Chibify Me!

Okay, I'm no longer in a decadent pool of laziness. Which honestly is good. I can only sit around doing nothing all day for a short time before I'm bored. Unless I'm playing Don't Starve. I have lost days to Don't Starve when I was working for the Co-operators and I was on a weeklong vacation. 

The Don't Starve binge itself only lasted a day or so past the last post. I am still being a bit lazy though... I'm only working on about 3 hours a day right now, but I am cleaning and doing everything else, so I'm calling it a good start. 

Most of my office is finished. I have a desk-full of odds and ends to find homes for, some art supplies to get rid of, and a stupidly large amount of card decks to find homes for (I buy them for the pictures and because I like playing solitaire and other card games). Also, I haven't even been able to start on my closet yet. That said, its really coming along. 

I started writing again a few days ago and have finished 3 chapters in Noble's Choice so far. I remember where the plot is going, have reworked things that weren't working well in my original draft and streamlined the plot. Originally one of the characters was supposed to be a very important villain, for example, and now he's just a distracting sub-villain. The story is coming together though, which I love. I want my rough draft finished before the end of March. 

I have also talked to my editor. She is expecting that it will probably take a month to get Lord's Curse back to me, so I'll be spending Camp Nanowrimo (April) making one last round of changes before we can start on the final proofreading edits. 

The other update I have is in my art. I jokingly mentioned that I wanted to draw a Chibi-Me and a Koi playing Don't Starve Together. While I had a picture of a koi, I didn't really have a chibi of me lying around. So I drew this one. 

I'm not 100% happy with it yet. There is something about the shape of the eyes that seems off to me and I want to work on the hair more. That said, I am very pleased with it. Its the level of detail I want and she is adorable AF. I dressed her in my favourite outfit, a pair of yoga pants and a sweatshirt. You can't see it, but she is totally wearing a comfy tank top under the sweater. Also, I had to give her ears and a tail. Because I can. 

What do you think of her? Have any of you ever drawn your own Chibi-Me? 

My Top Five Art Books

I have always been an art fan. When I was a teenager, I started using my money to preorder Disney films, specifically so I could get frames from the movie. When I got older and the internet became a thing, I would spend hours and hours just looking at art online and saving pictures that I loved. Back when floppy disks were a thing I bought tons and saved them full of my favourite pictures. Of course, nearly all of this was anime-inspired art. Now that I'm older and don't have the time to just sit and look at gorgeous pictures online, I buy art books. While they're expensive I love having them. A lot of the time when I just want to draw and don't know what, I'll grab one of these and try my hand at copying one of their pictures just by eyeballing it. It's fun and helps me figure out how these artists do what they do. 

Here are my top five artbooks and what I learned from them. 

The New Generation of Manga Artists, Vol. 2: The Gensho Sugiyama Portfolio

I bought this book a good 15 years or so ago. I don't mind saying that I love this style. The art style is a mix of cute and sexy that I adore. I particularly love the way the artist does hair and clothing. It looks thrown together haphazardly, but every line serves a purpose. I really need to spend more time looking over how they do it more. I would love the hair I draw to have that look like every strand can be seen in places. 

 The Enchanted World of Jessica Galbreth
I started following Jessica Galbreth a good 15 years ago, just when she started getting really big. Her art is super detailed and in the beginning, often dealt with goddesses and women of power and magic. I admit that my style is starting to look a lot more like hers. It isn't realism, but its definitely more realistic than I ever thought my direction would take. In particular, I love the way she does a complete picture. Every work is settled so you can't imagine seeing either character or background without the other, the two are so settled together. 

The New Generation of Manga Artists, Vol. 5; The Kao Yung & Kuan-Liang Portfolio
If I had to point at any one of these books and say, "that is the art style I lean most towards," I think this would be it. It has more realistic proportions than some of the others, and the art is so detailed while still looking so simple. Also, while I adore the wider eye style, I prefer my art to have smaller eyes like these, though I tend to go for a shape closer to our actual shape, just a bit larger than an actual eye would be. What I still have to learn from these artists is that gorgeous work on the clothing. While I am starting to learn how to draw bodies and where to put shadows and highlights, I still struggle with any outfit that isn't skin tight. I really have to look at Skillshare and see if they have some courses specifically on how to draw clothing.

