Pixie Sinclaire

“Where, No One Knows” is LIVE!

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Whew! Hey everyone, just let me get rid of this dust…

I’ve been away for awhile, and while I wish I could say it was because I was toiling diligently away on my NaNo project, such wasn’t the case. I completely failed to manage my time between writing and working a job in retail, and as such was unable to complete the required 50,000 word goal.

Boo hoo. There. I’m over it. Moving on!

I am pleased to announce, however, another small victory. The other novel I’ve been chipping away at for the last couple of years is now available to purchase through Createspace and Amazon.

Right now, it’s only available in paperback, but a Kindle version is incoming once I fix some of the formatting issues that came with converting the files from Createspace.

So, go on! If you’re looking for a light-hearted, pulpy adventure to curl up with this holiday, go check it out. And if you do, let me hear what you thought and if you have any suggestions to help improve future projects, let me know. I’m always open to constructive criticism.

Book cover, concept art

“The Blackwood Empire is facing a bit of an energy crisis. Everything runs on steam, and the fuel for the fires, an alchemical substance called Blackwood, is running out. Only the brilliant scientist, Sir Rigel Rinkenbach, knows the secret, and he’s gone missing!

He’s been taken to Where, No One Knows, a massive prison ship that patrols the Imperial seas. There’s only one way onto Where, No One Knows, and only one way out. It’s a delicate job requiring finesse, and in the Blackwood Empire, cutthroats are a dime a dozen. Pixie Sinclaire, former agent provocateur, outclasses them all.

Pixie and Rigel have a rocky past, but the flame persists. When the NorEastern Nations hire her to infiltrate the impenetrable floating fortress, Pixie takes it as a challenge and opportunity to set things right.

Once on the ship, things quickly go south. Pixie must deal with a jail break led by a charismatic political prisoner hoping to use Rigel in the creation of an independent nation state, a pair of air pirates looking for revenge on Rigel, and others who stand to lose everything should the secret of Blackwood ever reach Imperial shores.

Oh, and did we mention the nine foot tall death machines roaming the ship? Will the world know the secret of Blackwood? Or will it be lost to the waves forever?”

“Where, No One Knows” is LIVE!

Blackwood Gazette #26: Rigel Rinkenbach and Pixie Sinclaire Spotted in Oeil de Fleur Concurrently; Rumors Fly

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by Alex Grosset, Arts and Entertainment (and now Celebrity Gossip, Apparently)

23/6- The tabloids are in a frenzy today as NorEaster’s favorite former power couple, Rigel Rinkenbach and Pixie Sinclaire, were both seen in Oeil de Fleur last week. This prompted rumors about the possibility of the estranged duo getting back together.

Sources indeed confirm that Rinkenbach and Sinclaire both were in Oeil de Fleur last week; Rinkenbach was spotted at the popular brothel Big Bessie’s Burlesque, sipping Absinthe and discussing something with a group of fellow alchemists. Sinclaire, meanwhile, was reportedly visiting the death bed of an old war comrade, on the other side of town.

Despite not actually being seen anywhere approaching the immediate vicinity of one another, the imagination of the citizenry has gone completely mental. Many approach the rumors with innocent optimism:

“Oh, I hope it’s true!” said Valina Neri, a baker in south end. “They were so fun to read about when they were together…two of the world’s greatest minds, traveling the world, getting in adventures…I miss those days.”

While others have taken the non-news to daunting levels of psychosis:

“I have been waiting in this alley for three days,” said one man, who didn’t offer his name. “I am hoping to get a glimpse of Rigel and Pixie together. When I do, I am going to give them this diorama I made.”

Trust me, dear readers, you  do not want to know what the diorama depicted or what was holding it together. On another note, the alley was nowhere near either location. It was outside my domicile, which disturbs me greatly.

Correction: In issue 24, we misspelled the name of our meteorologist source. His name is “Bretodeau”, not “Bredoteau.”

Blackwood Gazette #26: Rigel Rinkenbach and Pixie Sinclaire Spotted in Oeil de Fleur Concurrently; Rumors Fly

Blackwood Gazette #22: World Renowned Archaeologist Veronica Trenum Set to Join Team Investigating Lelina Ruins

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by Chester Seaton, News

16/6– The scientific community is buzzing with news that Veronica Trenum is planning an expedition to the colonies next month to aid in the investigation of ruins recently discovered in the swamps there.

Trenum was made world famous last year for excavating the tomb of Sair Phaxamses, an ancient Sarwainian king. Her discoveries there shed new light on a Sarnwainian dynasty that had remained largely lost to history.

“Doctor Trenum brings a unique sensibility to the field,” said Johnathan DePlante, Professor of Archaeology for the Empress University. “She thinks outside the bounds of contemporary archaeological study, not beholden by current theories, and this allows her to focus on details and form ideas that help advance our study. These ideas are often controversial amongst her peers, but even her sternest detractors are unable to deny the value of her insights.”

