What can you do in 15 minutes per day?

If you had only 15 minutes per day to dedicate to your creative outlet, whatever that may be for you, do you believe you’d get anywhere? 15 minutes of painting, or writing, or sculpting, or sewing, etc. Do these small chunks of time really add up to anything? Of course they do! Just like if you walk down to the library from your house; you still make the journey one step at a time. Think of 15 minutes as a single step. Let it take you from starting your project to a finished novel, painting, statue, dress, or whatever.

For this week, just try doing what you’d like to be doing for 15 minutes a day. Wake up 15 minutes early or stay up 15 minutes late. Whatever it takes so that you can be dedicated about your 15 minutes. See where you are at the end of the week. I bet you’ll be closer to your goal than you think. Let me know how it goes!

Sacred Knight Update

It’s time I give you an update on my graphic novel, Sacred Knight, don’t you agree? So, how’s the book coming?

I finished drafting the script to the first story arc (there’s three total) a couple weeks ago. I still need to edit it and get all the points lined out. The next two portions of the story are going to be harder to write because I know the first part so much better. Still, it’ll all coming together.

I’ll work on the next two arcs as I’m putting together the art for the first. I’ve already started drafting the pages for second chapter. It’s about time. I feel like it’s been so long since I released the first chapter, but I really wanted to make sure I had a handle on the story.

Okay, okay, so there’s another reason too! I’ve been terrified of the art I knew I was going to need to draw. Not to mention all the new characters that I had to take from my head to the page. I still feel very new in all this – drawing comics was certainly not part of my plan! But it’s a good and welcomed surprise to my life.

I hope all my fans who’ve read and enjoyed the first chapter understand why I had to take so long to release the second one. Thank you for your support and encouragement. Your belief in me has meant the world. So, here we go! Legend Two (aka chapter two) coming soon!

Manga review – Demon Diary

I’m very picky about the art in the manga I read. I don’t like it too simple and I don’t like it cluttered so that nothing makes sense. If I can’t “read” the art easily, if it doesn’t enhance the story, there’s no way I can get into the text.

Demon Diary has brilliant art, although it had it’s own trials while being written.

The artist changed after the first book. The original artist was a college student who didn’t have time to work on it. I think it came as a shock to the author who was excited to have the book released and now it looked like it might fall apart if the publisher couldn’t find another artist. Fortunately, they found a great artist and the art didn’t suffer from the change. In fact, if one wasn’t aware of the fact that the artist changed, it might not be noticeable at all. The clothes and setting are all beautifully done.

As for the story, I was a little disappointed in the third volume when the story took a different turn than I was expecting. It flowed very well into this new story, but I still want the other story. I’m so determined to some day write a version of Demon Diary as I wanted to see it. That’s the great thing about writing. If a story goes on another tangent, then the writer reading the story can pick up the story line that interests them and make it their own. Sammy Hagar once said that he wrote songs because when he was listening to other people’s songs he thought they were singing one thing but the lyrics turned out to be something else, so he “stole” what he thought it was originally and put it into his songs.

My favorite character is Eclipse. Not only is he cool, but I think I can identify with his plight to raise up this new demon lord right. It’s a mother thing, I’m sure. The parts where Raenef tries so hard to be a demon lord, but is just too pure of heart to be evil, are hilarious.

In the end, the story takes a couple strange turns, but leaves the reader wanting more. Oh, so much more could be written about this story.

If you’re wondering if Angel Diary (also by the same author and artist) is related to Demon Diaries, I have to sadly say, “No.” I was really hoping the two were related, but they aren’t. Again, something I’ll have to add to my own list to write someday.

I’m finding it much harder to get into Angel Diary, mostly because of my own disappointment I believe. Someday I’ll give it a fair shake and start reading it over. But for now, I’m enjoying Eclipse way too much.

Finally, some pictures

Leave it to me to get to a conference and suddenly remember that I should’ve brought my camera. Ever happen to you? I’m sure it has.

I had just reached the hotel where the Idaho Writers League conference was being held when I had a thought that I should’ve brought my camera.

Fortunately, Larry Telles from the Coeur d’Alene chapter had more foresight than I did and he brought his camera. I begged him to e-mail me some pictures and he said he would. I promptly forgot about it at that point. Again, ever happen to you?

So one day last week I’m checking my post office box and there’s a package inside. I didn’t remember ordering anything, especially something from northern Idaho. Maybe someone’s sending my book, The Write Edit, back to me and telling me what a pile it is — you know, my mind instantly going to the worst case scenario. You too, huh?

