Villains, Sea Shanties and 12,000 words

I really enjoy creating villains and the books are full of them, there are all kinds of dastardly and nefarious gangs running amok in the streets each with their own distinct uniforms and preferred methods of combat. In the second book I've also written one song and am finishing another that ends the book, luckily I have many musician friends and I can already picture one group in particular performing the songs at a book launch. There is just so much I enjoy about these books that I'm able to take everything I loved as a child from comics to movies and mix it all up and pour it out.

I've got room for a lot of new pages and I'm currently writing the first climax of book two, feels good.

The above drawing is of one of the gangs, not giving away their name just yet but I do have a couple of Marvel Universe Juggernaut figures that I could mod pretty quickly to look like the guy above, but that will have to wait, gotta get to the end of this book first.

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com



Character Sketches MG series, Sweet Relief and Concentration

I've started to label each post here on the blog, if you're looking for pictures of the characters go to the "Character Sketches" label on the right, for my thoughts on writing a book series and trying to get published etc. go to "process notes". Diorama and building stuff is labelled under "Diorama", "Vehicles", "Bestiary" and "Tutorials" where you can see how things are built.

I can't remember the name of the character in the top photo, I have notes on him, his family etc, but his name escapes me right now, he's the son of a famous Sputter Jack racer and also the first person Oliver and Eaglet meet from the Capital City, so his outlook and world view are very different from theirs, his appearance also opens up the possibility of O and E travelling to the Capitol city further down the line.

The second drawing is of the fourth member of the band of soldiers that the books were originally about, he's a fun character to write who walks the edge between being totally out of control and the life of the party, the wild card, there' usually one in every group of friends.

I'm getting so damn tired of not being able to write, I can't focus so well on the words and editing with this pain in my jaw, I can draw, sketch, etc. but writing is just too hard, so I can't wait to get to the dentist today and start getting this sorted out.

As always you can email me any questions you have about the books, characters, diorama building or whatever you like,

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com

 



Painkillers And Pencils Day Three

The first figure is a character who is mentioned in the first book but doesn't appear until the fifth book, I've designed two looks for her, the above is the more flashy "Hollywood" version and the other is more of a pilgrim or preacher look, I like them both equally and hope that she'll use both looks in the Book 5.

Really disappointed in screwing up the expression on the Gomez, he's one of my favourite characters that I've designed for the series, his back story and circumstances are great fun and his speech patterns are fun to write, his design  is of course based on ultimate bad ass Danny Trejo I'll have to draw his head again sometime.

Still not 100% happy with these drawings, I tend to work too fast on certain aspects of the drawings and I have to slow down and really flesh out the tough spots in pencil before inking or colouring anything.
Gotta go there's a good MG chat starting on twitter

Monday can't come soon enough,

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com 

More Characters MG vs YA and pain

Way back when I began this project my main character was the fella you see at the top Brinker Ellis, he lived (well still does) in a shack behind the most popular bar in the city, one of his best friends Denny "Deaths Head" Stinson is pictured below he's one of the older brothers of the main character Oliver Stinson. These guys were soldiers, the books take place three years after the was has ended.

 

The switch to Oliver and Eaglet being the main characters is explained in one of the posts below, but I wouldn't be against writing a book about the four teenaged friends who the stories were originally going to be based around, it was some thick dystopia for sure, there were characters with PTSD, drinking problems, rage issues you name it, but it was also a lot of fun.

 

Expect more drawings to show up over the next while, I am in a huge amount of pain right now, going into the Dentist Monday and will probably have to get a root canal or two, the right side of my jaw feels like I've been kicked in the face with a combat boot, and yes I do know what that feels like. Drawing seems to be the only thing that helps take my mind off the pain, that and taking pills, and also getting ready to have six people over for dinner in about three hours.

wish me luck,

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com



Character sketches and process

I realized that for the next little while I should just focus on sketches of characters who will appear in the first book of the AHT series. The top drawing is Sinawa Rainland, who is Eaglet's Mother, she is seen wearing the standard poncho and facial markings of the Sinawa people who live in the Green Points forest.

