Dream 9 Studios

Chapter 8, the final chapter of Journeys of Shelby Bly, is now complete and on the site!! Yay!!! Now begins the huge task of fixing everything I screwed up in all the chapters and then get everything finalized and ready for printing. I’ve written about five or six pages of notes about things I need to correct on each page of each chapter. I also need to go and look back at all viewer comments and see what others say I need to fix. I am going to be quite busy for the next few weeks if I’m ever to meet my proposed deadline of sending the pages off to the printers by this summer. I think I can get it all done though. We shall see.
Today I’m going to take a break from all the illustrating and work on writing the new draft of the story for Journeys 2. I think I’m only on the third chapter so far (no idea how many chapters there will be just yet) but I know I’ve got quite a ways to go. I just hope I can make some major progress on the story before the day is over! I may make some concept art for Journeys 2 later today as well, character concepts. If I do, I’ll add them to the official site (link above).
I did some shuffling (and am continuing to shuffle) over at deviantART and have used the new rename feature to change my old stock account to an account dedicated to Shelby Bly. I’m going to be moving all of the novel pages and lots more from my main dA account to this new dedicated account. It’s going to take me a while, I’ve got a LOT to move. If you’re a dA member and interested in Journeys, check out the new dedicated dA account at shelby-bly.deviantart.com and follow it today! I’ll be posting all pages, book art, cast pictures, concept art for Journeys 2, and all the current news to the account’s journal.

For the past week, workers have been putting a new metal roof on our house… and making all sorts of loud, stress-inducing noise. It’s really put me on edge. My walks with Aayla every day are the best way to clear my head and get away from the noise for a bit. I hope they finish soon, I’m not sure how much more of this I can take! The new roof does look neat though. I’m not looking forward to hearing what hard rain sounds like on it.
Last weekend, Sam and I went to the movies and saw a double feature. We saw the Avengers (first time for her, second for me) and Dark Shadows. Avengers was of course just as awesome the second time and I think Sam enjoyed it far more than she had expected to. Dark Shadows was meh… I could have waited and just rented it from Netflix. Nothing special and a little boring/bloody. We also ate lunch at Panera where I got a really great peach yogurt smoothie. Yay for smoothies! I bought some stuff from Wal-Mart last night to make my own smoothies at home. I think I’ll do that for lunch today. I also need to watch that DVD I got from Netflix…
I also need to get to cleaning today… later… much later… Too much to do right now!

Not much else going on at the moment. I may work on some new artworks later but right now I’m quite focused on Journeys. Damn, I need to get to work on some new commercial 3D content as well. My account is nearly empty and I need money!! Sadly, my last character isn’t selling very well which sucks given how much work I put into it. I wish I had a better handle on what sells and what doesn’t so I don’t keep wasting my time!

Chapter 7 of Journeys of Shelby Bly is now finished!! You can see it on the official site or in the Graphical Stories section over at RDNA. It was a short chapter (only seven pages) so it only took me about a week. I wish I could have written more and expanded the chapter but I kept coming up empty. Sorry! Even so, it’s a good chapter that closes some loose ends which is always good. Next up is Chapter 8 and then I’m done creating chapters! I then have to go back and fix ALL the chapters and get everything ready for printing. It’s going to be a mammoth task but I’m up to it. I just can’t wait to hold the printed book in my own hands! You’ll have the chance to buy a copy as well. As soon as I find out how much they will cost (it depends on number of pages, etc. so I need to figure that out first), I will offer pre-orders to gage interest and see how many I need to order!
When I’m not working on Journeys, I’m working on the stories for Journeys 2 and my so far untitled spy story. Considering that I’m spending the vast majority of my time on finishing up Journeys, I haven’t had that much time for writing. Still, I am doing some writing. :) In fact, I’m writing a new draft of the story for Journeys 2 right now. So far I’m still working on Chapter 1 but I’m getting close to the end of it, I think. I’m going to work on this story a while longer then I may go back to my work computer and see what I can get myself into.
My volunteer editor finally contacted me. Yay! I think I’m going to ask him to help me with Journeys 2 and put Beyond the Starson hold for now. I need to go email him back…

Last Saturday, I went with my brother to see The Avengers. It was awesome. I loved it. It had loads of action and even more humor. It’s tough to beat the smart-assed cockiness that is Tony Stark/Iron Man! Once I got home, I spent a couple hours on Twitter talking about favorite lines/scenes from the movie with my friend Tim. That was fun too. We even made our own unique/profane Twitter hashtag to use when discussing Tony Stark’s cockiness. LOL. I think I’ve managed to talk Sam into going with me to see the movie again… either before or after we see Dark Shadows and then we’ll eat some Chinese food. It shall be a good day(s). Now I just have to impatiently wait for her to return home from university. Soon I hope!
My new doctor is still trying to figure me out, it seems. I had to use some sort of device last night to monitor my oxygen while I slept. Apparently a lack of oxygen during sleep can cause a lot of the problems I have. I hope he’s wrong though, I don’t like the idea of sleeping with an oxygen mask every night.
Other than that I am mostly keeping up with the daily walks except when I stay in to clean or do something else. Earlier I hurt my leg while stretching (pulled a muscle in the back of my leg) so I don’t think I can walk a long distance today. My appetite has decreased dramatically. I no longer constantly crave food and am no longer eating all the time. I’ve lost some weight, which is fantastic. Still got a long way to go though.

