Derry, Northern Ireland

Derry, Northern Ireland
A book I'm working on is set in this town.

Sunday, April 7, 2013

Took a Walk...

All the sketches are coming out wrong and I got brutally frustrated, which led to a nice bout of second-guessing, which led to certainty I was screwing up...so I went down to a Dairy Queen and got a small chocolate cone. Then walked to a grocery store and got a few bottles of DP for the week. Then came home...and worked it out.

I was trying to make these too right and detailed and perfect, from the outset. Working at something like what you'd see in "Alice in Wonderland" or some turn of the 20th century pot-boiler novel. Instead, I backed it down a bit. David doesn't need to be surrounded by forest when he's seen feeding the fox and her kits. None of the sketches need to be panoramas. Just one does -- when he sees the castle for the first time.

So I've got that worked out in pencil. He's big in the foreground and the castle almost seems to be floating in the clouds. Much better. This may even wind up being the cover, if it turns out right.

I also found a color one I did years and years ago that might work for the back panel. It's not perfect, but I could make it better.

I've also come to the decision that "The Alice '65" is done. I could tinker on it till I'm dead and it won't be all that much better. It's a solid script with interesting characters, and if anyone disagrees, tough. I like it.

Now let's see what happens with it.

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