I started this week thinking, “I’m going to draw every day!” Then I got to writing a story that totally sucked me in, and wound up using all of my early morning time to write that, instead. On the plus side, it’ll be done in another week or so, if I keep writing as much as I have. More art after that!
Once I finish writing this book, I’ll have more brainspace for drawing, heh. I hope people enjoy reading this as much as I enjoy writing it!
I’ve just been drawing my characters this week, trying to really nail down what they look like. These are collectively from After Atlantis and Vid:ilantes, since they share the same universe.
The rest have been commissions and I can’t show those off for various reasons. Got more to do, too, so I’d better get with it. Islesworn’s launch this week has kind of thrown off my artwork.
A few years ago, we were on a long car trip. I was sitting there, thinking about YouTuber drama. Then I started thinking about all those Marvel movies, and how cool it would be if superheroes recorded videos of their crime fighting exploits and put it all on some kind of Youtube. Maybe … HeroTube. And the best heroes got invited into the big networks, and got big name sponsors, and the best ad affiliates. And they were always trying to outshine the other supers in order to win those sweet, sweet ad clicks.
Then I went, why don’t I just plug my SpaceTime characters into this universe? They needed a new home, and I’d unpublished their original books because the books weren’t that great. Heck, I could bring over the villains, too.
That was the beginning of what came to be called Vid:ilantes, a book about superhero Youtubers. And it’s finally available!
In a world where everyone develops superpowers at puberty, James Chase is an aspiring superhero, dreaming of having his own popular HeroTube channel. But when practicing his powers opens a portal to an island in another dimension, he unwisely posts this video to HeroTube. It goes viral and James finds himself in over his head. The networks want him. The villains want him. And worse, he has tapped into one of the lost secrets of Atlantis, one that many people would kill to steal.
Now James must join forces with his roommate Indal, along with a super on the wrong side, and an irritable nonhuman inhabitant of the island, if he wants to save the world–and himself.
Now available at most retailers! Click here!
I’m already writing the next book and having a blast. The Vid books tie in with the After Atlantis books, so you might give those a look while you’re waiting on book 2. (It answers a lot of questions raised in Islesworn, like who is the Guardian and what is the Mercurion?)
Anyway, I am so excited that this book is finally out there for folks to enjoy. Hopefully I can have book 2 finished and out in another month or so. 😀
This week I only had time to finish one pic. And it was a pic I drew ages ago and just got around to coloring.
Just Destiny stuff, as usual, heh. I just really like drawing the armor and stuff from it.
I did a speedpaint this morning, but I only got the first couple of stages done.
Just the big colors and shapes blocked in at this point. The armor is really detailed and fiddly, and I want to spend more time on it than I had.
This week I buckled down on edits for Vid:ilantes, the superhero youtubers book. It’s looking pretty good so far, just needs some more polish. I’d love to kick it out the door by next week, but that depends on how fast I can do a cover.
I also finished the first draft of a sci-fi story this past week, which felt really good. It’s very soft, as sci-fi goes (not much math, heh), more space opera than anything. I’d love to launch it next month, but we’ll see how many revisions it actually needs when I read back through it.
My next project is a sequel for Vid:ilantes, since I’ve been carrying it around in my head for months, now. Time to get it all out and see how it goes. It’s fun, because the After Atlantis trilogy deals with Island 1, Vid deals with Island 2, and the sequel will bring in Island 3. Then the book after that will be the big, fat crossover, where everybody unites the islands to face a bigger threat. I’m having way too much fun with this.
K. M. Carroll, Author 