Hitch-hiking may be cool, but somewhat not without dangers. A sketch I did a few years ago, featuring my best friend and I, upgraded. The two troopers boarding the AT-AT are our husbands (and die hard SW fans).
A cool SF novel cover by Jean-Pierre Normand
I use this picture for my introduction to SF workshop. This SF novel, Winds of Tammerlan, did fare well in 2009!
Posted in Science-fiction
Tagged art, literature, Science-fiction, Sense of Wonder, YA science-fiction
The Clarion foundation helps budding writers of genre (SF, fantasy, fantastique, horror) to develop and mature their style. I had the joy of being invited by Lynda Williams (the author of the Okal Rel saga) to write a few posts from my own perspective of a SF writer with comic artist.
So my first post was about extending our writing roots to achieve a deeper connection with the reader. The illustrations are my own.
The last one is an account of my big, fat, first novel and its endless incarnations!
I am working on four more writing posts. Coming soon: The secret well of ideas, a another take at the well-known fan question: where do you get your ideas?
Posted in Science-fiction, Writing
Tagged budding writers, literature, lynda williams, novel, Science-fiction, Writing, Writing advice
This is a sketch that I did yesterday evening. It is a glimpse of my upcoming SF comic Wind Mistress, featuring a young girl named Adalou. The result may look a bit pale and dreamy, but I boosted the colors after scanning the original drawing !
Drawing a ponderous aquatic creature was a challenge. The oriented light rays help giving the image its depth and placing the volumes.
Posted in Art, Science-fiction
Tagged aquatic monster, Comics, drawing, Science-fiction, sketch, YA science-fiction, young girl
As a SF writer, research is an essential part of my work. But I sometimes do too much of it!
If the finished product is burdened with heavy lumps of exposition, those annoying scattered blocks will slow down the story – and the reader’s interest.
Many people saying “You know, I don’t like science-fiction” are often more afraid of those lumps, than they would be of a gripping story with warm-hearted characters affected by loyalty conflicts.
Even for fantasy world-builders, the internal logic of the magic-or-supernatural workings requires a fair amount of thinking. And, as magical as the world is, the story must be well grounded in reality. How many fantasy novels, for instance, demonstrate a total lack of knowledge about equine biology and maintenance? One of my friends, who raises horses and loves fantasy, is appalled by what she reads.
And some SF or fantasy authors, too proud of their word-building, dump large exposition blocks on the unsuspecting reader! “I suffered for my art, and so must you!”
Research is like an iceberg.
There is the emerged part, the novel that you enjoy. But whatever the number of pages, there is a larger, hidden part underwater.
Not enough research under it and your story collapses under the contradictions, impossibilities, logical errors and paper-thin characters.
But when the universes and societies are lovingly built, the strong foundation even allows other writers to participate in it! Two examples: The Darkover series by Marion Zimmer Bradley and the Honor Harrington series by David Weber have spawned many paper children.
According to the readers’ ages or familiarity with the concepts, the submerged part of the iceberg is around 90%. For a simpler story, you may choose to tone down the emerged part. A story aimed at children will be a smaller icebeerg. A vast work, like the Martian trilogy of Kim S. Robinson will be a huge iceberg!
Hal Clement, in my view, left more of his research over the waterline… But that was the good ol-days of science-fiction writing! I found Needle, aimed at young adults, captivating, even when the concept of “teen” and “young adult” did not exist at the time!
In my latest SF novel, La spirale de Lar Jubal, aimed at YA, I set aside about 99% of my painstaking research and physics calculations for the space station, to concentrate on the visual and dynamic aspects, and on the character’s conflicts.
Nevertheless, I put some visual information at the beginning of the novel.
In my upcoming SF novel, aimed at the “Oh, I don’t like science fiction” crowd, there are very few numbers, but more active descriptions of stunning settings and actions. The planet and science aspects are explained only by their impact on the characters’ lives.
And I must manage, of course, the sense of wonder…as this Winds of Tammerlan novel cover suggests.
Another time, I will explain why science-fiction is like chocolate…
Posted in Science-fiction, Writing
Tagged budding writers, expository lumps, Les vents de Tammerlan, Science-fiction, Writing, Writing advice
Here is another page that gave me a lot of work in all the stages! Drawing cluttered interiors is the bane of my art!
This page was finished in greytones with Gimp 2.6 and my trusty Wacom Intuos tablet. The perfectionnist, I even put in a late perspective correction in the last panel!
Read the rest of this installment in Destination Nexuz3!
Posted in Art, Comics, humor, Science-fiction
Tagged Adalou, Comics, Gimp software, greytones, Intuos graphic tablet, manga, Michele Laframboise, Science-fiction, work-in-progress
Last October 2nd and 3rd , the Mississauga Bookfest was celebrating the Central Library’s 20thanniversary. As I was among the guests, I attended, meeting with fine local authors : writers, historians, poets… and even a robot (what an occasion for a SF author!)
The robot is on the left.
Even our mayor Hazel visited! The writers were supposed to be outside, but the harsh winds forced the organizers to set our tables inside.
Local bookshops like Image Collections were present, too. We can see Todd, the manager (long hair) at the table. Next to his was the Celtic Shaman table.
On to the 24-24 at the Image Collections comic shop of Streetsville!
In the evening, I packed my boxes and went to the Image Collections shop, to partake of the 24-24 challenge under way since midday! I go
t there around 18h.
The artists at 20h Saturday, eating pizza and pondering their stories. Todd always feeds us well! The challenge is to produce 24 comic pages in 24 hours, and is done everywhere in the world on that week-end.
