Drawings and Cartoons

The Wrong Spell 8 by Jacqueline Miller

The Wrong Spell 1 A Cartoon by Jacqueline

The Wrong Spell.

Poor old Gerald, he thought being a vampire was bad enough until he put his destiny into the hands of the witch!


https://jmbakingbread.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/image5.jpg

Cartoon about writers and writing by Jacqueline Miller

                                       This is my cartoon about writers and writing. I drew this for my blog,
                                       'Jacqueline's Writing!"

Jacqueline's Writing - A Cartoon About Writing Children's Books.

Turning Your Book Into A Graphic Novel

Turning Your Book Into A Graphic Novel                By Jacqueline S Miller

I'm writing a couple of Fantasy novels about time travel and magic. I enjoy reading books with illustrations and often draw pictures of the characters and scenes in my own works in progress (WIP's) for inspiration.

I'd been experimenting with adding text and captions to some drawings for the books and wondered whether I should story board the book in order to sort out my very complicated plot.

Then, about a week ago, I suddenly thought that, maybe, I could turn the WIP into a Graphic Novel.

Here is my  preliminary drawing for a scene where the art teacher, Simon, meets a new pupil.

 Simon enters his studio and is surprised to find Amelie there. He suspects that she has been snooping around but he does not mind as he thinks she is the most beautiful girl he has ever seen. He even forgives her when he discovers that she has stolen some playing cards used in his conjuring tricks, as all he can think about is how much he wants to paint her portrait. He would be very upset and surprised to learn that she is a spy and a deadly assassin!

The drawing is in pencil and was drawn freestyle from my imagination. I hope that Simon's frock coat is authentic as I researched what a Victorian gentleman would wear. Of course, he could have been wearing his artist's smock but I think he looks smarter in this!

In this picture you can see my notebook.  I cropped the drawing and  added speech bubbles. I referred to the text from my first draft of the chapter. This is going to be edited as I can see that the dialogue for a Graphic Novel, differs from the text in a normal novel. Telling a story in dialogue, pictures and captions requires different skills to just writing a book.

This was the first time I'd used the app so I'm pleased with the result.

Here, I've added a template, a heading and a caption. I used an Apple Ipad and an app to do this. As there are pictures, I don't need the caption which describes what Simon is wearing.

Now I've added colour. Amelie is described in the book as being tall with pale blue eyes and white blonde hair.

I've returned to the original drawing as I want the colours to be uniform. I may redo the template using this drawing.

Here, I've used the app to crop the picture to fit the template.  I now need to write the script. Writing a comic or graphic novel requires different skills to writing a normal novel.

I'm going to experiment with using my Wacom on the PC to make the deep colours you get in comics.

However, I quite like the soft sepia colour of the original drawings. I suppose I could use both styles.

I'm editing the actual chapter in the book which this accompanies.  I plan to post it later.

Copyright Jacqueline S Miller

Simon and Amelie First Drawing for a Graphic Novel

Simon and Amelie

This is my first attempt at putting a caption on my drawing. 

I saved it in the wrong format originally and Blogger wouldn't load it, but now, as you can see it has been successful.

I think I might write it as a Graphic Novel as well as a regular one. This is such fun!

Copyright Jacqueline S Miller 12th May 2014

Simon and Amelie

This is a preliminary drawing for my WIP which I drew in about ten minutes last night.


Simon, the art teacher, finds a beautiful new student snooping around his studio. He does not realise that she is a deadly assassin although he notices that she is holding a playing card from a pack he uses to teach conjuring to some of his students.

Simon wears a Victorian frock coat. I'm going to try out a new ap to edit this and, hopefully, make it into a cartoon/graphic novel. It's all experimental at this stage.

How to be Green

How to be Green

In my previous post I wrote about how difficult it is to throw things away.

I seem to live my life surrounded by books and other clutter.

Despite this, I managed to give away piles of books to friends, children and charity shops this week.

Whilst clearing out the bedrooms, I found a trumpet in a case which belonged to my siblings but which no one wanted. Just by chance, that very day, a pupil mentioned to me that she plays the trumpet but has to rent one from school. I immediately brought the trumpet down and offered it to her as a gift. She was delighted with it.

I also gave her a set of hardback classic novels while some reference books and educational workbooks were gladly received by other children.

I've learnt from this that the things that lie unwanted and neglected in our houses could be valued and given a new lease of life by new owners.

How To Declutter Your House and Throw Books Away - Or Not!

How To Declutter Your House and Throw Books Away - Or Not!

Today, we're clearing books from the house. It's my husband's idea, of course - I would never ever, of my own free will, throw a book away.

