Showing posts with label manga realness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label manga realness. Show all posts

Monday, April 29, 2019

GUEST POST: How to Always be on the Lookout for New Inspiration by Kelvyn Fernandes

Hi, my name is Kelvyn Fernandes, author of The Many Adventures of Peter and Fi. As a writer of a fantastical journey, filled with peculiar characters and wondrous creatures, I’m often asked where do I get the ideas for my tales. Where do I pull my inspiration from? And the long and short answer is: everywhere at once.

The book I sought to write was based on snippets and extracts from memorable moments throughout my life. It is a compilation of every book I wanted to tell my way. Every movie I felt was missing something more. And every song whose lyrics stoked my imagination. A spark of an idea would start, based on a chance encounter or new set of information. And in my mind it would snowball through my backlog of interactions with the world; picking up bits and pieces to form a full character, a full setting, a full scene.

I take detailed notes on the thoughts that gain the most steam. From there I flesh out the narrative and over-arching plot. As such, I’ve formed a few tenets I try to live life by. These tenets help push me towards new, creative revelations. Therefore–in doing so–I keep my ideas fresh and interesting for the reader. More so, for myself.


It's important to embrace new experiences, even if you’re not interested or think they might suck. It’s almost never a bad idea to try something once. And if your bias is confirmed, a bad experience will likely make a great story.

Break away from your genre. Strong stories are found in strong characters. And strong characters can be found anywhere. If you’re writing a fantasy novel, don’t just look for ideas in other fantasy novels. It’s definitely good to familiarize yourself with fellow fantasy authors–and build on their stories. But sometimes if you’re stuck (anywhere within your writing), it’s refreshing to look somewhere outside your chosen genre.

For example, I read Last Chance to See by Douglas Adams as part of my friends’ book club. It follows a documented and real-life wildlife adventure the author took to see endangered species throughout the world. I wasn’t expecting to get so engrossed in a journal of his trip, but it really opened my eyes to the amazing places that exist in the world.

Most importantly, it gave me ideas for amazing places I could incorporate into my own writer's world.

Sunday, December 4, 2016

Doodling on the 9-5

So yeah.  Started a new position and was totally bored (though I find that to be a good thing considering my past position).  Nonetheless, I just wanted to share two doodles I came up with while swerving around in a desk chair trying to come up with future ideas to plot down in my mole skin journal.  As, you know, I’m “working.”  

But, in honesty, I think I kind of burnt myself out blogging.  Yet, that’s nothing new.  By December I’m always in this state.  Anyway, see you in the next post!



Wednesday, September 30, 2015

"Manga" Flavia ~ The Girl Who Dreamed of Sailor Neptune & Alan Bradley

We got another one!  Finally, after spending the summer away from the drawing board, I picked up my pen and paper and got to work.  The idea was just sketch something out.  Sometime simple.  Something clean.  Just anything to get the drawing juices flowing.  Gathering my supplies, I decided to include some extra equipment.  That would be my camera and my lamp.  And this is where I ended up...

PENCIL & SKETCH


INK & TRACE


Monday, August 3, 2015

~ 9. FINAL Back 2 High School-Towel Style ~

The final four pages of my junior year comic.  It's incomplete.  It's a cliff-hanger.  It's all of my writing/drawing fantasies manifested at 17.  Towel has official transformed and is going into battle.  Yet, the battle is incomplete.  Continue forward, and see how all those Naoko Takeuchi influences come to life.






One day... I'll redo and finish this...
Thanks for following along.

Monday, July 6, 2015

~ 8. Back 2 High School - Towel Style ~

I'm one post away from the last set of pages for this comic.  It's really interesting because–as I mentioned within the first post–I wrote/drew this comic my junior year of high school.  Now flash forward to this past May, and the last and final graduating class has exited the school.  So yeah, my high school is no longer.  One of the city's hospitals is taking over the property and doing some expansion work.  A couple of weeks ago the school opened its doors one last time for the community to come aboard, take pictures, and (I believe) participate in an auction for some of the memorabilia.  I didn't make it.  I'm still not quite sure if I really wanted to see some of my old classmates roaming those once traumatic halls, with their older faces greeting me.  That's just the truth.  

Even so, it's a surreal feeling knowing my high school closed, probably because my memories of my experience there are so damn strong.  The good, bad, and indifferent; high school is hardly forgettable for just about anyone.  And personally, it probably didn't help that I didn't get over high school until I turned 21.  

