Beatrice's green dress

I'm learning to draw manga/anime. I really want to be able to draw pictures of my characters. I watched this video, thinking I could follow the way Mr. Crilley does it to make my own drawing of Beatrice giving Adrimond a kiss on the cheek (he would be SHOCKED).



(It's long, but you could skip to the end and see what I mean.)

Then I realized I have no idea how to draw the dress that she wears. It's her uniform from her job as a waitress, an emerald-green dress made of satin-y material. I wasn't sure what the neckline style would be called, so I did an image search for "green dress" and came up with this. It's exactly the style, if not the same color or material. Knee-length A-line skirt, and I think I figured out that it's a sweetheart neckline with short sleeves. (Correct me if I'm still confused... I'm almost as bad as Mr. Crilley at knowing what to call fashion-y things sometimes. :P )

I also found this, which I LOVE. (Beatrice would so hate it, floaty things aren't her style.)

I haven't gotten to Adrimond's clothes yet, but he wears a vest suit sort of like the one Patrick Jane wears, only brown and cream, and pretty old and threadbare because it's from a secondhand shop. He has a long coat too, also brown. I could probably just use the one in the video as a guide if I want to.

Dude. Stop. Staring. At. Me! :P

His pockets are always full of random tools, but he doesn't wear goggles, fortunately for me, because I know that would be harder to draw.

I will post the drawing when I'm done. . . even if it's bad! (I hope it won't be!)

Crying chibi!

Thanks to Mark Crilley for the tutorial. :)

The gateway to Faerie

Said the Princess

Said the Princess by Dani Atkinson

This story is. So. Cool. The princess is locked in a tower and starts hearing a voice. A narrator's voice, speaking in the third person. The princess has been waiting a long time for her prince to show up and rescue her, and she's worried about him. So the voice helps her escape. . . then she meets the witch who locked her there, and a battle ensues with the narrator playing all sorts of tricks. It's clever, it's witty, it's hilarious! I don't know the person who wrote it, but whoever you are, you're AWESOME.

North Dakota at night

A Mysterious Patch Of Light Shows Up In The North Dakota Dark

I thought it was eerie, how bright it was all night in Western North Dakota, with the sky glowing and red flames hovering over the prairie. I knew there was an oil boom, and that was why the motels and campgrounds were always full (it was frustrating as heck), but I had no idea it was this huge.

I'm not amused.

Review: I Am Ocilla, by Diane Graham

Back cover: Open your heart and mind to the simplicity and complexity of a name.

I know only my name. Beyond that is confusion, a void where fantasy and reality swirl together. Fairies, Giants, Elves, Dwarves, ancient Keepers, and…Dragons?

A dark soul threatens the Five Kingdoms, but I am powerless to stand against him, overwhelmed by phantom memories, broken and lost.

Somehow, I must live. I must find my purpose. There are friends to love and battles to fight.

I know my name. Perhaps that is enough.

I am Ocilla.

My thoughts: The very first thing that caught my eye about this book is the cover. It's beautiful. Notice the little reflected shadow of the dragon? Now that I've read it, I understand why this is there, and it's even cooler.

Ocilla starts out the story trapped and badly injured in a dungeon. Her mind is empty of memories. She's rescued by a father-and-son pair of dryads (their race is not named that I can remember, but that's what they are like). The story gets going quickly, and soon Ocilla's impulsive curiosity begins getting her into trouble (and making her new friends).

The story reminded me a little of the Neverending Story. The large cast of often whimsical characters, unusual twists on familiar fantasy races, and their particular curses which Ocilla is prophesied to cure, make the world quite colorful. My favorite is honestly Ocilla herself. There were several times later in the book when I couldn't keep straight who was who, but most of the characters have unique voices.

It also reminded me of Donita Paul's "cozy fantasy" stories, because while the stakes are sometimes high, there's never much doubt that things will be resolved and the day will be saved. The first-person present-tense makes it feel dreamlike and peaceful. It's really quite pretty, if not quite my cup of tea (I'm not generally a fan of present tense style). The villain is nevertheless plenty horrifying whenever he appears in a scene. It's wonderfully done.

The idea of a person's name also being a song that gets longer and changes as they grow and age, is a lovely and creative one. That was my favorite part about the book.

