Okay, near a month later, here's the follow-up/continuation to the last post in this journal. Which I promised, um, well, a month ago.

( silly drawing ahoy )

Sketch from aborted April fool's entry; I would've begun discussing the radical departure that Patrick in look and feel and how that would effect future Dicebox.

Over a year later, another for the sketch table. Cause drawing pregnant Griffen was too hard to resist, given my current condition.

2 hours, pencil and watercolor

Like all good geeks, I have made a mix tape soundtrack for my story. You know, the Dicebox thing I do. I've actually made three so far and will end up with five or so by the time I'm done.

( For those of you who are in to such things, read on. )

First off, that is exactly what I based my design for the Dicebox homepage on, the frontispiece of a book. Here are some examples from books from the 1600s:

Ovid's Metamorphosis	The Anatomy of Melancholy by Robert Burton

(Click images for larger views.)

Note the pillars in each example; this is a reference to an architectural frontispiece which "constitutes the elements that frame and decorate the main, or front, door to a building; especially when the main entrance is the chief face of the building, rather than being kept behind columns or a portico." (definition courtesy of Wikipedia)Also note the pair of framing figures in iconic clothing surrounded by all sorts of symbolism.

Since Dicebox was started as a way for me to process stories throughout my life and since the earliest way I remembered getting stories that meant something to me was through books, this was a natural choice for the story's homepage. I will be creating a new frontispiece for each book which will then take up their traditional place in the printed collections.

( More beneath the cut )

Military Rank: the Corps and Bureau equivalents

In answer to the response to the revelation of Griffen's old rank in this week's page --and for my own easy reference-- I present the military rank of the only military in the Dicebox 'verse, the Corporalty or Corps, and its offshoot/companion of intelligence work, the Bureau.

( A table of ranks )

What you see here is the official "badge" of the Sooner family of Rafferty, a kerchief of a unique and particular design and color.

( more )

I know some folks have noticed that the lettering on various background elements tends not to be the Latin alphabet, but a made up alphabet which I call ALS:



( more )

Photo reference part 2: environments

I don't really reference actual buildings or interiors in Dicebox. I'm inspired by some in books and real life, but I tend to alter or adapt what I find, though occasionally a conceptual building from a book does make it into the odd back ground.

I do take lots of random reference photos of buildings and cityscapes that appeal to me, but I collect these more to use as reference for a particular sense of environment then for any particular architecture style.

( Examples how I use reference photos to create building-scapes and interiors )

Hello and welcome to the first installment of Jenn's penance present for missing updating Dicebox this week! I'll be updating this process journal three times on Wednesday, May 9th and then once a day for the next week with sketches, thoughts, and, well, my process notes for how I go about creating Dicebox. I'll also be updating the Dicebox Explication Page a similar amount. And I'm taking requests, either via email or in the comments below, for explication points, story notes or even which concept I should sketch next off of my Sketch Table.

Anyway, like I said, here's my first offering, and as you might have guessed, it's about how I employ photo reference.



( More silly snapshots and exhaustive explanations )

Alas, poor Dicebox Process Journal. How I've neglected you, much to my regret and against my will. And this is just a prelude to a hope to return to it on a more regular basis.

As folks have been loving the t-shirts of the latest scene of Dicebox, I thought I'd show the designs at a larger size and show their inspiration and source.

First, the Holy Artichoke on Mare's shirt:



( continued beneath the cut )

Sketch three for the sketch table.

Done in 90 minutes, pencil sketch, Photoshop colors.

I always took umbrage at that saying "Write what you know" because that seemed so wrong and discounted so much, well, truth.

I much prefer and believe in the variant "Know what you write," which I first heard from me husband, Kip. And he just told me that he formulated it himself--with the caveat that others have probably said as much before.

Still, I think I married well.

Sketch number two for my 100 sketches challenge. Didn't mean to let it go so long, good thing I didn't make weekly sketches a definite goal of mine.

Like the first, this one broke my two hour rule, but still was under three in actual drawing time. I lost a bit of what I liked about the pencil drawing, but it still came out pretty well considering my learning curve. And I did learn a lot with this one, including how to scrub and lift color after one has accidentally dabbed one's brush in blue instead of brown.

I'll probably continue with watercolors for a while in doing these sketches in order that I might become more comfortable with that medium again.

This drawing is for a drawing challenge I set for myself for the Dicebox Process Journal (more details here.) Well, a sketch challenge really--I want to get used to the idea of sketching and playing again and so have a goal of spending only 2 hours per sketch max, maybe 3 if I do something tricky. This one might've logged in at about 2 and a half, but partly that was me getting used to watercolors again--which is another purpose of this exercise, to play with half abandoned art supplies. Though I also want to try to get comfortable sketching directly on the computer.

Anyway, it's been a while since I did a watercolor, last time was this Mare sketch I did in 2003 and that actually has a good amount of color pencil involved. Getting this art to scan well is a bitch, this is an okay representation on the sketch in question, at actual size (3.5" x 6")

And, as explained in the entry that contains the prompt table and guidelines for this sketch challenge, the subject matter will be of situations before or after the actual time period of Dicebox the story. This is after by several years.

Below is a copy of the prompt table used for fanfic100, a fan fiction challenge that I came across while searching for something else for the day job. It's a table of 100 concepts to be used as inspration for writing fan fiction, one piece of writing per concept (or prompt).

