ROW80 Round 4 - 1st Update

Since the start of ROW80, I haven't got as much done as I was hoping, even though it feels like I've been going flat out. I've created another background for my children's book and drawn a few more characters, but I still have heaps more to draw, before arranging backgrounds/characters/props on the pages and then adding text. I was hoping to get it sent to the printer by this coming Wednesday, but that's not going to happen. I've started user testing on the fantasy eBook prototype I built for my thesis (and had positive responses so far :D) but I still need to find another 2-3 users within the next week. I'll be doing a few all-nighters to try to catch up on my children's book and my thesis write-up, and the fact that I seem to have caught my old man's cold won't do much to help in that regard :(

All the drawing I've done for uni projects lately has awakened the artistic bug. So when I couldn't concentrate on work yesterday because Dad was continuously coughing and wheezing and snorting like an asthmatic pig a few metres away from me, I happily stepped into the loving embrace of eBay, where troubles are forgotten, bargains are found, and money is all too easily spent on things you want but don't really need (except I do need those new books and art supplies and clothes. Shut up. Don't judge me.).

I already own pretty much every coloured pencil collection known to humanity (I should have shares in Derwent, Faber-Castell and Prismacolor), so there wasn't much for me to waste money on in that department. I'm not really into pastels as I find they're too messy (I already own some pastel pencils and some oil pastels anyway), and I still have the sets of mini tubes (mostly still untouched) of oil, goauche and acrylic paints I scored years ago at the newsagent on clearance, so there was no point buying any of those (although I do need a new tube of green acrylic after I stood on the other one and squashed it all over the carpet, but that's another story). However, after randomly stumbling across an art review blog (any other artistic ROW80ers out there might want to check it out, he has very thorough reviews of a massive range of art products), I discovered a cute little watercolour box set with a waterbrush included (it'll fit in my pocket and the waterbrush means no messy bottles of water to carry around, so I can take it to uni for some quick paintings or sketches in my breaks). Since I don't have any watercolour paints (besides watersoluble pencils, which aren't really the same), I decided I must have one. I also found some good quality watercolour sketching journals with purple covers, so of course they went into my cart as well. Now I just have to wait for my new 'toys' to arrive :D

In related news: late last night, while trying to work on assignments, I came to the conclusion that I just really could not be bothered doing anything uni related. Thus I decided, what better time to start that art journal I've been putting off for so long? Though I won't have as much time to work on it til after I hand in my thesis, I'm hoping to start building a collection of drawings and paintings to try to improve my somewhat rusty skills (I was actually quite good at still life illustrations when I was younger but I haven't really done any for a good ten years). I think it will also be interesting to look back over my journals in a few years time and see the progression of my work. The first three entries of my journal are below:

Though I couldn't 'attend' Wednesday's ROW80 Twitter party, Judgemental Dog made sure to make an appearance, at least in spirit:

Check out other ROW80ers' progress here.

ROW80 Round 4 - Goals

Before announcing my goals for this round, I would like to make a small announcement. *ahem* MY FANTASY EBOOK PROTOTYPE IS WORKING!

Yup, after two months or so of Flash-induced madness and agonising programming, I've finally finished (and the best part is I didn't have to do as much horrid coding as I thought, since when I put it on the tablet PC to test, it somehow worked even though I wasn't using touch-interaction code). This means I will be able to start user testing this week (already got three people lined up, so I just have to bully another three or four into doing it) and start collating my results, ready for my end of year thesis presentation in three weeks time. Since I've been stressing about getting this thing working for the last few months, having it finally completed is a huge weight off my shoulders (but it's okay; I still have my illustrated children's book to freak out over).

Luckily this put me in a good mood, because my first day of ROW80 Round 4 was a bit horrendous. It started with a painful blood test, continued with dodgy public transport making me late to the class I was tutoring, I got hit in the head with a football and then managed to drop my computer mouse down a toilet (don't ask), and finally drove half an hour to a doctor's appointment only to be told she hadn't shown up. So productivity levels this evening will be a big fat nil.