I remember getting yelled at in 9th grade because I didn't want to play basketball–yet I loved lifting weights.  (I passed P.E. with a 65 and was happy because that meant I didn't have to retake it.)  I remember learning how to drive in 10th grade, and the excitement of passing the drivers' test.  My junior year I was in a play, and developed my first long-standing crush.  And no one can forget the edge of freedom that your senior year brings out of you.  I got really cocky during that year.  Part of that was because I was on the newspaper staff and my comics were featured in each newspaper.  When I look back, I was pretty damn brave and ambitious.  So yes, very good memories.  Some troubling, but all good.

Taking this comic and reflecting on its conception leads me to think how high school does determine where you'll go in life.  Well, to a degree.  I suppose what I really meant was it fosters the beginnings of your aspirations mingling with your character.






Thursday, June 4, 2015

~7. Back 2 High School - Towel Style ~

And for the next batch of pages from my junior year comic....  Confrontations and battle scenes.






Thursday, May 21, 2015

Battle of the Covers: Kidglove-style vs. Saucy-style






Kidglove-Style


Saucy-Style


No drawing description necessary.  Or at least not with this one.  This is what happens when you try to create your own ebook cover.  You try and try again to find the right look.  So far I've gotten two, and I think I'm sticking with the second one (saucy).  The first one seemed to be going well, but it just didn't connect with me at the end.  First, she just didn't seem to hit me as a black character.  I didn't see that until the very end.  And it's true when they say that sometimes drawings take on their own–we just have to listen to them.  Second, I embellished too much around her eyes.  

I realized that I should do all the embellishing through the computer.  So I sauced her up some with a re-drawing to better fit the character.  And I did all the extended work in PhotoFiltre.

However, the saucy image got to be too much also (should I share the original final version?).  I got to make changes and keep her eyes simpler–as I'd learned my lesson the first time around.

Anyway, I'm on my way to work and wanted to keep this post quick.  Any questions, leave in the comments.  Also vote which do you think would make a cool ebook cover.


Tuesday, May 12, 2015

~6. Back 2 High School - Towel Style ~

Back... in action....  Sadly, I think I'm almost done.  Nonetheless, here we are with the 6th collection of my high school manga.  More and more Naoko Takeuchi influences, including character sketches ripped straight out of Sailor Moon.  I couldn't help myself back then.


We're still wrapped in the B-story surrounding our two heroines and their adventure through this portal that leads them to another world.  In said world, they attempt to save the life of this strange child.


Towel is apparently in a trance of some sort.  She's being led toward her destiny...



Finally, Towel confronts the new girl, Minno.  Looks like all that hypnotizing Minno did to her classmates came with a purpose.  One being that she's an alien or monster of some sort.  This, of course, leads Towel to change.


Yes.  Yes.  Yes.  The burnt scene come straight out of Sailor Moon R.  Research it.


Internal monologues are probably unusual, but here, Towel delivers.  Finally, the confrontation we've all be waiting on.  See what happens next time...

Sunday, March 29, 2015

~4. Back to High School - Towel Style~

The next clutch.  The next batch of five pages from this comic I put together my junior year of high school!  Or was it my senior year?  Upon recollection, I think it was senior year.  Okay.  Anyway...


Last time we left off, Towel's classmates ran out of school under the influence of the new girl, who took it upon herself to attack their teacher.  Considering Towel is somehow immune to the new girl's influence, she somehow convinces herself that it's her mission to make matters right.


Naturally, Towel's investigation leads her to the local bookstore where her best friend, Cornbread, works.  She needs help finding the students.  Unfortunately, Cornbread's sister works at the bookstore also.  And she annoys Towel to no end.  She's one of those kids that talks and talks and talks and talks.


Now the story switch gears.  I have a problem separating ideas sometimes.


For just one introduction page, we meet up with Minno, the strange new girl Towel is chasing.  She's roaming the streets, hypnotizing more and more people (boys mostly).  Meanwhile, two new characters are introduced who are going to expand everything.


Back to Towel's story.  We meet her mother and brother.  She doesn't look like either.  I really love drawing busy pages, and it's obvious I couldn't contain myself back then.  Just about every blank space needed something.

Anyway, continuing forward...!

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