The other day...oh yeah, and today too

So the other day (see, I'm not above re-using the title in my writing!), my friends invited me to go sing karaoke with them. While it might have been a good thing to say "yes" and get out of the room for a little bit, I had a feeling that I was going to do something that night that would be good for Age of Thieves. I didn't know whether it was a greater focus on writing itself or doing something else, but I was in the "right mood".

Well, I didn't get any writing done...but I did get something equally important done.

I drew a map.

I've been meaning to do that for a LONG time, but I've just never sat down and done it. I'm a little afraid of drawing because I know I'm not a good artist. Even if I worked at it, I wouldn't be very good. But this is something that I had to do. Nobody else could draw the world of Age of Thieves for me; otherwise, I would lose all connection to it. So I sat down, drew out a rough draft on one piece of paper, then sat down with two other pieces of paper, carefully lined them up (yeah, I needed that much room for details and such), and began drawing. I had in my mind some ideas of where I wanted things to be. I also had planned out some natural geography, including where some plate tectonics where (I got that into detail. Go me!), what the shape of the continents were supposed to be, and what would be important to the story. When I finished my first draft, I was pretty pleased...but I knew it wasn't done yet. So another hour and a half later of erasing coastal lines, making things more jagged, adding in bays and whatnot, I finally had my final product. I wish I could show it to you, but I wouldn't trust my camera to capture it accurately, and I don't have a scanner. Needless to say, I am very proud of myself for creating what I did, even if there is no color nor any topography on it. I also apparently can't draw islands, so I left them out entirely.... Point is, I expanded my boundaries, and now, if I want someone else to do some drawings for me, I can hand them these pieces of paper, point, and say, "It should look like THIS." How cool is that?

Speaking of this, I'm looking for someone to be my "to-go" person as far as drawing is concerned. I will use the term "hiring" because it WILL involve some pay. My idea is this: I will pay on commission for specific drawings (a fair price decided beforehand, then re-evaluated after the final product, just so I'm not getting stiffed either), and the artist will retain partial rights to any products, so if Age of Thieves were to become published and much money were to be had, the artist would not be left out in the cold in any of that.

I'm serious when I'm saying this. I want Age of Thieves to do well, and I think part of that is having good art to go with it. I'm looking for a partner to help with a great lot of this since this isn't my forte. Heck, if we wanted to, we could make a graphic novel of it! I'd LOVE to do that. So I need someone equally serious and equally dedicated. I haven't been in recent years, but I swear that I will be soon, with or without an artist.

So if you are interested or know someone who might be, please have them get in touch with me. Post a comment or send a message to this blog relaying contact info (my stuff is on my info page), and we'll talk. We'll also probably talk more upon my return from China.

SPEAKING OF CHINA!

I went to Tiger Hill today. It is a local Suzhou tourist attraction, and a fun one at that. There's a pagoda that leans like the Leaning Tower of Pisa but is both larger and older, and a few other sites with fun stories behind them. Basically, though, it was just a very scenic spot. I'll post pictures soon, I promise. Only reason I don't do it now is because IT'S VERY COLD HERE and my fingers have almost no heat left after typing all that I just did.

Can't buy Xi'an ticket until tomorrow...which I kinda don't like, but OH WELL. At least I'm going. Then I'll have even MORE pictures.

Less than two weeks, people! I'm almost home.

Zaijian!

Du Kai