The Art of Magic Knight Rayearth, Vol. 1

This was my first artbook and the first show that I can honestly say I lusted over the art for. I adore their style. Everything is so detailed. The gems, the clothes, the eyes, the hair, the pose, the background... If I could choose only one style to draw in for the rest of my life (and be incredibly good at it), I would choose to draw like a Clamp artist. Although every manga they produce has this same look and I have artbooks for some of their other shows, this was my first and remains my favourite. You can not get better than one of the original Iseki's. Plus, and this has nothing to do with the art, but I love that their art is always cutesy while telling stories of tragic situations where the only way to win is to destroy that which you love. They are some of my favorite storytellers as well as artists, bar-none.

Ni0 Art Works; Nishi's Alluring Figures
This artbook is amazing. First, the elephant in the room, this work is for mature readers. That is part of the reason I like it. The other much more important reason is that this art is gorgeous. It has a soft quality while being almost as detailed as the Clamp stuff. The hairstyles and the character design are top-notch and again, this artist knows how to draw clothing. However, the thing I love from this artist are the dramatic poses. Every pose is active, in movement. These aren't characters sitting down for a photo, these are characters in the midst of living a life and the art portrays that. That dynamic of movement is something I'm still trying to learn, but this artist has in spades.


I do have to mention that these are not in any particular order. Literally, they are in the order they came in when I added all five at once from my saved files. I will add that while I haven't added links, you should be able to find all of these books on Amazon and I suggest picking them up if you like the style. These are gorgeous for just appreciating, even if you don't want to learn from them. 

So, what are your favourite art books? Do you have any? If you draw, what have you learned from them? If you don't, let me know what you like about it, and what draws you to the work. 

Editing and Redraw from 2014

Healthy again, finally! 

At least enough to function. My nose is still stupidly stuffed up and I get really tired after only a small amount of work. But I have enough energy to go to the mailbox and cook dinner and not feel like collapsing. Sit down for two minutes between maybe, but no more than that. 

For full honesty, I will disclose that some of that is my allergies kicking in. I have an allergy to small furry animals. I may have had it as a kid and simply ignored it because I was stupidly healthy in every other way. But I first noticed it when I borrowed an angora sweater my mom had when I was 16 or so and I itched like hell all day. It got worse when I moved out and got fur babies of my own, of course, and then settled as my system became more used to them. One thing that my body simply won't put up with though is having my cats knead my bare flesh... Of course, that is the only place they ever want to knead. I make it easier for them by preferring to wear tank tops and shirts that leave my arms bare. 

At any rate, finally healthy. 

For my edit, I haven't gotten as much done as I had hoped... I've been lazy. But I did finish the chapter 3 rewrite and have edited it in. I've also finished the rough draft of chapter four which I'm in the process of doing now. After that, the editing should be faster for chapter five and then another wait for chapter six which is a new chapter from scratch. I'm finding that new chapters because they have to fit in the spot I'm dropping them perfectly, it's taking more time, to write from scratch and then fill in the extra holes with the information it needs and then going over it a few times for editing to make it as good as the rest. The other chapters are flowing and I'm able to do one or two chapters a day. Fortunately, after this chapter is done, I only have four more complete rewrites. 

So, what else have I been doing? Well, I got obsessed with my redraw from 2014. I finally finished her a few days ago, and I've got to admit, she looks amazing. I've gotten some criticism on her hands... but considering that they are very difficult to draw and I included them regardless, AND they actually look like hands, despite my errors, I'm considering it a win regardless.

The one on the right was done on my tablet of the time, a cheap-y Lenovo with a stylus. While the stylus cost $15-$20 and had some pressure sensitivity, it still wasn't good enough to actually get much detail with. The newer one on the left was done with my Surface and MS Stylus, which has a very good tip and pressure sensitivity that I can actually use. In addition, I've figured out how the body works as a whole. I figured out how to do hair a lot better, although the new hair is definitely something I still need to work on... the location of shine and shadow still isn't perfect The face is more realistic while still being animation. I think you can tell my anime beginnings from this, though I think I have grown out of some of the anime tropes... the eyes aren't anime large anymore, just slightly larger than normal. I had no shading on the old one, partially because I had no idea how to add shadow and highlights. I've picked up some of that now, though I still lean heavily on my references, which is something I would like to keep working on. 

