Art Brainstorming

I have decided to take a break from the playing card sized Artist Trading Cards for a few months and focus on larger creations. I pulled out my sketchbook yesterday looking for inspiration and came up with a ton of sketches for a couple of comics that I either started or never got around to doing. I have a full cast of characters and a setting and some conflict and it is all okay but not great.

I spent a few hours last night working on a character style. I like the Kim Possible style but it is a bit too cartoonish for what I want to do. I think it is working out to the love child of Archie and Wapsi Square. I don't know if I'm going anywhere with it or not.

I run into the problem that I can see in my head what I want to do but not where to go with it. So I can lay out the characters and setting but once the story gets moving I bog down. I'm not a great writer so that puts stumbling blocks down before me. In my brainstorming I'm writing fairly short chapters to limit the meta plot planning and hopefully if I decide to do this it will keep the story moving.

I am brainstorming my old webcomics "Magic and Miracles" and "Blackberry House" into a new story. "Magic and Miracles was about Penny (a Wiccan) and Charlotte (a Christian) who move into an old house together and by accident find themselves actually able to see the supernatural working around them. They are able to perform magic and miracles. This challenges both of their religious beliefs. The ancient Native American ghost camping in their living room doesn't help matters. M&M lasted 12 episodes.

From this story I'm starting with Penny. Instead of inheriting a house she gets a vacant building downtown. Her dream is to open a coffee shop there. Later Charlotte may come into the story, possibly as an employee.

"Blackberry House" was about a group of college students and the haunted house they move into. Two characters from that are planned so far. Sean Martin is a comic book artist who fears he has reached his artistic peak. Molly Williams is a painter who lost her inspiration. They, along with Prophet Bonaventure, a theatrical technology buff and famous sculptor of inexplicable art, move into the loft space above the coffee shop with Penny. They have an art studio and a gallery that is attached to the coffee shop. BBH lasted 20 episodes.

Conflict comes from their very different personalities and backgrounds, the challenge of pushing their artistic skills forward, and the demands of running a business. There will probably be a ghost too. I haven't planned that far ahead.

Art Card of the Day
I did a series of ships for a recent ATC swap. Here is the Sea Shepherd ship Steve Irwin.