No, instead it was pictures of the conference all on a nice DVD, case and everything. Let me tell you, I was impressed. I expected Larry to send a handful of pictures via e-mail and that would be it. I certainly had not thought he’d send this. Wow! Just recently I was reading The Go-Giver by John David Mann and when I received Larry’s DVD, I thought of the section in the book about giving more than was expected. Let me say again, Wow! Thank you, Larry!

Now I’d like to share some of Larry’s pictures with you:

Convention Center for 2009 Idaho Writers League Conference
© 2009 Larry Telles

Idaho Writers League conference theme
© 2009 Larry Telles

Strange how the theme for my first writers’ conference was “Paint with Words” since I’m now painting and writing. I loved it.

My workshop:

Sherri George introducing Dawn Blair
Idaho Writers League Conference
© 2009 Larry Telles

Dawn Blair
Idaho Writers League Conference
© 2009 Larry Telles

Sherri and I have been friends for a long time, so I was glad that she did my introduction. Now here’s a picture of Sherri as her wonderful alter ego.

Sherri George as Sister Victoria
Idaho Writers League conference
© 2009 Larry Telle

My first workshop at a writers’ conference went well. At least I didn’t pass out. Though there was once, probably right after Larry snapped this shot and I became conscious of the audience, I felt a sudden spinning of the room. But I stayed on my feet. Whew! That would’ve been bad. Grin! Seriously thought, it was a lot of fun to give the workshop and I hope to do more in the future. I’ve been wanting to do a writers’ conference since the first one I attended, so this was a dream come true. I’m glad I could share the moment with through through a few pictures.

Dangerous Writing

No one thought writing could be dangerous. They were all wrong.

Well, okay, the actual writing shouldn’t be dangerous for the author, but it should be dangerous for the main character. Very, very dangerous.

When I say this to some writers, I get a look that says, “I don’t write THOSE kinds of stories.” Well you should! Here’s why:

A story is how a character faces danger. Your main character has to have a goal, whether it’s a long-term or a short-term goal. Whatever keeps your character from getting this goal is an obstacle. In trying to get around the obstacle, the character is in danger of being overcome by the obstacle. Therefore, your character faces danger.

Any type of book, from romance, to fantasy, to western needs to have obstacles for the main character to overcome.

For example, you might have a handmaid who wishes to marry the prince, but she knows that if she expresses her love for him, she’ll be kicked out of the castle. Since she has no family to live with, she’d be out on the streets. So, her dreams must remain her own. The handmaid’s goal specifically might be to have a better life than her parents did. Her danger is getting thrown back into the same lifestyle that her parents lived in. She faces danger of discovery every time she sees the prince. And what if someone — a rival — found out about her secret love and intentionally tried to foil our precious little handmaid? What if the prince was a womanizer to begin with and our handmaid found herself betrayed, possibly pregnant? What if the queen found out the handmaid was pregnant and she wanted another child and offered to buy the babe from the handmaid — enough to make sure the handmaid is herself treated like royalty for the rest of her life. Could the handmaid give the queen her baby and let the child be raised as the prince’s sibling instead of his child?

While none of this puts the handmaid in an immediate life or death struggle, the handmaid is facing danger at every turn. You don’t have to write the shoot-’em-up high action stories to have danger. But when you stop asking yourself what pebbles are in the road to keep your characters from getting their goals and start thinking of it more as “what danger are they facing?” your story develops with more tightness. It’s not just a random event any more. It’s a real threat. And it makes the “What if” game more fun to play. I thought of my sample above on the fly, but as I was writing it, I saw the plot start to take shape. It’s fun crafting the story.

If you want to read more about how to create danger for your character and see more examples of how to do this as well as learn how to tighten other elements of your story, please check out my book, The Write Edit. You can order it right from my Morning Sky Studios website for under $10. Don’t forget about your other writing friends too! It would make a great Christmas gift for those authors in your life.

Birds of a Feather

Last week we had a power failure. I’d been updating several pages on the Internet and it came to a sudden stop as my modem lost power. Two hours later, with several candles lighting up the living room, as my family decided to call it bedtime the power flickered back on. Short lived though. The power went back out and stayed that way until sometime in the middle of the night.

I went to my laptop in the morning and tried charge my MP3. I didn’t get anything. No power going to the MP3. I tried to turn my computer on. It wouldn’t boot, just beeped twice and gave me a black screen with an error. If there’s anything more scary than the infamous “Blue Screen of Doom” it’s the “Black Screen of Death.” Even with as much IT work as I do, I don’t claim to know everything about computers. I knew this was bad. In the nearly 10 years I’ve been doing computer support as part of “what I do” I’ve never had to go get physical repairs for any of my systems.

