January was cold, as usual, but it felt pretty good to get back into illustration after almost 6 months of not doing much. This was for my roommate and her best friend. =D
It's not just the day-job, I've noticed. It's mostly me just having a hard time with fleshing out my own ideas. For some reason I find it harder to progress on a long-term project I have created from the ground up, than writing about/critiquing/adapting something that's already out there in the world. I feel it might be a mix of worry and fear - fear that these ideas will not be taken seriously or that someone might've come up with a better version of it.
That's kind of what happened to me when I picked up Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor. The series was awesome and very much the type of Gothic, dark-toned fantasy world I wanted to create for a set of characters in my head: "Chicago, 1928. Twin gargoyles grow up as human kids because of the man who adopts them." Granted, the story I had was much more adventurous and less romantic than hers... but still, she beat me to it (especially with the artsy protagonist) only because I hadn't completely written it down! Maybe someday, before 'Dark Teen Fantasy' makes a new boom in the market, I'll write it all out and feel less intimidated. =/
One great thing is that I finally joined a Writer's Group in the city, thanks to the people I met at the SCBWI conference in November. I shared my idea for the children's book, This Old Opera House, which I've had saved on my computer forEver... and they really liked it! I think the tough part is the revision and making it age-friendly to a particular age group. Right now, it's set up as a picture book with rhyming text (which is an impressive skill to have, believe it or not!), but the maturity of the story makes it directed for older kids, like middle grade. So... the question lies on who do I want to tell this story to? Should it be a picture book? Or should it be a full middle grade novel centered around a house that kids emotionally attach to?
PLUS... I've had this amazing idea for a series, that I just started putting together notes for this last month. I won't get too into detail because it's so precious and so new and raw... I feel like talking about it will jinx the creative process. Basically, it's a historical fantasy novel, in the same format I was thinking of doing the gargoyles story... but totally different story and mythology. :D So good! Hearts are everywhere.
Anyway, those are the two major projects I'm working on. I'm also keeping myself positive by taking a "Drawing the Graphic Novel" class, to feel more comfortable in visualizing what I write, making the text match an image. I'm excited to actually start putting together real work based on homework assignments.
Happy first month of 2015!
