Authentic Arctic Thrillers
Time for a bit more art. 🙂 I feel as though I’m getting better, however slowly. This “happened” as a result of indulging in some gritty, low budget sci-fi. I fell in love with Prospect, and felt the need to do some fan art using 3D assets and a touch of Photoshop.
Chris
Last year I really got into 3D art. One year later, and I feel as though I’ve come a long way. It’s like all the skills I’m learning in the indie publishing world, I feel like I take a colossal leap forward, and then slide back down the learning curve to start all over again. It’s pretty much the same when learning a language as an adult. I still have many plateaus with Danish, just when I feel like I’m getting the hang of yet another point of grammar, or pronunciation, I end up on a plateau with no real development.
I think it’s the brain digesting.
That’s what I think.
And it’s the same with my attempts at 3D art. Luui 2.0 (adult Luui from the Christmas stories) is the exact same model (albeit with different hair and wardrobe) I used for Luui 1.0, but with better lighting, and posing, a little bit of asymmetrical adjustments, and there’s that giant leap. It’s the lighting, mostly. Amazing what you can achieve with three spotlights!
Previously, I might have been tempted to go back and change the model on the old cover. But not this time. I like seeing the progression and look forward to working with Luui 3.0 sometime in the future.
Not right now though.
I really like the new Luui.
Chris
Okay, if 3D art isn’t your thing, then look away now. 🙂 However, if you’re wondering, or even worried about “how I tick”, then this piece of art might explain a few things.
I love “apocalypse stuff”. Yes, I love science fiction books and movies, but a good apocalypse plot in any form is my idea of hours well spent. Yep, Jane’s rolling her eyes right now. I have spent far, far too many hours playing Ubisoft’s Tom Clancy’s The Division. I mean, that video game was made for me. I still spend far too many hours in game, although less of late as I found another way to enjoy the fictional universe in which the game is set. Creating scenes inspired by the game is another way to enjoy it, and to work on my 3D skills.
Did I say fictional?
I’m sorry to say this, but the pandemic the world endured (and continues to endure) came awfully close to depicting aspects of the game, not least the wearing of masks.
Sure, I love action stories, and there’s a lot of action in The Division. Because I know it’s fiction I can just get into it. Although, as the pandemic proved, sometimes the fictional narrative is a little too close to home.
It happens sometimes with my own stories, too. 😉
Chris
Everyone needs a hero – or several. One of mine is the Norwegian polar explorer Roald Amundsen. Fans of Scott will protest, and I’ll ignore them. 😉 However, one of Amundsen’s classic quotes was in a telegram he sent to Scott: ‘Beg leave to inform you Fram proceeding Antarctic. Amundsen’. Thus kick-starting the race for the South Pole.
Love it!
And in that vein… Petra is heading south!
The Crocodile Beat is coming along, and I’m using concept art to develop it.*
I started using 3D art in the creative process last year. Before that I often used sketches to puzzle out one thing or another, but the 3D stuff has taken it to a new level. Like it or loathe it, I’m loving it! 🙂
Anyway, you’ll see in artwork above, I’m teasing out an idea of Petra in a desert area. She’s got a small pistol tucked into the small of her back, a water bottle, and the ubiquitous Land Rover.
She’s all set.
About that Land Rover, however. I’ve always loved them, always wanted one, and even more after a very short stint as an off-road instructor in a Land Rover Defender. But money and climate… you know. Owning a Land Rover is never going to happen.
But, if you’ve read some of my books, you’ll note that they turn up every now and again. 😉
Chris
*Edit (February 5, 2022): The Crocodile Beat will be a stand-alone novel. Sigh. 🙂
If you’re following this blog via my mailing list, you’ll know that I want to post different things, not just Greenland book stuff. So, fair warning, this is different, and it’s got nothing to do with Greenland.
This is your look away now warning. 🙂
Also, if you’ve been reading this blog since the start of November this year, you’ll know I was having problems with knowing what to write on SoMe, and I realised that if I had a hobby, for example, something to write about instead of the classic and boring buy my book, it would be advantageous. Well, this blog – revamped this November – is an attempt to do just that. I’ve got a few interests, and I’ll post about them every now and again, but as for a hobby… well, my hobby is part of my job, and this year – with a little help – I took it to the next level.
It’s Karl’s fault.
Karl Drinkwater is an indie author writing in various genres. We connected during the height of the pandemic and have maintained a steady correspondence since – no SoMe, just really really long emails. 🙂 Lots of those mails have been about artwork and how we can take our own cover art to that fabled next level.
I make my own book covers – with varying degrees of success. I also make my own maps, promotional images, and everything in between. I’ve used Photoshop since the early 2000s. Correction, I’ve scratched the surface of what Photoshop can do for over twenty years, but now, with Karl’s help, I have taken the next step.