I'll be honest though, a lot of that is just nitpicky. I really do love the way this turned out. I need to speed up a bit on my digital work though... this picture took me twelve to fifteen hours to finish still. I was going for an adequate "here is my current skill level" but I would like to figure out how to draw a bit faster... fortunately, that will come with just sketching and using it for more art, which is something that I will be doing. 

If you're interested, let me know if you want me to make copies of it available or even just the lineart, in case you want to play with coloring it in yourself. 

And I think that's where I'll end it today. It is definitely time for me to get editing if I want to finish those two chapters tonight. 

Editing Update

Bleh! That first week after the holidays is always difficult, no matter whether you work at a regular office or you work at home. It's so hard to get back into it, to sit down and stare at your keyboard for hours on end. Fortunately, my editor had gotten back to me so I had things to work on. 

The outlook was really good. Overall, she liked the story and mentioned especially that the second half kept her very entertained. The first half, unfortunately, had more problems. Nothing unfixable, of course. The main problem was that I hadn't put in real stakes to any of the problems that the characters were having which was making the reading dry and difficult to get through. She also pointed out that I might want to move the chapters and do a few rewrites to get the motivations to come across more. 

Here was part of my editing. As I mentioned, she suggested more than a bit of moving stuff around, so here was what I ended up with to storyboard the first half of the book.

This may seem like a lot, but this is exactly what a good editor is supposed to do. They look over your work, tell you when you've missed something obvious and how to make your work so much better. I've found that while I love my work, even my earlier version, I think that the new changes will make the story so much better and I can't wait to get it finished for all of you. 

Even better is that there is no "but" included here. Even with the complete overhaul of the first half of Lord's Curse, I'm not expecting any delays. As always, I'll keep you updated on where I am and how soon I can get the story out to you. This story is my priority for the first quarter of 2020 and I am glad that the outlook is so positive! 

This is one of the pictures I was working on this December. My Mom loved it. I didn't expect the black to take over the picture so much, but I really did like the way it turned out. It almost looks like galaxies forming in the upper left and lower right corners. 

Anyways, that's what I've been up to! I hope your first week back at work has been a bit easier for you! I'll end this off by wishing that your home will always be too small to hold all your family and friends. 

All the ART!

And yet, nothing I can share in pictures yet! It's so frustrating. 

Since I don't have a job this year, I knew that I would be art-ing all of the gifts this year. Which is awesome until I realized that I only had a few weeks to make those gifts. Fortunately, I'm nearly done now. Arting is the right word, too! I have a few pictures painted with ink and watercolour, I have a few gifts made of resin, and more than a few acrylic pour canvases done (a style that I seem to have a natural gift in). In addition to that, I've also done a canvas painting for myself (it's adorable, but I don't know if it matches anyone's aesthetic but mine). 

Not the drawing I was talking about, but a picture I took a few weeks ago.

What does this mean? It means I have very little to show off for all this work. At least, until after the holidays, when I can ask people if they mind me sharing pictures later. 

I've also been editing. I got my work back from my editor on the 10th and spent a couple days reading it over and thinking about the changes she suggested. Now, I'm going through the biggest problem area she suggested and I'm working out what it's doing and what I need to change. She's suggested a rather large rewrite, but I want to see exactly what needed before I commit to that suggestion. 

What does all this mean? Well, firstly it means that I've been trying to avoid editing and succeeding. It also means that now that I'm actually working on it, it is getting done now. I'm hoping to have a full idea of what changes are required before the 25th and hopefully a full idea of exactly what rewrites will be required before my next post on the 27th. 

I will also cheer in getting another review as an early X-mas gift! I'm up to 4 on Goodreads, as well as three up on Amazon (over the different countries and locations). Hopefully, I'll get even more before Lord's Curse is released! I was so excited I made this for it!

