First off, I am pleased to announce the giveaway winner! Thanks to everyone who entered. Rest assured, even if y’all didn’t win this time, there will be more giveaways coming up in the future. And the winner is: Jaime Heller! Congratulations, Jaime! Thank you for following my blog and facebook page. Please email me in the next 48 hours at thesongkeeper@gmail.com with your mailing address to claim your prize! Be sure to let me know which of the books you would like to receive! * * * * Every so often, in the middle of juggling writing projects, I am struck with an attack of the artist’s bug. It causes the sort of itch that won’t let me rest until I pull out a pad and pencil and start sketching. As I shared in a previous post a few months ago titled “I am an artist,” I used to have secret aspirations of being able to dash out gorgeous works that rivaled those of Alan Lee. And still, if there was one practical talent I could magically gain (other than superhero abilities, of course), I would hope it was the ability to create truly beautiful artwork. Unfortunately, my fairy godmother hasn’t shown up yet to gift me with the ability to artfully dash paint on the canvas while twirling and singing with forest animals. Disappointing, right? But I do enjoy pretending that I am an artist every now and then. Especially with characters from fantasy novels—including my own. Some of y’all may have already seen this on my facebook page, but if not, please meet the main characters from Orphan’s Song. Do you ever get struck with an artwork itch? Ever sketch your own characters or a favorite character from a novel? If so and you’ve posted it online, comment with the link—I’d love to see!
I am an artist
Wordcrafting has always been my chosen course of study. From a young age, I would stay up late into the night carving fantasy worlds from the bedrock of imagination and transforming them with each stroke of the keypad into words on a computer screen. There are few things more satisfying that untangling the knotted mass of plot threads in your head and slowly unraveling them on the page in just the right order . . . so when you look back, you can see the many colored strands drawing you to the glorious resolution on the final page. I love the written word. And yet, although nothing could ever make me wish myself free of the call of the pen, there are times when I’m heartily—woefully—jealous of a completely different talent. I wish I was an artist. There are so many incredibly talented people out there who can take the images in their heads and faithfully reproduce them in magnificent explosions of color and ink. Beautiful. Orderly. Breathtaking. My own attempts frequently resemble explosions of a far less pleasing sort.
I am in awe of the artist’s ability. It’s a talent all its own. Oh I can get by with a sketch pad and pencil … and a horde of erasers at my beck and call. Whenever the mood takes me, I’ll pluck out my old sketchpad and work to keep my hand and eye in “practice.” Mainly characters or scenes that I’m working on. This past week, in a fit of mad courage, I started experimenting with watercolors. And amidst the wild mass of colors and scattered brushes and splattered paint, I realized at last … That I am an artist. Oh I may not possess the skill with a paint and brush that some do … nor the ability to capture life on a pad with a few strokes of a pen. Nor can I compose melodies or lyrics that will set your heart on fire and your soul yearning for what is to come. I am an artist of a different sort. Words are my paint and my song. As a writer, I etch a little piece of my heart into every page. I strive to capture both beauty and truth, reality and hope in print. Books are so much more than rigid lines of black and white ink marching endlessly across the pages. They are things of wondrous color and beauty. The wildest dreams of a wild imagination … grounded in reality.
Whenever I think of the writing process, I cannot help recalling this scene from William Goldman’s The Princess Bride about artistry at work:
Domingo slept only when he dropped from exhaustion. He ate only when Inigo forced him to. He studied, fretted, complained. He never should have taken the job; it was impossible.
The next day he would be flying; he never should have taken the job; it was to simple to be worth his labors.
Joy to despair, joy to despair, day to day, hour to hour …
One night Inigo woke to find his father seated. Staring. Calm. Inigo followed the stare. The six fingered sword was done. Even in the hut’s darkness, it glistened.
“At last,” Domingo whispered. He could not take his eyes from the glory of the sword. “After a liftetime. Inigo. Inigo. I am an artist.”
I may not have reached the level of artistry Domingo reached when he created the six fingered sword. But if nothing else, I am an artist in the making, and I can be content with that. How about you? Do consider yourself an artist, whether you paint with words or a brush, or create music with lyrics or instrument?
Artwork
Maren mourns Aravel – The Errant King |
There’s just something about the soft whisper of a pencil on paper…It’s so relaxing. It helps me think. I guess that’s why I’ve always loved to sketch.
Not so much places or people I’ve seen, but those I’ve pictured in my head while reading a good book. Pictures translated from words.
I rarely draw my own characters. I’m not entirely sure why. After all, I imagined them, so I should be able to capture them in pencil as well as in ink. Still, for some reason, I always put it off and crack open another book instead, and grant form to another author’s creations.
Perhaps next time, I’ll have some pictures of my own characters to show you, but for now, here are some of my latest drawings of characters from Wayne Thomas Batson’s Dark Sea Annals series.
Our scanner is unfortunately broken, so I beg you pardon the photo quality as I was forced to take pictures of the drawings.
Lady Abbagael and baby Telwyn from Sword in the Stars. |
Raudrim |
The Red Queen |
Alistair |
Ariana of the Wetlands |
Lochlan, High King of Myriad |
Cythraul and Skoll |
The Errant King flees the castle. |
Telwyn |
Anyone else like to sketch characters? Do you prefer to sketch your own characters or characters from books you’ve read?
Wait… October’s over? Writing… Artwork… and Musings
Wow, I cannot believe that it is November already! The month of October (August and September as well) has simply flown by. Where did it go? Is it just me, or are the years seeming to pass more quickly? Haha, now I sound dreadfully old.
Anyway, it’s November now, and I’m already starting to feel like it should be Christmas. I had Christmas songs stuck in my head all of yesterday and I felt like pulling out all the Christmas decorations, and putting up Christmas lights and making Christmas cookies… oh well, soon enough!
For now, it’s November, and it’s also National Novel Writing Month! Which means, that these next 30 days will be a mad scramble of brainstorming, flying fingers, machine-gun-typing, writing, writing, and more writing in an insane attempt to write 50,000 words of a novel before 11:59 pm November 30th. I know that I’m going to be very busy, so I probably won’t be able to reach the full 50,000 words, but much as I hate starting something knowing I probably won’t be able to finish it, I think I’m going to do it anyway! At the very least, it will give me some incentive to sit down and force my brain to do some writing on my newest story!
Anyway, I was looking through my bookcase the other day, attempting to clean some things out, when I discovered an old binder full of old pictures I had drawn! It was pretty interesting looking back over things I had drawn several years ago. I’m certainly not the best artist in the world. I’m always amazed when I see what other people can do, my pictures are really simple in comparison. Still, I do like to draw, and I haven’t drawn in a really long time, so I’ll probably start doing some of that again! Haha, along with everything else I have to do.
Lots of the pictures I found were actually pencil sketches of characters from Wayne Thomas Batson’s Door Within Trilogy (a great Christian allegory/fantasy series for young teens). So, I’ll post some of them just for fun!