In short, Karl introduced me to 3D art, and the use of 3D models, or assets, to create artwork for my books. I’ve done quite a few so far, and you might have seen them, including the omnibus editions for the Greenland Missing Persons series.
I’ve experimented with a tonne of science fiction covers, and need to do a tonne more for all the short stories I’ve been writing.
But the key thing is the creative freedom making my own covers allows.
Traditionally published authors have next to zero input in the cover design for their books. My own experience was limited to “signing off” on the cover a couple of hours before it went to print. Although, the Czech publisher was different. They listened, and removed the trees from the generic mountain they put on the cover of Seven Graves, One Winter.
No trees in Greenland. 🙂
But mostly, authors have no input.
I have commissioned artwork in the past, and worked with an artist to shape my vision of a steampunk robot, and it really helped having that robot in my head when writing the story. I have also bought so-called pre-made covers to which I added text. This can be really expensive, and without further promotion, an expensive cover alone does not guarantee sales.
But having the tools to create a scene from scratch – either to fit an existing story or to help shape a new one – is both fantastic and liberating for authors. You can really get into the details, like the pink fire axe from my novel End of the Line. Finding a black character in winter clothes holding a pink fire axe is, as you can imagine, quite an ask. But with 3D art it is totally possible.
Working on 3D art is, however, time-consuming, and there is a steep learning curve which may put off a lot of independent authors – and therein lies the market for pre-made art, and, for a substantial fee, commissioned art. Artwork is one of the things a traditionally published author might think the publisher is paying for, but the author is the one paying for it, and sometimes it is little more than a few stock images slapped together with a bit of text. If you read fantasy books you’ve might have come across a particularly generic female model in armour with a sword on the cover of several books including big name authors. Stock images are sold multiple times.
Where am I going with this?
Ah, yes, the hobby!
Talking around the subject of books. At least, that’s what I should be doing. But what I’m really doing is talking about independent publishing, the freedom it brings, and the deep creative dives one can take.
I’ve spent a lot of time indoors in 2021 – couldn’t leave the house anyway #covid19 – and as a result I’ve been developing this new hobby, and working on covers. Karl and I are ready for the next step, to create affordable pre-made covers for sale to independent authors like us, who don’t have the time to make covers themselves.
This should have been relatively simple, i.e. create a scene suited for eBook and paperback covers. My problem, however, has been letting go. Every time I create a scene, it’s like creating a character, and I can’t imagine selling the image – just once, not multiple times – and so I want to write the story. 🙂
I have to learn to let go.
The image at the top of this post is the first image I have created that I am ready to sell.
I think.
Either way, from writing stories, to creating the art to go with them, I really do think I have the best job in the world.
Chris
P.S.
I’ll post more about our covers when Karl and I launch the website in 2022.
I am an independent author. Sometimes, just saying it aloud helps. 🙂 There’s a lot of stigma attached to being “independent” and a lot of negativity, usually slung from publishers and those authors and aspirational authors who believe the traditional route is the one and only route to being published. Well, in 2021, all I can say is “good luck with that.”
Being independent gives me and authors like me the freedom to decide pretty much everything. It also means we have to own our mistakes along the way. Like everything, there’s a learning curve, but learning is a big part of the reward. Can I do things better? Sure. How do I do things better? Well, I go and learn from people better than me in that area.
But one of the true freedoms can be found in the creative process, including everything from writing to cover design. I’ve always done my own covers – some are better than others, some are far better than others, meaning I really should go back and change one or two of my covers. And, because I’m independent, free to make my own mistakes, I can.
This year, a good friend I met through writing but have never met, put me on to 3D art. I’ve always enjoyed playing around with images in Photoshop, but felt something was missing – in a nutshell, it was “people” or characters who were missing. With 3D models and assets a whole new world opened up, and I could put a face on my characters. Now, there’s a danger here, and anyone who read The Lord of the Rings before Peter Jackson’s films probably experienced the same identity crisis as I did when Elijah Wood became the new Frodo. So, if I add Petra, one of my main characters, to a book cover or promo image, as I have started doing, then readers might experience the same thing.
I think I just compared Petra to Frodo, there. 🙂
Whatever the consequences, I’m actually fine with it, as what I’ve discovered is a new string to the creative bow. Now, when I create covers or promotional images I find I am adding to the story. Sometimes playing around with a cover inspires a story, which is what happened last night when Petra went back in time (see cover image).
I don’t yet know when or if I’ll write this story, but I’m seriously considering it, just to shake things up a bit.
Being an indie author gives me the freedom to do that.
Chris