My latest character set, Merilee V4A4, has been released at RuntimeDNA! She’s currently on sale for $9.09 until May 20, 2012. Here’s what I wrote for the promo page: “Merilee is an enchanted porcelain doll available in multiple flavors. A happy vibrant doll with bright eyes and colorful makeups is sure to fit all your cuteness needs. Pale skin with dramatic goth style makeup and the dullest of eyes make Merilee a doll of sorrow or spookiness. Both of these styles can also be smashed to crack her fragile porcelain skin. Special shaders were built from the ground up to mimic porcelain and cracked/broken porcelain dolls. This product will only work in Poser 6 or newer.”
I have no idea really what my next commercial project will be. I have several started but none of them are close to being finished. I need to decide on something to focus on and get it finished. Just have to get in the right mindset.

At the moment I am quite focused on my graphic novels so it may be a while before I release any new artworks. I did promise someone on deviantART to work each half of my artwork “Of Shattered Mind” into two finished artworks. I plan on working on those today or tomorrow. I definitely want to get them done before I start on Journeys Chapter 8.

Since my last update, I’ve created five new artworks and all of them can be found in my Dream Times gallery. The first is my very first digital still life called “Orchid Zen”. I’m not sure why I’ve never created a digital still life before but now I have. The next is a redux of an artwork I created circa January 2009 called “The Muse”. This new version is quite beautiful, if I do say so myself. The next one is a promotional artwork of Shelby I created called “Piedro del Sol” which is named after the Mexica Sun Stone seen in the background. The last two are redux artworks where I took scenes from 2010/2011 and updated/enhanced them. These are “Kiss of Noir” and “Dia de los Muertos”. Let me know what you think of all the new artworks! More to come as I create them!
I’ve got about ten more pages of new artwork ideas, all of which were written down during this past month of April. I’m not sure why I’ve been so inspired as of late but I’m sure happy I was! I’ll add these ten new pages to the dozen or more pages already in my notebook of ideas (most of those written in 2011). I should have plenty of new ideas for artworks to last me through any dry spells… I hope.
I’m not sure what I’ll work on next. I need to get some promotional images done for a new product (more on that later) and I also need to get to work on the final two chapters of Journeys. Still, I am interested in creating more new artworks soonish. We shall see.

My next new product is Merilee V4A4 and she should be going into the RuntimeDNA store soon. I just have to get the damn promotional renders done and then submit them and the product to RDNA QA for final approval. I’m hoping for a release sometime next week or so depending on when I get those renders done.
Merilee V4A4 is a porcelain doll-like character for Victoria 4.2 and Aiko 4 plus Poser 6 or newer. She is available in normal and pale skin tones with both skin tones also available in “broken” versions. The preliminary promo image seen to the right (if you’re reading this on my blog) shows the normal skin tone plus the pale skin tone as broken. There are four makeup options for the normal tone and three for the pale tone plus six or seven eye colors. Also included is a custom face morph made with Zbrush and enhanced with Aiko 4 morphs plus a complimentary body morph created with V4.2 and Aiko 4. Merilee will only work in Poser 6 or newer due to the advanced shader setups that make the character who she is. Stay tuned for the official product launch announcement and introductory sale!
My next few commercial projects will most likely be clothing texture sets and perhaps some hair texture sets. I’m also still learning how to create my own models. Lots to come!

Although I haven’t started yet, I do plan on getting started on Chapter 7 of Journeys of Shelby Bly sometime this week or next week. I need to design the layouts, finalize the script, ready the characters and sets needed, and then I can get started on the illustrations. After Chapter 7 will be Chapter 8 and then I go back over and fix all the earlier chapters. After that, off to the printers!
If you would like to help me out, and I’d very greatly appreciate it, would you look over my previous Journeys chapters and nitpick out any mistakes I may have made in dialog, imagery, or plot? I’ve got my list of things to fix but it’s an ever growing list. I’d be happy to add more if you can find more that needs fixing! All of the current and future chapters can be found here. To contact me, you can use this page.

I’ve somehow managed to keep up the daily walks with Aayla (my chihuahua) and I’ve noticed a sharp decrease in my appetite. I do believe going off that one medicine was a great decision and it appears to be working as hoped. Overall, I feel pretty good. I’ll feel better once I get back into shape but I realize that’s going to take some time.
Busy week planned for the rest of this week. Besides all of my art projects I have ongoing, I’ve got to go back to the doctor this week and I’m going to go see The Avengers in 3D with my brother. I can hardly wait to see that movie, it looks awesome and I’ve heard nothing but great things about it. So I’ve got things to do and things to look forward to. Sounds like a good week to me!