As we see Ocilla flash back to multiple previous incarnations, it's implied that she and her companions are ancient souls that live again and again as they struggle to defeat the villain. The concept is one I've never seen used in a story before, and it's interesting, though kind of confusing. Some Christians are probably going to be bothered by the idea, but I sort of thought of it as being a little like Doctor Who; quite different scenario, true, but in that show, having multiple incarnations is something that's natural to the Time Lord race (it also makes actor changes convenient), and is not a religious concept at all. Same thing here. It's just something that happens in this particular story world; a plot device.

Recommendation: Read it if you like traditional fairytale fantasy and quieter stories. If you prefer books with more intense action or suspense, it might not be for you.

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Signs of Trouble

THIS.

Signs Of Trouble, Part 2

I want to be this person. :)

Inspiration: Christmas Faery Tale

Artist: angel1592

It's a little late, but I'm working on a short story using this picture for a prompt. I'd add a word counter, but I don't have any way currently in the program I'm using to keep track of word count.

"Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse." They must be using a glamour, then, so no one notices them.

Inspiration: Favorite Poems

I have not read very much poetry, though I know I should. There's so much of it I don't know what to try. I've memorized several of Tolkien's poems, and those are the only ones I've spent much time with, so I can't say I know much about poetry.

I love this poem, though. It seems to overflow with radiance and romance.

"She Walks In Beauty" -- Lord Byron

She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that's best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes:
Thus mellowed to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies. 

One shade the more, one ray the less,
Had half impaired the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress,
Or softly lightens o'er her face;
Where thoughts serenely sweet express,
How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.

And on that cheek, and o'er that brow,
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent, 
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent!

I want to write a story about it. I know it's probably already influenced things that I've written without me noticing.

What's your favorite poem?

Playing With Ideas: When Zombies Attack

So this is what happens when I play music videos before I go to bed.



(It's a very silly video, but the music is cool. This wasn't the only song I listened to, but it was the only one with zombies.)

I dream about zombies. Some people's zombie dreams are nightmares. Mine aren't. I think I probably have failed to understand the concept of zombies somewhere or something. I actually wrote the dream down because I thought it was such an interesting idea. It really doesn't follow the way zombie movies go at all, or so I understand, because I haven't watched any (except for one, an old black-and-white movie).

What I wrote is too long to post here, but the most interesting part to me is the idea of half-zombies. I can hear you getting squicked out (me too), so I'll quickly explain. The half-zombies are zombies that somehow managed to retain some of their humanity when they were turned. They're not mindless, and they know who and what they are, because their memories stay with them. Some of them even like it, because they think it makes them better fighters, which is important in a world where everything has been destroyed and most of the inhabitants have been turned into monsters. However, some of them. . . don't. In the dream, I was turned, so I was one of these.

Here's an excerpt from what I wrote (sorry for how rough it is):

I flee and barricade myself in a bathroom, desperate to figure out what to do. I was the leader, but I am a zombie now. Is there even anyone left to take my place? Are the others dead? I look at my face in the cracked mirror and stare at my withered hands. What if the half-zombie state isn't permanent, and I lose the rest of my humanity? It would be like dying.

Okay, so this could easily be a nightmare. There's a definite potential for horror. But for whatever reason, my dreaming mind decided to include magic as the way to fight zombies instead of guns or weapons. Magic is pretty integral to the whole idea, because in the dream, only humans can use it. Half-zombies may be strong, but for some reason that I'm having trouble defining in words, they can't use magic well at all. Full humanity is required.

I'm not clear on how the zombies were created, but since this is a magical world rather than a science-fiction one, let's say they were created by some form of curse. If that's the case, then there should be some way to break it, which is what happens next in the dream (again, sorry about the bad writing):

Something taps on the window. I look up and see a face blurred by the glass. Terrified, I hide in the shower. The latch pops, the window opens, and someone leaps down through the small opening.

It's one of my friends. I run to meet him, then stop and press myself against the wall, realizing that contact with me will turn him, too. But he strides forward, and before I can stop him, he embraces me and kisses my cheek. The touch turns me back into a human. He explains that the last of the people from the cursed city went into hiding to escape, and they discovered a spell that is the antidote. Now we must fight our way out to bring the cure to the rest of the world.

Whether this spell could restore the fully mindless zombies. . . though I really like the idea, I don't think it would. It would only fix the ones that still have some of their humanity left. The idea is a little awkward, I know. Still, it's interesting enough that I would go ahead and start turning it into a story if I wasn't already working on two other ones. Maybe I'll come back to it someday.

Do you ever dream things that make you want to tell a story?