As a final aside, I'll wish of you lovely readers a Happy Holidays, no matter what you celebrate this time of year. I'm personally very excited to have Solstice and Jolabokaflud happening this week. I don't know if I'll be able to afford a new book specifically for it, but I do have a few new books that I haven't had a chance to read yet, so one of those will probably have to do. 

Have any of you bought a new book for your friends/family for Jolabokaflud yet? Which books did you buy for them, if you did?

Its Never Easy Getting Back in the Saddle

Well, this is coming a bit late... December is always an incredibly tough time for getting writing done. After spending a month writing 50k, I always need a few days off. This year, fortunately, it wasn't really a recovery I needed, but a chance to rejuvenate my flagging creativity. Its one of the side effects of falling into just one creative bubble for me; when I get out if straight recovery of abused muscles isn't needed, some mental recovery is. So, since Nano, I've been obsessively playing around with my tablet, drawing some really gorgeous dahlias. I've also got a quick rough picture done of an ink painting I want to do.

Now onto some awesome news! I just found out that my novel, Hunter's Gambit, has been added to at least one online bookstore in Sweden. While I realize that this is something that I should have realized would happen, seeing it actually do so is really exciting. It's a small thing, but it has absolutely made my day. Its another little way that helps me feel like I've made it. That added to the new review that I have on Goodreads and I feel like I could fly. I've also received one additional star rating, though no physical review for that one.

What does this mean? Well, Goodreads has my book sitting at a very respectable 4.25 stars with three reviews. I am secretly hoping for even more reviews for Christmas.

Speaking of which, how many of you have e-readers or are asking for them for Christmas? What books are on your gift lists this year? And will any of you be giving books (mine or others) to your family this season? Let me know in the comments!

Lord's Curse is Out of my Hands & a new Stylus is in!

First, I am sorry that this post is coming your way late. I was so eager to begin writing last night that I worked straight until midnight and then started writing. I only realized that it was Friday morning when I crawled into bed. On the other hand, I actually have updates for you! 

On Monday, I finally finished my draft of Lord's Curse. I sent it that morning to my editor, but I don't have an expected date back from her yet. As soon as I know more there you'll get an update as well. Either way, as soon as I have it back I will be working on it. At that point, Nano will become me working on Nanowrimo during the day and the edit of that book during my evenings. 

Still, I am amazingly excited to have finished it finally. 

The other bit of amazingness for me is that my husband picked up the stylus that I have been wanting for a year. Why is this cool, I can practically hear you asking. Styluses are a dime a dozen, essentially. And in most cases, you're entirely right. But this is the Windows Stylus, specifically geared towards use with their Surface Pro systems. Which is what I have. The stylus essentially makes it so that your Surface Pro can be used as a drawing tablet, with all the layers of sensitivity, pen tilt and functionality built right into most programs, you can now use your pen to, as they put it on their site, 'Think with Ink'. For me, it turns my Surface Pro5, which I've been using for my mobile needs into an actual drawing tablet for me. The last time I tried to draw on a tablet like this, it was with less than optimal tools and I got a much less than optimal result. 

This picture was my first attempt with subpar tools.
While it wasn't horrible, it was also very bad.
There was a lot that I couldn't figure out how to do,
and in the end I gave up entirely on shading since
everything was wrong with it and I just wanted to try
it again from the beginning.

This was my second with the subpar tools. And while it was a marked improvement, it still wasn't quite what I would have been able to accomplish on paper with more traditional tools.
Actually, I have an urge to redraw it using my new tools as an example of improvement to myself. Perhaps I'll add that to my list of tasks in December. 

I could have made it work obviously, but it wasn't anything like working on paper and I found it irritating. However, working with the new pen and the Concepts app, I have not only really enjoyed the results, but I have also enjoyed the process of making them. Also, I've never really liked the way most programs deal with their colours, and so to have the colours in it listed and matching the Copic colours, which I already use is great. It makes it easy for me to choose colours and decide exactly what I need to add. 

This was my first drawing attempt with the new stylus. Trying to figure out blending was killing me, but I loved the feel of drawing with it. Also, I clearly need to work on drawing hair more often. Those buns are hilariously bad. Still, as a first digital try, I really loved the potential.

