Super Dungeon Explore July 30, 2018
Posted by thejinx in art.Tags: admiral fuzzybottom, art, billman, board, centaur, character, chests, colonel, forgotten king, game, gaming, miniatures, minis, paint, painting, pieces, squirrels, super dungeon explore, thunder vale huntress, treasure
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Off and on over the past several months, I’ve been painting miniatures from Super Dungeon Explore (the Forgotten King expansion), and now, I thought I’d finally share my progress so far.
The Forgotten King
Rabid Squirrels
Billman
Pets (The Colonel and Admiral Fuzzybottom)
Thunder Vale Huntress
Treasure chests
New art: Garrick July 17, 2018
Posted by thejinx in art, enduring chaos.Tags: art, book, character, drawing, enduring chaos, gift, guest, ink, knight, picture, run, sketch
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Awfully late with this one, but I wanted to share this fantastic drawing of Garrick from Enduring Chaos by Stephen Peterson of TriCity Studios!
2015 art update September 3, 2015
Posted by thejinx in art, books, enduring chaos, photography.Tags: 2015, art, cat, character, design, drawing, flowers, jewellery, jewelry, photography, photos, pictures, sketch, stone, update, wire, wrapping
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In short, I still haven’t done much of it. However, in my typical way, I have done a bit of dabbling, and at times perhaps I have been doing more drawing than much of the time over the past few years, even if it is just sketches. The beginning of the year, in particular, saw me picking up the sketchbook a little more frequently:
I have also done some character designs on my tablet:
More recently, after having the materials for upwards of a couple years, I finally tried my hand at some proper wire wrapping:
And finally, earlier this year I upgraded to a proper DSLR camera, with which I am very pleased:
Changes January 23, 2015
Posted by thejinx in art, enduring chaos.Tags: art, character, drawing, fantasy, image, new, picture, profile, sketch
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I finished a new drawing last night, my first in over six months:
It is a simple picture, in many respects, but this drawing is very important to me. Not because of the content, but because of the way it made me feel.
Because I enjoyed working on it. I enjoyed every step of the process – building up the sketch, designing the outfit, finding reference images for things like the hairstyle and anatomy, even learning to work around the limitations of the app I used, as I drew this from start to finish on my tablet. Intimidation reared its head and made it hard to get started at times, but I never had to force myself to work on it or felt discouraged that something wasn’t working and wanted to give up.
I don’t know why or how this changed, but this is a big deal for me, and it led to an even bigger revelation:
I feel good about my art.
I don’t care that it isn’t as good as the artists I follow. I don’t care that there are a lot of things I can’t or at least don’t know how to draw. I don’t care that after so many years I am still learning how to draw faces. I looked through my online gallery last night, both the drawings that kind of make me want to delete almost my entire gallery and the ones I still like, and it just made me want to draw more. For the first time in at least ten years, flaws aren’t the only thing I see, and I’m revelling in the act of creating, itself.
Now if only I had more time to draw.
Character genesis: Domino April 17, 2014
Posted by thejinx in enduring chaos, writing.Tags: book, character, genesis, guilt, mistake, novel, origin, regret, repentant, shame, sinner, story, writing
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Where does a character come from?
For me, often the main character determines the story, and so comes before anything else. Beyond that, a character usually arises out of the role I need them to play in a story. I can’t find a place for them otherwise, and alas, that means that I’ve generally been unable to recycle characters from other story attempts. From there, I develop the character’s backstory, personality, and goals, and everything after that point is determined by the character as they come to life.
But that isn’t always the case.
There is an archetype of character – specifically, of protagonist – in genre fiction that I have seen done many times: the Mistake. This character is a repentant sinner; they did something in their past that they sorely regret, often killing or hurting someone close to them, and the main point of their character arc is to come to terms with the crime they committed. Up until the character does come to terms with it, they have various methods of coping with the shame they feel from that action, whether it’s drinking themselves to sleep every night, constantly punishing themselves symbolically, or general angstiness (or sometimes/often all three).
