Weekly report

I just can't stop!

What have I done?

So, last week I told you that I started chapter 4 of Brightspirit, my Scottish themed children's book. Well I have, and I've done 8 pages of lineart.

I am finding it challenging. The events of the fourth chapter are complex to draw, and I am having a tough time making progress and keeping the quality good. I have to draw a lot of complicated poses and crowds, lots of different people dancing. And it's tough. Still, it's good work and satisfying to see it come together.

So to give myself a break I have begun colouring chapter 3. All the drawing for that is done and dusted, so all I have to do is run through and colour each panel. This is turning out to be much easier to manage since all the colours are pre selected from the previous chapter and I am enjoying going through theses pages and watching them come to life.

I have discovered something though. The lettering. I fully intend to publish and print this book, and one of the problems I have is the I’s. There is a regular letter I and a crossbar I that is useful in comics. It shows that the personal pronoun I is different and helps readers differentiate when reading balloons. I have discovered this week that the font I am using in CSP doesn't produce a crossbar I. So to make one I have to redo all my lettering in Photoshop which does make a crossbar I. It's a bit of a paint but worth it for a professional looking book.

So that's where I am at. I'll tell you how I get on next week.

Storytelling secrets.

This week I have another tip for you regarding the 5th character.

History.

This comes with a certain amount of worldbuilding, which can be fun but is a deep rabbit hole to get into. The amount of history you put into your location is useful in building its character but ultimately comes down to how much of it your characters know about. The more they know, the richer and more characterful your location will be, particularly if it is relevant to the story at hand. Alternatively, your characters could know very little of the history, but there could be clues in the location that give you a hint at a long history.

Middle Earth is another good example of this, as there are characters who know the deep history, and those who haven’t a clue. Gandalf knows all that has happened leading up to the events of the books, and he rushes around Middle Earth trying to fix things and hold everything together, because he knows what is at stake. The hobbits know nothing of all this, and they venture through the world, seeing ruined watchtowers and landmarks, finding ancient artefacts and meeting remnants of ancient societies. The Lord of the Rings presents us with a post-apocalyptic world, and it is the promise of the shire and the future peace of the land that keeps the location of Middle Earth foremost in our minds

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Thanks for reading and I’ll see you on Monday for more Silverstar!

Tioraidh an-dràsta!