The thick braided muscles on his forearm tensed as he lifted the axe above his head.  There was a sharp crack as the wood split clean down the middle.  He leaned down to hoist the next log onto the thick tree stump.  Again he raised the axe.  Someone could have marked time by the rhythmic motions of his body and the distinct sounds of the woodcutting.

Tom had wielded an axe since his grandfather taught him when he was eight years old.  Now, at twenty-eight, he could keep a steady, constant pace for two hours.  After a ten minute rest he’d resume his work with the same vigor he’d had at the beginning of the day.

The August noonday sun was fierce, hardly casting a shadow.  Tom paused to wipe his brow across the short sleeve of his white cotton t-shirt.  A few yards to his left, tiny waves lapped against the rocks.  He was so used to the gurgling and sloshing of the river that silence in this place would have startled him.  A strong pine scent wafted from the short, knotted trees in the woods that hugged the contour of the shoreline.  Tom knew this land better than he did the inside of his house.  He spent most of his time outdoors.

He resumed the flow of the work, his mind clear.  Just as the axe reached its peak, held in momentary suspension before descent, there was a loud crack and the blade shivered as something metallic ricocheted from it.  “What the,” Tom swung the axe one-handed down to his side and swiveled round to cover his back, bringing the axe up to his chest, now holding its broad wooden handle with both hands, ready to swing in defense.

Another bullet whizzed past his right ear.  A man stepped out from behind a tree at the edge of the wood.  “Hi Tom,” he held a rifle, casually and confidently, aimed at Tom’s head.  He was thickset, bronze-red hair hanging loose around his shoulders.

Tom lowered the axe, gripping it with his right hand, “Hi Marty.”

“Told you I’d come find you when you came back.”

“I’ve been waiting.  Where you been?  I’ve been here for over a year.”

Marty held the gun steady, “I ought to  shoot you and be done with it.”

“How many times do I have to tell you it was an accident?”

“That might be, but you were drunk.”

“And you’re telling me you weren’t?”

“I wasn’t in the raft.  At least I had the common sense to know I couldn’t manoeuvre those rapids.”

“You mean you had to throw up and that’s why you got out and jumped on land while we were still moving down river.”

“You didn’t lose your sister and your fiance.”

“You don’t think I’ve been tortured these last five years?  Sally was my girl, you know I was gonna ask her to marry me.  And I’d known Emily since before I quit wearing diapers,” Tom slammed the axe blade into the wood stump and stood up straight to face Marty square on.  “Go ahead, do it,” he crossed his arms, “I’m waiting.”

Marty stood there, frozen, lips pressed thin.  His bright blue eyes were hardly visible his face was so distorted with bitterness.  The two men stood, one longing to pull the trigger, the other calmly awaiting his fate.

Marty threw the gun down.  It fired, exploding randomly into the air, echoing off the trees and rocky terrain.  “Damn you, I wish I could,” he turned and strode back into the woods.  He vanished, the gun on the ground the only evidence he had ever been there.  Tom noticed the sound of the river, wiped the sweat from his face again and picked up his axe to continue his rhythmical chopping.

These last couple of months I’ve been learning quite a bit about what it takes to write a good story.  I’d love to write swashbuckling, fun, suspenseful adventure stories.  For a long time I’ve dreamed about writing, but haven’t had the courage to pursue it wholeheartedly.  I’ve decided to give it a go.

Previously I thought writing a book must be a fairly straightforward endeavor.  It isn’t.  So I find myself in the midst of what has turned out to be a rather lengthy study of writing, dialogue, characters, what makes for a captivating story, and all sorts of stuff that I hadn’t even thought of before I started looking at this in more depth.

One thing that happens consistently once I’m a few chapters into a story, I notice that some of the characters know a whole lot of things that I don’t know much about. And if I want to continue writing, letting these guys do what they have in mind, I have to do some research.  Consequently, I’m currently reading about loads of really interesting stuff.  One of the things I’m learning about is Sumerian civilization.  They developed over three to four thousand years ago many of the constructs and even inventions we have in our society today.  It’s really amazing.

Between research for the story I’m writing and learning about how to write and develop stories, I’m also trying to practice writing on a regular basis so that I can improve and get some experience with different kinds of writing.  I haven’t disciplined myself into a set routine or even given myself concrete goals yet.  It’s kind of difficult to do that when you don’t have a clue what you’re getting yourself into.  But I regularly write a spontaneous short piece in response to a ‘writing prompt’ (a suggestion given to start a writing topic) or a photo or just something out of thin air.  I thought that occasionally it might be fun to share these on the blog.  So every once in a while if you see this illustration shown at the top of the page, you’ll know that the post includes one of my little writing ditties.

I also plan to include one or two little illustrations to go along with the piece.  I’d love to hear your thoughts about these posts and their content as they come along.  Of course I love praise and you’re welcome to tell me if you like them, but also if you’d like to give me pointers for improvement that’d be super too.

I’m also in the middle of painting the next Gex Book painting.  This time I started with a quick watercolor under-painting, to get the watercolor texture, and have scanned it into the computer so that I can work with it in Corel Painter.  Creating digital paintings that look like watercolor is very demanding on computing power, and my computer doesn’t have enough RAM memory or processing speed, making watercolor digital painting painfully slow.  So I’m experimenting with creating most of the painting in watercolor and adding a few touches in Corel afterwards to get the best of both worlds.  I also have three more drawings ready for painting in egg tempera.