Oh well... The week can only get better, right? (please say yes, or I'll cry)

Anyway: Goals. I won't even be touching my novel until the end of semester (probably early/mid November), so once again my goals will be academic:

-Complete illustrated children's book (hopefully by October 12 so I can send it to the printers in time for publication)
-Complete user testing of fantasy eBook prototype *by October 14*
-Write up results of eBook user testing *by October 16*
-Write up thesis (including revised literature review) ~ 10,000 words *due November 11*
-Complete Usability group assignment ~ 5,000-6,000 words *due October 21*

Once I hand in my thesis on November 11, I'll be able to readjust my goals to become writing (and drawing) related. And then it will be time for NaNoWriMo! Yay! *dances*

I shall leave you with a sample double-page spread of my illustrated children's book (sans text):

Judgemental Dog's tiny ROW80 companion, Spot, drops in to say hello:

To check out the goals other ROW80ers have posted, click here.

ROW80 Round 3 - Final Update

I had been hoping to finish ROW80 Round 3 on a high note, but after almost a week of having two hours or less sleep each night my optimism is at an all-time low; having to redo nearly a month's worth of painting/drawing after your old man spills red lemonade all over your artwork originals will have that effect. Especially when he then proceeds to wake you up at 5-6am most mornings by crashing around in the kitchen like an elephant having an epileptic fit.

Yes... Some people are only alive because I can't afford a hitman.

I haven't had time to even touch my eBook prototype. With a first draft of my children's book due this week I had to spend the whole time trying to redo the damaged illustrations. I got some of the backgrounds done, and luckily some that were ruined had already been scanned, but I'm going to just have to reuse a lot since there's no way I'll get all of it done over the next week on top of everything else I have due. Aside from two basic dragon drawings, I'm going to have to do all the other character illustrations again, as well as add more new ones. So I'll be pretty much mainlining energy drinks over the next week. Luckily next week is the mid-semester break (stupid name since it's basically at the end of the semester) so I don't have to go to any classes.

I did manage to get a first draft of the text for my story done, so it just needs to be edited. The next few days will just be trying to catch up on my illustrated children's book project, as well as trying (again) to get the touch interaction for my Flash eBook working (really, really hoping it won't be as difficult as I'm expecting). I'll also have to do a write up on usability testing for another assignment at some point (oh, joy...).

Here's a sample shot of my blue dragon against the forest background (the characters in the finished book will be in more interesting poses):



Of course we are, Judgemental Dog. Of course we are.

See how other ROW80ers went here.

ROW80 Round 3 - 12th Update

Ever reached that point where you have so much to get done you don't know where to start? Yeah, that's where I'm at now. I finally got the tablet PC from my supervisor, so I just have to convert the mouse functionality to touch functionality (I think I know how to do it, just hoping it isn't harder than it looks). I also have a 6,000 word group assignment for my usability subject that I haven't even looked at yet, so I'll have to somehow find time for that as well. *head explodes*

So. Hopefully I'll start testing my eBook prototype this week. I know I probably said that last week. And the week before. And the week before... DON'T JUDGE ME! I already have three users lined up (out of a required six or seven) so at least that's a start.

As for my children's book, I finally got around to doing some character designs! These are only rough and dodgy to get the basic body shape/style/colour scheme etc, and the final ones will be drawn more realistically, but my dragon characters will look something like this:

I've already designed the endpapers for the book; flames for the front:

And bubbles for the back:

I've also created a few new backgrounds in addition to the ones I did last week, including a gum tree forest:

And a lake surrounded by pine trees:

I still need to work on the story text, though; I know exactly what happens, but getting the right words to go in the right place with the right pictures is proving to be far more difficult than I anticipated.

Hopefully painting and programming is enough to protect me from Judgemental Dog:

Anyway, I'm off to wrestle with my eBook prototype...

See how other ROW80ers are going here.

ROW80 Round 3 - 11th Update

Since my last update, I have more or less completed by fantasy eBook prototype. I still have one persistent navigation bug (for some reason Flash keeps eating my "previous page" button), and I have to convert it to touch interaction (which should just be a matter of substituting a few bits of code), but aside from that, all components are fully functional. Some of the features include pop-up descriptions and audio pronounciations for the characters and places, while there are also detailed maps to show the reader exactly where they are within the story world. Hopefully my test users will enjoy reading it.