The one thing these characters all have in common is the Mistake: they are always somehow tricked or coerced into doing the shameful action.
Of course, it’s easy to build a character that way, or to want to build a character that way. People don’t want to believe a good guy is capable of intentionally doing something evil, and it’s awfully hard to sympathize with one who did. Whereas if the character had to do the evil deed to protect something/someone(s) else or believed they were doing the right thing, it becomes easier for a reader to understand their plight and want them to move on.
But it’s been done. A lot. I think there were four or five examples of this in a single video game I played.
So it got me thinking, what if the repentant sinner actually did something downright vile?
This was the thought process behind Domino, a character in Enduring Chaos.
Now, I am not saying he just went out and attacked innocent people unprovoked – he had his own, albeit twisted, reasons for what he did, and the people involved were certainly not saints. But Domino has blood on his hands. A lot of blood. And it is all on him. No one tried to force or trick him into doing it; the idea and the blame are entirely his. What he did was inexcusable, and no amount of good he could ever do will make up for that black stain on his soul and reputation.
So what is his coping mechanism with the sins of his past? I wanted to avoid angst for several reasons: it’s been overdone, it either ignites annoyance on the part of the reader or sympathy – which demeans the heinousness of his crimes – and more importantly in this particular case, with his set of semi-normal morals it would be impossible for him to live with that level of guilt.
Instead, I took a different route – detachment. He feels nothing, never shows emotion, and rarely speaks or even comes in contact with other people. He exists rather than lives, wandering through the wilds and hunting and gathering his own food, trading pelts or found food and materials for any supplies he needs, completely apart from other people and even his own past and self.
Does he regret what he did? Of course he does. As I said, he still holds a semi-normal set of morals. But with his view on the world, it has no impact on him, neither the regret nor the morals themselves. They are part of a canvas he sees from the outside.
Does that mean he hasn’t faced the shame he holds, somewhere in the part of his mind he has closed off? Yes, it does. But it doesn’t matter to him.
Will he eventually move beyond that detachment? … Well, you’ll have to read Enduring Chaos to find out.
But that was the genesis of Domino.
New art – Damian/Frozen March 21, 2014
Posted by thejinx in art, enduring chaos.Tags: art, character, costume, disney, drawing, dress, elsa, fantasy, frozen, gown, novel, picture, sketch
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Joke picture. This is Damian, star of my latest novel Enduring Chaos, which was released last fall. She is a young woman with a strange and unique power which she cannot control, exacerbated when she is upset, and for which she is shunned by others. Hence, a little wardrobe change for kicks. Costume design courtesy Disney.
Desert Breeze July 14, 2010
Posted by thejinx in art.Tags: art, character, drawing, fanart, fire emblem, marker, picture, radiant dawn, sketch, sothe
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Some fanart from Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn:
Drawing backlog March 13, 2010
Posted by thejinx in art, eyes of a dragon.Tags: anime, art, cartoon, character, chrono trigger, comic, drawing, face, fantasy, manga, marle, original character, picture, portrait, sketch
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As the title makes clear, this is a blog about my art and writing, right? And while I honestly haven’t finished any art yet this year and I don’t share my novels online, that doesn’t mean I don’t have anything to post. And while I still don’t have much to share, there is no excuse for letting it pile up a bit anyway.
So, I aim to rectify that, starting now. Drawing has been a bit sparse since November at least, but I have at least done the following sketches:
While this drawing has been on this site for a while, I never made note of it. This is the villain of my novel Eyes of a Dragon, and one of very few times I have drawn an older character.
Click for larger image. Marle from Chrono Trigger, in something of a challenge to an anonymous visitor who came here looking for “chrono trigger marle nude.”
My first sketch of 2010, done on the last day of January, this is the star of Eyes of a Dragon, Jeremy. The face was based on a photo of figure skater Jeffrey Buttle and the hair was loosely based on a photo of my own.
I don’t know when I’ll have new art to share, finished or otherwise, but I have some short writing to post here in the near future, so stay tuned.
I really need to start drawing more.