Somehow, books of mine that were on the throwaway pile keep reappearing back on the shelf. It's a complete mystery...

"Have you read this?" my husband asks, pointing at a book by a favourite chick lit author of mine.

"Yes, but I might want to read it again," I reply.

I hold up some old musty science fiction classic with yellow pages.

"Oh, but we can definitely throw this one out!"

"No, that's mine!" he says, grabbing it and putting it back on the shelf.

Then he notices that I have several copies of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. He can't understand why one copy is not enough.

"Well, they're different editions," I say. " Some of them have illustrations."

He looks disbelieving, but lets me keep them.

I think I'm a bit like Smaug in The Hobbit, only I collect stacks of books not gold and jewels.

Of course, many of the books were bought second hand at charity shops or boot sales, but it's still such a wrench to part with a single one.

Being a teacher, I also have loads of papers and out of date course books that I'm holding onto for some unknown reason. Last night I was ruthless and collected numerous textbooks that I bought years ago but haven't referred to in ages.

In the end we assemble a massive pile of books that he immediately takes to the charity shop. I think he's afraid I'll change my mind.

It's a green thing to do and I'm pleased that we did it; and funnily enough once you've disposed of a book you don't really miss it, do you?

I must keep telling myself this...

Jacob and Lucy

This is an illustration for chapter Two of  my Work In Progress,  Lucy and the Wizards.

Jacob, a time traveller and wizard, has come from the future to take Lucy back with him.

However, the time machine is malfunctioning and Jacob has arrived in the wrong year!

The Princess and the Knight by Jacqueline S Miller. A poem for Valentine's Day

A poem for Valentine's Day about a Knight and his Love.

The Princess and the Knight

Long ago there lived a knight
Who loved a princess fair.
She was a rich king's daughter
With lustrous golden hair.

The princess loved him also
And all should have gone well,
But the king was very greedy
And put the knight through hell.

He sent him on a journey
To kill a dragon bad
And bring back lots of treasure
So she could wed the lad.

He had to kill the dragon
And steal a pot of gold
To win her hand in marriage,
A tale that's often told.

The quest was not that simple:
The dragon, such a brute,
Allied with evil goblins,
Ambushed the knight en route.

Well, greed can spoil a lover
And put troubles in his way.
The dragon proved a monster
And difficult to slay.

But love can conquer everything,
The wicked have to fail.
The Princess had to fight the beast,
Although she wasn't male!

Long ago there lived a princess
Who loved a knight a lot.
The Princess was Fenella,
The knight, Sir Lanceypot.


The ending to my story
Is very hard to tell
For first I'll have to write it.
I hope it all goes well!...


By Jacqueline S Miller

For "Tis love, Tis love, that makes the world go round!"

Happy Valentine's Day!

Artwork Using a Wacom tablet for the first time.

In England, if you buy a Wacom tablet you do not get any software free with it. However, I have discovered that it works with the Paint program which comes free with Windows.

So here is Princess Fenella uploaded from a photo of my original drawing.

This is a picture of the Wizard Erud and the evil sorceress, Viletta. I drew this tonight using a pen on the Wacom intudos tablet and paint for Windows. It is an illustration for a short story that I have just written. The title of the story is An Unusual Quest.

I am still experimenting with drawing using this technology.

Here I have used Paint to give Fenella blonde hair, red lips and a purple outline to her dress. It's all experimental at this stage.

All drawings and writing are copyright Jacqueline S Miller

Princess Fenella wears a crown and a necklace. She has a new little friend!

                                               Princess Fenella by Jacqueline S Miller

Princess Fenella wears a crown and a necklace. She has a new little friend!

Some Art work for my Works in Progress by Jacqueline Miller

Princess Fenella by Jacqueline S Miller

This is a quick sketch which I did this evening. I used black biro on white paper and then photographed it using the camera on my ipad.

 Princess Fenella is a character I've created for some Fantasy flash fiction stories I've been writing via the Mythic Scribes website. I drew her for the first time tonight, and she has appeared exactly as I imagined her.
Fenella is in love with the brave and handsome knight, Sir Cedric Lanceypot, who has gone on a quest to steal a gold cup from a dragon. If he is successful, the king will allow him to marry Fenella. Unfortunately, as usual, "the course of true love does not run smooth", and Fenella may have to go and rescue the knight.
I am now planning to turn this story into a book as a whole cast of characters has evolved with a PLOT. Hurrah! It is quite comedic (as usual) but it's turning serious now.

