David G. Shrock's Blog, page 13

Kandy's Lips Painting

Kandy's lips (and fangs)

Kandy Fangs is a novella I'm sharing this Autumn in serialized fashion here on the blog. You may read the weekend updates by visiting Short Fiction-Kandy Fangs in the menu above. For the finished ebook, I wanted to try painting something.

I painted Kandy's lips using Autodesk SketchBook Pro on my iPad using a Pogo Sketch stylus. I'm impressed with the application. At first I missed my paper and pencil, but after playing around with simple sketches it felt like drawing. Finding the right brushes for the job, I fell into painting by building color. Layers make some cool things possible, allow experimentation, or use a pencil-on-paper sketch as a base to paint over. Like Photoshop, layers support transparency.

Kandy's lips stage 1

I built up the image using layers: white background, a black mask, upper lip, lower lip, teeth, and the blood drip. Lips are on different layers because I wasn't certain at first if I only wanted an upper lip. In stage 1 image we see the upper lip, black mask, and the beginning of teeth.

Wide paintbrushes create the lips. For highlights and between colors, I used a stippling pencil.

In the image below, we see the lower lip and coloring on the teeth. These aren't my best teeth, but they fit the style of the overall image. At the end I added the blood drip building from darker to lighter reds shown in the top

Kandy's lips complete without blood

image. And yes, the blood curls around the fang like candy. I added a candy-blood stripe to the title in the same manner, but I imported the font as a bitmap.

I enjoy painting on the iPad and plan on doing more.

Kandy Fangs – 2

fiction by David G Shrock

This is episode 2. Start from the beginning.

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Opening the door reveals a dim hall lit by a buzzing light, the blinking sends their shadows dancing across the worn carpet and onto the wall. Steve supports the young woman as she stumbles down the hall passing closed doors marked by brass numbers. The naked man shouts from the doorway. Finding stairs at the end of the hall, Steve heads down the...

Kandy Fangs – 1

fiction by David G Shrock

Welcome to Kandy Fangs weekly serial taking place in Draco Torre's world. If you prefer reading at your pace, Kandy Fangs will be available as an ebook later this Autumn. This story is recommended for mature readers.

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The barrel is a black square around a circle of darkness. Gun oil tickles the nose. A good killer always keeps her tools clean, and this gun looks and smells like a very clean tool.

The ...

Pale Kiss

a flash story by David G Shrock

Rising above the rolling hills, Nulan smiles upon the dark land. Her kisses turn the waving wheat into a shimmering sea. A shadow wriggles from my feet. Wind and wheat sing to her, swaying and encircling me.

I feel her touch, her paleness fills my eyes. Her smile, wicked, freezes my brood.

Nulan aka Moon photographed using a telescope as a 2024mm lens

Nulan laughs. The wheat, the swaying grasses, the night bugs join the song. My shadow dances with t...

How-To: Make Contents Links in Ebook for Smashwords

You want a working contents page in your ebook. Readers love them. Anything that improves navigation is good. Done properly, the Smashwords Meatgrinder will produce epub and PDF with working contents page linking to your chapters or parts. Software like Adobe Digital Editions and iBooks on iPad will allow the reader to jump to chapters in your book. Below are screen shots of my novel, Raven Memory in Adobe Digital Editions and iBooks. The iBooks contents work by scrolling. In ...

New Book: Raven Memory

Welcome to the book release party

Raven Memory cover

Grab a book marker, munchies, bubbly, and say hello. Careful of the wraith skulking about. He won't bother anyone unless provoked.

Before this story had a title, I referred to it as my "practice novel." Two years ago some anonymous test readers (I still haven't met them) reported with excitement and urged me to seek publishing. I wasn't convinced. It was in poor shape in need of editing. The strange part: after being passed...

Cosmic Fingerprints

Every once in a while, a person catches a glimpse. Out of the corner of an eye, or a fleeting glimmer, a person sees them. Not spirits, but what I call memory ghosts. From there when they pass through into our here and now.

Memory burns into the cosmos. Gazing at the stars is looking at memory. The light traveling across the galaxy spanning years transfers information reaching the observer forming new memories. From a painting of an artist, bits of information travel to the...

Announcing Book Release

Raven Memory ebook release day is Tuesday, August 31. Available on Smashwords and Amazon. Join me Tuesday.

Years in the making, this day finally arrives after much writing, editing, and decision making. I originally had no plans to publish this novel, but after several anonymous test readers demanded I publish it, I spent two years considering which direction to go while I edited the story. During this time, ebooks have finally gone mainstream, a perfect time to share my story ...

Bookmark Business Cards

My business cards arrived. Wait. Why do I need business cards in this digital age? People email, store contact information on phones, look up everything on the web, follow RSS or Facebook pages. Well, not everyone. In Raven Memory, Steve Reynolds only uses paper, none of that techno-gadgetry. Sometimes it's still easier to leave a card in person, or stacked somewhere curious eyes may stumble upon.

I printed my cards vertical so they double as bookmarks. Useful for printed...

Sample Raven Memory Chapters

Sample Raven Memory on Scribd covering the first seven chapters (about 25%) of the novel. At just over 29,000 words, it's a good size read. Meet Steve Reynolds and Julie Walsh while learning about the issues they face. The seventh chapter is a good place for the sample to end. It reconnects with the opening while setting up the remainder of the story.

If you enjoy the sample, look for the ebook coming in the next few weeks.