December Reviews. I felt like my december review was very successful. In the beginning my biggest fear about my review was that I was going to run out of time. I had so much that I wanted to talk abut during my presentation, and I felt like 20 mins was just not going to cut it. During the practice presentations that we did with out classes, I completely overshot my time. When Sean and Hanna told me I had three minutes left I was less than half way through my presentation, and ended up rushing through the rest of my presentation so fast that I didn't even talk about what my story was actually about :/ that really sucked. The night before my review I wrote myself Up a script (it turned out to be three single spaced pages long :/) and really paced myself with the presentation. On the actual day of the review I finished just in time, and got a chance to talk about everything I wanted to. I felt like my committee was really into my presentation. I got allot of useful feedback, and I felt that my committee members were very interested in my story. I really enjoyed myself on presentation day!

This week was one of the most productive yet, i drew lots of pictures. I spent all of my studio time drawing. I also got to practice giving my december review presentation on thrusday. WHen I put my presentation together I was very proud of it, because I included allot of information, and allot about how far i have come in terms of my projects development. I did not however, practice the talking aspect of my presentation, I underestimated exactly how long it would take me to get through the presentation. I got about halfway through and received a warning telling me that i had 3 minutes left, it was not good. Due to me running out of time i didn't get to present one of the most important parts of the presentation, i didn't get to read a section of the story, or even tell clearly what the story was about. I had planned to insert that part near the end as i was going over my Illustrations, but ran out of time. For my actual review, i have decided to make myself a script, and practice going over it in 20 minutes time.

This week was very productive!!! I spent all of my studio time mond and thursday drawing. I began using my 3D technique. So far ive done about two tests just to see how well the 3D backgrounds would go when my 2D drawings are placed against them. So far so good but I cant be 100% sure how things will look until i have fully painted the drawings. I feel that once the drawings are given shades and tonal values they will blend much much better. I also began doing other Illustrations just to get use to drawing the characters, so that there will be consistency when im drawing. What I need to do now is to keep drawing and painting, the more i draw and paint the better at them i become.

This week was actually pretty dull, not much IP progress unfortunately. I had a 10 page paper for my women's studies class that took up almost all of my time this week. I spend my studio hours on tues editing the parts of sanguine moon that were embarrassing (grammar and spelling stuff, there was even a part where I called monica Jessica for some odd reason, I don't even have a Jessica in the story) Then I spent my studio time thursday drawing, I finished the character sketch of the old man and started on Christopher. I also registered online with the sweetland writing center and am scheduling an appointment after thanksgiving break. What I need to do next is draw draw draw, midterm review is coming up and I dont have allot of visuals t show my board, and its not like I can hand them a 50 page manuscript and make them read it... I've got allot of thinking to do :( I'm going to try and do a scene for my tues meeting with elonas group, which means I'll be working in 3D this weekend, I should be able to get a line drawing done by tues. that combined with the character sketches should provide something for the group to look at while I talk, I will probably read a section aloud as well.

This week proved to be very interesting. I began to receive feedback on my narrative. Not many people have read it but I received feedback from Sean, Stephanie and two other friends of mine that have not yet finished. Of the four people that have either finished reading, or at least begun, they commented on issues that I was concerned about while writing. One of these issues was that there could possibly be to many women represented, to many different relationships being developed/introduced. Stephanie believes this to be true, while sean and I believe otherwise. I see where Stephanie is coming from because as I was writing I was weary of that being the case, but I believe (and sean agreed with me) that all these women are necessary to develop Allen as a character. His interactions with these women tell the reader why he thinks/feels the way he does, and how he came to do so. Whether or not I'm gonna change that part of the story I don't yet know, I feel I need some more opinions on the issue before I decide. Another Issue me and Stephanie discussed was Allen's relationship with Pikarra. Stephanie believes that since I am trying to develop this deep connection between the two of them, as the reader she needs more time with them to make it more believable, and I totally agree. However I don't think that making the chapter longer will be a good thing, I'm a little attached to the chain of events that I have set fourth. I believe that I'm going to solve this problem by having Allen and Pikarra know each other from the past. When Allen meets Pikarra at the bar I'll change it so that he knew her once a long time ago, and I'll add in like a flashback scene where the reader gets to know how they met, and follows them through some sort of adversity or challenge that they overcome together, but then for reasons Allen cannot explain Pikarra had to leave, and he's seeing her again for the first time now at this bar. I think that will help to make their connection more believable.

