Comics, Beckett sketches, sewing, & Balticon

Will Write For Chocolate has been updated. A survey: how many of you can identify with this week's comic?

I'm not just like this with books, but with everything. And I've found that INEVITABLY whenever I throw anything out, I need it within a week. But it's far worse with books.



As I mentioned a few posts ago, I'm working with Beckett Gladney on a graphic novel.



She's been sending me some character sketches and rough page layouts, and I'm getting more and more excited. So excited that I feel compelled to share a few of them in Blatherings.

It's SO amazing to see these characters come to life in Beckett's drawings. When I create them, I only had a vague mental image of what they might look like; I was purposely leaving the final appearance up to the artist.

And now, of course, it's hard to imagine them looking any other way. :-)

The story's geared toward young people and has elements of fantasy, mystery-adventure, and science fiction.

Right now I'm compiling a list of possible markets where we could send our proposal. If any of you have suggestions, I'd appreciate it if you would post them or please let me know.



Beckett's amazing, isn't she? She's also been giving me sewing encouragement and advice. Check out this cool Jedi costume that she made for one of her sons a while back. And this incredible pumpkin carving she did for Halloween. Ok, so she didn't SEW the carving, but it's just more evidence of how Beckett's creativity bubbles over into everything she does.



Speaking of sewing, by the way, I offered to sew Jeff's head yesterday. I didn't mean to, it just came out. He got his hair cut SUPER-short and it looks great; I was making a joke about offering to shave a picture into his head but instead of "shave" the word "sew" came out. You should have seen the look he gave me.

Eek. Goes to show you how obsessed I am these days.



Above: another bag experiment. Instead of following the pattern's instructions for the handles, I decided to serge the edges instead. Also serged the top edge of the bag and used double folded bias tape. My stitching is still crooked even after unpicking a bunch to try again, but I'm gradually getting better. The bag has small pockets on each side, and the lining is a starry sky fabric that I bought at FilKONtario.

On the fabric below the bag, you can see my first experiments with "free-motion stitching." By covering up the feed dogs and attaching a darning foot to my machine, I can "draw" with thread. This has a LOT of interesting potential, hm. I think I might try decorating the outside of my next bag experiment.



Above: Edna Mole critiques my first attempt at sewing with a knit fabric.

I went to the library and browsed the sewing section for books on fabric art. I found a book that had some gorgeous examples of someone who used free-motion stitching that looked paintings, except using fabric and thread instead of paint. Investigating further, I discovered that it was all considered quilting.

Quilting? Uh oh. So right now I'm trying VERY HARD to resist finding out more about quilting and how to quilt and cool things I can make through quilting and and and...

(pause to take deep breath)

So I leave for Balticon tomorrow! Hope to see some of you there. The Balticon programming schedule (PDF) is now online, for those interested. In addition to open filk, you can find us (or me) at:

Friday 7 pm, Salon E: Everything You Wanted To Know About Filk - We'll be joined by Gary Ehrlich.

Sat 2 pm, Valley Ballroom: Musical Guest of Honor concert - If you're attending Balticon, please do spread the word about our concert, thanks. The info was inadvertently left off the main schedule page.

Sun 4 pm, Belmont: Writing For Web Comics I: I'll be participating along with Rosscott, Phil Kahn, Barb Fischer, James Robertson, Darren Gendron, and James Hatton.

Sun 9 pm, Salon E,F: Theme Filk - Literary Songs

Sun 11 am, Chase: Children's Concert - We'll be joined by Gary Ehrlich, Tom Jeffers, Sue Posteraro, and Dave Clement.

Mon 12 pm, Salon E: Enhancing Your Musical Performance *** This may be rescheduled since it's currently listed at the same time as our Kaffeklatch in the McCormick Suite. Or the Kaffeklatch may be rescheduled or cancelled.

Scheduling may change, so please do verify the above programming times when you get to the convention.

Woohoo, can't wait! Have a great weekend, everyone, and I'll be back next week.



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Graphic novel project with Beckett!

Photo of Beckett by Alisa Garcia on Beckett's camera.

As I may have mentioned, I've been working on a graphic novel. Unfortunately my artist had to opt out recently (for good reasons, and I support her decision) and I thought I might have to shelve the project for a while. Happily, however, I managed to find another artist who was willing to work on the project.

So...I'm pleased to announce that Beckett Gladney and I will be working on a graphic novel together. No, we don't have a publishing contract yet, but my agent is going to be sending out our proposal once it's finished.

I'm doing the writing and Beckett's doing the art. I've raved in the past about Beckett's amazing photos, as you may recall...



Image by Beckett.

You can see more of Beckett's photos in her Flickr site. I especially love her portrait photography. Here's one she took of our friend Dave Clement, and it remains one of my favourite Dave photos ever:



Image by Beckett.

Here's one she took of me which I've used in professional contexts:



Image by Beckett.

I usually hate photos of myself, but I really like this one. :-)


Image by Beckett.

Beckett's an illustrator by trade; I love her artwork! You can see her online sketchbook on Flickr as well as on her Web page. Beckett also did the painting on the cover of Urban Tapestry's Myths and Urban Legends CD as well as Sushi and High Tea.


Image by Beckett.

Beckett's husband, Paul, is also a good friend. They live out on the west coast, way too far from Toronto. :-(



Image by Beckett.

Beckett's also a musician, though she'll claim she's not. You can hear her harmonica on Seanan McGuire's most recent CD, Stars Fall Home (click on the soundclip for "Country Song.")



Anyway, I'm SOOOOOOO EXCITED about working with Beckett! We've been sending layouts and roughs and scripts back and forth; I can't imagine doing this by snailmail. She and I will likely be posting about the progress of the project in our blogs (Beckett has a Livejournal), maybe even some samples.

Wish us luck, eh? :-)



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