Tag: ideas

Where do ideas come from?

Where do ideas come from? Well, there’s a broad subject. To help explain this, let me share a story with you.

I must confess I’m quite a bit like Dad. I read Shogun in high school and fell in love with Japanese culture and history (the stuff that’s not taught in school!). I have a good respect for Edgar Allen Poe (read Telltale Heart in high school and more recently tracked down The Pit and the Pendulum on DVD) and more importantly, I’ve found a firm appreciation for Ray Bradbury. I grew up watching The Halloween Tree each year and more recently found The Ray Bradbury Theater on DVD (We tend to frequent the local library’s movie section and find all kinds of interesting stuff). I was a bit surprised when I saw the opening sequence for that show, because it showed I’m a lot like Bradbury himself. The room he works in is full of stuff he gets ideas from, and my room is certainly no less crowded than his.

Where he gets ideas from the objects around him, I often find myself getting ideas from cartoons, movies and various TV shows we have around the house. That’s not to say I don’t also get ideas from objects around me. Ideas come from anything and everything more often than not. For me, a great many of my ideas come from stuff made in the 1980’s or older.

Let me share another story now. I was 4, we were moving from San Francisco to a small bedroom community and a bigger house, but just before leaving the preschool I was in, there was a little “graduation” ceremony and I was asked what I wanted to be when I grew up. I was so tired from the moving that I didn’t answer, so my preschool teacher Girtha said “She’s going to be a comedian!” Well, she’s not too far from the truth. There’s plenty of comedy to be found in my work. Dream Angel is intentionally lighthearted and humorous and even Techwarrior, which is a bit darker has its moments. Know where I find inspiration for the jokes? Classic comedians. Red Skelton, The Three Stooges, Jack Benny, Abbott and Costello and a long list of others that were mostly dead before I was even born.

So, where do ideas come from? Anywhere and everywhere. It’s about that simple. Of course, making the ideas work is an entirely different matter. It helps to keep a notebook and pen close at hand even when I have my tablet nearby. Often, it’s faster to simply write the idea down than wait for the tablet to turn on and get into the right app – by that time, the idea could dissipate like a cloud.

Chime in! Where do your ideas come from?

Expect bugs and glitches…

This site’s had something – nobody knows exactly what – go wrong recently and while it’s being fixed, expect some bugs and glitches. No, there’s no problems with security and the store still works, the problem has been largely related to updating things on the management side and uploading images.

Explains why Techwarrior #5 and Techwarrior #1-5 don’t have product images yet, doesn’t it? Not to worry, Techwarrior and Dream Angel are teamed up to squash the bugs and glitches as quickly as possible, but if you should find yourself having trouble with the site – i.e. error messages appear instead of the page you want, simply wait a minute or so and refresh the page. It simply means something’s not quite working just yet.

On to better news now! Techwarrior #1-5 will soon be in print! The proof copies are expected to arrive April 7th. So, for fans of printed books, you’ll be happy when the link to this one’s announced. It’s a 60 page full color collection of all 5 books together. The price? Well, preliminary estimates seem to put it at about $5-6. Not bad, huh?

Even Dream Angel might be getting some collection books. Early price estimates there are higher, but that goes with the higher page count, too. Hers would be trade paperback size and much thicker. However, first her artwork and story need… updating.

There’s nothing wrong with the currently released Dream Angel books, so don’t get me wrong there at all. The simple fact is that Techwarrior #5 was greeted with more interest for its Iray rendering style. It’s also been mentioned that there’s some holes in the early parts of Dream Angel’s story that could be filled. Nothing too major, but some additional details would be beneficial. So, the script is seeing some updating and the artwork is soon to follow.

What’s that mean for newer books? Well, it means the series is getting a light reboot. Not a complete one, just enough to fill in those holes. So, 23 books are going to see new art, giving books that are still being written plenty of time to be completed.

The most difficult books to update might be Dream Angel #1-6, as these were initially done in Poser with a lot more Photoshop work than recent books. Dream Angel #1 2nd edition has some complete DAZ Studio scenes, but only some as it, too, had more Photoshop work as well. For some scenes, also, starting from scratch might also be better.

First thing’s first, however, will be bringing this site back to 100% and that means manually uploading necessary files. So, be patient and look forward to more excitement once it’s back to normal.

Where do ideas come from?

Where do ideas come from? Well, there’s a broad subject. To help explain this, let me share a story with you.

I must confess I’m quite a bit like Dad. I read Shogun in high school and fell in love with Japanese culture and history (the stuff that’s not taught in school!). I have a good respect for Edgar Allen Poe (read Telltale Heart in high school and more recently tracked down The Pit and the Pendulum on DVD) and more importantly, I’ve found a firm appreciation for Ray Bradbury. I grew up watching The Halloween Tree each year and more recently found The Ray Bradbury Theater on DVD (We tend to frequent the local library’s movie section and find all kinds of interesting stuff). I was a bit surprised when I saw the opening sequence for that show, because it showed I’m a lot like Bradbury himself. The room he works in is full of stuff he gets ideas from, and my room is certainly no less crowded than his.

Where he gets ideas from the objects around him, I often find myself getting ideas from cartoons, movies and various TV shows we have around the house. That’s not to say I don’t also get ideas from objects around me. Ideas come from anything and everything more often than not. For me, a great many of my ideas come from stuff made in the 1980’s or older.

Let me share another story now. I was 4, we were moving from San Francisco to a small bedroom community and a bigger house, but just before leaving the preschool I was in, there was a little “graduation” ceremony and I was asked what I wanted to be when I grew up. I was so tired from the moving that I didn’t answer, so my preschool teacher Girtha said “She’s going to be a comedian!” Well, she’s not too far from the truth. There’s plenty of comedy to be found in my work. Dream Angel is intentionally lighthearted and humorous and even Techwarrior, which is a bit darker has its moments. Know where I find inspiration for the jokes? Classic comedians. Red Skelton, The Three Stooges, Jack Benny, Abbott and Costello and a long list of others that were mostly dead before I was even born.

So, where do ideas come from? Anywhere and everywhere. It’s about that simple. Of course, making the ideas work is an entirely different matter. It helps to keep a notebook and pen close at hand even when I have my tablet nearby. Often, it’s faster to simply write the idea down than wait for the tablet to turn on and get into the right app – by that time, the idea could dissipate like a cloud.

Chime in! Where do your ideas come from?