Sean brought up an interesting point when he said that although Patrice Williams is beautiful, he thinks it would be more effective if Allen's obsession was more famous, someone like Beyonce for example, and he thinks I should just make up my own celebrity instead of using one that already exists. When i read this I was like huh... I thought I did make up my own celebrity, but it turns out that there is a model named Patrice Williams that like, won miss america just this year lol ha ha ha ha ha, thats insane, I had no idea! Looks like I'll have to change her name, I don't want my readers making a connection to this miss america lol.

Another friend of mine made an interesting comment while reading as well, she said that some of the things Allen and Christopher say only a male would think that way, and that some of the things they do are typical guy stuff. This comment, although said jokingly worried me a bit, and I guess Sean was right I need to realize who my audience is. I agree that the way Allen and his friend think are typical guy shit, and I realize that the story is told from a guys perspective, and the interactions between Allen and his retarded friend are meant to show you how stupid and retarded they both are, so I guess my intended audience are adult males. However, I do want m story to be accessible to woman as well. I want women to be able to read my story and think its good as well, even though its told from a mans perspective and geared towards men. I mean, I can read Twilight, a story written by a woman, told from a woman's perspective and geared toward teenage girls and still think its good writing, thats what I want to accomplish with my Sanguine Moon.

Now that finished the writing I have been doing Allot of drawing, I finished the Allen character sketch and begun to draw the Old Man. I must say I am quite proud of the sketch of the Old man, I just love the way he came out!!! There is only one thing tho. The old mans clothes are supposed to be dated, I wrote them as looking very nice and high fashion, but also like they come from another time period. the old man wears a suit, but to me it does not look that old. As I was drawing I google searched old or dated suits and got some pictures, but I don't think it comes across in my drawing. The whole long coat with the chains and the shoes were supposed to look like those 60's or 70's zoot suits black people use to wear back in the day, in all diff crazy kinds of colors like bright red, blue or yellow, with their hair chemically slicked (fried, dyed, and laid to the side like my grandfather says lol) and those huge hats with the feathers lol (like Denzel Washington wore when he played in the movie Malcom X) but I don't think it comes across that well. Maybe he needs the hat?? lol. I know one reason is because those suits were real baggy, but I didn't want the old mans to be that baggy, he still has to look class now lol. I dunno, his clothes just ended up looking like any other suit. I guess I gotta keep working on it, Ill post the images.

This week was very productive!! I finally finished my story!!!!! Anyone who would like to read it just shoot me an e-mail and I will send it to you. I'm vert excited about the finished story, I hope everyone thinks its good, im open and very eager for criticism!! After finishing my story I went back to drawing, this time I'm working on the character sketch for the main character Allen. So far the drawing is coming out pretty well, im just worried about his clothes, whether they are to high fashion. Maybe not, i mean its just a shirt and some jeans, but im worries about whether or not it fits his character. I guess in the end it doesn't really matter much tho, since what hes wearing in the sketch is not necessarily what he's gonna wear in the illustrations, Pikarra for example deff will not be wearing that striped shirt lol, to much of a pain in the ass to draw :P

What I plan to do from here on out is keep drawing and making visual stuff. Im gonna try to finish all of my character sketches so that I know what all the characters look like, then begin the actual illustration process.

I spent all of my studio time proof reading my writing and drawing.

This week was a but different than the last two weeks because I did not do any drawing. I went back to focusing on the written aspect of my project. I'm almost done with my written narrative, in fact, it will be completed this tuesday. I have decided that instead of a comic I'm just going to Illustrate my text. I have seen it done really successfully in a recent issue of batman. In this batman comic there were not panels with pictures and speech bubbles, but blocks of text with images that went along with it. This style worked pretty good with the batman comic, the only difference is that the batman images were rendered in 3D, while mine will only be 2D. I will post a picture for you to see what im taking about. I'm a little concerned tho that since my story is a bit long, that nobody will want to read it and give me feedback :(. I will need to know what parts are working and what parts are not, what i should probably add or take out, just critique on story elements and writing style. I do intend to take it to the sweetland writing center but I would also like to get feedback from my faculty and classmates. I outlined my story into an outline of its important parts, I was advised by Hanna to do so, so that I would keep myself on track while I was writing and not forget what where the important parts. So I would not spent to much time working on parts of the story that were not as important, while the main pieces were not complete. This outline splits the story up into sections. I guess if I want anyone to even think about reading the story I will just give them the outline, then give them the story one piece at a time, because i know everyone had their own stuff to to, and not much time to sit around reading my long ass narrative.

