Pleiades Illustrations

The publication of Pleiades: Seven Stories of Unhurried Solitude, is still on schedule, but the parts I thought would take the most time have been the fastest to complete, and the parts I thought would be a breeze have taken me the longest. The audiobook still isn't finished and available, but the final editing took very little time at all. In fact, what ended up slowing down the book's release (though not beyond the expected date) was the insertion of the illustrations.

Although I originally planned to have a total of five, for various reasons I ended up having to cut the number. I chose the two I liked best, and, unless I'm absolutely unable to put them in the book without distorting them, the following two images will be the final illustrations.

Pleiades, chapter 7 illustration

Pleiades, chapter 1 illustration

Hope you like. :)

And now back to your irregularly scheduled Emmy

Are you ready for a super-condensed update? I certainly hope so.

Pleiades is still on schedule (recording begins Tuesday, barring any catastrophes).

Emmy: Self-Titled is now up on Blogger. emmyselftitled.blogger.com

That's all for now. Expect more substantial updates on both topics within the next week.

Thanks folks. Have a great night.

Dear blog,

Here's the first image of the illustrations to accompany Pleiades. It's just the sketch, but it'll give you some idea of what the finished art will look like.

This is the drawing for "City, Part II."

Remember, you can help fund this project (and learn more about it) at Kickstarter.com

Dear neglected blog,

Thank you for waiting for me. I've been very busy lately, but I finally have something new and exciting to show you.

It's a book. Yes, a collection of short stories set to be published in December 2012.

That is, if I can get it funded. I'm hoping once I launch the Kickstarter page, and people read the sample chapter, I'll get some online support. Or at least some financial support from relatives. So far I don't have any fans, and no one I know of follows any of this.

But to be honest, right now, I'm kind of down about it. I love this project so dearly, and I've been so excited about it. But now, on the eve of its launch, I feel a little disheartened. Except for two people (one of whom I've never met in person), none of my friends or family seem to share any of my excitement. They don't seem very interested in it at all. Which would normally be okay, but I'm looking forward to having no one with whom to celebrate, save my grandmother, and I don't know why.

The people who read it say they like it (or love it, depending on which you ask), and I'm pleased with it (which is saying something. I wouldn't post or publish something I'd be embarrassed of). Maybe it's just the people I hang with. I'm so afraid of becoming that "artist" who can't write worth a crap but is always publishing and trying to push her new 'creative endeavor.' So I don't push it on the people I know personally. One refusal to read it is enough.

So, off to cyberspace, where I'll hopefully find people who enjoy what I write.

For now, I'll be breaking the champagne bottle by myself.

[ /angst]

A wig and a torso

Now that my Emmy is officially a resin, ball-jointed doll, she needs some hair (and eyes... but we'll get to that).


I pulled from a few online tutorials and came up with the following:

It looked so pretty long, but I had to give her a trim.

I may make another one, as flakes of tacky glue are visible on this wig. The Nikon picks up every dust particle, so glue flakes will make Emmy look like she suffers from the Worst Dandruff on Earth.
Or I might let just her have dandruff. The list of things I need to do and fix before the next comic panel is complete just keeps growing...

Anyway, my male puppet is well under construction. Behold, the three-part torso:
Assembled

And disassembled

For the sake of efficiency (and getting this next panel done before Christmas), I may simply re-use Emmy's legs. He'll be slightly shorter than I originally intended, but it might be the best option at the moment. After all, it isn't only time that I'm running short on. Making new molds is expensive (especially on an ever-shrinking budget).

Watch out for more body parts, wigs, and -hopefully- CLOTHES.

Resin Success

At last, my darling Emmy is a resin, ball-jointed doll. She's seen many incarnations, but this one should be her (more or less) final form. It took a LONG time, but here she is:

 She isn't perfect, but I'm very pleased with how she turned out, especially considering this was all new to me. For the first time, I made a BJD out of polymer clay; for the first time, I made silicone molds out of all the parts (this was a particular challenge); for the first time, I poured resin. I'd call it a success.

In the interest of fairness, though, here are a few of her 'flaws.'

The resin didn't completely fill the mold on the abdomen (and a few other areas). I'm experimenting with different filling-in substances.

Her one upper arm is some weird-ass mutation that I'll need to completely replace.

Nonetheless, she is beautiful, if I do say so myself. Now, onto wig-making. ;)

Let the Pouring Commence

Last blog, I showed off my almost-ready Super Sculpey ball-jointed doll original (namely created for the comic "Emmy: Self-Titled"). She needed a few updates on her limbs, but otherwise, she was a functional puppet.
Here's the finished original:


The next step was to cast the parts, creating silicone molds so that I could then re-make the doll with resin.

This, predictably, did not go smoothly.

The online tutorials I used were great, but I somehow managed to buy mold release that didn't work. After a few very frustrated attempts to make a two-piece mold, a couple people on The Joint suggested I use Vaseline instead of mold release. It worked splendidly, and since then everything's been going well.

My lil' Lego mold. That's a forearm you're looking at.



Side one is complete.



I started to get a little creative with the configurations. I had only so many Legos, after all.


It took many molds (16 total), but my Emmy is finally ready to be cast. Behold:


Another noteworthy update: I've managed to secure myself a rather fantastic boyfriend, who is so supportive of my puppet-making endeavors that he's volunteered to be a studio assistant. He'll be coming over today to help me make my masterpiece. :)