This was my second drawing. While I still can't say that the bun is any better, I do like the shading in the hair and on the face and skin. I really found myself reaching for tools not available with the free program while playing with this; specifically the lasso and copy/move tools. Its why I'll be picking up the full copy when I have a job again.

And I think that will be it for this week. Let me know what you think of the drawings. Also, are you taking part in Nanowrimo? What is your word count so far? I've had a slow start. Day 1 gave me a migraine that wouldn't quit, which led to me only getting 1055 words for my first day. 

Inktober Supplies

 As Inktober gets closer, just like Nanowrimo, I start to get a bit antsy to get started. Despite my patience, I've never really liked waiting for anything. I prepare for conventions and concerts by immersing myself in the culture of the event, whether it be music, anime, writing or whatever else. I tend to give my husband his gifts for his birthday as I get them, early or not, and I don't even wait for Christmas to give gifts to everyone (okay, that's just a family thing since we kids grew up, but still). 

Today, I want to talk supplies and workspace. This is a picture of all of my supplies as well as my desk. Honestly, my desk is tiny for doing art on, so I'm hoping to bring up a second desk for my office that's about double the size before October starts, but barring that, this will be my workspace and all the supplies (aside from paper and pencils) that I'll be using throughout the month. 

For paper, I use cold press, 140 lbs/300gsm... which for those of you who don't work with watercolour is the most common watercolour paper I've found. It's a good thick sheet that will buckle (under my water use at times), but not horribly. Its made out of paper, instead of the cotton ones which are supposed to be way better, but honestly, I've never tried. Cold press means that the paper is a little textured instead of being super smooth like hot press is supposed to be. In general, I really prefer working with textured paper over smooth; even for my sketching, I use multi-media paper rather than the more usual sketching books. 

Here's the close up of my inks. I have 24 Bombay India Inks, 4 Winsor & Newton inks, 10 cheaply made Chinese inks and another 5 no name that I received with a glass pen I picked up last year. I also have a full bottle of Higgens Ink (the cheapest bottle I could find to practice with when I first bought a glass pen) and the other is Carbon Ink, one of the blackest inks out on the market. 

Here are the Bombay India Inks I was talking about. These inks are gorgeous to use, very pigmented, and permanent when dry. They are also lightfast. For those non-art folks, you know how some posters and pictures fade and lighten as they sit on your wall? That means they weren't made with lightfast supplies. So any picture I paint with these will remain vibrant for hundreds of years, rather than only a few. If you are thinking about taking part and still want colour, I can suggest these as a great supply. They are my go-to for most of my work. That said, there are 5 brown colours and 4 of them are horrible. Most pigment a physical thing inside the ink, along with a binder. This means that you shake/mix them well before use. But those four browns start tearing apart from the binder by the time you've removed the cap from your bottle. They come out as muddy and difficult to apply. They can still be used, but I suggest never using them directly from the bottle. Put a few drops onto your pallet and mix very liberally with water, remixing the pile whenever you re-dip your brush if you wish to use these colours. 

 These are my Winsor & Newton Inks. They are not as lightfast as the Bombay inks, but I bought them because they have gold and silver in this set. Also, an extra white is always a good idea. Also, they are completely waterproof if you let them completely dry... but only if you let them completely dry... otherwise, you'll still get some lift if it gets wet again later. On the other hand, gold and silver... I stand by my choice. 

 
 These two pictures are of my Chinese no-name inks. I bought both set from Wish for pennies on the dollar in both cases. That said, I almost never use them. They're difficult to open without spilling, they aren't waterproof at all, and while they are vibrant, they also have sparkles in them. Not a lot, but enough to add a very slight glimmer to dry inks as a final top layer. Offhand, I don't suggest them... I mainly picked them up as a lark, rather than a serious purchase. That said, I do like the subtle glitter effect, so they do see some use on occasion. 

