Cover Reveal + Wow, That's a Lot of Layers...

We're coming up on the eighth book here and this one was pretty involving, hence the title heading. I showed a screenshot of this one some time ago, showing off the sheer number of background layers and each character got its own lengthy folder of layers as well. Each Endless Universe: Dual Decisions is coming up on June 29th so here's a taste of the art.

Without further ado...

For this one, I'm just going to give you the mannequins...

And a full spatial shot... But then I'm going to tour you through the detailed close-ups.

Damn, I loved doing this one. The intricacy here is in the line work since the color was very uniform. Korus is one of those characters that I threw in on a lark and ended up becoming a really interesting part of the story. He's an enigmatic character, both cold and caring, but very subtle. He's not in-your-face bad-ass, but I'll leave it at that. 

Sigh. Kerys, Kerys, Kerys... She's one of those characters I didn't intend to like either. She's a psychopath, through and through, whiny and entitled and the sort to go looking for trouble. However, because of that, she breaks social rules that make her interactions more interesting.

Okay, Harlok is one I intended to like, but also want to pile drive into a steel chair. The Kitfolk are all a bit hard to place, and Harlok and his brother Merik are flighty but undeniably clever and calculating. I don't think there's any character that I didn't like writing about (although there are some that certainly irritated me), but Harlok was one that I made it a point to utilize.

A closer look at Kerys and Harlok. You'll notice there's some care for detail on Kerys's necklace and corset. She's got some of the most luscious full lips I've ever done, but I imagine that watching her talk is probably her only saving grace when you have to tolerate what she says.

Couldn't leave Korus on his own, so Kerys gets to photobomb.

Eh, why not throw in the three of them. They make for an interesting trio. Even in a fantasy setting, they don't look like they have a damn thing in common other than being unreasonably gorgeous with white hair.

Time to appreciate some close-ups...

(There you go, Joe; extra big codpieces, just for you...)

I love these extra long pointed shoes...

Apparently, I like shoes... Sorry, Kerys; as much as I love sneakers, apparently it wasn't enough...

Moving to head shots... Even though I realize Harlok got left out of the top half shots when I fixated on shoes...

Damn, but I love her lips... *smooooooch*

I went subtle on Korus's side profile though. Part of his persona is discretion, concepts kind of lost on Harlok and Kerys.

And there we go. Do you enjoy the different approaches I throw in for each one? For the next one, I'm going in for the real close-up. It's a single shot of one intimidating character. Can't wait to start snapping while I work on that one. I really want to get down and dirty with the details...

This time, I'll link my website which can direct you to my many hubs. Official Krista Gossett Author Website Again, if you want to get a nice juicy wall print or even a postcard, let me know and I'll set it up for you on DeviantArt. It takes a lot of time to set up my current outlets so I'll leave that off unless someone expresses the desire for it. If you'd prefer I set it up on some other outlet, by all means, suggest it. I don't mind doing the extra work to make it more convenient for you. 

Thanks for hitching along with me!

Cover Reveal + Whatever Else I Ended Up With

Annnnd we're back with yet another fun series of progression shots, prior to the next book release! Each Endless Universe: Close Encounters, coming out June 15th, chimes in with a look at Cole.

Once more, starting with a rough sketch. I see now that I did not commit to this one... The arm and the hand holding the pipe wrench ended up a bit different, but that's what sketch layers are for...

I dove right in and took care of his head. Like I did with Calyra's hair, it was done in multiple layers, but this was so they could be layered over his band of his goggles.

Ah, this is where I changed the arm and hand a bit.

Okay, you got me; I have no idea what the difference is between this one and the last other than its slightly close and I cut out part of the pipe wrench. That was really useful of me.

I'm rather proud of this. I've never freehanded a tattoo and to be honest, I kind of want this tattoo for myself. I made the bone part look like branches with leaves then graduate into feathers. It was based off of a picture I found on Google, where I noticed the smaller feathers looked like leaves. From the angle, I could tell what the artist did for the bone supports but branches came to me.