What I need to do: Finish the writing by tuesday, and have the rest of the character designs/descriptions done by the following tuesday. Then its DRAW DRAW DRAW!!!!!!

I'll post a copy of my outline for anyone who would like to read.

Sanguine moon

Main Points Outline

1. The story starts off in the middle. George Is Allen’s Assistant and close personal friend. Since Allen has become a monster, he has begun to kill off members of a gang in order to take revenge for the death of his friend Pikarra, and as a half ass means of justifying his choice to become a monster to satisfy his own selfish needs. Members of this gang abduct George on his way home from work because the gang has noticed that the police for some odd reason have taken a sudden interest in George (Allen and his company to be exact) and believe that George must be in the know about something. George of course knows nothing about what is going on. After taking George and questioning him Allen suddenly Appears and kills allot of the gang members. George recognizes his boss and close friend and the two of them are both quite surprised to see each other. Allen then begins to tell George why he is there and how he came to be what he is, and this is where the story starts, at its true beginning.

2. The story starts with Allen and his best friend Christopher sitting in class. Christopher and Allen have been friends since they were small children. Allen is a very morose and cynical person, his character is set up as having a very depressing outlook on life and very negative views and opinions when it comes to women. He refuses to own up to his role in things, blaming his situations in life on outside causes. Allen is then attacked by a stranger who turns out to be some sort of monster, and after the stranger gets to know Allen’s personality better through the tasting of his blood he finds Allen to be most amusing, and decides to give him a choice, he can die now, or become one of them, but before Allen is made to decide, the monster says hill give him a taste of his power and then let him decide.

3. After being bitten into by his demonic oppressor Allen is taken to a dark and seedy nightclub where he is forced to fight against a group of strangers, it is here that Allen begins to understand the abilities that he would gain should he chose to become a monster. He finds that he would have the ability to control people through a kind of possession as he uses this ability to kill the group of me he is pitted against. As Allen is killing these men, he is not in control of his body, he is there, in his mind, but his body is acting of its own accord, forcing him to bear witness as it commits these horrible acts. After slaughtering the men Allen wakes up home in his bed, where he wonders if it had all been a dream.

4. Allen gets up and goes to class as normal wondering if he dreamt up what had just happened. Throughout this part of the story Allen notices that no matter what or how much he eats, he is always still hungry. In this part of the story you learn that Allen was betrayed by a woman he once loved, and that is part of the reason he is as depressed and cynical as he is. He is lonely and believes that nobody really cares for and understands him, which would explain his outlook on women. Allen ends up being forced to be social and go out to a bar by Christopher and this is where he meets Pikarra (very important character) Pikarra is very beautiful and free spirited. She has an openness and quirkiness about her that makes it easy for Allen to open up and speak to her. Through their conversations Allen begins to feel like Pikarra is the only person in the world that truly understands him, that he can connect with and relate to on a deeper and more intimate level (by intimate I don’t mean sexually).

5. The next night as Allen and Pikrra are eating dinner at a diner, two gang members come in the place and start shooting, Allen ends up shot and Pikarra tries her hardest to save him and ends up shot in the process. Pikarra dies, but Allen does not, as he finds out that the events of the other night were not a dream. He kills Pikarras murderers, and uses her death as a means of excusing or justifying the choice of becoming a monster.

End

Unfortunately this week was a little less productive than weeks past simply because I was on fall break. I told myself that I was going to be really productive over fall break and do allot of work on my IP, but I was not as productive as i wanted. Over fall break I spent friday from about 3 pm till 6:30 or 7 working in my studio on finishing my painting of Pikarra. I also wanted to finish my writing over break but never got around to that. I spent all of my studio time drawing on thursday, i finished painting Pikarra and began her bust shot. I decided that because im new to the style of painting that i was doing, and the fact that i just takes me so long to do im not going to paint anymore of my character sketches. I realized this week that it is basically November and that I am nowhere near where I had originally wanted to be in terms of my progress. Im very behind schedule. Starting next weekend (due to the fact that I have a midterm on monday and a research paper outline due on wednesday) Im going to start working double time on my IP. I have been in IP for almost two months and dont really have much to show for it except for my written word and a few drawings. that shows of course that i have indeed been working, I have not at all been wasting my time, but personally I want to have more to show for myself. I need to be making more progress!!! and im going to start, I want more work to show off!!! Its time for me to pump out character designs for all my characters and begin modeling sets so that i can hit the ground running and start drawing!! I did realize that the more I write, the more attached I get to my writing and want to keep it in its novelistic format instead of dumbing it down to script form so that i can make a comic. I decided after talking with stephanie that im going to draw a few comic pages, and lay out a few text pages with Illustrations separate and decide which path i really want to walk. well thats about all ive got for this week, so here is another sample of my writing along with my painting of pikarra.