The Higgens ink was some I bought upon buying my first glass dip pen. Basically, its a super cheap ink, not waterproof, even when dry, and it is a very dark grey rather than a black. I use this one for playing around with new supplies like dip pens and my glass pens rather than for any actual art. I do not use it for any actual art... I may use it for playing around if I were to start sketching with my glass pens, but that's about it. The Carbon Ink is a glorious dark black, one of the darkest out there, and is mostly waterproof when dry. I use it when I want a black that's darker than any other black I own. Plus, it's really nice to use. A silky feel on my brush as I lay it down. 

 These supplies are the unsung heroes of my work. I use a cloth for wiping down my brush, taking excess water from the brush and occasional cleaning. I try not to use paper towel when I paint, only reaching for it if I need more precision than the cloth affords.  I have two glasses of water so one can be clean water and the other dirty. I also have a tiny vial of salt in the blue container. It makes a mottled appearance in the ink when used that I love. My brushes, for the most part, are super cheap ones from Michael's (which almost never see use nowadays), as well as a few I've picked up (usually from art boxes) along the way. The two glass pens above don't see much use honestly, I'm including them here because occasionally I'll use them for lining. They won't end up seeing much use next month, but I love showing them off. 

 This is my swatch sheet for the month. You can see how vibrant the colours are and even the differences between how the black goes down. Those browns all look splotchy and bad, which is why I use them sparingly, as mentioned above. I do love the CX-11 violet and may use that more than the others in that line since I don't have a direct equivalent with the Dr. P.H. Martin's Bombay India Ink. The black paper is some black sketchbook paper I have. It isn't watercolour and seemed to dissolve under my Bombay white, mixing with it and making it a nearly invisible grey. The Winsor & Newton fared much better and I don't know why. Both whites work wonderfully on the other inks, just not on the black paper I put there to show them off. 

 As an added bonus, here's a painting I made earlier this week with the supplies above. It turned out amazing. It was made almost solely with the Bombay India Ink and the gold and silvers of the Winsor & Newton. I love how it turned out. The ability to layer the colours and their vibrancy is what makes this picture really pop. 

And that's it. What do you think about the picture? Will you be joining me in Inktober, even if it's only with a ballpoint pen? Let me know in the comments below. 

Updates!

This week I have a few small announcements to make, so you're getting a half post, rather than a full one.

The first bit of awesome news is that I am only 100 pages away from having the sequel to Hunter's Gambit, tentatively titled Lord's Curse edited, and while this week has been a setback to editing (darn summer colds), I should have no problem finishing this draft before the end of Camp Nanowrimo in July. From there, I'll need to find an editor and take it through another edit. Unless something odd happens, I am still expecting to have that novel coming out late this year.

The next bit of awesome is that I have another signing set up! On July 6th, I will be at Owl's Nest Books (815A 49th Ave SW, Calgary, AB) from 11am to 2pm! I am super excited to have another signing. The table may even be bigger this time, which will be super exciting. I will let all of you know how that one goes, and of course, I'll have pictures!

For my third update, I am plugging a new book that I finished reading a couple of weeks ago and loved. The Woman in the White Kimono by Ana Jones is a book about a woman trying to discover her father's secrets and another woman who is that secret. Based on the true stories of Japanese brides left in Japan after the war, this story left me in tears. The writing is beautiful, the story is compelling and it highlights a little known time in history, one that both countries would prefer to forget. If you haven't already picked this one up, it would make a great addition to your summer/winter reading list.

My last fun bit of news is that I have been doing sketches nearly every day for the last little while. If you'd like to join me, tag me on Instagram and post your own sketches or just enjoy other's people art. If you don't follow there, here are my latest pictures!

These are some pre-sketches where I planned out what I wanted to do for a full artwork for the video game Journey. I haven't gotten started on it yet, but I think it will look gorgeous when its done.

Some days, I get stuck on an image. In this case, the demonic, dead eyes of an Oddish from Gen 1 pokemon was my inspiration.

This fairy turned out wonderfully, except for her hands. She was supposed to be just leaning on a table on her wrists. something about it just didn't work. I may have to revisit the character one day. 

Kitten! Nothing else needs to be said.

This one turned out surprisingly well. The only thing that could have gone better is the outlining. I kind of preferred the sketchy look it had before I outlined it.

