quite true. Not to say I've spent the last month sitting with my thumb in my butt, I actually have been very busy with both adventures and side projects, just not enough to merit such a long absence from the blog. Sorry.

Sneak peek

 
     So, now that that's all taken care of, I can give you the low down on the kid's book project. When we last left off, I said that I was about done revising the rough draft (#6) and all I had to do left were the illustrations. Now, I'm still pretty happy with the rough draft, but since I started the illustrations, there have been a few things along the way that I've thought about changing. So it seems that I'll be revising this thing till it's completely and totally finished (which I hope will be soon). According to my storyboard, there should be a total of 17 pages (including the cover art), and as of my last library session from this morning, I've inked in the better part of the first 7 pages. It's an incredibly exciting and terrifying feeling; finally, after months and months of planning and preparation, taking ink to the page. My entire arm was literally shaking the first time I tried to make a permanent mark on the page. I'm not used to this kind of high-risk-doodling, so I was a bit out of my element. But if I can just buckle down, and get the last of the pages inked in without making too many mistakes, or suffering a hear attack, then I'll be one step closer to finishing my book.

     After the illustrations are done, then I will scan each drawing and upload it onto my computer where I will attempt to edit the drawing (even though I've never edited any work of art before). That's where I'll put in the text for the book. From there, who knows? I'll keep you posted, hopefully I'll be more punctual this time. Cheers!

Project Kids Book Update 6

     Since my last post, I've printed out my sixth revision and finally started on only what the most generous of souls would call illustrating. See, I wanted to get an idea of what the animated scenes would look like when they had text accompanying them, so I cut up rough draft number six and glued each scene onto a blank sheet of paper and drew a (really) rough sketch of the story under each section of text. After I had an illustration for each blurb of text, I stapled the sheets together and had my very first version of an illustrated kids book, which was a pretty damn good feeling if I might so. Now I can read my story, and flip through the pages, and even stop and show pictures (not that I'd want to with these drawings), which is pretty exciting.

Project Kids Book Update 5

     So the story is about as done as it's gonna get, now it's time to get into illustration mode. I posted some pictures below of what the characters looked like at the beginning of last month verses what they look like as of now. Take a look, here's most of the characters.

Sue, the shoe

Marcus, the banana 

James, the music note

Ramona, the sunflower