Some bad news. The editor-in-chief and some higher ups had a look at my Chapter 1 for “The Dreaming”, and apparently “has extensive notes for [my editor] on that and the series as a whole”. They’ve all left for some retreat so I won’t get the notes by the end of this week, but I’ve been told that the changes COULD be fundamental. Well, I knew that rewriting parts of this story is required sooner or later, but I didn’t expect it to happen at this stage. I’ve been told to stop all inking and toning until the end of this week for that purpose, since the changes they demand could be large.

If this turns out to be completely different to what I want it to be, well, I shouldn’t be TOO surprised. Luckily I don’t feel “The Dreaming” is going to turn into an utter mess if rewritten, so if I’m asked to rewrite fundamental parts of the storyline, I would HATE it, but I won’t be traumatised. In fact, in retrospect I’m glad that “Block 6” wasn’t accepted by TokyoPop.

I have to wait until Friday, but I know for certain that if the changes they demand are fundamental, I could get quite annoyed. I’ll finish it, and I’ll do my best to put out a good product, but I really wish for me and not editorial to be the driving force behind the story. Hopefully the art and storytelling will come along without a hitch too, though there could always be the possibility of changes. Luckily my editor has told me the original deadline has been extended – I certainly won’t be able to get it done if it’s not changed.

Other stuff: This is a pin-up for a local fanzine, Generation 2005. I’m beginning to think I’m getting the hang of drawing Chinese opera singers. It doesn’t look exactly the way I want it to, but close enough.

I’ve nearly finished toning and adding the dialogue for Chapter 1 of “The Dreaming”! Unfortunately, when I wrote this, my LJ went down, so I’m only posting it now. From next week, I’ll be working on Chapter 2, and is scheduled to be finished on the 6th Feb. Right now, I’m SUPPOSED to be working on the remaining 3 pages for “Ten Years Ago Today” (see below), but I’m being lazy instead (NOOO!).

I’m sort of MOSTLY happy with the toning on Chapter 1… I had to use alot of tones, and though I dislike using so much toning, I find that this is one of the rare cases where over-toning works in favour. The mystery-horror setting, with the Victorian-era furniture and architecture means that it manages to work. I still wish I didn’t have to tone so much, even though it wasn’t mandated to me – I just toned in a way I believe is most suitable for the look of the story. Darn, I miss the good ol’ days of b&w art. *sigh*

As of now, I’m unhappy with pg2, p10-11 and pg 24; though the problem is more inking than toning. I can’t change it for now anyway because of scheduling problems, so I’ll probably finish the book, and then go back and correct it if there is any time left. Perfection/satisfaction is something worth working towards, though not to the detriment of everything else.

Here’s another rough cover for “The Dreaming”. I don’t like it at all. >_< In fact, the more I look at it, the less I like it. It didn’t look as bad last night, but when I woke up this morning and had a good look at it, it’s like… YURK!! It took me a while to figure out why I hate it so much. It’s because this cover gives the wrong impression of what the book is really like. It makes it as if there are ghosts popping out of every corner and blood and guts, whereas this is meant to be a mystery-horror with more emphasis on plot and atmosphere rather than the “horror” bit. This cover – even though it needs fixing – is unrepentantly “pulp-horror”. It is… TOTALLY unsuitable for “The Dreaming”.

This was done in exactly the same way as the first one, I earlier version I played with the contrast and hue afterwards, giving the red a garish, bloody look. But in the light of the above, I decided to tone it back down, not that it makes much difference. But hey, this is just a draft so it doesn’t matter anyway (hopefully marketing will choose the first one).

More comparisons: I tried toying with the colours again in this second cover, but nope – it’s beyond redemption. To be honest, the trouble is with the concept, not so much the colours, though they just make it worse. I find that the more red I put in the picture, the more “pulpish horror” it looks, but if I take away the red, then the picture would have nothing to catch a person’s eye with. I tried brightening the other colours, but that makes it even more pulpish. I tried darkening the ghostly purple-blue to a plain darker blue, but again, it doesn’t make much difference.

The bottom line is: cover #1 portrays a better sense of mystery than cover #2. The “mystery” part is the key. You take one look at cover 2 and you think it’s a horror, which is EXACTLY the sort of impression I don’t want, because the emphasis is on the STORY and SETTING, not the gross-out bits. There AREN’T any gross-out scenes in “The Dreaming”, or even much blood (no blood, actually). Not to say cover #2 is a horrible cover, but it doesn’t give the right impression for the book. If the story was titled “Tales of the Crypt” or “Nighttime Horrors”, then YEAH, that WOULD be a more suitable cover. But it’s not, and if cover #2 makes it onto the shelves, it would frustrate people hoping to pick up a gory story, while driving away people looking for something more toned-down.

I’m now working on some rough covers for “The Dreaming”. This is my preferred cover, but the art director didn’t like it at all at first (the b&w version, that is). Luckily, with a bit of colour and the blurring effect, he seems to like it more now (I’ll still have to colour his choice in). Since this one didn’t take me long to do (about 4 hours), I’m going to be doing an extra cover or two so marketing can have a choice. The runners-up can be used for the next book.

This was done in Corel Painter 9 – I’m sure people would remember my adventures with this a few weeks ago. After having it for a month, I STILL couldn’t get the watercolour feature the way I want. I’m beginning to suspect the reason is not the software, but because I’ve never done watercolour properly in my life. That may explain why I can never get the effect I want no matter how I tweak it. I find myself growing fond of the airbrush function instead… So far, the grand total of all 3 cgs done in CP9 was airbrushed. Perhaps I should just stop spending my hours on watercolour attempts and try acrylics or other medium instead.

Remember, this is a very rough draft. And a Merry Xmas to y’all!