The second drawing is the town engineer Janvia Magetal, the first female engineer the town has ever had. I really like the Yankee pinstripe style of her coverall and it's become a motif for city workers in AHT, it's also very similar to the uniforms worn by the convicts at Lance Head Prison - maybe this is a coincidence maybe not, you'll have to read the books when they come out.

It's always a challenge with these posts about revealing too much, there are some aspects of the series that seem like the books are aimed at a younger audience than the MG level of reading, but as more information and characters cross paths with Oliver and Eaglet the more sinister elements and themes of AHT start to show themselves.

All for now,

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com

 



A Slow Start A Strong Backbone

 

Yesterday was absolute crap in the writing game and before heading to sleep I received another rejection from an agent that I submitted to, nothing like trying to catch 40 winks with a head full of doubts. I even considered just taking today to start outlining a new book, a stand alone, separate from the Any How Town series. A ghost story or a heist story, but my initial ideas were too dark and violent, so I cleaned the bathroom instead and will soon clean the treads of the stairs, the negative energy has to go somewhere, may as well put it to good use.

I suppose I'm just talking to myself right now, trying to get my spirits back up so I can work on these books with the attention and care that the characters deserve. I've been an independent artist for a long time, as a painter I'm used to working long hours before achieving something. I always know that my imagination will save me no matter what I come up against, I've got a thick skin but yesterday I felt pretty damn sensitive. I am so very grateful for my wife and my dog and the home that we have together, a home that is getting cleaner and cleaner by the day.

The above drawings are of Katherine Orrow, who I posted about yesterday, she's riding a giant turtle named Chesterfield, this was my first attempt at drawing a turtle, funny how these things come up, I've drawn and painted chickens, cows, horses, cats but this is my first turtle - a giant turtle covered in horns to boot.

The second sketch is of one of the most powerful characters in Any How Town and one of the key players in the mystery of the first four books, I'm not going to say anything about him, don't want to give too much away.

As always if anyone has any questions for me, send me an email to the address below, it would be great to hear from you.

enjoy the sun today Toronto

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com

Avoiding the Moribund and Character Design

What a terrible day it's been at the keyboard, messed up all over the place, just didn't have it today. I think I have to move forward and work on the end of the book, I'm going over it in sections and just got nowhere. Terrible feeling, on the other hand our kitchen is cleaner than it's been in weeks (we made fresh jam this weekend and pasta, so things got pretty messy in there) and our backyard now has solar powered lights running through the ivy so that will be nice to look at this eve as the moon comes up over the backyard.

Above are a couple of designs of characters who appear later in the series, actually the figure at the top doesn't show up until after the first four books are finished, he's in Book Five and Six which is a two part story. The character is named "the Clam Pot Man" and he's my rip on Boba Fett. There was no cooler moment in the Empire Strikes Back than the pan up to the Bounty Hunters and I wanted something similar to open the fifth book of the series and believe me, the Bounty Hunters in Any How Town are some of the weirdest and scariest dudes you've ever seen.

This was my second attempt at designing him, he is supposed to look like an old wood fire stove and a suit of armour crossed together. Why? You'll have to wait and find out.

The second drawing is Assembly Woman White Street and she makes her first appearance in Book Three and is a major part of Book Four, I've written a bunch of rough pages with her in them and she's a hoot to write as a character. I love subverting tropes, taking moribund settings and pumping them up, the first book is set in a mine and at first I wanted to avoid a setting like that but then realized it's what I do with it that makes it new, and I believe I accomplished that in Book One, same with the Assembly Woman, if you judged her by her appearance above, you will have made a grave error, when it comes to warriors there are none more feared than the Assembly Woman.

Writing about these characters actually cheered me up.

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com

Scattered Notes, Character, Loss of Innocence

I've had several thoughts pass through my head this weekend about my main and supporting characters, some trivial and some very worthwhile. When I started writing the first book I changed the age of my characters by two years, I realized that they would be far too young to handle the quest that I was sending them on and not only because of the physical trials I put them through in the books but also by the end of the 4rth book I knew that the root of the story was about the loss of innocence.

The conspiracy that the two discover is large and has a statewide effect on all those around them, they had to be more mature to handle and assemble what they find, what they find changes them, they change with every book in the series.