Controversy is, perhaps, an understatement. At a dig in Pharassus several years ago, her tent was set aflame after she embarrassed the professor she was interning with at the time by disproving one of his theories. The attempt at destroying her evidence failed, however, because she sent copies of her findings to a colleague in NorEaster. (Rumors that this colleague was rival Pixie Sinclaire remained unconfirmed but persistent, despite denials from both parties.)

“The University of New Crowndon stands to gain a valuable member in [Doctor Trenum],” DePlante added. “I, for one, am extremely excited by what she will discover in Lelina. So little is known about prehistoric cultures in the Colonies.”

Doctor Trenum is currently en route to Oeil de Fleur to prepare for the expedition, and was unable to be reached for comment in time for this publication.

Chester Seaton is the Blackwood Gazette’s senior News writer. Seaton has been with the Gazette almost since the beginning, and remains a trusted voice throughout Crowndon. When the Gazette nearly went under last year and several reporters jumped ship, Seaton remained. When not reporting, he teaches journalism at the University of Toring. He lives in Toring with his wife, Elizabeth, and their orphaned granddaughter, Elsa.

Blackwood Gazette #22: World Renowned Archaeologist Veronica Trenum Set to Join Team Investigating Lelina Ruins

Friday Free For All: Where, No One Knows Book Cover and Trailer Updates

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Book cover, concept artFirst up, an updated image of my proposed cover art for Where, No One Knows. Still a bit rough around the edges, but I’m liking it so far. It’s a combo of digital art made in Photoshop and 3D models created in 3DS Max. I’m still figuring out what type-face I want to use and text placement, so any input that may be had is appreciated.

book trailer, concept art, blakwood empire, where no one knows
Rigel Rinkenbach, Roderick La Pierre, and Klaus Klaudhopper, crew of the Pernicious Platitude

Next up is a group shot of some of the other characters in the novel, featuring some of the art I’m working on for the novel’s trailer. I’m aiming for kind of an art nouveau look for the trailer. Not sure how I landed on it, other than I like it. Can’t really think of a better reason for anything than that. I’m probably completely off base on what art nouveau is (my quick definition: illustrations with really heavy outlines), but whatever. I’ve put too much work into the trailer thus far to change the look of it now. It’s fly or die time, at this point.

Friday Free For All: Where, No One Knows Book Cover and Trailer Updates

Friday Free For All: Where, No One Knows Book Cover Preview

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Pixie Sinclaire, Digital painting,Blackwood Empire, Where No One Knows, Preview, Book cover
Pixie Sinclaire, reporting for duty!

Today, I’d thought I’d share some of the character artwork I’m working on for the book cover of my novel, Where, No One Knows.

I’d thought I had a pretty good piece of art to use already, but it’s been about a year and a half since I did that, and I’ve learned a few things since then. Until now, whenever I’ve done an illustration for a story I’ve kept the line work to hide my deficiencies as an artist, and waving it off as a choice of style. But I’m trying to get to a point where my illustrations look decent without the lines containing different areas of color.

The above image isn’t anywhere near complete. I haven’t yet started detailing the fabric, or figured out what I want the background to be (probably something similar to the old illustration), much less smoothing out the edges. I’m working in Photoshop and every color has its own grouping of layers, so I’m waiting to merge everything before tackling that. On the upside, my new computer doesn’t chug whenever I have more than a couple layers open, so I’m able to work with a fuller view of things. I’m even able to use brush dynamics (although, more than a couple of those and things start to slow down.)

Hope you like it, and as always, have a great weekend!

Here are some other posts featuring the character of Pixie Sinclaire, for comparison:

Character Profile: Pixie Sinclaire

Book Trailer Update

Speaking of that Book trailer:

When my old computer took a dive in January, I lost all progress I had made on it. I also lost an almost entirely revised copy of the manuscript. The book itself being the priority, I tackled finishing that up, first. I’ve only recently begun working on the trailer again, but I hope to have something to show soon. Maybe next week?

Friday Free For All: Where, No One Knows Book Cover Preview

Blackwood Gazette #6: Bank Full of Fish Gets Cleaned Out…In More Ways than One

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24/4-After nearly a week long closure, the First Imperial Bank of Crowndon reopened this morning. Unfortunately, when the Bank manager opened the doors and took stock of the bank’s holdings, he discovered something disturbing.

“They took everything!” The manager said, through tears. “Almost a fifth of the city’s gold and silver, gone. You would think you can trust a crew of menial laborers with a vault full of gold.”
Authorities aren’t so sure that employees with sticky fingers are to blame, however.

“We are working under the theory at this moment that the entire thing was orchestrated,” said Deputy Chief Arthur Colingsworth. “The ship crashing into the bank, the dumping of the fish, the cleaning crew, everything.”

