Reintroducing Felix & Matilda Moore

Hello everyone,

 Usually, these types of posts are for characters who have been created recently. However, I felt it was time that I reintroduce some characters that have very recently gone through a lot of changes. The characters are Matilda and Felix Moore from Dolls of Wax, Eyes of Glass. They have developed since I first wrote about them in 2021, and I want to show how they have changed, since I mentioned it briefly in an Inktober post. 

 I plan to update their character profiles soon, but I decided I should also reintroduce them here via a blog post. So, let's begin: 

  Felix Moore 

Felix is the older of the two siblings. He believes that the world itself is a dream and nothing more. Because of this, he thinks that there is no meaning to life, and all events, actions, etc. that one experiences or takes essentially mean nothing.

He enjoys spending his time reading, thinking about different philosophies, and having discussions about controversial philosophical topics with his group of friends. Due to a situation within their family (which he won't discuss), Felix has gone from being simply a brother to Matilda to having to act as her guardian. This has caused disagreements between them. 

  Matilda Moore 

Matilda is the younger of the two siblings. She is a quiet person; however, she can also turn rebellious if she feels strongly about something. Matilda is a Spiritualist: she believes one can contact people from beyond the grave. She also has an interest in the occult and supernatural. Matilda often likes to daydream about different adventures that she could have, based on her favorite books. And, like her brother, she often spends her time in the library. 

However, since Felix has become her guardian, there have been disagreements between them. Mostly, these disagreements come from Matilda's rebelliousness toward her brother, but they are also influenced by Felix's (supposed) desire to keep Matilda safe. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Between Felix and Matilda, which are you interested in learning more about (after their changes)? And how have your own characters grown and changed throughout the years? 

-Quinley 

Miscellaneous Drawings #13

Hi everyone,

My blogging schedule will be a bit sporadic in the coming months. But in this post, I plan to update you with the new drawings I've made recently. 

This is a drawing of Arisias. I finally redesigned her outfit to make her more inspired by the new setting and I think it works well. 

I was experimenting with water color pencils here. I don't know who this character is, but I hope to find out eventually. 

This is a drawing of Felix digitized from the one I drew in Inktober. I really like how it turned out. 

So, as it turns out, one of my characters (Elyerin) is a Dullahan (Irish version of the Headless Horseman), so I redesigned him to match that. 

And this is Arisias again using her magic. I wanted to create a Gothic sort of feeling in this piece. 

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Which drawing is your favorite? 

-Quinley 

Making a Halloween Decoration

I was inspired by a video about painting a ghost on an old thrift store painting in doing this project. The video that I'm referring to can be watched here. 

The object I decided to paint was not a painting, but instead a free-standing art piece that looked as if it needed some adjustments. I decided to change her into a ghost girl. 

I began by working on the flowers. I felt as if they needed to stand out more. 

I then adjusted the leaves and decided to give them more detail. 

I placed a skull near the flowers, and drew some blood around it. 

I then painted the dress white, and gave it spider motifs, such as spider webs in her hair and around her dress. I was partially inspired by a drawing of Victorian children in making her dress. 

And here is the final result: 

Before                             After 

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Do you like making your own Halloween decorations (if you celebrate)? Are you excited for Halloween in a few days? 

-Quinley

My Art from Inktober 2023 (Part One)

 In the previous two Inktobers (2022, and 2021) I mostly did colored drawings, but this time around I wanted to focus on line work and on characters. So, the goal for these Inktober pieces is to draw characters (my original ones, my versions of pre-existing characters, or merely ones I like from movies and TV shows). 

Like the previous years, it will be divided up into three parts with ten drawings for the first two, and eleven at the end. 

Here's the official prompt list: 

And let's begin: 

Day #1 Dream. Felix Moore from Dolls of Wax, Eyes of Glass. 

The drawing was inspired by this quote from Shakespeare's Macbeth:  

"Out, out, brief candle!

Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,

That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,

And then is heard no more. It is a tale

Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,

Signifying nothing."

      One thing I haven't mentioned about Felix Moore is his philosophical belief 

that nothing is real, and that life is merely a dream and nothing more. This emerged 

during the second draft and has been an important trait to his character. 

Day #2 Spider. The Wax Witch (from Dolls of Wax, Eyes of Glass) despite having the ability to steal souls has a fear which she cannot get away from: spiders. This is assumed to be left over from when she was human. And since she is an old building this is a rather unfortunate fear to have, for there will be spiders in an abandoned building such as that.  