I took my computer to Tek-Hut. I’ve referred many people to them when I didn’t think I had the knowledge or had the time to solve a problem, but I’d never actually used them myself. First time for everything. They prepared me for the worst though it was something I suspected — that I’d fried the motherboard.

I went the night without my laptop. I kept reaching for it so I could do some work, but it wasn’t there. Awkward!

Tek-Hut discovered that I’d bent a pin in a broken USB port down and it was shorting itself out. When they bent the pin back up the computer worked just fine. I knew that every referral I’d given them over the years was well worth it.

The whole episode has thrown this week off. I’d gotten into a groove of writing posts and uploading pictures to my various sites, reading my e-mails as they came in, reading my favorite blogs, etc. Nothing has been on track since the night of the blackout. So, this is me trying to get back on track.

Earlier in the week, I started this painting:

Untitled Painting (at this point)
16x12 Acrylic on canvas board
© 2009 Dawn Blair

This is typically how I block in paintings like Fantasy Path, The Evergreens, and my newly listed painting, Fire Sunset Path. However, my son told me how much it looked like the eye from Pokemon’s Giratana giant dragon. Of course, then I had to look at it differently. I flipped the painting over and saw this:

Untitled Painting flipped
16x12 Acrylic on Canvas
© 2009 Dawn Blair

Now doesn’t that look the eye of a colorful bird, like a phoenix or something? I’m tempted to finish it out as a close-up painting of a bird. I feel it’s outside the scope of “what I do.” But if you don’t step outside your comfort zone, how do you grow? If I had not panicked at my preconceived notions of the black screen and actually taken a look at my computer, would I’ve seen the bent USB pin and been able to fix my computer myself?

What do you think? Do you let your paintings guide you, even if that starts to take you down another path or a little outside your style? If a voice holds strong in painting, how varied between subjects can an artist go? Let me know your thoughts.

Manga Stories – Rurouni Kenshin

A few years ago, my son and I were sitting in the doctor’s office waiting for his appointment. While he felt horrible, I was secretly glad to get a few more minutes in to read Rurouni Kenshin. I think I was on volume 13 or so. My son asked if he could see my book even though he hadn’t started reading the series yet. Humoring him, I handed it to him. He flipped to the end of the book and announced, “Aren’t you going to be sad when Kenshin leaves?”

What!?!! I snatched the book back from him. No! Kenshin couldn’t leave!

That’s the way the story was going. I had feeling it was going to happen, so I knew but I was in denial. I flipped to the end to see what my son had seen in one little flash: Kenshin walking away. And in that moment, I felt devastated. The rest of the volume just wasn’t the same after that.

If you’re wondering what this “manga” is, let me just give a short description. It’s a thick comic book (usually compiled of several “chapters”) started in Japan. As such, the book reads from right page to left page, opposite of what Americans are use to. There are also Korean comic books that look similar but read from left to right. We’ve also come to know them under the umbrella term “graphic novel.”

Rurouni Kenshin was the first manga that I’d encountered with both great art and a multi-layered character. They weren’t just two-dimensional representations though the lines on the page said otherwise. I fell in love with the characters and their stories. As such, I devoured all 28 volumes as quickly as I could. Yes, even though my son had thrown a spoiler in, I kept reading – I just had to know what happened to these characters. At one point, I was even crying over the story line. Isn’t that what great writing is about? Involving the reader deeply enough to make an emotional investment in the story?

The author, Nobuhiro Watsuki, also had little “interruptions” in the story to tell you about his life. Since I’m someone who loves to see how other artists work, this was a wonderful insight for me. I loved these clips and felt like I got to know Watsuki personally. It was like a little blog in the story. This is what inspired me to put my own “end notes” in my chapters for the printed versions of Sacred Knight and Weblinks.

And the artwork, have I mentioned the artwork? Not only are the colored prints included the volumes beautiful, but I learned a lot from Watsuki’s raw sketches included at the beginning of some of the chapters. And I used the building to work on perspective exercises.

I had a heck of a time convincing my boys (who were the ones that got me hooked on the Yu-gi-oh manga) to read Rurouni Kenshin, but once they did, they were reading it as quickly as I was. It’s still a manga we all treasure — spoilers and all.