A 18h20, I sat at the table, « for a few minutes of doodling», telling myself that if I got too tired (after my full day at the Mississauga library), my husband could drive me home from the shop.
I eventually found a story corresponding to the « Species Change » theme, set in my own Science-fiction universe. At ten o’clock, I was confident enough to tell my husband: I stay here for the night!
Then, I worked all night, one page every 50 minutes, with my blue pencils. Had some trouble with the 0.7 mm blue mechanical pencil, always breaking, so I switched for a more classic pencil.
The artists at seven the next morning. Tiffany have given herself totally to the challenge… note the superb coloured pages she managed to produce!
Of course, as I was late, this was a 24-18 rather than a 24-24 for me. So I opted out of a fully completed comic, as I did last year. I manage the full night with only two coffees (meaning, a brisk walk to the Tim Horton at 4 am) and one chocolate milk carton.
Todd did play some awful or bizarre music to keep us awake!
Here is one page pencilled in my trusty bleu pencil. In the notebook under it, some rough break-ins and sketches. I am still working my personal manga style.
I made the thumbnails and draw some lay outs of my story, then worked hard to realize a good pencilling of 22 pages, detailed enough to make the inking part easier. I kept an eye to the overall balance, so that the panels flow smoothly. Todd took pictures of all our pages at the end.
The triumph : Sunday Artist, Paul and Carolyn (Tiff had to leave earlier). Paul is a pure amator who never did a comic before. Carolyn is an accomplished artist who had fun scenarizing her first comic. This is the fun of the 24-24 challenge!
Tiff has a strong talent, and you may glimpse part of her work in last year 24-24. To see my first impressions of the 24-24 in 2009, go here!
Posted in Comics, Event, Science-fiction
Tagged 24-24, Comics, graphic novel, Image collections comic shop, manga, Michele Laframboise, Mississauga
I finally took the step and register in Webcomic Nation for The Jules-Verne Saga
Here is the banner, a composite from two different pictures, one being the header of this blog! Eventually I will put on a fresher picture.
Enrolling herself as a navigator on the Jules-Verne Alliance Space Ship, young Armelle, a shy brittle-boned Martian Belle, discovers life onboard the Jules-Verne, an old cruiser, its irascible and alcoholic commander , and its colored (and quite pissed off) crew mates. Then, there is this mission…
The graphic style will be slightly less realistic than the image suggests, a bit more on the manga style.
Posted in Comics, humor, Science-fiction
Tagged Comics, graphic novel, Jules-Verne saga, Michele Laframboise, Science-fiction
Do you remember the comic page rough draft in blue pencil shown this spring? Now here is the same page finished, inked, scanned then digitally toned in shades of gray.
This is an excerpt from my graphic novel Maîtresse des vents published in the issue no 7 of the magazine science fiction and fantasy Nexuz3 (edited by Gérard Lévèque) that just came out. Nexuz3 is available in various bookstores in Quebec.
There aren’t so many SF&F comic fanzines published in French, so this one should get a fair notice in the field. All the other participant artists are quite talented : their works are well worth your support!
The page you see needed less working of the grey tones, because I did not daddle too long to ink my blacks and whites. I took several frames off, making the panels “breathe” easier over the page. The “degraded” filling tool in my Gimp 2.6 software proved useful to give a sense of depth. The ocean in the first page is another example.
In the second panel, I decided against putting a grey filling in the kite… the speed lines and shadows were enough. I am beginning to get the hang on manga dynamics, but a long way from a mangaka’s nimble hand…
You would be surprised to learn that I used only one layer through the whole process. Managing the layers in Gimp has proved unduly complicated. I rather use the “darken only” option of the paintbrush to lay my greys without erasing the blacks, and the special selection tools for the degraded colors effects.
The more observing among you will remark that I clipped off some of the rock outcropping in the last panel (with the two characters sitting on it). I also moved the kite a bit along.
Wind Mistress (a working title, I’m not sure how the English version will be titled. “Kite Mistress” sounds good, too), takes place in my space-faring civilization of super-gardeners, several years before the Quest of Chaaas cycle. And, yes, I will have it completed and translated before the next TCAF, promise!
With all that work, I have missed the Fan Expo 2011 in Toronto. At least, I carry on other works, like my Otaku Ladies webcomic.
Posted in Comics, Science-fiction
Tagged art, art technique, Chaaas universe, Comics, fanzine, Gimp software, graphic novel, Michele Laframboise, Nexuz3, Science-fiction, shonen manga
The 2011 Clarion UCSD Write-a-Thon is almost over!
Since the Clarion overlapped the end of the Whittaker contest, I worked harder and produced more new texts… and some SF poetry! I did modestly on the Whittaker final tally (310 points) but was gratified by the production boost.
Here is my short fiction writing during the 6-weeks Clarion (counting two weeks of family vacation!) Feel free to visit my Write-a-Thon Writer page here to send a small contribution for the Clarion Foundation.
– The Robe (SF)
– Wrinkles (fantastic)
– A Short Stay at the Caracalla’s Resort (Dark SF)
– The Patroness (fantastic)
And for my current works in progress:
– about 10 000 words on the last novel in the Chaaas series
– near 5000 words on my next SF YA novel (52 000 words) to be published next February
– Writing on two short-fiction pieces in progress.
– Editing on the synopses on two other short novels
– Plus… 6 brand-new pages of a new SF graphic novel! (Extract here) I’m normally faster on the draw, but my free time is limited!
Posted in Science-fiction, Writing
Tagged Clarion, Clarion Write-a-Thon, graphic novel, Science-fiction, Whittaker Prize, Writing
Echoes of a Sunday artist 