I decided to bookend my challenge with self-portraits.

I’ll leave it to those who know me to decide whether it actually looks like me or not. My hair is generally more frizzy than this, but the day I took the photo I used as a model for this drawing I had actually curled it. So there you go.

Thank you to everyone who chimed in support of my upcoming “30 Days, 30 Faces” art challenge, here and on LiveJournal. I’m gearing up to start on Sunday, June 1st — I figure I’ll let the calendar keep count for me instead of trying to do it myself.

Here’s a little teaser, a sketch I did over the weekend, modeled on a photo of Ben Barnes (you’ve doubtless seen his face all over town on Prince Caspian posters). Don’t get your hopes up that everything I post will be so nice looking — first of all, not all my models will be so cute. I also spent a lot more time on this then I will have to spend on anything on a daily basis, and it’s been copied and inked to boot (I’m still debating whether or not I want to dare try coloring it). What’s to come will doubtless be much rougher. But it does exemplify the style I’m shooting for, depending more on line than shading.

So, I’ve been busy gathering supplies and inspiration. I bought a small spiral sketchbook and a big eraser the other day, and a small pouch to carry pencils and erasers to keep me from losing them in the chaos of my room and/or purse. My drawing implement of choice is a plain ol’ #2 pencil; I figure if I can’t do it with that, all the fancy drawing pencils in the world aren’t going to make a difference. I am, however, thinking of getting a mechanical pencil for rough outlines, since the harder, finer lead marks will be easier to erase. I do a lot of erasing, believe me.

Since all the faces I draw out of my head seem to end up looking alike, I’ve decided to work from photos. That way I’ll have a better gauge to tell if I’m getting close to the mark or not. I’m putting together a collection of photographs of interesting faces and differing expressions. But I fear drawing purely random faces will get kind of boring (remember, I said I was interested in portraits of characters), so this is where you come in.

I’d like people to make recommendations of characters I should draw: they can be your characters, my characters, book characters, movie characters, game characters from your life … really, anyone. The only requirement is that you can provide a photo reference, or enough description that I can choose a photo reference myself (adapted as necessary in the drawing). The only two limitations are 1) no cartoon characters (I don’t want to copy someone else’s drawings) and 2) no political figures (cause we’ve all had enough of them this past year, right?).

Your reward for helping me out: if I do a drawing of someone you suggest — and it turns out halfway decently and you actually like it — I will do a cleaned-up, inked version of the artwork and mail it to you. I’ll even sign it for you, so when I am rich and famous it will be worth — well, doubt it will be worth much, but still. Free art! That’s a good deal, right? So put on your thinking cap and give me some suggestions: who would you like to see hanging on your wall?

The jacarandas have been especially beautiful this month.

I know. You’re probably going to kill me. “Stace, what is this? No posts for nearly two weeks and then three in one day?!?” It probably wouldn’t be so annoying if I didn’t have a tendency to get so darn wordy…

Anyway, as some of you know, I’ve been experimenting sporadically with drawing and painting and stuff like that over the past year. I won’t go into my arty-crafty background and why reinventing myself as a fine artist is such a revolution for me (that would be wordy, after all). Leave it to say that I am very much a beginner when it comes to basic drawing and painting.

One of the the things I’ve discovered is that I’m particularly interested in making faces, and not so much landscapes or trees or abstracts or flowers or horses. Oh, okay. I do like painting horses too, but what I’m really interested in is people.

I pinned it down to the fact that, as a writer, I’m always making up characters. And I’ve always longed to have visual interpretations of those characters. Some people, I know, will latch onto an actor or illustration and say, “Yup, that’s him.” I’ve done that too, but except in a few rare instances, I’ve never been entirely satisfied. It always feels like a substitution: “Well, he sort of looks like him, but not quite.” I think it’s because I see my characters as unique individuals, not just roles to fill … so why don’t they have their own unique appearance?

Ergo, my interest in being able to make portraits of people, and of my characters in particular.

So, in my forays through the artful blogosphere, I have found many artists who have benefited by putting themselves to a one-a-day art challenge. The focused attention on one particular theme, style, mode, media, or whatever leads to increased proficiency and heightened awareness of purpose.

No, I don’t know what that means either. I just made it up some fancy jingo to sound impressive. But to put it frankly: people are just get better at doing something if they do it every day.

So, I’m thinking of doing my own one-a-day art challenge, one sketched face a day. I’m not sure I can commit to a full 365-day challenge, as I’ve seen others complete, but I can certainly try for 30 days, and see what happens. One sketch a day, for 30 days. Should be doable.