The Final Frontier

The Final Frontier
14x11 acrylic on Bristol board
© 2009 Dawn Blair

I completed this painting on the first day of the Thousand Springs Festival. A group of kids that came around as I started it and then again about the time I finished it. I loved watching the amazement on their faces. I enjoy it when kids get into art.

One girl at Thousand Springs stopped by my booth shortly after she and her mother had gotten there. She enjoyed my art, but wanted to look around some more. Before they left, they stopped back by my booth and the mother said to me, “She looked all around, and she loves your art best. She wants to pick out a card.” She was referring to the ACEO cards. If you missed my discussion on ACEO’s, you can click here for more information. The girl carefully looked over the cards and picked her favorite.

I love selling ACEO’s to kids. I keep ACEO’s reasonably priced for that fact – kids love them and parents don’t mind spending a couple dollars on art for their children. I hope they each have a great experience and enjoy it for many years, even if they’re using it for a bookmark. They’ll become the collectors of tomorrow.

Do you think we as artists get so focused on selling today (mostly because we need to support our habit now) that we forget to cultivate for tomorrow? Who are your favorite collectors?

First Snow

First Snow
14x11 acrylic on Bristol board
© 2009 Dawn Blair

Last year, my boys and I started watching Heroes and fell in love the show. While my favorite character is Hiro (he who bends time and space), I had a little jealousy for the artist in the first season who could paint the future.

Anyway, to my point: I painted this on September 27th and it came true one week later. Spooky! Just like the artist from Heroes.

It was all fun seeing the first snowfall of the year, except that I’m not a big snow person (so what the heck am I doing in Idaho?!!!), until the wet snow weighed down the branches in my maple tree and they snapped. The tree is probably 50 years old or so and is one of the tallest in the neighborhood; it’s got a lot of branches. I had a good 3-foot high pile of branches in my yard by the time the day was done. Fortunately though, none fell on any cars or on my house. Whew! Still, there’s something scary about the creak of wood as a branch peels away from the tree that’s akin to nails on a chalkboard.

For those of you who like snow, snow is falling in First Snow. There’s little flecks in the sky and snow’s gathering in the leaves and on the branches. None of the branches in these trees will snap under the weight of the snow on them so once you hang this picture, your work with it is done except to enjoy the painting. Please e-mail me if you’d like to purchase First Snow.

Next time, we’ll take a journey to The Final Frontier!

Art collector? Join the growing number!

I was reading a newsletter the other day and came across this passage by Star Noble:

“There has never been a better time in history to be an artist in today’s market. There are droves of people jumping into the art collecting arena. It’s no longer a passion and hobby reserved for the rich and I predict the number of collectors will continue to grow by leaps and bounds. Why? Because it has never been easier to search, find, research and buy… and buy right. God bless the internet!”

I couldn’t help smiling. Felt a bit inspired by it too! Sometimes it’s easy to feel overwhelmed as an artist. You look around and all you see are other artists. Does no one want to be a doctor or lawyer anymore? But seriously, it isn’t until you start that you notice everyone else around you with the thing. For example, I didn’t notice how many Chevy Impala’s there were until I bought one. Now I notice them everywhere. The more I look, the more I find. The same is with art. It seems like there are so many artists.

So, this passage reminds me to stay with my own vision, develop my own art. Following someone else wouldn’t be walking my own journey. My art has to be my art. In the looking, I see people with varied styles and so many of them are copies of someone else — usually someone who’s a gallery artist and featured in art magazines. But my thoughts on voice will have to come in another post.

This is for the person who wants to start collecting art but doesn’t feel educated enough. How would they possibly know who to buy? Let me help you make it simple on yourself. Buy art that you enjoy. Period. That simple. If it inspires you and you want to look at it, if it makes you feel something positive, stirs something that you can’t quite name, then buy it before you lose it. Can’t afford it? Many artists provide prints of their art or would be more than happy to provide a print if you simply ask. Some artists, including myself, also offer payment plans. This isn’t always well advertised. If you ask, you have a 50/50 chance of the answer being a “yes.” If you don’t ask, it’ll be a “no” 100% of the time.

You can always start small too. Many artists sell Artist Cards Editions and Originals (ACEO’s) on eBay or Etsy, usually for low prices. This is a great place to start building an art collection without a whole lot of risk. You can buy a piece or two from an artist and wait to see if their value grows. If they don’t, then you still have a beautiful piece of art (you bought it because you enjoyed it, right!). If the artist gains success, your investment gains value. Either way, you win!

I urge you. Go forth, find art you enjoy, and surround yourself with it. Happy collecting!