The old man then began to laugh loudly “damn, I knew there was something special about you. You sure are a selfish self centered bastard, and you know what’s funny is that you are to wrapped up in your own desires to even realize it.” the old man then began to laugh some more. “No shortcuts huh, well see about that” and with that the old man sank his teeth into Allen’s neck. After feeling the old mans hot breath on his throat followed shortly by his throat being bitten into Allen’s mind went foggy. Like a junkie on a bad trip he found himself unable to focus in on much of anything at all, his brain felt like it had been turned to mush and he eventually lost consciousness. After drinking his fill of Allen’s blood the old man then threw him over his shoulder and signaled to his peons that it was time for them to go. “You are not gonna kill him?” one of the younger freaks asked. “No” replied the old man he’s coming with us” and with that the four of them took off into the night.

When Allen came to he found himself lying on the floor of what seemed to be a nightclub. On the dance floor of the club there was a huge crowd of people that formed a circle, and in the middle of the circle stood three men who looked as if they had just traveled to hell and back. The men’s clothes were tattered and torn, and the wounds they carried as well as the two sword like weapons they held in each hand suggested they were currently engaged in a fight for their lives. The men stood back-to-back swinging their weapons at any member of the crowd that dared to come to close. His eyes burning and unable to see anything at all and his mind stuff fuzzy, Allen felt a strong arm grab him by the shoulder, and a voice that he recognized as being the old man from earlier that night whisper in his ear. “You want a break kid, ill give u one. Have a taste of our power and see how u like it” and with that the old man snapped his fingers and the whole club went dark. As the lights went out Allen felt both his vision and his mind return to normal, and just as they did her realized he was standing in the middle of the dance floor facing the three men holding swords.

Much like last week, this week was a bit different. I spent all sic hours of my studio time this week drawing. First I finished the test that I had started last week on how to properly draw Christinas curly hair, it turned out much much better than I thought. The only problem is that the process used to draw it is a bit labor intensive, and thats not good mainly because of how much im going to have to draw her when I start production on the comic. When I finished the Christina test I began drawing my character sketches. I drew the Character Pikarra for the first time. She turned out pretty well considering this was my first time drawing her, there are some parts about her that could be a little better, but they will work themselves out the more I draw her and get a feel for her character. When I originally started drawing I had planned on just inking the drawing in black and white like I plan to do with the actual graphic novel, but since I want to develop a painting technique for cover pages and extras I just went ahead and began painting Pikarra. So far its turning out pretty good, when I'm done with the picture I intend to erase the lines and just have a painting, It should be finished within the next day or so.

As for what I plan to have done for next week, I would definitely like to have the story completed and ready to hand out. I would also like to have more characters designed. So for next week im going to finish the story and at least have finished both Pikarra and Allens character designs.

Here is another sample from the Story

The moon stood high in the sky as the snow quietly fell. It was a cold winter night, and as Allen sat in front of the window of his friend’s two-bedroom apartment he could feel the cold wind creeping in, giving him goose bumps. “God dammit” he said to his friend who just happened to be sitting next to him “turn up the damn heat, im fuckin dying here man” turning to Allen with a somewhat agitated look on his face his friend replied “sorry dude but I don’t know how, shouldn’t you be worrying about your tuition bill anyway instead of worrying about how cold it is in my apartment.” Hearing his friends words Allen let go a heavy sigh realizing that regardless of the rooms temperature, he needed to come up with a ridiculously large amount of money by five O Clock the next day or he was going to get kicked out of school.