By the way, if anyone thinks writing Fantasy is an easy option, you need to reconsider. I've been having to learn about battles, armour, weaponry, clothes, chivalry, who accompanies knights on quests, dragons, how to get a knight in full chain mail off the top of a mountain, as well as many other things.



I think I will do some sketches of the other characters this week.
I'm going to experiment with using Art apps to colour in actual drawings that I can photograph and upload.

Unfortunately, Google did not let me upload it from the ipad to the blog, so I have had to send it to myself in an email and then upload it on a pc.
I was considering buying a digital tablet for art, but I think I can use the ipad to colour in my sketches.

                                                              Ruby and Jenny

This illustration is of Ruby and Jenny, in my WIP, Ruby and the Ancient Teacher. Ruby is invisible in the background as she is wearing a magic ring in the picture.It's quite hard to draw a picture of an invisible person!

This drawing was done using a combination of Paint for windows and Apple apps on the ipad. It entailed emailing the picture back and forth between a PC and an iPad. Some of it was drawn using a mouse and the rest using a stylus. The text was added in Paint on the PC.

Both drawings were done completely from imagination.

I'm going to experiment with colouring in the sketch and will post the results soon.

Jacqueline

Prudence, Henry and the Wizards.

I drew this picture of Prudence, Henry and the Wizards, using an Apple iPad. It is an illustration for my Fantasy WIP, Ruby and the Ancient Teacher.

I find that knowing what my characters look like helps with visualisation for writing the story.
Prudence, a magician, is on the way home from her tour when she is stopped by Henry who is being chased by the two wizards in the picture.

Henry tells her he has information about a missing person. He hands her a photograph, a letter and a ransom note. Prudence tries to help him by turning him into a green and brown rabbit. Unfortunately, the wizards who are from a high Order, detect the spell, and arrest them both.

In the back of Prudence's car are cages containing animals and birds used in her magic act.


I did NaNoWriMo last month and wrote the back story of many of the characters in this book. I now have the plots for several books. This will be the third in the series. 
I will be posting an excerpt from the prequel, Lucy and the Wizards, soon.
Thank you for reading this blog and do leave a comment if you are interested.

Happy New a Year!

Jacqueline S Miller

Ps All material is copyright J S Miller January 2014

Creative Writing Review Now That It's New Years Day!

Creative Writing Review now that it's New Years Day!

2013 was a terrible year. I've never been superstitious about the number thirteen before, but I'm glad it's over. However, on a positive note, I discovered that I became very creative and did loads of writing. Some of my best chapters ever were written in the middle of the night when I couldn't sleep!

I participated in a couple of conferences and my book started to take its form. It's a fantasy novel about a student at an academy of magic. By the end of the year I had loads of characters, probably over 70, including two rabbits called Flopsy and Dipsy. I had been "Pantsing" along but I knew I had to go back and put in the plot, once I'd discovered what it was. I was surprised to find that my main character was not just ancient as I'd supposed, but was actually a time traveller with an intricate back story.

Then, November came along, and with it NaNoWriMo. I'd never participated before, but this year I decided to take the plunge. Well, I must say it was amazing. First of all, NaNoWriMo stipulates that you must write a new book, so I decided to write the back story of the ancient teacher in my current work in progress (WIP). I, therefore, wrote the prequel to the WIP and this is sorting out the plot of the original book.

I wrote nearly every day and, to my surprise, actually reached the 50,000 words required to "win" NaNoWriMo. The best part, however, was being able to post questions in the forums and become "buddies" with writers and aspiring writers from all over the world.

I've also found my writerly voice and know the genre I want to write which is  MG/YA Fantasy with
some Science Fiction and Steam Punk included.

Fantasy is actually quite difficult to write as you have to create a whole "world" with rules. Also, if it relates to the real world you have to check your facts. My main character is on the run from France with her magician father at the beginning of the book. At first I had set the story in 1870, but then I discovered I had problems with the Franco Prussian War and the enormous bustles that women wore at that time. So I time travelled the story to start in 1899. I still had to research Victorian England and find out lots of little details such as, what the Victorians ate for breakfast. The answer to the question is: a lot if you were rich, but not much if you were poor - maybe a crust of bread or some gruel!

I am more of a "pantser" than a planner and let the characters tell the story. I think that I now have the plots for several books and have a vast cast of characters. This is because I've had to include the ancestors of some of the characters in the original WIP.

Once I have finished the first draft I will edit it into several books as there are a few separate plots that interlink over more than a century.

Hopefully, this will be the year I get published.

Happy New Year!

Jacqueline
Ps Please leave a comment about your own writing experiences, especially if you also took part in NaNoWriMo. I will try and post an excerpt from the prequel.