I'm now working on some of the backgrounds for my illustrated children's book. I decided to do the backgrounds separate as a combination of acrylic/watercolour painting and collages of various materials, such as cobweb paper, textured cardboard and ink-stained gossamer ribbon. I'm doing this for three reasons: a) my painting/drawing skills aren't quite at a high enough standard where I can consistently paint landscapes well, and at this point in the year, I don't have time to make mistakes. Cutting and pasting different materials is faster and it is easier to see what it will look like while it's in progress, reducing the chance of it not turning out well. b) The combination of different materials and textures will create an interesting visual style for the images. And c) by doing the characters separate from the backgrounds, I can reuse backgrounds and have greater freedom in positioning the characters within the various environments, and it also means that if I mess up the character drawing, I only have to redraw the character, not the background as well. I want to try to get most of my backgrounds done over the next few days, and then I'll start working more seriously on my character designs.

Here is my first quick-and-dodgy background, a simple snowscape (acrylic):

And my second, a mountain sunset (acrylic, textured paper and gossamer ribbon):

And my third, a desert (acrylic, cobweb paper, textured paper and cardboard):

As always, Judgemental Dog tries his best to be supportive...

Check out other ROW80ers here.

ROW80 Round 3 - 10th Update

So... Apparently I haven't posted a ROW80 update for two weeks... *looks around guiltily, then acts like nothing happened* Though I've been flat out working on academic stuff, I have been somewhat slack in terms of blogging (may Judgemental Dog have mercy on my soul).

Anyway; progress report. I am happy to say that I've made heaps of progress on my fantasy eBook prototype. It is more or less fully functional now; I still have to add in a few small things after feedback from my Honours supervisor, but most of this will be more time consuming than technically difficult, so it shouldn't be too big a problem. I'm aiming to have it complete by Monday so I can begin user testing, though I have to wait for the tablet PC we've ordered to arrive before I can start. It's a huge weight off my shoulders, though; earlier on I was really panicking because I didn't know how I was going to get it working, but after harrassing one of my old lecturers and just tinkering around with it for hours (actually, days), I got there in the end, and I am actually pretty proud of what I have made.

Here is the coloured version of the world map for my novel that will be used in my fantasy eBook prototype:

To be honest, I haven't done as much on my illustrated children's book as I would like, since I've been too busy trying to get my eBook prototype working. However I spent a lot of time last night bouncing ideas off my nan, and based on that I've decided on what I think will be an interesting but easy/quick style for creating my backgrounds. All I really have to worry about now will be drawing the characters (dragons and children) and refining the story/text. I don't have any completed character designs at this stage (everything is still at the rough sketch/messy combination of random art materials stage in my sketchbook), but when I have a finalised dragon design, I'll post it on this blog.

In other (awesome) news, a few weeks ago, I entered a drawing competition for some author-signed steampunk fantasy books... And I won :D Here is my drawing (I did this during a lecture because I was bored):

Unfortunately even when I receive the books, I probably won't have time to read them for another few weeks anyway :( (I say that knowing I'll end up just staying up all night to read them).

I hope Judgemental Dog doesn't get his hopes up too high...

See how other ROW80ers are going here.

ROW80 Round 3 - 9th Update

Another fairly short update this week; I had a test for one subject yesterday, and spent most of the weekend grappling with problems I was having with my fantasy eBook prototype (some of which I've solved, some of which I haven't). Most of the progress news I have for this post relates to my illustrated children's book.



I have finally settled on a story idea. It was somewhat inspired by yet another random midnight half-asleep scrawling I found near my bed yesterday: "Bubble dragon picnic". It's completely different to the ones I was working on last week (or the week before), but I finally feel like I've found a story that I genuinely care about, instead of just writing/drawing something for the sake of filling my journal and printing a book. And after describing the story to my Illustration class and the teacher, the general response was, "Oh, that sounds so CUTE! Hurry up and write it so I can read it!" so I'd say I'm on a winner. And yes, the story is about dragons (none of you saw that coming, did you? Did you?). I also think I'm starting to see a visual style developing, though I'm going to have to experiment on it a bit more over the next few days (part of this will involve setting stuff on fire, which is always fun). Now that I've pretty much got the plot sorted out, I just have to actually write it into story form (which means getting it down to around 150 words). It is a relief to have finally chosen a story though; I had been freaking out, going, "What the hell am I going to write about?" but now I can just start writing and drawing (still need to decide on a final design for the main character).



Judgemental Dog is making sure I'm not slacking off:



See how other ROW80ers are going here.