A few errors but I like the way she turned out. I may have o revisit the character in a less stiff position later. Also, I can't decide if she's a nobleman's daughter, or simply the daughter of a commoner with a rich suitor. What do you think?

Jessica Jones. Her neck is way too long, her leg is way too thin, and the liner pen didn't work with the Copics and reactivated in multiple places... despite that, I kind of like it. 

I saw a hoodie dress and wanted to draw a character in a similar outfit. I quite like the way it turned out.

I'll was drawing with one of my Youtubers. The prompts were aardvark, lemur, pink, grey and unicorn. Mine turned out way more lemur than aardvark, but I like it. I'm hoping to paint it later. If I do, I'll update it here. 

Book Release Day! Hunter's Gambit Enters the World!

Woot! Today is the day! I have been waiting so long to share this with all of you! And while I won't be the first author to say that I'm incredibly proud of the work I'm putting out, I will say that there's also a part of me that is shaking in my boots, wishing I could change the cover or edit the book just one more time. It's so difficult putting your book out there, I think this is probably what parents feel like when they send their kids out into the world to take care of themselves. It's heady and terrifying at the same time.

To keep myself relaxed and not panicking, I've been playing a lot of video games and art. One of the art projects I ended up spending quite a bit of time on these last two weeks have been playing with the supplies I received from my Paletteful Packs art subscription box. This month was watercolour which is totally my jam. First, I painted an owl and after that, I decided to draw one of the characters from my favourite video game Don't Starve (and its sequel, Don't Starve Together). This is my version of Wigfried, the drama queen who plays as a barbarian. She's my second favourite character to play. Do you play the game? If not, what are your favourite games!

My fanart based on Klei's Character. 

Original Klei creation. 

And finally, my book is live now! Have you picked up Hunter's Gambit yet? Remember that I'll be looking for pictures of my book in the wild as well! Share them on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram using the hashtag #Huntersinthewild? I'll keep an eye out for them and like/retweet all of them! You'd really make my day by doing so! Even if it's just a picture of my cover on your e-reader or tablet, I'd still love to see it! 

As always, here are some links to where you can pick up your own copy of Hunter's Gambit if you haven't already. 

Physical Copies can be ordered from

Amazon
Chapters Indigo
Barnes & Noble


And E-copies can be ordered from

Kindle
Kobo
Apple
Nook

Busy Week!

Wow, has it ever been a busy week! Most of that is all because of the love I'm getting from all of you out there! I've been keeping myself occupied loading my book to Kindle, Kobo, iBooks, Barnes & Noble, the library apps and making sure that you can even order the physical book from Chapters Indigo as well as from Amazon. Then there are the links for each, ordering physical copies in, talking with local chapters to get my books in their stores and setting up an author page on Amazon among other stuff. With so much work getting done, I haven't had a lot of time to do the base work of editing, let alone for the stuff I do that isn't writing and editing based.

Today I thought we'd talk about what some of that other stuff is! For the record, I'm not going to include time with friends and family in this list. Just assume that they are there.

Okay, with that said, the most important things that I spent time on outside of my books right now can be neatly summed up into two neat boxes. Art and Japanese.

Starting with art, I can say that I always have something on the go. Currently, I'm working on an acrylic picture of a fox using the Golden Open slow drying acrylics. I recently ordered in extra colours and now have 16 in the line. I have more colours that I'd like to get of course (mainly purples and oranges), but I have to say that for right now, I quite like the pallet I have. With some basic mixing, I can get almost all of the shades and colours I may be looking for.

I also picked up some of Prismacolor's Col-Erase coloured pencils. These are not your average pencil crayons. First off, and most importantly, they aren't wax-based, but graphite based, so you can use and erase them like you would any normal pencil, without having to worry about smudging the wax everywhere. I'm still getting used to them, but I am really happy with almost all of them so far.

