Star Squid Map

So while my writing project is still taking up most of my free time, I realize I've fallen a bit behind in making regular uploads, but that doesn't mean I'm not working on other stuff. Granted, I should be finishing up those "end of year" cards I've been making for people (a tad late for Christmas, and not holiday-themed anyway), though it's hard to write warm sentiments when you're not in the best place. Maybe I should resolve to try what I did last time and gather up all the cool stuff I got from friends and family, a sort of "inspiration nest" to help shut out the bad stuff.

Anyway, I've also been working on stuff for something called The Elements Journal, which I'll have a video on in the coming weeks once my small watercolor book is full. Basically, instead of cutting out each page when finished for scanning, I've just been leaving the book intact (apart from the first few pages before I started doing this), laying it flat to scan, and then really playing around with the compositing in post. One such result is what you see above. Tried to make it look like an old page, but I think it's taken on a more abstract quality somehow. I think it's the ink blots, which I admit got a little out of hand when distressing the paper, but I think it works.

I kind of feel like I should explain star squids, but it's not all that relevant to the finished work, and they're kind of a painful memory. Or rather, I had the misfortune of following someone sharing a painful memory with a silly routine about what black holes really are. Tonal shift was an understatement, let's just say. In any case, it's a last minute thing that came up when I was putting it together. Originally, the title was going to be something like Polaris because the little exchange these guys are doing might seem familiar to any Piers Anthony fans out there who know what Polarians are. I've never read the book myself, but I did read a synopsis in Barlowe's Guide to Extra-Terrestrials, which detailed the odd genius behind the reproductive cycle of the little living motorcycles.
I'd thought of putting an archaic text in the mix, but it didn't really look right, though I may revisit it in the future on something else.

Twitter pics: [link] [link]