Allen threw himself across the mattress of his friend’s ragged futon with a gesture reminiscent of that of a spoiled child who received pajama pants for Christmas instead of the new game he wanted. He laid there across the multicolored blue fleece futon mattress, trying to calm himself down and focus on ways he could get himself out his current predicament. Staring up at the sealing Allen began to rant “god dammit this shit just aint fair, how the fuck do they expect me to come up with this kind of money on the spot, this damn school systems set this shit up on purpose just to con people like me” at that moment his friend cut him off saying “what do you mean con people like you, dude the only reason you are in the situation you are in right now is because back before school started, you and your mother decided to lie on your forms so that you could try and cheat yourselves into more aid money, nobody is trying to con you out of anything.” jarred by his friends forceful tone as well as the truth in his words Allen let out another sigh and jokingly made a comment about how he should been a drug dealer like one of his friends from high school because if he had, by now he’d be rich. “Dude” his friend cut him off saying “If you were a drug dealer all you would be doing is giving up what you are dealing with now for a new and more dangerous set of problems, there are no shortcuts in life man, and if you learn anything from what you are going through right now I hope you at least learn that”. Unable to respond to his friends words of wisdom Allen just laid across the futon, staring up at the sealing until he heard the sound of his computer going to sleep on the table less than one foot away from where he lay. After turning his head to look at the screen he lost himself in the images of the beautiful woman that danced across his screensaver. The beautiful model he had be obsessing over since high school, he swore to himself that his future success in life would lead him strait to her, but after the sound of his friend congratulating himself for passing gas so loudly snapped Allen back to reality, he felt a great sadness as he got up to close his computer. “No shortcuts huh, life’s just not fair”

This week was a bit different from weeks prior. I spent my studio hours on Tuesday writing my story, well mostly. The time i didn't spend writing i spent thinking about the sheets we received feedback from my what why and how. I started thinking mostly about the no time no money option because lets face it, I've got limited time and no money :\.

Today was a great day in my group. My project proposal wasn't all that great. To be honest i felt a bit confused about what was needed in my case, because until this point I have talked mostly about the reasons that I want to make comics, my reasons for wanting to write stories and develop characters, and I remember Hanna telling me in so many words that what I was saying was not good enough. What I was saying was not good enough for her, she wanted something deeper. I agreed with her, saying my reason for writing stories was to create characters that people cherish and fall in love with is not a good enough answer, even though those are my true feelings. When I told her the moral of my story Hanna was very interested, and I was excited, and realized I was being to vague. When writing my proposal in the first paragraph (the what) I gave a short synopsis of my story. My group members told me that was not such a good idea, they were disappointed in the fact that my proposal was not saying the same types of things that I have said in previous class sessions as pertaining to the reasons why I want to do my project. My group told me that the synopsis of my story is not what's important at this point, but I need to go back to explaining why it is I do what I do so that people will understand, and I agree. My group was very helpful today, especially Anna Foster! Anna is a great group member and has some of the most wonderful and helpful things to say, its amazing just watching her go lol, she's such a great help. I was amazed watching her help our other group members hash through their problems and confusions, I need to be a bit more like her when it comes to these kinds of things!

I started drawing today, I spent most of my studio time writing again but i decided to tackle a problem that been bothering me for some time now lol. A character in my comic, has dark and curly hair, and for the life f me I have no idea how to draw it lol. Her character is based loosely off of a singer called Christina Millian, who has the same type of hair. Today i began to draw a picture trying my hardest to mimic Christina's hair, I tried using lines but it didn't work out to well, so im going to have to try nd pull it off using value. Im scared lol, im no god at using values, but to get these curls drawing lines wont due, so i gotta use changes in black and whit to create the illusion. Im worried because since I'm drawing a comic, I have to make her hair as simple as possible since ill have to draw so many pictures of it :\ well i started, I'm not to far yet but Ill upload what ive gotten so far and a pic of Christina so that you all can see what im going for. Which brings me to my next point...

