Reset
So I'm thinking when I redo chapter one I'm going to have to sit down and do some serious research. Yes this is a made-up setting, but I want it to feel real and rich. One of my weak points is architecture and while I have some ideas on the basic design of the city settings I'm completely at a loss for the details and I think those details are what is going to help really make this something memorable. I want people to get into the story, yes, but I also want them to be able to get into the world as much as I do as well.
Of course first I have to finish chapter one to begin with. That has to be done before I can reset. I've been so close, but it's a matter of sitting down and doing it without feeling too guilty about other obligations. Other obligations that I really need to get out of the way first.
So come the reset I have things to focus on:
Setting
Sketches of the places the novel takes place in so I feel confident drawing the environment rather than just trying to make it up as I go along. It needs to feel like a place and have character rather than being incidental. While the Sha and Kistau Estate are the only two really emotionally charged places at this point the others shouldn't feel like they are a mere prop. Well, I guess Durray is important being Mri'tia's home base, but at this point it is more Shinkir's story. Merging Worlds is about her quest to save Kri, it is future parts that will focus in on Mri'tia and her importance, but I'm getting ahead of myself.
Characters
While no one is really getting a redesign at this point so far as their major forms I do need to familiarize myself with their other forms and get down their designs and colors. My initial thought was that the Marks, eye color, and gender would be consistant throughout each shape-shifting character's forms, but then I started thinking more about genetics and how they work and parallel phenotypes among species and decided that coloration would also be linked. For example Shinkir is a recessive light dilute, in horse terms she'd probably be champagne over chestnut, giving pale eyes and a light body color. Rirhe would be dominant medium base coat possibly with some sort of modifier for his eyes. His human form is a red head, which may be too obvious of a translation from his fox-like base form of a keine Frineir. So sketching and coloring of character's forms. That ties back in with trying to get a handle on the Shami'en genetics. Revisiting character design.
Script
I'm actually still pretty happy with the script for chapter one "Runaways." There is some minor spelling things and perhaps reworking the very beginning intro a bit, but we'll see when I get to it.
Layout
I'm contemplating a possible landscape format for the pages and also designing it with a book in mind, which I haven't quite done at this point. I have wanted to get it into book form, but I haven't been treating the pages as if they're in a book and would be side by side in some cases, which means I haven't been using the space to its potential. This must be remedied.
Medium
Digital or traditional? I started traditional, went to digital and now I'm not sure if I want to keep it digital or pick it up traditionally. Digital made sense when I was a student and I was dragging my sketchbook with the inks all over and working on it here and there, but there's no reason to do that now as I predominantly work from home and I don't have that "dead" time away from home that I worked in on the go. So something to contemplate.
Of course before I do all of this I have to get my plate clean first and finish Chapter one. Some of it I can obviously peck away at in the meantime, but I have other things before I can really dig in deep again.
Cross-posted in kashian.
Of course first I have to finish chapter one to begin with. That has to be done before I can reset. I've been so close, but it's a matter of sitting down and doing it without feeling too guilty about other obligations. Other obligations that I really need to get out of the way first.
So come the reset I have things to focus on:
Setting
Sketches of the places the novel takes place in so I feel confident drawing the environment rather than just trying to make it up as I go along. It needs to feel like a place and have character rather than being incidental. While the Sha and Kistau Estate are the only two really emotionally charged places at this point the others shouldn't feel like they are a mere prop. Well, I guess Durray is important being Mri'tia's home base, but at this point it is more Shinkir's story. Merging Worlds is about her quest to save Kri, it is future parts that will focus in on Mri'tia and her importance, but I'm getting ahead of myself.
Characters
While no one is really getting a redesign at this point so far as their major forms I do need to familiarize myself with their other forms and get down their designs and colors. My initial thought was that the Marks, eye color, and gender would be consistant throughout each shape-shifting character's forms, but then I started thinking more about genetics and how they work and parallel phenotypes among species and decided that coloration would also be linked. For example Shinkir is a recessive light dilute, in horse terms she'd probably be champagne over chestnut, giving pale eyes and a light body color. Rirhe would be dominant medium base coat possibly with some sort of modifier for his eyes. His human form is a red head, which may be too obvious of a translation from his fox-like base form of a keine Frineir. So sketching and coloring of character's forms. That ties back in with trying to get a handle on the Shami'en genetics. Revisiting character design.
Script
I'm actually still pretty happy with the script for chapter one "Runaways." There is some minor spelling things and perhaps reworking the very beginning intro a bit, but we'll see when I get to it.
Layout
I'm contemplating a possible landscape format for the pages and also designing it with a book in mind, which I haven't quite done at this point. I have wanted to get it into book form, but I haven't been treating the pages as if they're in a book and would be side by side in some cases, which means I haven't been using the space to its potential. This must be remedied.
Medium
Digital or traditional? I started traditional, went to digital and now I'm not sure if I want to keep it digital or pick it up traditionally. Digital made sense when I was a student and I was dragging my sketchbook with the inks all over and working on it here and there, but there's no reason to do that now as I predominantly work from home and I don't have that "dead" time away from home that I worked in on the go. So something to contemplate.
Of course before I do all of this I have to get my plate clean first and finish Chapter one. Some of it I can obviously peck away at in the meantime, but I have other things before I can really dig in deep again.
Cross-posted in kashian.