Hello After a few disasters with lost files on my old cranky laptop... many hours of work reduced to random symbols on a broken word document. [weeps] I have been doing some writing in notebooks recently, as well as investing in a new laptop! Anyway I have found that handwriting has led me to drawing figures on the page as well as words (all related to my story) as inspiration strikes. I enjoy drawing and it feels right for the story I am working on in my notebook, but I wondered if others are similarly inspired into creating images as well as words - not to the extent of a graphic novel - just the odd line drawing to accompany the text - it's not something you can share on here so easily so I am interested in other peoples "process" I suppose.
I'm a visual person, so when it comes to writing, it helps me to better visualize the characters by drawing them. Not in great detail, but a rough sketch of their face, clothing, etc. Since I primarily write fantasy, this method has helped tremendously.
@awkwarddragon - that is interesting - I have done sketches of a couple of characters and details of scenes. For this story in particular the ideas are from things I have seen 'irl' that triggered flights of fantasy and I wanted to capture some of that inspiration - drawings seemed right. @WaffleWhale it is cool and you should give it a go! One thing that has struck me is that I am more anxious about letting people see my 'art' than my words. I feel embarrassed about the juvenile drawings - they are probably not that bad - but it feels more revealing/ exposing to share the drawings than the words which is strange really - I am not a professional writer any more than I am a professional artist.
@Hettyblue I always, always, always draw for my writing. Every time there is a change in scene, I do a quick sketch for me to better visualize it, even if it isn't the best work. It really does help to have a reference besides your own mind, though, not to mention that I enjoy drawing myself. On another note about your laptop though (R.i.p.), make sure you always try to back up your documents on a cloud storage. Google Drive is best for that, in my opinion, since it's free and there's practically no limit. (You've probably had people tell you this before anyway @-@)
I draw my characters, sometimes paint them. I don't really need to, but I like to have visualizations for them. I don't know why; I guess it just makes me happy. I've also been into drawing and stuff my whole life so it kind of makes sense. Also, when I write, it helps to have drawings or paintings nearby. If I get stuck, I just kind of look at the drawing/painting and think, "What would [character] do?" That's why I have a painting of each of the three main characters in my WIP by my desk. (Please don't think I'm weird for that)
I do draw - or try to - my characters at times, but it's never for the story as such. It has more to do with me not being able to come up with something to draw. Or I want to practice drawing people and it makes more sense to me to draw one of my character than just a random human.
I have always loved writing and drawing, so it is inevitable that I end up drawing at least some of my characters from my written stories. I tend to have quite the visual imagination (even though I still suck at describing architecture and other such technical things, even if the image is in my head). I don't go as far as drawing bits of the setting, and I don't draw much nowadays, but I still find it helpful at times. Some of my characters just scream at me to be drawn!
I decided to incorporate imagery into my own book not too long ago since one of my passions is digital graphics. It's not done in a comic book or graphic novel style, though; it's more classically illustrated.