Day #3 Path. Fiáina the goddess of nature. My idea with this image is that a mortal came across her when she was out hunting. She is slowly approaching them, in her domain (the woods). 

In between the trees is an altar to a minor god, with jewelry and flowers placed on it as an offering. 

Day #4 Dodge. Salissah. Given that she is a goddess of the moon in an endless battle across the sky with the sun god, I figured I would draw her dodging an attack. 

Day #5 Map. It's been a while since I worked on this story (and I don't know what my plans are for it yet) but this is my version of Ichabod Crane from a Sleepy Hollow story I want to go back to. I imagine that this is when he arrives at Sleepy Hollow and is rather lost. 

As for what is hanging out of his pocket (since it might be difficult to see), is a rabbit's foot charm. And since it's been a while since I drew Ichabod, I decided to give him a little redesign and give him glasses. 

Day #6 Golden. Cecile (Ferdinand's wife) from The Haunted Sketchbook. I often describe her as having golden hair, so I thought she was a fitting character to draw for this prompt.  

Day #7 Drip. I decided to do a Dungeons and Dragons inspired tavern for this one, with the tavern owner in the background (so not quite character focused, but I still wanted a character present). The dripping is from the drinks on the table. 

Day #8 Toad. this is a drawing for my dad (who is helping me edit this post 😉).  Since in one of my drawings of a frog, he pointed out that it looked like Hypnotoad from Futurama. So this is a drawing of Leela and Hynotoad in my style, rather than trying to copy the style of the show. 

Day #9 Bounce. Skunk Girl in the middle of a battle bouncing

(probably preparing an attack). 

Day #10 Fortune. I started with the Moores so I figured I'd end this part with the Moores. I decided to draw Matilda Moore reading Tarot cards, looking into her future perhaps or trying to find answers to a problem in her life through them. Matilda has an interest in Spiritualism and the occult (like with Felix, this emerged during the second draft), so I figured I would bring that out in the drawing. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Which drawing is your favorite? Which characters of mine would you like to see me draw in future installments? 

-Quinley

Announcing My July 2023 Project: The Haunted Sketchbook

 Greetings Adventurers, 

It's July's Camp NaNoWriMo, and I have a new project that I am working on. I am hoping to get a first draft done of this novel, sometime this summer. 

Synopsis

Genre: Gothic | Historical Fiction 

The Haunted Sketchbook is set in two time periods. 

In the past, an artist by the name of Ferdinand Diggory is experiencing a haunting. He discovers that his sketchbook is cursed; whenever he draws in it, it will twist the sketch into something monstrous, and something he didn't draw. 

In the present, Edith Porter is trying to discover whether the haunting was truly real-- she wants to discover the truth, but will her curiosity lead her into more danger than it's worth? 

The Tellers of the Tale 

There are other characters as well, including the ghost. However, for now I will introduce the two main characters. The other characters will be introduced later (though some, like Cecile, you have already met).

                                     Ferdinand Diggory 

            Ferdinand Diggory is a (formerly) respected artist from the 18th century. He paints portraits and genre paintings. He is currently dealing with a haunting, one that resides in his sketchbook, and he wants to figure out why the ghost is haunting him. 

                                         Edith Porter 

Edith is an art collector from the 19th century. She likes exploring mysteries of artists who died under mysterious circumstances and finds Ferdinand Diggory's story to be particularly fascinating. She wants to uncover if what happened to him was truly a haunting or something else entirely. 

              Playlist  

Here's a playlist of songs that remind me of The Haunted Sketchbook. If you don't have a Spotify account, here is the YouTube version. 

    

       Goals For This Camp 

My goal is to get a first draft done. I have the plot planned out for it, so I want to get the story written. 

My goal for this camp is to write 17,000 words. I hope that I can get a first draft done, so I can then work on refining the story in the second draft. 

I feel as if I know both main characters well, so I am looking forward to seeing where they take me on this journey through their story. So far, this project has caused me to research several things about the 18th century and the Victorian Era. In particular I did some research about different types of artwork and art collecting in those periods. 

 The Haunted Sketchbook (like Dolls of Wax, Eyes of Glass) came into being from a nightmare. A nightmare I had after my surgery inspired inspired key elements of the novel--the actual haunting and Cecile's being an actor. 

