#kid christmas

[tinkerd]

The Kid Christmas Sketchbook Part 2

A second peek behind the scenes of my latest book 'Kid Christmas: Of The Claus Brothers Toy Shop'

A few days ago I shared the scruffy, sketchy beginnings of what would become my sixth author/illustrator book ‘Kid Christmas: Of The Claus Brothers Toy Shop (Out NOW)

Today we are going to look at the next stage in creating the book: The Terrifying Rough First Draft stage.

First Draft

It’s not really that terrifying to be honest, but there is always a bit of trepidation when I send this off to my editor. It’s the first real look at how the book is going to turn out. Its when I see if the excitement and enthusiasm I felt in the sketchy stages is actually going to pay off and the book does have potential to be as good as I felt it would be.

I probably (definitely) do over think these things- everything can still be changed at this stage after all, so yes it probably shouldn’t cause as much stress as it does- but its still a daunting moment.

For the first draft rough I take my sketches from my sketchbook and basically spruce them up so that they are more presentable. I do this stage mainly digitally, using my hand drawn paper sketches as a blueprint and drawing over them with my fancy Wacom tablet. At the same time I will hone the idea and story structure as this process goes on.

A lot of further big creative decisions are made here too. In fact that happens a lot during the whole process. Things will change, story ideas will develop and artwork will be tweaked all the way up to it being prepared to print.

The first step of that happens after I send through the First Draft Rough. My editor and art director will have a say on the drawings and offer input on what to change and how to move the story along. Sometimes this can be pretty brutal as being an arty type I am automatically a big old control freak. But I very quickly learnt that making books is a wholly collaborative process. Even though my name is on the cover all of my books have very much been a creative collaboration.

Anyway, I’m rambling a fair bit now, so why don’t we just have a look at some of the pages from the first draft rough :)

The Cover

Around about the same time as creating the First Draft I will start thinking about the cover. The publishers don’t usually want to see a cover sketch until the books rough internal pages are all ready to go to artwork. But the cover is always on my mind. For me seeing the cover- all be it in sketch form- helps to characterise the entire book. So I often think of the cover very early on.

Another thing that publishers will like to see is a number of different options for the cover. So I aim to sketch out 5 or 6 for them to choose. I definitely had my favourite of the sketches and assumed that they would also go for it. However, I was very surprised that they went for the final design. I love it, and I can now totally understand why it was chosen. But my favourite was actually the image right at the start of this newsletter- with Nicky and his uncles standing proud outside the Toy Shop. Nicky isn’t even in his Santa costume - I thought that we should keep that a big secret- which I now look back on as being a bit of a crazy decision on my part. Again, it shows how important the collaboration aspect is to making books. Having other insights and opinions are really vital.

Ok, here is a look at the cover sketches that I presented, including the design that we ended up using.

Phew….so there we are.

Hopefully you have had a little further insight into the sketching stages of ‘Kid Christmas’.

Thank you so much for reading these two- slightly rambley- recollections of how the idea developed (you can read Part 1 HERE)

Great Thanks also to everyone who has read the book. I’ve been absolutely chuffed to bits with the response that the book has had and it has made all the hard work and trials and tribulations (as fun as they all are) worth it.

Happy Christmas all. Ho Ho Ho.

David :)

[yeoldenews]

A few of the more creative spellings of Christmas I’ve come across while looking for Dear Santa letters in old newspapers this year.

[valtsv]

are we still doing this because i have a late submission

[neuro-psyche]

I think Dick and Jason would have multiple “what the actual fuck are you saying right now” with Tim and Damian when it comes to quality of life/monetary differences. Sure, Dick and Jason got used to Bruce’s “is $100 a good enough tip on a $30 bill?” shit, but hearing Tim talking about a new laptop he bought for $5000 literally is like a punch in the gut.

If they ever went on a cruise (which they totally wouldn’t because cruises are floating death traps), Jason and Dick would be in awe of the fancy amenities, where as Damian would be unsatisfied with the quality, since he grew up with every single amenity known to man. Tim would just feel like it’s all normal since the Drake’s were extravagant and travelled all over the planet.

Jason : My bedroom is bigger than my fucking apartment.

Dick : I could do a full gymnastics routine with the space in my room.

Tim :

Dick :

Tim : My room is normal sized…

Jason : You grew up in a mega mansion. I hardly think you’re the benchmark of a normal room-

Damian : I must agree with Drake. This room is frankly underwhelming.

Dick, staring wildly at him : What do you mean underwhelming- Dames there’s an aquarium wall in your room.

Damian : Yes. Underwhelming.

Jason :

Dick :

Jason : Do you want to-

Dick : Jump off the boat? Yes.

[reinbouxsworld]

Silly doodles of silly skeleton boy 💀🤲

[blueflipflops]

Reblog for bigger sample size!

