story sketch: unfolding wings [update: 04-15-2011]

[meeks]

This sketch is based on "unfolding wings," the first in a series of beautiful poems by ysabetwordsmith about the Origami Mage, an Eastern style hero from an asian inspired fantasy world. Please visit Penultimate Productions for more of the Origami Mage and her rival the Kirigami Mage (along with some other fantastic poetry series!)

cleaned-up sketch:


detail:


rough sketch:

This picture is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License, and may be freely used under the terms of that license with a link back to mikaspace.net Please see terms of use for details.

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Comments

Yes...

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

Now that it's pointed out, I can see that divergence. The proportions of facial features to overall face size are different in people of different ages -- and the ages scale slightly differently across the races because the features look different, too. And of course any face will be rounder in childhood than adulthood (which I should probably have mentioned in the description). I've seen some good artistic references about drawing children, but all of them used caucasian models.

I went looking for some good closeups of Asian girls. Interestingly, while the eye shape is visibly almond early on, the upward tilt of the corners seems more pronounced in older people than babies or young girls. In children, the corners seem to point more sideways than up. The shape can also make the eyes look a little smaller than rounded eyes would look. Anyhow, here are some images that I found:
http://aramiaincognito.files.wordpress.com/2008/05/rie-chan.jpg
http://www.wallcoo.net/photography/asian_children_photography/images/Cute_Asian_Children_photos_HU148_350A.jpg

Re: Yes...

[quennessa.livejournal.com]

Either way, this is *fantastic*.

Re: Yes...

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

Yay! I'm glad to hear that. meeksp is running this project on a creative commons basis, so if we want to use the illustration(s) later, that's negotiable. I already put a link to the sketch from my "Serial Poetry" page so it's in with the other Origami Mage stuff.

Re: Yes...

[quennessa.livejournal.com]

Perfect! We will definitely talk all together when it's time to do the book! YAY!

Re: Yes...

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

*happy dance*

As the series develops, I'm getting a better idea for what needs to happen in order to complete it, areas where the story arc is well filled-in and areas where more needs to be written. That also helps reveal what the major turning points are; those will be good spots for illustration.

In a Western-style story, the major points are often based on external action, whereas in an Eastern-style story they are often internal realizations. That can be challenging to illustrate -- which is why Eastern art has its own set of symbolism, useful for cluing the internal action. That's pretty cool to play with. When I'm writing the poems, I often look up references on symbolism so that the descriptions will highlight the internal action, if you know the connections. So I was really pleased to hear from an artist that this tends to create strong visual images in the poetry.

Re: Yes...

[meeksp.livejournal.com]

Well, it seems like enough people *are* interested in this pic, so I'll have a chance to work on it some more :)

SQUEE!!

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

*bounce bounce frisk caper grin* I am happy to hear that! I look forward to seeing the refinements. Also, quennessa likes it and she's the publisher interested in doing a hardcopy edition of the Origami Mage poems eventually. So there's some future potential open for discussion.

Re: SQUEE!!

[meeksp.livejournal.com]

I would love to contribute to an Origami Mage book :) Please let me know how this project develops!

Re: SQUEE!!

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

Yay! We will keep you posted. Meanwhile you might like to see what else quennessa has been working on. There's a main Hunt Press site and also huntpress here on LJ.

Upward tilt

[marina-bonomi.livejournal.com]

I can say that, in the great majority of the Chinese faces I see everyday, the upward tilt is hardly noticeable, unless emphasized by makeup (or crow's feet).
I tend to associate a strong upward tilt with the 'new' D&D elves more than with Eastern Asian people ;-)

I love the wonder on her face, and the first part of the sketch too, although in my mind's eye the people in the poems aren't that strongly Japanese (that's a personal thing, though).

Re: Upward tilt

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

>> I can say that, in the great majority of the Chinese faces I see everyday, the upward tilt is hardly noticeable, unless emphasized by makeup (or crow's feet).
I tend to associate a strong upward tilt with the 'new' D&D elves more than with Eastern Asian people ;-) <<

When I really took a close look at the photos I was browsing, I noticed that there is a lot of variation. Some of it seems to be individual (I saw one baby picture that I swear looked elven) while some clusters along national/ethnic lines. So there's flexibility.

>> I love the wonder on her face, and the first part of the sketch too,<<

Yay!

>> although in my mind's eye the people in the poems aren't that strongly Japanese (that's a personal thing, though).<<

Actually, I used photos of Japanese people as inspiration for the Origami Mage and photos of Chinese people for the Kirigami Mage. I tend to tag off between those cultures as sources of inspiration, plus occasionally adding bits from Taiwanese, Korean, Tibetan, or other Asian cultures. Of the two, I have a closer connection to Japanese and you have a closer connection to Chinese so it should come close to balancing out, across the series. Ideally I want a fantasy culture and characters that are both unique and cohesive, Asian-inspired without seeming too close to any one source. But it's like making curry, you have to get the temperature right; too low and the flavors won't merge, too high and it cooks down to slush.