Make room for Imps! - A Guest Post by Simon Hanley

    I'm giving the blog over to a guest this week. Here, the artist Simon Hanley talks about designing a character and his ImpLounge project.

Hi, I'm a bright red brick chucking imp - pleased to meet 'cha!

Sometime ago after stumbling on the Print On Demand site Zazzle, and determining to have a go at selling at least one item on it – I was looking around for an idea, a theme I suppose, and I hit on devils.

I don’t know why I felt I needed a theme; possibly it was so I wouldn’t lose interest.  After a while I downgraded the idea to imps.  Not quite as nasty as devils, less sickly sweet than fairies and elves.

Then doodling, I came up with this image, and I gave it the temporary title ‘Brick Chucking Devil.’   I liked him, he seemed to have a bit of character, was bold and therefore noticeable – in fact he was impish and my idea for a theme began to grow.

 

This sketch, even though I liked it was still just a sketch, done in pencil on paper and then scanned and quickly coloured.  I felt it would look better after I had drawn a proper clean outline using a graphic tablet.  I like the strong clean outline, with a big vibrant colour.  With different designs maybe a subject might benefit from some patterning in the way of stripes or spots to give it some life and you have something that can be seen across a room.

This simple imp was the first thing I designed for my project, and I have used the same approach to design a handful of others just like him.  They’re all rendered with a rounded realistic feel, with strong light sources hitting them at the side.  I like a good strong yellow for the one side with the opposite side illuminated by a blue.  The light should zing and sparkle and give a slick glossy effect.

Here’s the latest addition to the small red imp family, looking highly pleased with himself.  Note the light effects on the teeth,  I tried to give an appearance of them glittering in a burst of light, like a flash photograph.  I suppose that’s the look I’m going for, the celebrity imp caught in the flashlights glare.

 

This bright red Imp used 'Vrill' toothpaste!

To achieve the effect is easy enough: use an art package that has layers - Corel Draw,  Photoshop, Painter  - and draw a thick black outline on a floating layer. Then place colour underneath on another layer.  You might prefer to scan a drawing, and then have that also on a separate layer, with the opacity reduced.  This helps to guide your hand while redrawing it, without tending to compel you to follow the original drawing.  It’s always best to be a little flexible, and you might want to make changes to the redrawing as you go along.  The thing we need is boldness, and a simple approach that can be used quickly and even adapted to use again for other similar designs.

For an idea of how the different stages look, here’s an image of just the outline of the finished design  Although it looks similar to the pencil sketch it isn't traced, just drawn using a bamboo tablet using the original for reference.

 

I may be smiling - but actually I'm feeling a little drained.

And here's a look at the finished article, after a coloured layer is placed beneath the lines.

Ah, that's better.

The original drawing at the top of the page and this one do look very similar, the greatest change being the size of the eyes.  In the original I made them quite small, but found the 'cuteness' quota was improved by enlarging the eyes.  The tiny eyes I originally gave him made him look insane or stupid, which wasn't the path I wanted to take.

Finally I’m well aware that some people don’t like any talk about devils, imps and so forth, but it’s a big world wide web, and those people will either have to indulge me or go to a less devilish corner of places www.  If you’re still with me, why not check out my website, at the Implounge?

 

http://implounge.jimdo.com/ 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/128857877@N07/

BLOG DARLINGS

          Well, here’s a lovely thing – and just in time for Christmas!  I’ve been given a Leibster Blog Award, which is given to ‘up and coming’ blogsters who still have fewer than 200 followers.

          When you are given the award, you’re asked to give 5 other Leibster Awards to blogs you think are interesting/beautiful/funny or in some other way outstanding, and should have more viewers. So, I’m on the look-out.

                      First I must thank Jen Alexander, who gave me the award.  Jen is the author of many books and has the most soft, soothing voice too, so it’s somehow fitting that she knows a great deal about how to use dreams in writing, and other ways of contacting that dreaming, imaginative side of us.  She blogs about dreams here.

Katherine Roberts

          When it came to handing out my five Leibsters, my first thought was Kath Roberts and her reclusive unicorn, who has gathered together several other writers’ muses under the heading of ‘Muse Monday’ – but Kath had already been given a Leibster  - and gave one of her 5 to Blott.  Blott and I thank you, Kath.  (But does that mean Blott has 5 Leibsters to give away too?)

Katherine Langrish

          So then I thought of Kath Langrish, writer of some terrific books, and also the blogster at the wonderfully named ‘Seven Miles of Steel Thistles’.  Not only wonderfully named, but a fascinating and often beautiful blog about legends, myths and fairy-stories.  But I was too slow – Kath has already, and deservedly, been given a Leibster.

          So who do I give my first Leibster too?  I’m going to be cheeky and give it to Do Authors Dream of Electric Books?  This is a team-blog of 29 UK writers, who blog about their experiences of self-publishing e-books.  Some are previously published writers – some are accomplished and dedicated writers who have never published conventionally.  They are from all parts of the UK, from Scotland to the West Country, and of all ages.  They take it in turns to blog every day for 29 days and, at the end of the month, there are guest bloggers.

          It’s cheeky of me to give a Leibster to Do Authors Dream of Electric Books? because I am one of the bloggers, so I expect I’ll be accused of self-promotion.  But I don’t care – the fact is, I am only one of 29 bloggers, and if my blog was withdrawn DADoEB would still be a lively, ever-changing, interesting good read, with jokes, news, tips, friendly arguments and chat between 29 very different authors and their readers.

Rhianna Pendragon by Katherine Roberts

          The drawing here is by Kath Roberts, and can be seen on Do Authors Dream, with more about the book that inspired it.  Such talent in one woman, eh? Makes you want to gnash your teeth, doesn't it?
          So there!  My first Leibster goes to Do Authors Dream of Electric Books!

          Who should I give the other four to?

          And Blot is back! - Without, of course, any explanation...

     

A BOY CALLED M.O.U.S.E

A Boy Called Mouse - Penny Dolan

          I’m a member of the Scattered Authors’ Society and a few years ago, at Charney, the SAS’s annual retreat, I heard Penny Dolan read from her then Work In Progress.  It was an account of an exhausted boy being driven and harangued on a long walk through a storm, and it was thrilling.  Penny is an expert storyteller and reader, and her writing and reading combined was mesmeric.  I’ve never forgotten it.

          I kept meaning to read the finished, published book, A Boy Called M.O.U.S.E, but you know how it is – work and stuff kept getting in the way.

          But finally I have, and how glad I am I did.  The whole book is as mesmeric as that short reading.

          It’s a richly emotional, detailed, vivid romp of a tale, told in beautiful, rhythmic prose.  The good characters are appealing and loveable, the villains wonderfully hissable, but every character is distinct and memorable.

          The plot is of lost heirs, lost children, lost mothers; of schemes and stragems for a fortune, all of it brought to life by Penny’s swift vivid descriptions, and her great sympathy and understanding.  Mouse’s suffering at his dreadful school is real, his longing for his lost mother is real, and his joy in the friends he finds is real too.  The bitter schoolmaster, his bullying son, the old Punch and Judy man and his little dog, the theatre people – they all contribute to making this a lovely, lovely book, one to read and re-read, to read aloud, and to revel in.

Penny Dolan

          Nor, though it’s published as a children’s book, is its appeal limited to children.  Children will enjoy it; but I thoroughly enjoyed it too, and it’s been a long time since I was a child.

          A hint - it would make a great Christmas present!
          A Boy Called M.O.U.S.E. at Amazon...
          And on kindle...
         And Penny's Amazon Author Page

And Blot....

          Find more Blot at my website: www.susanpriceauthor.com