grappling with the chimera ~

cathellisen reminded me a couple of days ago, about an age-old ever-burning desire to write the "hybrid" form of story that somehow combines a narrative with sequential art in a way that would be part-book, part-graphic novel.

i think the last time i actually tried to work on what that would look like was back when i first started Razi-el's Dream (which has been more years than i would like to admit).

this idea was very Eddie Campbell in its layout,
which i think ended up being too rigid
i more recently flirted with the idea when conceptualizing Eleison, but there was never time enough to develop the look and feel of the thing and too much static on the collaborating end (not my brother, but other factors). i tried pushing for it with issue No. 4, "Harvest", but we were really pinched under deadline, so it didn't work out. i loved the text of the issue, but it was built to work with more dialogue and very little of the dialogue ended up in the book because we went with straight illustrations instead.


we had three weeks to put this book together
and i was still writing up to the last minute
to fix some wonginess
while i feel that the book is a bit of a mutt and didn't quite work, i still really like it and think the story was pretty fabulous (and it was fun to write something from the point of view of the father of one of my favorite characters ~ that's the only time that's happened so far!).

anyway, the point of all this is that maybe now's a good time, given the improvements in my ability to draw and my firmer confidence in the arc of the material, to try fusing that elusive hybrid together again. there are moments when i know that this form, whatever it might actually look like, is what i am truly meant to do. i'm too impatient for straight sequentials over the long haul (and i miss the narrative), and the narrative is always wanting images. i have said this before and keep coming back to it, so clearly there is something here.

i'm still working on the three stories i have going at the moment and those deadlines are firm, but i'm thinking of digging up a disembodied vignette from somewhere and just playing with the melding of visuals and text ~ to see what i can come up with. hopefully the hardest part will be deciding which text to use.

p.s. i am almost finished with my paper doll. except for the west point thing. i might post him later.

off to slay dragons ~ happy sunday all!

: D

remains of the creative day ~

i dinna quite finish James today. i still might, but i wanted to post what i had so far. i love the riding outfit. it's so snotty. and i love cadmium red (it's such a joy to paint with). i will finish this for sure during the week ~ after i finish drawing the other couple of outfits i wanted to. i also sketched an Emmaline, but have yet to commit her to real paper at this point. we'll see about that.


otherwise i have struggled some today. finished a draft of one of the stories i have been working on, but it feels weak. it's missing something (coherence? cohesion? co-something?). i feel like i really had a strong sense of what i was writing when i started it, but it's muddly now that it's semi-finished (at an alarming 5,700 words). it feels suddenly oddly pointless as a story and i'm not quite sure how to fix that.

Stars in Their Courses

synopsis: James ropes Lewis into trying to have a heart-to-heart with a woman who has been recently raped. Anyone who knows Lewis well enough ought to know this is destined for disaster.

a wee darling: He had left Camp Faiger in heavy buckskin trousers, a worn cotton blouse, a brown worsted coat on the verge of needing patches, and boots so bent and scuffed they appeared to have fought the late war all on their own.

mean things: Interestingly, this one of those rare instances where James isn't actually trying to be a jerk but comes off like one anyway. The meanest behavior actually comes from the woman, who jumps to unfortunate conclusions about everyone else's intentions.

nice things: i absolutely adore how Emmaline defends Lewis (i adore Emmaline, period). i think this moment and the final scene in which James gives Lewis an astrology lesson (metaphorically speaking - which is where the title comes from) are what inspired me to write the story.

random fact: i confess to perpetrating appalling things against the woman character in this story because, frankly, i don't like her. it seems strange not to like a character i created it, i guess, but sometimes characters are just that unpleasant.

I'm going to give the story a once more over and then maybe send it to a few peeps of distinction to get some needed perspective on it. then i can start doing illustrations for it. eeeeek!

: D