 I also realized that I kept them at about ages ten and eleven because I wanted to avoid romance, there are romances in the story, they just happen to people close to them. From reading twitter and other sources I know that romances are very popular, almost necessary in these kinds of books, but O and E endure tests of their friendship, and that to me is the heart of the book, this is a story of a boy and girl who are friends and their friendship helps them endure the journey.

Always apologies for how awkward these paragraphs are, I'm mostly leaving notes and reminders for myself about why I've taken on this project.

All for now,

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com



Character Sketches, Different Races, MG world building

Many of the posts during the #MWSL craze yesterday commented on "PoC" characters, which after some figuring I understood as "people of colour", I'm sure this desire comes from agents and people writing for the Young Adult, reality based fiction market.

Any How Town is full of different races, that's what makes it interesting for me, above is Canto who makes a brief appearance in Book Two, he's an Aucassin, they're fishermen, he becomes incredibly important in Book Three, there's just one small problem, he speaks a different language than our heroes.

The second character sketch is Maihem, who is a Gardan youth, they're customs and mannerisms are very different than out heroes, his race is the enemy, but things are not always what they seem.

I love the freedom of world building, I don't know if I'd ever set a book in our modern era, I would definitely write books set in the 20's, - 50's. If Any How Town fit into any era in our world it would be a post WWI  setting, the technology is different, but the feeling is the same.

Hope to get a few more character sketches done today and also a couple of chapter punch ups would feel good too.

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com

Ride the Dino Turkey! Write the Dino Turkey!

Once again when confronted with a blank piece of paper I realize how rusty my drawing skills are, I have to draw every day or things are just going to get worse. Disappointed with a couple of aspects of the piece, especially Oliver's face but it's the first of many so I'll let it go.

It's a rainy day in Toronto and the pressure headache that started yesterday is still lingering, hope to get a good chunk of editing on Book Two finished but it will be slow going and I may start to do notes on a stand alone book in case I can't get any agents to bite on the series, I may have to write an entirely different book first in order to get the series published later.

Enjoy the above image of Oliver riding a giant Gobbler, one of the many animals that live in AHT.

Congratulations to the Chicago Blackhawks and the Boston Bruins, heck of a series, heck of a game.

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com

 

My Challenges In the Agency Game, An Open Letter

 

 Our heroes, who I will tell you about if you ask, but you have to ask, and also

be a literary agent.

I love twitter, twitter has been extremely helpful in the process of submitting my book to agents, twitter is to literary agents what MySpace was to bands, what facebook is to theatre makers, it's concise and most of the agents there will respond to questions when asked.

It's a strange time in publishing, perhaps as strange as looking for a record deal or getting people to see a play, all of these art forms are said to be threatened right now, by what? By the same media that the artists use to promote their work? By large televisions or just the economy itself.

Everywhere I go I see people reading, I'm not worried about that, I'm more concerned with an agent missing an opportunity to find out about this wonderful world that I have created.

I asked one agent on twitter if she ever went to the author's website or blog, and she replied, (thank you @literaricat) that she did if she was interested enough in the writer's work. I found this to  be encouraging, I'm sure any agent who gets this far (to the blog) would probably be impressed by the volume of models and drawings and thoughts that I've posted here as I've worked on the books, yes books, the first story arc is four books long, it's just a matter of waiting for the right agent, the one who does follow the links to this spot.

Most agencies ask for a ten page sample of your work and then tell you they aren't "a good fit". I do think I have a few  things stacked against me with this series and they are the following

1) I have not been previously published anywhere except a book of poetry a long while ago, I have had plays produced in Canada but my primary focus over the past ten years has been my career as a painter/illustrator (all of which can be seen at the madcraftshoppe blog, see links) so I am untested in their eyes, I think that alone is a turn off for most agents.

2) My main character lives on a farm - this only occurred to me recently- Oliver is not an orphan, he comes from a large tight family, they aren't poor and is there any market out there for a kid who lives on a farm, I think the word "farm" itself is a turn off for some agents. But Oliver is more special than you think, Oliver is small and Oliver listens, he discovers things by the sheer act of listening, Oliver makes friends and the most important part of these books is the network of friends that Oliver builds just by being himself. He unravels a huge mystery, one that exposes secrets that effect the entire State just by listening and having friends, of course he gets into incredibly dangerous and unique situations along the way, but the root of the character is his character. The character that comes from being raised on a farm by a strong and loving family, he navigates the risks and challenges that come his way on his own, but it is the heart of the character that solves the riddles and problems.