If this theory proves to be true, it would certainly make for one of the most bizarre heists in Crowndon history. Who could be the mastermind behind such a cunning task?

“We have a small list of candidates,” Colingsworth said. “The most popular candidate among the men right now is Pixie Sinclaire, but that’s only because she has a following in the department. The most reasonable explanation is a crew of pirates or mercenaries set the whole thing up. Probably a crack team led by Captain Ferdinand Gnash, or Seylene Plamondon.”

When asked if there was any truth to the rumor that the caper had been pulled off by former Crowndon Admiral Roderick Beauchamp La Pierre, who is rumored to have gone pirate, Colingsworth laughed.

“Absolutely not,” he said.

One is left wondering how such a thing could happen. Shouldn’t there be protocols in place to ensure that so much money can’t be stolen?

“You mean, protocols for when a ship full of tuna crashes into your bank and renders an entire city block uninhabitable for nearly a week?” The manager said. “No. We don’t have protocols in place for that.”

Blackwood Gazette #6: Bank Full of Fish Gets Cleaned Out…In More Ways than One

Book Excerpt No. 2: Where, No One Knows

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Today I thought I’d share another excerpt from Where, No One Knows (or, as I’ve started to call it, the novel that killed two computers).  It’s pretty much the entirety of Chapter 5, in which our protagonist, former agent provocateur and alchemist extraordinaire Pixie Sinclaire, faces off against a ten foot tall Murder-Bot and learns that the situation aboard the prison ship she has infiltrated is much more complicated than previously thought. Enjoy, and feel free to leave feedback on how it can be improved. A previous excerpt can be found here (though, it’s been revised since).

Continue reading “Book Excerpt No. 2: Where, No One Knows” →

Book Excerpt No. 2: Where, No One Knows

NaNo13 Update

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Well, it’s day four and NaNo is well underway. I think I’ve found a pretty good stride, and I think I’m doing a pretty good job of throwing caution to the wind.

Last year I spent as much time self editing while writing as I did actually writing. This year, I’m trying to maintain forward momentum, no matter what. Correcting typos and misspellings as I go is almost second nature to me…not much I can do about that. Hitting delete and fixing mistakes I know I’ve made is pretty much automatic. I’ve done it at least three times since I started typing this post.

Continue reading “NaNo13 Update” →

NaNo13 Update

Book Trailer Update

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A few weeks ago, I posted the beginnings of an illustration I planned to use in a trailer for a novel. Well, I’ve been hard at work and thought I’d share how it’s coming along!

Pixie_deskNewshirt_armsI know that it’s taken a while, but I lost about a week’s worth of work when I decided I wasn’t happy with the initial line drawing and tossed it. I’m still finding little things to obsess over (I spent most of yesterday completely re-doing the window in the back ground and just this morning I changed the position of her right arm and some of the detail on the vest). I’m hoping that now that I have a workflow locked down and a firmer concept in my mind of what I want the art work in the trailer to look like, the other images will come much more quickly.

And I just noticed I haven’t shaded the cuff of her left sleeve. Wonderful.

Hope to have more soon!

Book Trailer Update

A Little Preview…

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I haven’t been posting as much as I’d like to lately, and it looks like my posts will be scarce for a while. I’m about to start my final quarter at the Art Institute of Houston, and I need to focus on polishing and putting together a sizzle reel for potential employers. I’ll also need to focus on my upcoming internship (a requirement for graduation).

I’m also trying to focus on wrapping up some rewrites for a novel I hope to publish by the end of the year, so most of my writing energy is going into that project. As a result, The Shroom Job will be going on hiatus.

The Shroom Job was my first attempt at doing a serialized story, and so far I feel like I’ve failed at it. I was posting as I was writing, and as a result, the story wasn’t as polished or developed as it should have been. It also spun out of control a bit…I intended a five or six part story, and it has gone way past that. Any future endeavors I take in serializing a story will be completed before hand.

In the meantime, I’d like to share some of the first line art and a text template from a new motion graphics project I’m working on, a book trailer for the novel I mentioned above.

Early line art featuring the character of Pixie Sinclaire:

PixieThe completed shot will be painted digitally and feature Pixie, sitting behind a cluttered desk with her feet up. On a separate layer will be a background shot of her office. The shot will feature a slight parallax to give it some dimension, and various animated effects will be composited into the scene to give it some life. Pixie’s an adventurous sort, and a bit of a rogue. I’m aiming for a bit of a noir feel, except in this case the femme fatale is also the private eye.

Proposed template for text inserts (I need to update the map):

vlcsnap-2013-09-15-11h45m19s228These text plates feature animated text over a moving background (the map). The clouds are animated as well, using a turbulent displace effect. I’m unsure of the typeface, as in some shots it looks a little thin and hard to read. I’m open to suggestions if anyone has them.

A Little Preview…