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Perspective: Helpful ally or tool of Satan?
*sigh* I do struggle with perspective. The really annoying thing about it is that when I really slave over a drawing, trying to get it right, it usually doesn't end up looking any better than when I just slap something together and tweak it a little in Photoshop.
I do, however, seem to have gotten over my Kismet art block. Which is good. What I really want to be doing right now, however, is reading, which is bad. I finished "Fire & Hemlock" this morning over breakfast, so now I only have one DWJ book left in the pile -- and the library's out of anything except 2nd and 3rd books of series, so now I have to buy them myself, which should slow me down somewhat.
If I look at it a certain way, I can *almost* justify all this reading time as research. The particular type of book I've been reading lately correspond almost exactly to the general style and reading age level that I'm aiming for with my new project ... Top Secret Comic Project, (TM), details to be discussed later. Reading these books is giving me a good idea of how far I can push the envelope without getting into parental-objection material -- pretty far, apparently.
I'm also learning a good deal about characterization. Jones has an absolute gift for bringing her characters to life, and probably the best example of that is Mordian in Hexwood, who elevated that book from ho-hum, slightly muddled fantasy/sci-fi, to one of my favorite books that I've read lately. I *know* Fire & Hemlock was a much better written book, but none of the characters grabbed me the way Mordian did. So I've been going over the character in detail, to distract myself from the fact that I'm kludging up the perspective on the new Kismet page, and trying to figure out what it is about that character that is so phenomenally appealing. I think a lot of it, interestingly, is his sense of humor. The moment in the book that I fell for Mordian was the first time he smiled at Ann -- the way that was described, a beautiful smile completely out of place with his generally freaky appearance, just did it for me. And the fact that he's had an absolutely *horrible* life and can still see the humor and absurdity in the situations around him ... that, really, is perhaps the most amazing and admirable thing about that character. Of all the abuse that was described in the chapters on his childhood, the one thing that struck me as the most awful thing the Reignors did to him -- even worse than making him kill his only friend -- was to condition him so that he couldn't smile or laugh. That little detail just socked me in the gut.
Actually, in a lot of ways Mordian reminded me of how I imagine Linton ... only cooler, somehow.
I do, however, seem to have gotten over my Kismet art block. Which is good. What I really want to be doing right now, however, is reading, which is bad. I finished "Fire & Hemlock" this morning over breakfast, so now I only have one DWJ book left in the pile -- and the library's out of anything except 2nd and 3rd books of series, so now I have to buy them myself, which should slow me down somewhat.
If I look at it a certain way, I can *almost* justify all this reading time as research. The particular type of book I've been reading lately correspond almost exactly to the general style and reading age level that I'm aiming for with my new project ... Top Secret Comic Project, (TM), details to be discussed later. Reading these books is giving me a good idea of how far I can push the envelope without getting into parental-objection material -- pretty far, apparently.
I'm also learning a good deal about characterization. Jones has an absolute gift for bringing her characters to life, and probably the best example of that is Mordian in Hexwood, who elevated that book from ho-hum, slightly muddled fantasy/sci-fi, to one of my favorite books that I've read lately. I *know* Fire & Hemlock was a much better written book, but none of the characters grabbed me the way Mordian did. So I've been going over the character in detail, to distract myself from the fact that I'm kludging up the perspective on the new Kismet page, and trying to figure out what it is about that character that is so phenomenally appealing. I think a lot of it, interestingly, is his sense of humor. The moment in the book that I fell for Mordian was the first time he smiled at Ann -- the way that was described, a beautiful smile completely out of place with his generally freaky appearance, just did it for me. And the fact that he's had an absolutely *horrible* life and can still see the humor and absurdity in the situations around him ... that, really, is perhaps the most amazing and admirable thing about that character. Of all the abuse that was described in the chapters on his childhood, the one thing that struck me as the most awful thing the Reignors did to him -- even worse than making him kill his only friend -- was to condition him so that he couldn't smile or laugh. That little detail just socked me in the gut.
Actually, in a lot of ways Mordian reminded me of how I imagine Linton ... only cooler, somehow.
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