[egophiliac]

Hello ! I positively adore the running joke of Idia unknowingly finding Lilia to be the coolest guy ever whenever he doesn't know it's him, like when Silver described his father, or obviously with muscle red. I can't say what'd be funnier, Idia finding out his online best friend is actually Lilia, resident spooky hyper fairy; or them both never finding out, and it'd become even more ridiculous as time goes on. How do you think it'll play out ? You're always so on point

(Also, though it makes sense, I'm still devastated bat boy didn't get a ticket for the Halloween skeleton train : ( does anyone mentions him at some point ? Like how he'd have fit right in with all those Halloween town little freaks, and how he'd have impressed them with his spooks and scared techniques; after all he's been every Briar Valley's children worst fear on Halloween for centuries. I'm on the eng server and I didn't wanna spoil myself by watching the whole thing on youtube)

Have a nice day !

you and me both, Idia and Lilia being oblivious online BFFs (+ Idia being incredibly intimidated any time Silver brings up his jock gamer dad) is my favorite running joke/subplot. 🤝 it's SO good, to the point where I also am unsure if I actually want it to ever be resolved or not...maybe, like, as a post-canon stinger or something? everyone's standing around covered in overblot ink, and Idia and Lilia's phones go off at the same time...

(legit I do think this is part of why Idia couldn't be present for Lilia's dream, because for some reason Lilia decided he was going to just. embody his past self online. he probably quotes his own battle strategies or whatever in the middle of boss fights. Idia didn't pick up on the whole "oh how weird that we both live on a super remote island" thing, but he would spend thirty seconds listening to General Lilia describing siege warfare and be like "w-wait")

all that aside, however it does end up happening, I do see Lilia being very blasé and all "oh! cool!" about it. y'know, taking it very much in stride! and Idia...very much not.

(can't tell if tumblr is going to chew this into illegibility or not, this will be a fun surprise ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ)

as for Lilia sadly missing out on Halloweentown shenanigans...he does get one little mention as part of an offhand reference to the light music club, but so far no one has brought up how this basically is just Lost In the Book of Liliatown (Sebek's been too busy yelling about not getting to be in the same group as Malleus). 😔 honestly though, it's probably for the best that he got left out, because he would just settle right in and refuse to ever leave. canon would shatter. we would miss out on all the delightful angst of episode 7 because Lilia is too busy eating poisonous shrubbery inbetween practicing his very best screams, and no one can pull him away from it.

(I can hope for a sequel next year though...)

[fullcravings]

Cookie Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

[oh-gh0st]

i heart these rivals so much. maybe they'll kill each other. maybe they'll kiss. maybe they'll make ou

[tinkerd]

Check out #KidChristmasAdvent on my Instagram.

[misstycloud]

Yandere visual novel games recommendations

These are all free to download from itch.io on computer. I’m not sure if any of these could work on any other device but most probably not. All of these games aren’t finished either and it’s the demo you play. Still, you have content to play and it doesn’t end after 5 minutes, I promise.

14 Days With You- by cutiesai

Here’s a link to the official tumblr blog

OFFICIAL DESCRIPTION:

"14 Days With You" is an upcoming romantic horror visual novel centred around Ren, a mysterious individual who seems more than obsessed with you — and is willing to do anything he can to have you.

Prescription:LOVE - by Livingslime

OFFICIAL DESCRIPTION:

"You wake up in a hospital with no memory of how you got there. A kind and attentive doctor assures you that you will be under his care, patiently nursing you back to health. No one seems to know what caused your condition. "

The Kid at the Back - by Fantasia | TealCat

OFFICIAL DESCRIPTION:

"There's this guy, pretty tall guy, often times people don't even realize he's there but he is. Usually sits at the back, wears nothing but black. His eyes however, were bright, red as the autumn leaves, and they for sure aren't leaving your eyes once you lock with his."

Heart Cage - by rice love coffee

OFFICIAL DESCRIPTION:

You are a detective who has just moved to a new town. You are involved in a serial killer case, and three mysterious residents (Or more?!) are approaching you!

Don't trust anyone! But... can you?

Please Don’t Hate Christmas- (also) by rice love coffee

OFFICIAL DESCRIPTION:

Yandere x Otome x Christmas x Urban Legend!!

You last celebrated Christmas a few years ago. This year, you returned to your hometown---Snowflake Island, with your childhood friend, Albert. Albert treats you so well that you choose to stay forever. However, you forgot something in the past, and it's still not solved...

(A/N: it was a long time since I played this ⬆️ but it shouldn’t have changed much- when I played it was really good. )

[fabcreature]

you know what, since we've been talking about how annoying it is when people react like "what drugs were they on when they wrote this 🤪" when someone is creative, i just wanna say

everyone who says "HOW IS THIS A KIDS' MOVIE 😱😱", when a kids' movie is a little bit out of the box and features dark or deep imagery and meanings, owes me one thousand euros

[thejohnnieguilbert]

Santa smelled like cigarettes

[liminallylonelyybabyy]

christmas felt different then

“…it’s just a part of growing up I guess…”

[greatestwizardofthisage]

i would like to personally thank siobhan thompson for organising the bad kids secret santa