But I have two questions for the peanut gallery:
1) Will it annoy you who read this blog if I start posting my admittedly wonky scribbles here on a daily basis? I don’t want to drive anyone away. I could always use an alternative forum like Flickr or DeviantArt or even set up a sub blog for those of you who are interested (Is anyone actually interested? I don’t know!). Please be honest — I won’t be offended if you say you really don’t want to see my work so often. I’m doing it for me, after all, not you.

2) Is there anyone who wants to play along? Group support is a wonderful thing, and you don’t have to draw portraits yourself. You can do tissue paper flowers, if you want. Think what a lovely arrangement you could make for your mantle in 30 days!

So go ahead. Push the button and tell me what you think. Don’t be afraid to be wordy…

I’ve been telling everyone that it’s taken me four months to get Chapter 2 of The False Queen written. I was wrong. Looking back, I see it’s really only been three months since I posted the first snippet of this particular piece.

It’s been a long three months, let me tell you.

I have fought and wrangled with this piece, up, down, and across the Nile. The bits and pieces slid into place, but slowly, resistant to whatever force of will I tried to ply them with to get them to work together. But finally, in a two-day sprint, I managed to get it all together so I could present it to my writing group last night.

The biggest stumbling block, as in so much fantasy fiction, was backstory. In chapter one, the POV character Robin has a fairly ignorant view of the world; I didn’t need to delve too deeply in order to convey her impressions of what was happening around her. Chapter 2 has a different POV character, though, and in order to understand the conflicts motivating him it’s necessary to have a certain amount of background information about the social history of the world. But how much? And how to fit it in without interrupting the flow of the events shown in the chapter? That was my problem. I admit I didn’t solve it perfectly: there is one moderate info dump in the middle that I would like to expunge down the line, but I think for now it will for the time being, once I have a better sense of what information will be needed when.

Another challenge was the making the character sympathetic to the readers. In early versions I think he came off snooty and/or sulky, which wasn’t what I wanted. He is angry and grieving, but he has to mask these things in order to survive. Unfortunately, the character was so good at masking that the underlying emotions weren’t coming through to the reader either (well, me). How was I going to bring that emotional level to the surface, without putting the character in danger? The answer was to force him into a direct confrontation with the source of his anger and grief, exposing them for the reader but allowing the mask to remain intact within the story. Thus the following encounter was born. Once it was written, everything else in the chapter just fell into place.

One thing I should probably note before you read on is that the character has stolen his brother’s name. I couldn’t stop him — his argument was that since his brother was dead at the start of the book, he really didn’t require such a good name. I couldn’t disagree. Known in previous versions as “Quire” he’s now “Dar An’Ceri Quaren”, where Quaren is his given name and An’Ceri, as you’ll learn below, is the family name. Dar you’ll just have to wonder about. And no, I haven’t renamed the brother yet…

Standard Disclaimer: From a work-in-progress and likely to change. Standard Copyright Proclamation: This is mine — don’t spread it around or try to claim it as yours!

“Don’t you want to do it yourself?” The unanticipated question caught him off-guard. He turned, incredulous, to face the smirking Skane again. “The man’s a traitor. Any true servant of the king would welcome this chance to prove his loyalty.”

It was a challenge, one Quaren knew he could not avoid without confirming the suspicions surrounding him already. He was no soldier or executioner, bound to kill on the king’s behalf, but if he refused to take this man’s life now, his own life might be forfeit. Besides, he could not stomach the smug reproach of the kirgis should he fail. Using that meager measure of defiance as a seed, he projected a false hauteur and drove himself, step by step, across the field until he was standing at Skane’s side.

More of the kirgis had gathered nearby, eager to see the sorcerer put to the test. Most of them spoke little Elari, and Quaren didn’t feel obliged to inform them that he understood what the jibes they were making at his expense in their native tongue. He passed his torch to Skane and dropped to one knee, relieved to see that he did not actually know the man stretched out before him. It would make what he had to do a little easier. He hoped.

The Vinkyr was awake, and by Quaren’s quick assessment bore no mortal injury. Broken limbs, a bleeding wound on his head — nothing that could not be healed with time and care. Two things Quaren had no power to give. Not tonight. I’m sorry, he thought, with a touch to the man’s shoulder that he hoped conveyed the sense of his regret, even if he could not speak it aloud.

The man stared at him, exhausted and confused, probably recognizing from the similarity of their features what he was, but not who. Then his eyes lit upon the bronze clasp that held Quaren’s cloak, and the intricate family badge depicted on its surface. “An’Ceri?” he asked, his voice a hoarse shudder. Quaren nodded once, stiffly, and for an instant a bright gleam of hope flickered in the warrior.

