Finding Inspiration

Today I thought I'd talk a little about something abstract. Something intangible. But also something you cannot do without if you want to make something creative. Inspiration. And more specifically, where I find it. Like anyone who's ever tried to write or draw something, I go through dry spells, where no matter what you do, it is quite impossible to get anything done, because you're just not feeling it.

I have a few techniques for combating this. The first one is quite simple. Walk. I do all my creative thinking while walking. I get all my ideas, everything creative thought and angle while I walk. When I write or draw, I am merely trying to remember what I thought of while I was out walking. There is a problem inherent in this. I've forgotten alot of good ideas because I don't have a note pad on me, and I feel too silly dictating on my phone. A good example of this: I've been trying to write a book for years. I know how it's going to end, but I haven't really been able to get the path to the end sorted out. One day I was out walking, and it came to me. The perfect solution. Everything clicked into place. Every plot hole was filled. It was amazing. By the time I'd made it back home, it was all gone, and I've not been able to recover it since.

So take a lesson from me. Walk alot. But carry a pen and paper.

Another thing I do when trying to capture that elusive creative spark, is go to the cinema. I always come back with a million new ideas. You probably think that this sounds awfully similar to plagiarism, but let me explain. It is not the scenes themselves that triggers me. I am a very emotional person. I feel things strongly. Watching a movie in a cinema is usually a very strong emotional experience for me. And I get a desire to replicate the emotions I feel in my own writing.

I'd mention music as well, but I'll save that for a seperate post. Suffice to say, when I'm out walking, writing new stuff in my head, I am always listening to music. It is a must.

The last thing I'll mention is other things I know. Other interests. I believe that is a treasure trove of inspiration, and I borrow heavily from that in my writing. An example. During my military service, I was an army medic. After my discharge, I joined the Red Cross Search and Rescue, and spent 4 years as a volunteer. The story is littered with things I learned or experienced during that time. I am also a huge football fan. ("Sawker" to you yanks out there.)

I've said earlier that the look of Rai was partly inspired by a football player called Claudio Marchisio. What may surprise you to read is that the look of Baltimore's 10-year old daugher Mbali is also inspired by a football player, called Alessio Cerci. See if you can spot the influence.

By the way, I will with each new blog post I put up here include one piece of all the wonderful fan art I've received the last year, starting with the very first one I got, from artist unknown. (this was a secret santa thing last year) If you recognise your own work, I'd love to get a hold of you to thank you properly. 

The Early Sketches

October 20 has been a few years in the making, although I only started getting serious around May of last year. I've did alot of sketches of the characters before that, and I've managed to find a few of them again, and I thought it might be fun to go through a few of them. I'd like to think I've gotten better at drawing since I did them, so  a few will be quite primitive.

This is the very first image I had of Rai. Originally, he was supposed to be from Brazil, and a very different character. He was pretty much a miserable grouch, and was actually supposed to be one of the deceased, along with Yun, Kibwe and Kunajak, back when the story was just the very first chapter, and Catherine was the last survivor.

He soon became much more like the character that's in the comic now though, once I decided that he was one of my two main protagonists. This is the almost finished version. The shape of his face is the same, but his hair is more wavy, his eyes just slightly slanted, and his cheek bones more pronounced.

 Cat was also different early on. She was supposed to have shorter hair, her scars had a different shape, and she made no effort to hide them.

 I'd pretty much decided to go with this model of Catherine, until I got the cover back from Arthur, and I made her look like that in the actual comic. I kind of preferred it when she had shorter hair, though. She may get a haircut once the comic moves along.

As for poor Ansgar, I can't really find any sketches of him. This is a sketch I did a long time ago, which as one point was going to be the basis for him. Not the blandness, and complete lack of recognisable features. Aren't you glad I made him older and more distinctive in the end? I am.

Character Spotlight: Catherine Marie Hoxley

To inaugurate the October 20 Journal, I thought we'd take a bit of deeper look at the thoughts that went into creating the characters. 

First out is the herione of the tale, ms. Catherine Hoxley. I'll be honest. Her character design is not at all my doing. When I started the process of plannig the comic, I hired the artist Arthur Wang to do the cover pages for the three chapters. For Rai, the male lead, I had specific requests, but for Catherine, I gave him complete freedom to go where he wanted.

The story first came about in a writer's workshop I particiapted in a few years ago, and the first chapter is more or less exactly derived from a short story I wrote there. In a first draft, Catherine was there alone, the last survivor, and it was more of a introspective tale of regret and courage in the face of an even more ambiguous threat that had consumed her life in the wake of an unknown tragic incident 10 years ago. So if you think I am conservative with my info now, you should have read the first attempt at the story. Subsequent drafts eventually saw both Rai and then Ansgar added.

In the beginning, Catherine was for me a flailing attempt at capturing the elusive "Strong Female Character" that everyone keeps talking about. I've later come to the realisation that it is more important to just write well fleshed out characters, no matter their gender. It is important to me to let the characters have their weaknesses and flaws, than creating overly powerful characters that can be role models. That's not what I proiritise. Catherine has her flaws. She is quick to anger, she has an addictive personality and like the others, she has done something terrible to land her in the predicament she is in. She carries great guilt, and is often not strong enough not to let it impede in her life.

What I want to do with her is to explore how a person manages to carry her past, and the knowledge of the horrific things she has done, while still having to be strong enough to weather the isolation and struggle that comes with her plight. How does she deal with the last few people she has any relation to dying around her. What will she do if she finds herself the last survivor. (Not saying that she will be! But she might...)

When it comes down to it, Oct20 is a post-apocalyptic story of three people stuck in a post-human wasteland. It just so happens that society keeps going around them. They are simply shut out from it.

And Catherine is one of the lenses I want to show this through.