I wanted to show what the shadows look like pre-blend. Shadows are very difficult for a lot of artists (I'm no exception-- they get tweaked a lot as I work). I typically use two dark shading layers. A highlight layer is added later.

Obviously the shadows are blended, highlights added, and I added the color to the tattoo. Not much of a spoiler to say that Cole had this done to honor his mother and uncle. Although on the last cover, I made their wings various shades of solid blue, in the books, Conor's wings are mostly black with blue and white tips, while Calyra's are mostly white with blue and black tips so the tattoo is a more accurate depiction. Again, the art is not meant to force you to see them a certain way-- it's fun for me and gives your imagination some room to play.

This is just where I finished up the glove and his jacket. Don't worry; if you're thinking he reminds you of Jubilee from the old X-Men cartoon, that was where my head went too. I always loved her goggles and yellow jacket combo, so it's definitely a nod at a favorite childhood memory.

Last, but not least, let's plop in the formatted cover! The wrench wraps into the spine on the printed version, but the pipe wrench gets cut off on the right in the print without that leeway.

I've been neglecting to post links, but if you want to further support what I'm doing, buy my print version or hop on over to Patreon and pick any size donation you like. If you haven't used it before, you can give a one-time donation or set up a monthly donation. Spreading the word also helps immensely! Even if this series is not for you, if you think you might know someone who likes my style, drop a mention.

If you want to order a print of any of my work, I can set it up on DeviantArt for you. I do the covers in great detail at a high PPI so they look gorgeous on a big canvas. A lot of that detail is lost on the small covers, so you'd be amazed. I don't have them set up for sale now, but if even one person wants to purchase a print, I will set them up as requested.

This concludes another progress post. Next progress post will introduce you to a fun trio of characters.

Thanks for following my antics!

Cover Reveal + Progress Shots

As promised, I'm doing another visual post on the progression of another cover, this one for the upcoming A World Reborn: Deicide book. Let's jump right into it.

As usual, I had started with building the form and color blocking. I always call them 'mannequins' until they start to flesh out into characters. After laying the base color, I usually dive right into the eyes, as I did here.

Calyra and Conor are medium toned like their mother, so I warmed the skin color and began adding shading to the models.

The face certainly turned out different by the end, but I start with some hard lines that get blended out later. Sometimes I keep the original guidelines, but I normally ditch all but the skin toned lines on that layer.

Here, I just did a rough sketch in of her hair. One base is on a layer behind her skin, the other is on top. This way, I can get it dimensional around the model.

A little hard to see, but I use a different layer and a different guide color to draw in clothes and other elements for each character. These are suggestive and often changed drastically when I actually start filling it in.

Just a shot on the detail of their sandals and her painted toenails. For Conor, I only faintly lightened the nail area and opted for a shorter more masculine style.

This is a better view of the guidelines used. I didn't deviate too much from this style.

Since I did quite a bit on the details for the last book, I'll jump ahead to the colored and nearly finished version. I did end up altering the colors a bit, an easy process if you do everything on separate layers!

Had to get a close up on their more desaturated version.

And here we have it! I usually post the panoramic view in a cover art post, which you can locate with that tag on the right side of the blog.

It's certainly been an exciting journey, changing up a bit from my usual comic style. It wouldn't be practical to do comics with this much detail, but I certainly love taking the extra time focusing on one cover like this. As usual, if you have any questions about my process that I haven't covered, either out of curiosity or if you're an artist looking to pick up some new techniques, please feel free to contact me, either through the comments or my email linked to this blog. I usually get back to people pretty quickly (within a day or two).

Thanks for reading!

In the Life of an Illustrator

One of the blessings of not putting all of your eggs in one basket is a very spoiled muse. Spoiled muses aren't a foolproof way to keep busy, but it's pretty close. Writing books became a passion for me in the past five years especially, but sometimes the words wander off and take on a different shape.