Since my coloured pencils just came in, I decided to take part in the #100headschallenge. This is a challenge happening on Instagram right now where you're challenged to draw 100 heads in just 10 days. I wasn't able to finish 10 today or yesterday, so it's looking like I'm going to be drawing hardcore for the next few days... Regardless of that depressing fact though, my first (the sailor moon type hairdo chick below) almost discouraged me enough to quit. Then I remembered that I can use references. Amazingly, even when I only use the reference as a base and then start changing everything to match my vision, my pictures got 10x better, just having a reference, even when I don't stick to the reference (since realism is not my jam as an artist). My husband identified the style as a post-modernism style near the end of the style. I have no idea if he's right or not, unfortunately. What about you guys? Do you know what style this resembles?

The other thing is a smaller draw on my time, but still a draw. I got started on Duolingo this year and so far have only missed one or two days since the beginning of January. I'm learning Japanese and while the first four or five lessons were essentially stuff I knew, we've now moved into stuff I actually have to work at. I've put myself on their "Insane" learning which means I'm doing a minimum of five of their lessons daily. I'm learning quickly, and I may eventually start in on Spanish as well. For now though, its hard enough just keeping up with just this. 

And finally, I have links to share with all of you! My novel can be preordered from pretty much anywhere! 

Physical Copies can be ordered from 

Amazon
Chapters Indigo
Barnes & Noble

And E-copies can be ordered from 

Kindle
Kobo
Apple
Nook

While I have put my book in to be released to library apps, I don't know if you guys need to request it first or not. Take a look and let me know if you do see! Hell, I'd love for you guys to tag me with pictures of your book when you get it! Post those pictures to my FB page or tag me on Instagram (@foxy_writer) or Twitter (@FoxyWriter), even if you're just showing off an electronic copy! I'd love to see people enjoying my novel out in the wild!

Crazy Times

          You know I thought that January would be stressful due to me not having a job. Instead, I'm actually pretty glad that I haven't had one. While the money would be good (and I am looking, don't worry about that), I have gotten mildly sick and then my tendinitis started acting up. I've been out of writing commission for nearly a week and a half now. On the other hand, that doesn't mean that I haven't been working. I have gotten my cover for Hunter's Gambit done, and spent hours upon hours upon hours trying to figure out how the heck Ingramspark works. It took a while, but I finally got my file up to their standards. 

          Which does mean that in exciting news, I have my print copy on the way! As soon as I've received it, I'll be putting in a full order for my novel release. I should be putting out a full reveal for February 15th with the release date, cover reveal and all that fun stuff. If you want a signed copy, keep your eyes out for the reveal!

          In the meantime, take a look at this picture I painted a few days ago. Its of a tan hua flower. They were so gorgeous in Crazy Rich Asians, that I had to try using my inks to draw one. And what weird crazy stuff have you accomplished since 2019 began?

Goodreads Reading Challenge

          Every year since I've found out about it, I have taken part in it. Last year, I only just made my goal of 100 books and so this year, I finally decided to lower it. Instead of 100 books, I'll be going for 75. It's an easy goal, it will keep me reading and, most importantly, I should be able to avoid feeling super stressed out about it. Last year, and just a little bit the prior year making that goal of 100 books stressed me out. It isn't good for my writing, or me in general, to get that stressed out over such a little thing. Especially since it isn't a competition. My goal is not to wow people with how many books I read each year. Those that will be wowed, would be as wowed by me reading 20 books as they would be by my reading 100.

          Having said all that, I have read 7 books to date this year (available here if you want to see which books they are). I have four books on the go in my to be read pile now and you can check out what those are, right here.

          Another thing I'm doing this year is to try and be creative in more ways. To that end, I'm working on drawing more this year. If you want to follow my work, you can check out my drawings here. The ones I'm working on now will all be going into my scrap file, since they're just scrap work, essentially. I used to work on my art a lot more often, but once I started writing, it went to the backburner and recently, I don't draw much at all. Because of that, my pictures aren't really very good yet. However, I am working with an app that gets you to draw something each day, so I can only hope my work will improve as time goes on. Right now, I only have one drawing up and one inking practice sheet, but it should be interesting later on.

          Are you working on being more creative this year? Did you sign up for the Reading Challenge of 2017? Let me know in the comments! Lastly, if you want to keep your Friday evening open this week, I'll be hosting an evening of #fntwp on Twitter again. Come and join me if you want to write, talk about writing or have some questions you'd like to ask me there!