But then the rest of the pieces fell into place. The An’Ceri were a small family, after all, notable in recent years for the actions of its two youngest sons — one honored by their people, and one reviled. Quaren could mark the moment he figured out exactly which son he was by the look of hatred that flashed across his face. Snarling, he flung Quaren’s hand from him. “You are no Vinkyr!”

The accusation barely stung, he had heard it so many times before, but Skane’s derisive laughter made him seethe. The condemnation of his own people he could bear, but not the ridicule of a vulgar kirgis.

“Do you want to borrow my knife, An’Ceri?” Skane held it out to him, moonlight licking its long curved blade. As Quaren glowered at him with every ounce of scorn he could muster, the barbarian mimed a sharp, cutting motion with it, eager to see the blood flow.

“Do it!” the Vinkyr hissed. “Prove yourself the traitor we all know you are!”

Soul wrenched by grief and fury, Quaren had no reason to delay, but he didn’t need a knife to kill. Grimly, he thrust a hand out over the man and said another word. He did it quickly, so quickly that there was no time, even, for surprise to register in the dying man’s eyes as life fled him. It was over in an instant.

Beside him, Skane took a step back, and a rustle of unease passed through all the watching kirgis. They had mocked him without understanding the true depth of his power. What, did they think he had been abandoned by the Vinkyr for the ability to play tricks with light? Now they knew. Now they were afraid. He took small comfort in that.

He stood and reclaimed his torch. “Get back to work,” he said, his voice still chill from bearing death. Wrapping their fear around himself like a mantle he strode out into the darkness.

Only when he was sure he was far enough away did he begin to shake.

Thanks for reading!

I haven’t done a meme in quite a while, but Bri tagged me so I thought I’d give this one a go.

1. The rules of the game get posted at the beginning.
2. Each player answers the questions about themselves.
3. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5-6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read the player’s blog.
4. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.

A Meme about Various Things

What were you doing ten years ago?
1998? We would have just recently moved to Santa Clara. I think in May I was temping at a Jaguar dealership.

What are five things on your to-do list for today (not in any particular order)?
Clean off my desk, straighten up dolls, clean out the inbox, buy a present, write something.

What are some snacks you enjoy?
chocolate, yogurt with granola, popcorn

What would you do if you were a billionaire?
Aside from paying off debts, assuring education funds for my children (it may take near a billion by the time they get there), and buying assorted cars and houses for my loved ones — I’d set up some sort of organization that would serve as a patron for writers, allowing them to write without being dependent on the whims of the market to make a living, and exploring new means of publication and distribution for the new age. Also, I’d probably do something a la Skotos, only with a stronger leaning towards collaborative fiction instead of gaming, and with more paid staff to make it work.

What are five places where you have lived?
Placentia, CA; West Lafayette, IN; Santa Clara, CA; Davis, CA; South Hadley, MA.

What are five jobs you have had?
Day Camp Supervisor, Ride Operator, Heraldic Salesperson (forsooth), Dry Cleaning press operator (I swear it’s true), Dishwasher

What were the last five books you read?
The Orphan’s Tale 1 & 2 (Catheryn M. Valente)
The Name of the Wind (Patrick Rothfuss)
Childe Morgan (Katherine Kurtz)
Passage (Lois McMaster Bujold)
Emissary (Fiona McIntosh)

What are five web sites you visit daily (in no particular order)?
Confessions of a Pioneer Woman
I Can Has Cheesburger?
Flogging the Quill
Endicott Studio blog
Fantasy Magazine
(cheated a bit here, as I actually read most of these through a feed aggregator: the only sites I literally visit everyday are Google Reader and LiveJournal)

I don’t usually tag people on these things, but I’m feeling capricious today, so…

Nin!
Annie!
Melodye!
Chris!
Melissa!

You’re up!

My daughter’s picked a lovely bouquet for me this morning, and delivered it with breakfast in bed. I share it here for all the mothers, mothers-to-be … and, well, anyone who ever had a mother to enjoy!

I was going to post the painting I did yesterday, but it is nearly all black, and would spoil the trend of colorful flowers here of late. So if you’re interested, you can go visit it at my DeviantArt account.

Have a great day!

“All of my stories are true and many are accurate.”
— Caroline Askoy, Artful Blogging, Fall 2008.

Well, you’ll have to take my word for it …

Am I right? Is it yellow for friendship?