So that’s the news from DweezelJazz Art.  Thank you for coming to read this blog, it means a great deal to me.

Cheers

In January Irene Gallo posted an article on Tor.com about Justin Gerard’s The Hobbit paintings project.  Justin is the Illustration & Story Director at Portland Studios.  Also working there is Illustrator and Author, Corey Godbey.  I’ve been reading Justin’s blog,  Quick Hide Here, and Corey’s blog, light night rains, ever since.  And I’ve found both Justin’s and Corey’s art a real inspiration.

On April 1st, Portland Studios released a short animation and set up a contest, asking why the bull in the animation was mad.

Portland Studios moving picture

You can see the really neat animation,  “The Mad Bull”, at the Portland Studio web site.

The fellows at Portland Studios asked contestants to submit a 500-word narrative to answer the question “Why is the bull so mad?” I didn’t win the competition, but I had a great time writing my version of why the bull was so mad.  I’ve included it below, just for fun:

Having little land for crops, the people of Stonteen make their livelihoods as metalworkers and stonemasons. Pastures in the foothills sustain sizeable herds of cattle.  The townspeople have a close, respectful working relationship with their animals.

A boy, Hans, was born to the owner of the town quarry.  His father used oxen to pull stone from the hillsides.  Hans loved to build things and to train a bull, whom he called Tiku, to do many tasks. When Hans was twenty, he constructed a large metal, steam-driven machine, made to fit Tiku. He called it a Minotank.  He swore he’d develop a more efficient method to extract rock from the mountain than the traditional oxcart.

Hans’ father reluctantly agreed to let Hans train Tiku to drive the Minotank. At first Tiku was afraid of it, but Hans persisted. Seeing that the project was meeting with success, Hans’ father allowed him to include Tiku’s sons in the training.

Years became decades and eventually the entire quarry functioned with bulls driving Minotanks.  Increased output benefited everyone.  Stonteen became renowned for its artistry, masonry, weaponry, and wealth. The cattle were prized and treated extremely well.

Hans built the Minotanks in a huge barn on the outskirts of town.  He married and his son, Eric, became a gifted engineer. Eric worked with his father, now commonly known as “the Professor”.  Eric often brought his daughter, Ara, along.

Ara loved animals, and especially loved a bull called Kanu.  He was exceptionally intelligent, aware, and strong.  The other bulls deferred to him.  Kanu had known Ara since she was a toddler and carried her on his back frequently.

On Ara’s seventh birthday, everything changed.  Stonteen was isolated on all sides by high mountains, only accessible by one narrow mountain pass.  The villagers had forgotten their mastery of the weapons they forged, being accustomed to peaceful times.  They were defenseless when Valerian foot soldiers marched up the pass.

Situated in open land, Valerians had long been forced to defend themselves.  Hearing of Stonteen’s success, their army filed into the valley at night.  By noon next day they had conquered the entire village of Stonteen.

That morning Eric worked with his father. Ara and Kanu were there. The leader of the Valerian army, Commander Claudio, knew of the Professor, his son, and their work.  Kanu witnessed soldiers forcing Ara, Eric, and the Professor to leave the barn.  On reaching the Town Hall, the Commander’s headquarters, Claudio demanded they continue to maintain the Minotanks in exchange for Ara’s safety.

Most of the village inhabitants fled into the mountains; the small number remaining were coerced into serving Valerians. The bulls were forced to toil long hours, and were no longer allowed to roam free. Soldiers took Kanu’s girlfriend, Tessie, to the village center in readiness to be killed for a celebration feast.

Kanu was enraged. He lead the bulls to save Ara, Tessie, and reclaim Stonteen. He charged into town in his Minotank, the first of a legion of Minotanks.

Cover of the book: "Directing the Story" by Francis Glebas

I’ve just finished working through the book, Directing the Story by Francis Glebas.  This is a fantastic book.

If you’re interested in learning how to create a story that will capture an audience’s attention and how to portray this visually, then this is a very valuable book to have.  The book concentrates on the application of  these principles to film, but the information is pertinent to all levels of visual portrayal of stories.

It’s even a great book for someone interested in learning what it takes to create a good story, without considering the visual portrayal of it.   Glebas is extremely generous in sharing his knowledge and he does it in an entertaining way too, with lots of storyboards to illustrate his points.

Glebas delves deeply into what makes us watch movies and why we go for stories.  Having an understanding of what audiences look for in a story, he then shows us how to provide this in the storytelling.  He shows how to transfer the story from words to images through the use of storyboards.  He gives insight into what’s important in terms of camera angles, composition, cutting and editing, lighting.  He gives great advice on how to draw for the storyboards and artwork, and also discusses the importance of character expressions and design.

The book is crammed with great information and is one of the most pivotal books about art and visual presentation that I’ve come across.  Glebas explains things in a way that makes them very easy to understand.  I highly recommend it.

Sometimes it seems necessary to absorb and process events, and these last months have been like that for me. Reflections, along with photos of the snowy Jura mountains in beautiful light.

(click on the title for the full article and comments)