autojoy ♥

Finished…!

Lines & detail:

Edward V and Prince Richard. I’d wanted to do this particular composition since I made “The White Tower” comic, but at the time I’d not felt competant enough to pull off what I’d wanted to do. I think it came out okay. I had some problems with it, but overall it was actually a really fun peice to make! ^_^ I think the bed itself is too complex a design for the time-period, I did as much research as I was practically able to to find info about furniture of the time… I bet I’m still way off the mark. I also discovered that dedicated sleep-wear had not really been invented yet. Most people slept naked. Obviously I couldn’t really draw that ^^;;; But there you go. It’s an approximation~!

Most artwork depicting their “murder” generally has them asleep at the point of being smothered. Since, according to popular testimony of the time (I suspect a lot of it fabricated by anti-Richard III folks), Edward had been expecting something bad to happen, I thought it might be interesting to make it look like he’d been waiting up every night.

I don’t know what really happened to these kids. I think personally they may have either died accidentally, or been deported or well-hidden. But I do get frustrated that somewhere along the line in English history, we have misplaced a monarch! D:

Took me about 24 hours to get used to what’s happened! By the following evening I was rolling on the floor in glee. I’m very excited now. I was even wondering if I could take the final book up to an A4 finished size… or maybe do two shorter print runs of A4 and A5? So much to consider…! Before this, I was really worrying over things like even adding one extra page to the book, since it would mean the printing would be more expensive. I can pick good paper stock now for the interiors and covers, and I don’t have to quibble over extra pages or anything! I am definitely feeling more confident about things, I think *^_^* Thanks to people who have sent lovely messages and emails… I am truly touched!! \^_^/

I’m still in preparation stages before I launch into the book… I’ve decided to draw “The Cherry Tree” first, then “The Piper Man”, and finally “Matryoshka.” That’s actually the order I drafted them in, haha. I should take a picture of the drafts and plans stacked up…

In the mean-time, here’s a WIP I hope to get finished this evening (the rough, at least)…

(Sorry about the funny angle! I wasn’t really thinking!) I’ve been working on it in the evenings for fun, and as one last big illustration before I start the book. I think it might take a few more evenings to do the neat lines and colour… I will put it here when it’s done ^_^

Last night was the ceremony for the Arts Foundation Fellowship awards for 2010, presented by Sir Nicholas Hytner. I was actually awarded the Graphic Novel grant. It completely blindsided me, because I hadn’t even been feeling nervous, because I had just written myself off, and been really thankful that I’d even been shortlisted alongside Karrie, Bill and James. So, I think I made a total prat of myself… I didn’t really know what to do or say, and I can’t remember what I said now, when I went up to collect the envelope. I hope I didn’t say anything too stupid O_O; Actually, I wanted to run to the bathroom and cry when I got the envelope! Honestly, I was so shocked I just didn’t know what to do…

I think when I get over this, and it sinks in a bit, not only will the support/funding be exceedingly welcomed, but the fact that it will give me confidence is, I think, really important. I’m very unconfident. I don’t really have any confidence at all. I think being given the award will help me boost it a little ^_^/

Major thanks to everyone who has made this possible… I’m so grateful.

I better make Fish & Chocolate really damn good! It’s going to be a happy little book! :D

I tried setting up a mini-shoot today!

The figurines are Akihiko and Mitsuru from Persona3. They are actually a slightly different scale to each other, so Akihiko is about 7 inches in front of Mitsuru, and propped up on three books XD This Akihiko figurine is possibly my favourite out of all of our figurines… it’s not the most detailed, and neither the best paint-job, but I really, really love it.

Whole set under the cut…

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I just found this saved in my files…

Yes, our scanner is… an interesting peice of equipment! Sometimes it surprises us with its whimsy. I think this was one of the most interesting things it’s produced so far XD I’ve never seen another scanner do this… sometimes it’s just like it’s not properly woken up yet and needs a coffee (like me!) Haha~

The snow is *finally* melting! I’m actually annoyed… it’s my birthday tomorrow and I wanted to throw a snowball! It’s never snowed on my birthday before. Usually it just rains ^^;

O_O; I tried this as a 15-min sketch before lunch… I wanted to see how fast I could go without making the picture look like utter crap. Obviously I need a little longer than 15 minutes XD; The characters are Hekristos and Marley; I’d previously sketched them out a while back. They look super-different here. Hekristos looks too old (actually he looks like Feth got his hair cut and dyed XD;) and Marley looks too young and round in the face XD; I guess they look so different because I used pencil rather than sketching in PS. And, uh… didn’t look back at those original sketches at all. I prefer the original PS sketches by far. Oh well! I’ve been laid up in bed a couple of days and was desperate to do something XD I have no idea what I was trying with that border-background thing… O_O;

Got these in the post the other day! Nice and shiny!

Obviously the book isn’t out for ages (nearly next May?)… but it’s really nice to see these anyhow! I like the spine a lot; I was wondering from the early previews how it was going to look in-person, and it looks quite distinctive, I think. Good for the shelves! We all put a lot of effort into getting the three first DFC Library books looking their best. I hope it will pay off, and we can get the whole range of DFC strips out there eventually! ^_^