Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Drawing and Description

Well, I was doodling last night and came up with this picture so I decided to force myself to write a descriptive paragraph. This is what I ended up with:

I found myself staring down the dragon, the magnificent beast. It had gleaming gold eyes that expressed far more than I could comprehend. As I gazed, they narrowed into what I could only call a scowl. Its ears were raised and alert, held aloft next to shimmering ivory horns. Then my eyes were helplessly drawn to its mouth. It had a slight beak which did little to hide its toothy grin. Once I could pry my gaze away from its face I was struck by the odd beauty of the creature. Its face was studded with the tiniest scales, like iridescent beads, each ruby red. The scales grew larger and larger as they ran down its serpentine neck until each was the size of my hand. The scales covering its torso were a deep red tinged with gold. The effect was quite striking, the delicate veins of gold running through each scale combined to cover the beast in a beautifully ornate pattern. I was mesmerized until a deep throaty growl broke my trance.

Its a start but I think it still needs some better descriptive words and less repetition. I'll come back to it at another time and try to fix it up a bit.

Monday, January 25, 2010

Character Drawing

Sometimes I just sit down and draw characters. They don't necessarily have a story to go with them. Last night I just got the image for this character stuck in my head, I don't she is, where she is going, or what her story will be but at least I put the thought to paper in the only way I could. I would like to note that this drawing was not done unaided because I am still practicing drawing people. I used this article from HowStuffWorks.com to help me: How-To-Draw-A-Woman-In-A-Pantsuit. Usually drawing a character helps me establish who he or she is. A simple drawing changes my character from a nondescript entity to a character that I can describe, but in this case I don't know who she is yet. I do tend to write my stories in the fantasy/scifi genre because that has always been my favorite to read so she is probably heading off on some adventure. Well, maybe I will think of something for her to do, maybe I won't. Sometimes a story will evolve from my character and sometimes they just stay on the page, but here she is and I'll see what happens.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Beginning

Well, I have sat staring at this blank screen a number of times trying to figure out what to say. How does one begin a blog? I use to spend a great deal of time writing but in the past few years I have failed to make time. I was in college studying to be a chemical engineer and in the process I stopped finding the time to write. I use to keep a little notebook with me, I had titled it Lost Thoughts and I would jot down whatever came to mind. Sometimes those little ideas would grow into stories or poems and sometimes they would just sit there, a random thought that I had with little meaning once the moment had past. I don't know what this blog with become. As an unemployed recent chemical engineering graduate I don't know what I have to offer, just my perspective. I suppose this can be another place for those random thoughts of mine to find a place to be put into writing and explored and I will see what comes of it.