Ok, time for a confession. I have been writing my story for a couple weeks now, and since I'm not done and don't have it to hand out, I feel like I'm sort of losing out on the whole IP process, getting useful feedback an all that good stuff. But, the reason ive been so dead set about getting my story written and handed out before I start drawing is simply... I'm afraid. when I draw, my drawings always seem to come out looking in some way like manga/anime. I don't draw manga/anime and when if use reference when I draw I use 3D figures and real life pics, like with the pic of Christina I'm uploading. Regardless of what reference I use my drawings still have a manga feel to them. I don't mind, and I have slowly but surely begun to sort of develop a look that is unique to me but, I'm afraid. I learned how to draw by copying manga images so its always at the core of what I do, somewhat unconsciously. Im working to develop a look that is unique to me, but to be honest I like manga style comics the best. I think they are the most attractive looking comics out. American comics are a bit ugly in my opinion (I tried to read the watchmen, I could not stomach the ugly drawings lol) not all american comics, but most are so plain and unattractive, and the ones that are not, look so amazing because the artist has such a flawless panting technique, they look great because of ungodly skill with a paint brush. I love manga comics, they are my passion and have a special place in my heart and that has made things very hard for me. It seems like all my life people have been doing nothing but trying to discourage me from drawing manga style comics to the point that i honestly have a hard time even calling myself an artist. I never understood why me loving these types of comics were a bad thing, why people always try to discourage me from doing it, they ask me why, why, why. Because I love it!! because its been my passion ever since I was a small small child!!! I live, eat, breathe and dream it!!!! Is that not a good enough reason??? I have asian friends in the art school that draw manga, and their images look so much more manga than mine do, but nobody ever gives them a hard time, they never question them, why not?? is it because they are asian so its Ok? I'm black so its not Ok?? My passion for manga, and my teachers' hatred of it has made my journey through the art world one of the loneliest most discouraging experiences of my life, I feel like nobody believes in or supports me! I am alone! And thats just looking at it from an artistic point of view, there is still the fact that I'm an African American whose number one passion in life is something Japanese, but thats a conversation for another time. My art is technically manga, but as I stated I am beginning to have a style that is my own, I will get there, especially since Im making stories depicting African-Americans, but i feel thats its something that has to happen gradually and on its own. I am afraid that Hanna and Stephanie are gonna try to shove it down my throat and discourage me from doing it, they will force me to abandon my passion and do something else, force me to focus not on getting my story out in the world, but to instead practice abandoning my manga style drawing. I have never been so passionate about an art project before in my life and Im afraid of it being torn apart simply because I draw in a specific style. I figured that as long as the story was good, how the drawings looked would not be as big a deal, which is why I've been trying to hard to get the story written and handed in, and avoiding posting any of my drawings. I was hoping they would really like my story and just let me do what I do when it came to my drawing style. Sigh, there it is, the reasons I've been so obsessed with completing my story. I hope you all don't think I'm crazy for dumping all that into my blog lol, but I felt that unless i just let go of those fears and got it off my chest I would not benefit from this whole IP process.

Damn it feels to have have gotten that off my chest, well here is a little section form my story, just a taste of what's to come:

After walking down the long path that began at the end of the stairs Allen began to get this strange feeling, almost like someone was watching him, or like he was being followed. He shrugged the feelings of like they were nothing and continued on his way, but images of that strangers’ pupil-less eyes began to haunt him, and just as the feelings began to become too much for Allen to handle he felt a tap on his left shoulder. Quickly spinning around to see exactly who it was that tapped him, he was surprised to find nobody there. “What the fuck” he whispered to himself, he could have sworn that somebody had just tapped him on his shoulder. Dismissing what he thought had just happened as having been a figment of his imagination, Allen turned back around to find himself nose to nose with the stranger he encountered at the base of the stairs. Staring into those white, bloodshot pupil-less eyes sent chills down his spine and shook him to the very core of his being, but before his mind could even comprehend what was going on the stranger punched him square in his nose. Raising both hands to his now bloody nose Allen fell backwards into the snow, but in the time it took for him to fall and recover from the shock of what had just happened, the strange man that had just attacked him was gone, almost as if he had vanished into thin air. “What the fuck, what the fuck is going on?” Allen shouted, “What the fuck was wrong with his eyes, those fucking eyes”. Before Allen was able to finish the thought he was having about his attackers eyes, the stranger descended on him from above and Allen felt himself being snatched from the ground.
Soaring through the icy night sky Allen tried to scream for help, but before he could get the words out a cold and clammy hand griped his throat and began to squeeze with tremendous force. Blood shot from his mouth and Allen found himself barely able to breathe let alone say anything. After crushing his throat to keep him from screaming, the stranger let Allen go and he began to fall back down to earth. After the tree branch he grabbed to stop him from hitting the ground broke, Allen tumbled down into the snow breaking his left leg as he landed. Taking the broken tree branch in hand Allen tried to stand, but before he could get to his feet the stranger was on him. He grabbed at the branch Allen held in his right hand and pulled it from him with so much force that it dislocated his shoulder, the stranger then took him by the neck and it was at that moment Allen heard a stern voice come from directly behind his attacker. “That’s enough,” the voice said, as Allen looked to see whom the voices had come from he saw two figures appear out of the darkness. One of the figures was that of an older man who appeared to be in his late fifties, the other much younger. “This one does not belong to you” the older of the two men said “hand him over” and upon hearing the older mans request Allen’s attacker released the grip he had around his throat. The older man then began to draw closer to where Allen had fallen into the snow and when he got close enough for Allen to see his face more clearly he noticed that his eyes had no pupils.