Edith as a character came later. She has some interesting thoughts of her own which I hope she shares. She is figuring out the mystery of what happened to Ferdinand. But she also has goals outside of him, since she is an art collector and he isn't the only artist she is interested in. At the moment Ferdinand is an artist that she is extensively researching.

Anyway, those are my plans for camp. If you're doing Camp NaNoWriMo, I hope you have a good time too. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Are you doing anything fun this July? What do you like most about my novel? 

-Quinley 

My Art from The February Faces Challenge (2023) | Part Two

If you haven't seen it already, here is part one. 

I realize I've been thrown off my usual posting schedule, but that is because I have had a lot of things going on in my life. So, the time that I was absent from both my blogs was dealing with those things. Now that I am back, I should say that I have posts planned that aren't drawing related. I plan to do a book tag, as well as posts related to my novels, songwriting, and acting soon. While I normally would not do two drawing posts in a row, this was one post I had fully written, edited, and planned. So, I felt as if I should post it. 

I will also be responding to comments from previous posts. I loved reading everyone's comments, they truly made my day during such stressful times. And thank you to Anno for the shout out. 💚

But let's get to the post: 

 Here is the official (optional) prompt list: 

Day #10 Your Idol, I drew Dr. Crusher played by Gates McFadden from Star Trek: The Next Generation. Gates McFadden was the one who inspired me to be an actor, so I decided I should draw her for this prompt. 

Day #11 Silhouette, I was a little more creative with this prompt. I wanted to draw the Wax Witch from my novel, Dolls of Wax, Eyes of Glass, but not only a shadow/outline of her. So, I drew her silhouette behind her.

Day #12 Facial Hair, I drew Gimli from Lord of the Rings for practice. I don't usually draw bearded characters so this was fun to draw.

 

Day #13 Furious,  I drew Cheetah Girl from my super hero story for this one. I wanted to make her look as if she was furious. This is different, because I often draw her looking calm or thoughtful. 

Day #14 Freckles, I drew Elm, one of my dryad characters. I decided since Valentine's Day was the day I drew it, that I would give her Valentine's Day accessories. 

Day #15 Delighted, I drew Sebastian for this one. I have not drawn him a lot, so I wanted to draw him looking happy.

Day #16 in profile, I drew Fiáina talking to a dragon. Since dragons used to live in Dragons' Province (where the story takes place), I thought it would make sense for her to talk to one. 

Day #17 poorly, Ferdinand Diggory from The Haunted Sketchbook is feeling his worst here (due to sleep deprivation, nightmares, and ghosts). 

Day #18 Your Current Mood, I best describe this mood as "a million different emotions are going through your head and you're trying to process all of them, while keeping a straight face." So of course, I drew D.I. Elyerin Time experiencing this. 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Which drawing is your favorite? Are you a fan of Lord of the Rings or Star Trek?

-Quinley 

Miscellaneous Drawings #7

                                                  Previous parts: #1, #2 #3, #4, #5 and #6. 

Greetings everyone, 

I figured it was time for another drawing post. I have a lot of new drawings to share. 

Let's begin: 

This is The Mother of the Elements, the mother of the gods from this post.

I had not drawn her before, and her design took me a while to figure out. I like how her dress turned out, and I decided give her a different body type than the other gods. 

I figured it was time to update Detective Inspector Time's profile photo. In the original drawing, I had made his hair the wrong length, and it didn't fit the current version of him. 

Fiáina and Mother of the Element doing each other's hair. This pose was tricky to draw, but I enjoyed drawing it. 

A drawing of Ferdinand Diggory from the Haunted Sketchbook. This is the first time I've drawn the character, and I like how his appearance turned out.

You will be hearing more about his story soon... 

 

Fiáina's hair changes depending on the season. Since she is the goddess of nature, I thought it made sense for her hair to change during the seasons. The idea came from this drawing I did of her in the past: 

I was uncertain when I first created her, whether I wanted her hair to be red or brown. I wasn't sure I'd make her have red hair again, but then someone suggested I should have her hair change based on the seasons. So, that is what ended up happening. 

This is what Fiáina's hair looks like in the winter.  I wanted her to have icicle-like hair for the winter. She wears an evergreen dress during the winter seasons, rather than a leaf one. 

A drawing of my dog, Toto. I'm almost done with the children's book about him. I thought I would draw this quick sketch, as a sort of "I'm almost there, yay!" celebration. 

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Which drawing is your favorite? What's your favorite season?

-Quinley