Progress

♫You take one step, and then another…♬
♫Keep putting one foot in front of the other…♬

I just felt like sharing this today. =^.^=

Always,
~Catboy

Elves, by Milli

Usually, when I commission an artist, I have at least a vague idea of what I’ll get back, some general sort of impression I’ve gleaned from a portfolio or a discussion. Once in a while I’m not so sure; I’m just impressed by… something. Sometimes it’s something about an artist’s expressiveness or flexibility that catches my eye, and I really have no idea what all those intangibles will do with my story. Waiting to see is very exciting, like being a little kid again and counting down to Christmas.

And then sometimes, after I’m done waiting, I get something back that’s so exactly right that I’m not sure anymore how I could have expected anything else.

That’s what it was like working with Milli of Lemon Kiss, on the last illustration in the Elves series.

She finished this on New Year’s Eve, about the same time that Andy finished his, and I’ve thought about it but don’t know what else to say. Isn’t it nice when things just… work?

Elves, by Andy the Octopus

It’s a little bit hard for me to share my rough drafts. I think that’s a byproduct of my creative process, such as it is; an audience makes it harder, the same way that dreams, so vivid and real when you first wake up, start to fade and slip away once you try to share them in the morning. If I keep them to myself, though, I can hold on for just a little bit longer; I can close my eyes and nudge the edges of my memory just a little bit further out, shuffling the words around and trying to piece them together in that not-quite-certain way until they feel “about right”. For any given story, I’m usually able to count the number of people who’ve seen previews on one hand, and one or two (if that many) get to see me working on it.

Finding artists is only a little bit easier. I have a little bit of a love-hate relationship with handing a story to an artist for illustration. On the one hand, I like to give them a lot of creative liberty, just for the chance to see my work through someone else’s eyes, but I can’t help sometimes but feel a little anxiety, wondering if it will come through just right.

I got very lucky with my friend Andrew Skelton (“Andy the Octopus“, as he’s dubbed himself). He’s been a good friend of mine for over a decade now, and I bounced quite a few drafts off of him, tuning as I went, so it was only natural that I offered him one version to illustrate.

He’s done a great job of setting the scene…

Surviving YaoiCon 2010

YaoiCon 2010 was my first cross-country con, and between the trip, a concert on Thursday, and playing catch-up at work, I’m still trying to get my brain firing on all cylinders. Honestly, I don’t mind, but you’ll have to bear with me a little bit if I’m a bit disjointed.

I cut back my volunteer hours a bit this year, had a wonderful time with most of the friends I went to visit (inexplicably, I missed Barlee), got my copy of Crimson Spell autographed by Yamane Ayano, and put my sleep schedule off-kilter by staying out until 4 AM to dance with a tall, pretty redhead (this is, I admit, one of the best reasons I can imagine to mess up my sleep schedule). I even managed to find my friend Sparky, who has not been able to make a con since 2004, so I don’t think I left any boxes unchecked. Sadly, Café Verführen did not go on this year, though the crew did manage to host a panel, and I will attempt to keep up my tradition of reviewing damn near anything they do.

It was good fun.

I almost didn’t get the autograph; spaces in the line were handed out by drawing, 100 to each of two sessions, and my ticket wasn’t pulled. A friend of mine missed the first session, though, and couldn’t make the second, so she sold me her place in line. I was happy to have it, of course, but a little bit sorry that she couldn’t get to meet her herself. While the ticket system really limited the number of people who could visit the con’s guests, it also allowed each of us to have a few words with them. Back in 2008, I met Nase Yamato, but the line kept me from saying more than a simple thank-you and offering the small gift of coffee I’d brought. That seems better than not meeting anyone at all, but not so good as being able to express myself properly and have a short conversation, as I got to do this year. It’s always impressive to meet creators who can visit hundreds of their fans at once and still be genuinely happy to meet each one of them.

On the complete other side of things, I’m not sure I have hundreds of readers, really. It is an alien idea for me, and I think I enjoy that. I had coffee with Rem over a few hours, and I think that was exactly the right way to get my con rolling. Recognition would be nice, but I like being able to make friends with my readers, to believe that I’m just making pretty bits and baubles for their entertainment. All of my regular readers could probably fit around one dinner table if the opportunity presented itself, and I’m not sure whether that gives me any ideas or not.

Returning from that digression…

YaoiCon was very good to me this year. After the past five months or so (since the week after Fanime, really), life has been complicated, and I think it was exactly what I needed.

You should expect to hear more from me soon.

Sorry for being so scarce.

Time to Make a Few Things Official…

I wasn’t sure if I was going to make it this year, but Sunday night I booked tickets to YaoiCon. If anyone out there would like to meet there and chat for a while, please leave me a note and let me know!

Also, I am working on another Tybalt story. I hope to have it done by con-time, but I’m not completely sure about that. By the end of the year, for sure. Two Tybalt stories in one year… it can happen.