Rohvannyn Shaw's Blog: The Pencil and Quill, page 4

October Moon

 

I took this last night, and did only a tiny bit of postpro to clean things up.  I’m still very happy with the fact that my humble little Nikon Coolpix 830 can take pictures like this!  I used no tripod, instead bracing in the V formed by two angled fence boards, and relied on nothing but that and my somewhat shaky trigger finger.  I must say, I am truly pleased – probably more pleased than I would be if I had a top end DSLR and a tripod.

I have submitted this photo to Pixabay so other artists can use it if needed, however I retain the signed, bordered version of it for myself.

"You've led an interesting life"

Have I? I wonder. I have done some things that are interesting, that's true. I know others who are far more interesting. And I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that everyone has done at least one thing that's interesting.

What's an interesting life? Ultimately, it's a tale well told. That starts with the person who's living it, seeing the interesting parts. Does that person think about what they've learned from their misadventures? Do they tell their tale in an interesting way? An interesting life is half events and half telling, with one part being able to make up for the other. Boring events told in an interesting way, or interesting events told in a boring way can both lead to an interesting story.

The greatest authors understand this. Tom Clancy can enthrall me with the inner workings of a weapons system, because of the way he describes it. Even the driest biographer can't completely take the interest out of Winston Churchill's life. IF you have a balance, it's even better!

Quotable Quotes

I've been playing around with the Author Dashboard. I noticed the Quotes section and was eager to fill it out. I started thinking about what quotes I should pick. How would I pick them? What would my criteria be?

I ended up reading some of my blog entries on my main site, Mindflight. I went to the personal development articles, opting for quotes that might be encouraging and inspirational.

I'm sure I have plenty of sarcastic quotes I could put up, but why do that? There is so much negativity in the world, why add to it? Why help the heat-death of the universe?

I have my own demons to fight within me, but I don't want to put that out for the world to have to deal with. So I use positive quotes. I simply hope they are of some use to someone! When I'm gone, I'd rather leave a legacy of hope and at least a little inspiration. I want to leave the world a brighter place, not a dimmer one.

Quotable Quotes

I've been playing around with the Author Dashboard. I noticed the Quotes section and was eager to fill it out. I started thinking about what quotes I should pick. How would I pick them? What would my criteria be?

I ended up reading some of my blog entries on my main site, Mindflight. I went to the personal development articles, opting for quotes that might be encouraging and inspirational.

I'm sure I have plenty of sarcastic quotes I could put up, but why do that? There is so much negativity in the world, why add to it? Why help the heat-death of the universe?

I have my own demons to fight within me, but I don't want to put that out for the world to have to deal with. So I use positive quotes. I simply hope they are of some use to someone! When I'm gone, I'd rather leave a legacy of hope and at least a little inspiration. I want to leave the world a brighter place, not a dimmer one.

Hello, Reading World!

I'm not new to writing or Goodreads, but I'm new to using the author tools found here. I'm loving it already!

My blog entries from my art site are going to be found here, but I'll occasionally do purely literary blog entries as well. If you've happened upon this page, I hope you enjoy them.

Today I want to talk about inspiration, and how to feed your creativity. There's an old programming axiom: GIGO, or Garbage In, Garbage out. In other words, what you take in affects your output.

That's why it's so important for people to read good books and take in high quality media. One of the reasons why I love seinen style anime so much, for example, is because it's usually thought provoking. It brings up interesting subjects and the art is usually top notch.

I know that I wouldn't be so inspired to create and think and do if all I watched was reality TV and game shows!

I know, down to my core, that what I feed myself with determines my health. That's true for food or books or really anything else. Quality begets quality. We imitate what we surround ourselves with.

If you want to write in a certain style, then read great examples of that style. Fill your mind with rich, healthy food. Take in the best. Think about why it's good. Think about how you can be better. Use your mental intake as fodder for your imagination. Then... create!



(If you want to follow my main blog, it can be found at http://mind-flight.org)

The Great Old Woman

 

I so enjoyed looking at this great, old tree.  This picture was taken on a photo walk, where I took my camera with me on my normal morning route.  The shapes in the trunk are amazing, and the way the light might fall under different conditions is fascinating to me.

What story might this tree tell?  My partner just saw a group of people outlined in the bark… what do you see?

Time for a little graphic design

 

I really enjoy it when a publishing house offers me a free sample to try their product.  I use it as a chance to practice my graphic design skills, improve them, and usually outwit their silly interface.  This time I was offered a 20 page photo book, hardcover, for only the price of shipping.  These things are great and they make awesome mini portfolios.  By the way, if you want one, contact me, usually I can find a free affiliate offer for new customers.  Those are great too!

This time I put black and white pieces in alongside color pieces, a mix of acrylic, watercolor, chalk, and pen and ink.  I tried to have one black and white and one color image on each two page spread, so things looked balanced.  I also delighted in deleting all their gimmicky bits and bobs and photo embellishments.

When designing, keep it simple!  The world will thank you.  Doubt me?  Think of Geocities and Angelfire sites from the 90s.  Oh, the flickering animated GIFs… the mixed, multicolored, mismatched fonts… make it stop…

Ruined Seattle

 

It was amazing how much fun I had painting this.  I had been inspired by watching Appleseed Alpha, which is an amazing film.  Something about the post apocalyptic/ruined city motif really grabbed me.  This is really more of a color sketch than anything but something about the look and feel is satisfying to me when I look at it.

“The Dice of Fate”

 

This was a book cover design that I made for a novel.

The novel was “The Dice of Fate,” a story about a young woman who was suddenly transported directly from her day job to a place that was like something from one of her roleplaying campaigns.  Early in the story, a little white Kitsune with three tails comes and helps her, and the theme of dice features prominently in the story.  Therefore, I chose to depict the kitsune, the ten sided die, and a hint of the long road she had to walk on foot to get to civilization.

I started (as usual) with the sky gradient.  The better the sky gradient, the better the foundation of the work.  Since this was acrylic, I could dispense any worry about the transparency of my layers.  With the trees I worked from dark to light, always keeping in mind that most trees have gray bark, not brown.  For highlighting, I used chalks and pencils in the final steps.

I was fairly pleased with the work.  If anyone wants to see it on the cover, feel free to click through to the link – and if anyone wants to buy it, it’s free for Kindle subscribers.  Just search the title “The Dice of Fate.”

Arizona Wildcat

 

As can be seen here, I’m truly enjoying my new fountain pen.  I set out to draw pictures fifteen postcards and send them out to anyone who wanted them.  So far I’ve done four, with a fifth promised.  I’m featuring creatures of Arizona.  This one was certainly fun to do.