He he he he, gotta wait for the rest, I should be done writing by this time next week, but Ill post more for anyone who is curious, Ill gladly give copies to anyone whose interested

This week has basically been the same as last week, continuing to write out what im going to crate my IP project on. I spent the usual six hours of my studio time (more or less) writing. I am finding tho that for some reason it is becoming difficult for me to get what's in my mind out on the paper. I don't usually have this problem, im guessing it has something to do with the way im working so hard to get things done so quickly, I have been trying to be done with the writing process for two weeks now but its taking longer than i had originally anticipated. I find that when i hit a point that im stuck at my progress slows down allot, probably because im trying to force it out in the interest of time. I don't think that this is good because i don't want the quality of my writing to go down. I think this weekend if i find it hard to write im going to take a small break and do a few character designs, its taking a break but still being productive.

Speaking of my writing, for tuesdays small group get together I ended up reading a portion of my story aloud to my group members. I was pleasantly surprised by the positive feedback that i received, and an interesting point was made. Since my writing is a bit detailed i was asked whether i was gonna make a frame by frame comic book, or have like pages of text and illustrations to go with, at first i was set on making a frame by frame comic but i am beginning to have second thoughts. The pages of text coupled with illustrations is beginning to sound most appealing. If i decided to go with the text and illustrations i would most defiantly be able to cover more story than i would if I was doing a comic, plus id be able to keep my writing intact (i will admit, im growing quite fond of my written words lol)... i dunno, something to think about.

Post 3

This week in I focused mostly on the writing of my story. Last weekend I spend at least six hours trying to compress my story enough to fit its summary into one single spaced page. It proved to me much more difficult than I had originally anticipated. Throughout the week i spent about 4 to 5 hours give or take a few trying to get my story ready to print out and turn in for my professors and GSI's can read and critique it.

One thing I encountered during a meeting with one of my faculty was that It would be better to change what it was that my character became, sos not t put any limits on myself creatively (sorry that comment was a bit vague but i don't want to reveal to much of my story before its time).

I think what I should do next is get the story written and begin designing characters.

What I have been working on in my studio since last friday was basically finishing my Illustration for the first assignment and writing my narrative. I easily spent a good 3 hours just working on the drawing (finishing up all the inking and details). I also spent a good 15-20 minutes looking though the comics section of the library over in the basement of the duderstat library. I went looking for information/ inspiration about coloring/painting techniques. I want to learn to paint using nothing but colors and or changes in value, no lines. I believe that this will help to give my work a visual dynamic that would make it much more interesting. After talking with hanna on thursday i decided to go back to the library and look up books on storytelling, or the form and structure of narratives. I also spent about three hours on thursday writing my narrative and outlining my story so that ill be able to show my professors and gsi's on tuesday. What I discovered during my studio time was that i need to learn to better articulate my feeling and or ideas to my faculty, i believe that its the fears i have about my faculty forcing me into doing a project im not happy with that causes me to choose my words a little to carefully, all it does is make me seem like i cant talk about my ideas :\ . I also learned that as I previously stated, it would be most helpful to check out some books on storytelling to help with the development of my narrative.

What I think i should do next is have an outline for my story ready for class on tuesday so that me and my faculty can begin discussing it. Hanna ants me to have the ENTIRE store outlined, and im happy to do it, but since there is now way im going to be able to fit the whole thing into this one IP project, in addition to outlining i intend to have the parts of the story that I do want done during IP to be written in full detail also ready to hand in on monday.

Opps, first post is late :\

My first IP blog bost is 2 days late. oh man. sorry, it wont happen again!!!!!!