I'm not a fan fic writing type of gal and hence will not be using it as such. Instead, I will be adopting it as a sketch idea generator for this journal. Therefore, said sketches will feature the characters found within Dicebox, but not within the timeframe of the story of Dicebox i.e. the situations will be from before or after the timeline of Dicebox the story. This does mean some younger and older versions of Molly, Griffen, et. al. which should be fun. As for scenes after Dicebox, I really don't see spoilers coming into play, but will warn accordingly.


( 100 prompts )

A recent mention of Dicebox on Fleen has given me reason me to re-read some earlier interviews I did including one for Sequential Tart that, like the Fleen entry, concentrates on the story side of Dicebox, as opposed to simply the art. Both say some nice things about the writing and I'm pleased particularily pleased with Kate Ditzler's response to the dialogue. But what provoked this process entry is one comment from Lee Atchison's introduction to the Sequential Tart interview where she praised the story for "its careful, deliberate pacing." I get a warm glow from that remark--but is it true? I mean, can I safely take credit for it?

Yes and no.

It's true that I have my outlines, charts, plot points, symbolic climaxes, etc and so forth written down, planned and mapped for each book and encompassing the entire story that is Dicebox. But I actually run on a lot of gut instinct when I write Dicebox, I have strong emotional impressions of certain passages that I can't quite quantify, let alone articulate--don't get me started on scripting it. I know what needs to be accomplished in each book for the growth of the story as well as the growth of the characters, and have outlined each book pretty thoroughly.

And yet I can totally tear down and rewrite the outline for Book Two (like I did this past winter) and have the same things happen in a broad sense even if the events, sequence and supporting cast almost all change--if in purpose if not presence. And end up with that Book telling the same exact story as before--only more so.

I know what the story needs to be, how it ends and the major moves that'll take to get there, logistically and emotively. I really don't grok the idea of hanging a story on a plot structure formula, not Aristotle's three act, nor Freytag's five act, both of which are defined in this diagram:



But, to my horror, I might be following this charted structure. Kinda. I mean, I do describe Book 4 as a dénouement, and it is the natural end of the story. But I say it ends a bit higher on the tension axis; I'm definitely untying things but not necessarily relieving anxiety. Maybe I've been influenced by a life time of being told stories in following this structure. As Dicebox is a reaction to all the stories I've yet read, watched or listened to, I guess that's okay.

All that does still feel pretty considered and structured, huh? But I'm not mentioning my spur of the moment rewriting of a page because of how an expression came out in the second [panel that was a mistake transformed into inspiration. Which can mean I'm rewriting the following pages if not the next chapter. Or, hey, the fact that I haven't actually fully scripted the second half of this chapter. I know what happens, it's three distinct scenes and all that. And I keep debating if that second half doesn't actually begin Chapter 7. Because the end of scene 6 of this chapter would make a damn nice end to this Chapter and bring it to about 34 pages at that point. If I did that, it would mean that I'd break an earlier promise and give lie to this cover art for Chapters 4 through 6. Never mind I might not be giving my next fill-in artist enough notice.

Hmm. I am really fond of how Chapter 7 begins at the moment, though I don't know if not having the formal break of a Chapter before that current opening scene would change its impact--perhaps just having the break of a scene change is good enough. 'Cause the natture of that break is important and meaningful to me, part of where I'm very deliberate in pacing. But equally as important are the themes of each Chapter, and, man, moving those three scenes to the start of Chapter 7 would actually strengthen the theme of that Chapter. A lot. Damn.

I might have just talked myself in to this.

I ruminated a while back in an entry on my main journal that if I realize that a panel of a yet to be posted page doesn't do it's storytelling duty, I am feel obliged to hold up production and fix it post haste. If that means delaying updating, so be it.

Well, that just happened to me this past page. Thankfully I was a bit ahead for once and so it didn't postpone the update.

( I'm about to think aloud to myself, with pictures: )

So here is one of the more boring type of posts that I'll leave open to all, my self-evaluation of where I and Dicebox are at the moment. They probably won't occur too often, they are scheduled for beginning of May and beginning of November. I've chosen those two months for a few reasons, but mainly because these are the months I tend to lift my head up, look around and assess what's what. That's true in just about all aspects of my life, not just art--Kip and I are doing our spring clean and purge this weekend, for example. I imagine it's because May straddles spring and summer and November fall and winter, May is before June, my birth month and November before December, the end of things. (Hm. I guess this might be my Celtic roots showing in Beltane and Samhain.* Eh, I can live with that.)

I already did a Private post on May 1st of a laundry list of goals, needs and achievements: such as how many additions I want to make to the cast page by when, where I'm at at filling out the Explication page, reader statistics, etc. This'll actually be more about making actual pages. Also, I'll probably revise and add stuff over the next couple of days.

( I give myself a report card )

*Additionally, Kip has pointed out that this follows the school year, which doesn't really resonate with me per se, I think more September and June have a different set of emotional responses to those. But I can see it's merit, and as I pick up on a mass emotional wave, it could affect or reinforce my responses to May and November.

So, as I started to go through my earlier process journals in order to re-examine and rethink earlier thoughts, I came across my orginal installment plan for Dicebox: 2 Books, 9 Chapters each and each Chapter 12 pages each. As at page 20 I'm not even half way though this chapter, I laugh. Bitterly.