3)Eaglet is a princess, in the query I call her a "headstrong Indian princess" and saying that she's a princess implies she lives in a castle with a retinue etc. She does not, she is a warrior princess and comes from very different circumstances, but the word has too many associations, but it's the right word to describe her station.

4) The world is unique, Any How Town is a genre that I call "Farm Punk", it's not Steam Punk, it's completely different, it's a place where two legged running machines are raced for entertainment, where giant dogs walk alongside their masters, where every citizen is or has been a soldier. I don't want to give too much away but I guarantee you there is no place like Any How Town, but since the world unfolds over four books it takes time to explain these things, longer than a ten page excerpt can explain.

Those are my thoughts on some of the challenges that I have.

back to the work,

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com

 

 

 



The History of Any How Town, creation files

 

Since I am now approaching literary agents I thought I would repost the history of the series in case any of them find the blog and want to read it's genesis.

I have transcribed all of the second book and am up to my knees in edits and polishes, the book is in really good shape.

 

Here's a bit of a history of the books.

It all began about five years ago when I wanted to produce a graphic novel, I had created a cast of teenaged characters who lived in a port town who were former soldiers. The era the GN was to be set in was somewhere in the1920's -1940's but with a steam punk approach, but I don't really like all of the associations with steam punk, it's not me, so I call it "farm punk", there are  no poofy blouses, these are soldiers, brawlers, farmers and sailors, they get their hands dirty.

I started writing and sketching for a good few months and posting character profiles (see above) as each player in the story was created. I wrote some short pieces and began mapping the history of the wars, the town itself and was happy with the backstory that I had created.

After a year of solid creation (while painting commissions, doing designs etc.) I was kind of stuck, I liked all the characters but I found that the tone was too dark, it was a little inaccessible, the dystopic stew was too thick. I let the stories rest for a while and went back to painting.

During this time I also began building the models that you see here.

Since the vehicles and animals of AHT are different than ours I figured it would be helpful that when I had to draw the comic that I had the models to use, this was great fun and also very relaxing. I started to comb through Dollar Stores and assembling the three dimensional world of AHT.

One day while working I realized what I truly wanted to do with the series, I knew that writing, drawing and inking the books would be too large an undertaking for one guy and I would just write the books themselves.

The strongest realization came from the characters, there are many large clans and families in AHT and all the characters had younger brothers and sisters, so instead of focusing on the teens I switched to the younger citizens of AHT and a door opened in my head.

Any How Town is a crazy place full of eccentric characters and it was far more fun to introduce them through the eyes of kids - things really picked up steam for me. I started plotting the first series of four books and I got it down quick, it just poured out of me, I was beyond excited to start writing the books.

Last summer  I wrote the first book and most of the second and a third of the third book. I just sat down in the backyard of our house and I wrote them, I was shocked that all the work just lined up and spilled out for me. I sat under the shade of a tree (that tree has since died, long live the tree) and just wrote straight through the day and into dinner time.

 

Any How Town is a fun place, it's full of adventure, non stop discovery, ancient mysteries, chases, mutated animals, you name it, we've got it here. I want the series to be devoured, I want you to feel like you did when you first saw Indiana Jones, they are adventures made for the young, they are page turners, I am sure of it.  I've since plotted the fifth and sixth book which is a whole new story for our young heroes, I can't wait to get to it and see how our heroes have changed since we first meet them in Book One.

I have now finished the fourth draft of the first book and have begun searching for an agent, currently I am writing the second draft of the Second book and WILL have it finished in a third draft form by the end of July and hope to have secured an agent by that time.

I realized a few weeks ago that I am actually in the fifth year of the Five Year plan of Any How Town, it doesn't feel like it's been a long time that I've been creating the world, it feels right and that gives me great confidence.

 

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com

Our Heroes, Daily Inspiration

I thought I'd repost my drawings of the heroes of my book series, I'm currently finishing off Book Two and having a great time polishing and editing this draft. I am always surprised at just how much fun I have spending time with these two.

