Sunday, June 18, 2017

GHOST FALL COUNTDOWN: Ginger Looks Forward and Back

As I was leaving my neighborhood the other day, I saw a yard sign posted for the annual community garage sale. Oh right I thought, That was the thing I was going to do and then realized I have nothing to actually sell. The most obvious tell of this is that my single-stall garage stores my car, not random junk.

What this means is that a year ago this weekend, I looked at the condo I'm writing this up in right now and put an offer in for. This was my summer of two moves, where my parents and I just so happened to buy places to live at the same time, but my closing was a month after theirs. The first Owl's Flower was drawn partly at my old house, partly in an extended-stay hotel, partly at my parents' new place, and partly at my first “own” place. There was so much going on in my life that I can't believe I actually was able to get drawings done for the first of this new adventure of making a light novel series.

Herne's design comes from an established place (drawings circa 2012/2013).

I've wanted to make a book series for a very, very long time. Along with that elusive illustration degree I have, I also studied and have a minor in English. My graduation portfolio for my BFA featured all sorts of characters I had created, both on the spot for pieces and who had been sitting in my brain for years. The toner-ink warriors, the desert pirate, the space farmers, the emperor mangoat – they all had a story to them (which my class was often subject to hearing) and were ready to go. But, as many will tell you, making stories happen is hard, especially when you want to write and draw it. Owl's Flower is kind of a relief in the sense that it's a story I'm passionate about, and get to work with someone who is just as passionate as I am. It's satisfying to say that the hurdle isn't getting the first story out, it's doing the second, the third, the seventh. That's an exciting place to be.

One of the things Kara brought up in her post, which apparently I brought up, is that the first book of the series is kind of...slow. And I don't say that to complain, I say it as an observation when I was looking at things to draw. Let's not use the word “slow” and instead say that was it pretty mellow. Something that I was looking forward to with book 2 and beyond was that things would become more weird and mystical and open for possibilities. I'm not calling for action scenes all the time, necessarily, but I'm excited to bring this world of ours to life as we keep going. More supernatural stuff, more new characters to meet, and more of Herne's wings and antlers.

Book 3 was discussed the Monday after we had launched book 1 and I had gone to a wedding. I can remember chugging a latte before taking off for the airport and Kara and I were gabbing about the plot of book 3, making jokes while also going “no wait that's a great idea”. Ghost Fall is the start of something really exciting and really fun, and I' m excited to get this all out there for you guys to enjoy.

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