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com



Comic Characters, Cover #2

Here's the second cover in the series. I really boned the lettering on this one, sometimes I ink just a little too quickly, have to get used to the slower pace of doing fine lines and preplanning my letters.  I You can see in the 3rd and 4rth photo that I had to lighten the background considerably to make the image pop, it was so uniform before that it looked flat and boring. I also have to go back in and fix the crotch on the bad guy in back on the left, it's driving me crazy. I'm far from happy with this but its about improving step by step and it never bothers me to post my mistakes.

Who are these people exactly?

When the books are published, you'll find out!

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com

 



Comic Book Heroes of Any How Town

Here's one of the covers that I've been working on for the Any How Town book series. Comics play a big part in the plot of the books (I've discussed this before in other posts) and I wanted to get some done for you to see. It's also part of my resolution to complete and post two AHT based drawings a week. I need to get my skills up (I've also talked at length this, feel free to read some other posts) so if I can do that and improve the online archive of AHT material that's great. I'm sure when an agent or publisher finally stumbles across this blog I think they'll be impressed.

 

Anyways, yes there are problems with the lettering and inking in the image, but those things will improve with each cover, but I'll also tell you right now that this is not the case, the lettering in the second cover is terrible.

have a great day,

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com



Comics and Characters

Hey there, its 2013 and it's going to be a big year in Any How Town. I'm going to try and post at least two drawings here a week and also lots of model builds. This fella above is "lil' Golden Guy" the subject of one of the many comic books published in Any How Town. I wanted to get the design down and spent some time yesterday getting it right, next up some comic book covers featuring L.G.G and other heroes.

gotta go, lots to do.

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com

 

Our Heroes and their friends

I rushed this last drawing and all I can see is a witch riding a broomstick and that will not do. How did this happen? Well, I drew the pose and then started inking it and THEN decided to add the staff, big mistake. Maybe the further we get away from Hallowe'en the more it will look like Jin is just holding a staff, here's hoping.

I also included here (and added to the first post in the drawing series) early sketches of the characters, they are BORING sketches, they don't stand up, Any How Town is an exciting place and those poses are DULL. I also included this Last Airbender figure that I used as a reference but I realize what I have to do in the next attempt at the design of this character is make their outfits unique - simple but totally unique.

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com

Our Other Hero In Action

Oliver Stinson, reluctant hero

I thought I'd post both pictures that I did of Oliver I want people who come to this blog to see that it's cool to just try things, if you go back to the earlier diorama posts and then go forward you can see how I improved on building things, it took time, it was something that I concentrated on and got better at. Just like drawing, painting, building models, if you keep doing it, you'll get better at it.

That being said, I can also see that in the second picture Oliver's boots are too small, so I'll have to fix those.

keep on making things.

A.Shay Hahn

madcraftshoppe@live.com



Our Heroes in Action

 Sinawa Eaglet Rainland, one of our heroes

 If you follow this blog at all you know that I constantly complain about my drawing skills, or lack of time I dedicate to drawing and how I always swear that I will try to draw every day, or at least once a week, or every other month. I wanted to get some action shots down of the characters as they are now not like they were all the way back to when I started this blog. I finished this picture of Eaglet last night and then did a horrible drawing of Oliver, which I'll post with the finished Oliver hopefully later today.

Next week I'm starting in on the final edits/draft of Book One and finishing typing up the second book, yes I wrote all four books in longhand it's just faster for me that way, I want to get Book One out to agents by the end of November and have a great cover letter thingy finished to go with it - fingers crossed.

When I've cracked and can type no more, I'm going to draw, hopefully every second day and get some great action up here to really get people curious about the world of Any How Town.

If you're in Toronto and down town, please head by the Cameron House to see my latest show of paintings, "popular/mechanics" (they open at 4pm) any funds from sales will be going to keeping me working on the AHT series, we're so close to getting Book One ready to go it's driving me crazy.
UPDATE: Here's the sketch of Eaglet I was talking about in the last post, "Our Heroes and Their Friends, do you see how boring this is ?
A.Shay Hahn
madcraftshoppe@live.com