Over the past few days, I got saddled with a strange itch and suddenly I started doing all of my queued book covers at the same time. Specifically, the covers for UnSung and four of the five remaining books in the HWU Chronicles (the odd one out is one I'm still unsure of how I'm approaching). I don't know what I owe the credit to, but something changed, something surreal, and once more I started seeing this vivid map of what I needed to make. Whenever this happens, my usual style takes some drastic leaps-- sometimes it's a surreal style, sometimes it's a foray into realism. This time, it's right in between, what I see as my ideal state. Colors and forms are coming to me with a rare clarity.

Passion is one thing people understand but maybe it's the erraticism of a scattered focus that isn't so common. It's not unusual to jump around, not for me, but it can be so effective. These pieces often boost the quality of the other. For example, I'll draw an eye. I lay the colors in but something about it seems flat. Jumping to another cover, I'll do the eyes of the models once more, only this time, my scribbling adds a new dimension. Suddenly I'm spending the next two hours sinking into a frenzy of soulful eyes. In this way, I feel like I'm not only making more breakthroughs but I'm taking more risks. It can feel as if everything is moving at a snail's pace and there is more experimenting than finished work yet ultimately it becomes more productive.

Reference photos are priceless as well. In an erratic workflow, I tend to use my Mac's Exposé (multiple desktops) to plaster reference photos behind each open project. If it seems like I learn fast, it's because I'm a sucker for tools. If I don't have what I need, I find out how to work around it. It's not just my programs or my drawing tablet or my touchscreen tablets. I set up each one to carry out very specific tasks. I download or customize specific brushes, use posing apps to compose where my characters will occupy space.

Ultimately, an adept illustrator is a visual problem solver. When I first started publishing, I would see the same backwards sentiment repeated in writing groups-- hire a pro, never do your own cover. While I certainly encourage people with no design knowledge to hire a cover artist, what people don't realize is that sometimes the shoe is on the other foot. Sometimes the experienced artist comes first-- do we outsource the writing of our stories because we shouldn't fill our own covers? Now admittedly, I don't want my covers to be the industry standard at this point. It's important that my first editions follow the vision. Beyond that, I may use more specifically marketed covers in the future.

Anyways, friends, long day, long week in general and the coffee is wearing off. I may do a post later this week on my favorite tools and workflows. Keep writing!

You're Not Alone

I try to keep most of my posts as much as possible focused on the positive-- how to push past blocks, overcoming battles with poor health, my own twisted sense of humor and the wonderful power of swearing. It's really important to project that positive persona, but the reality is there are some rather gaping chinks in the armor underneath it all. I'm human, I'm flawed, and I have doubts.  If I have given anyone reason to doubt that, I apologize for the deception.

It would be easy to get a big head about what I do. There are plenty of people who fill me with elation when they extol my virtues. I am plenty proud that I choose to use my talents and build my skills rather than squander it. Trends can be brutal towards how you feel about your own talents, nonetheless. There is a call for intricate realism and while I thoroughly enjoy that talent, I don't feel the call to achieve that in my work. I'm still the sort who is charmed by the beauty of simpler styles. I am always trying to improve, but I read something a while back that really resonated with the choice I made. The masters of painting were all trained in realism, but what separated them from the others was exploring 'style', not what they trained themselves to duplicate from reality but what they found in the freedom of impression. I often see things in reality that I want to incorporate into my fantasy style, but to say that I ever feel inferior because I 'can't' duplicate artists who are 'better' wouldn't be correct either. I thoroughly enjoy what I do, but there is a self-criticism that always nags at me that I can do better.  Not that I can do better than you or them or Van Gogh, but that I can surpass myself.

When I say you're not alone, it's because I do get caught in comparison traps where I mistakenly say 'I wish I could do that'. It's stupid, but it's not. When you strive for something, at best it can push you to work harder. At its worst, you end up sulking in inaction, telling yourself to quit. Don't do that one. And that goes for me too.

Look at what you can do in the present. What specifically are you seeing that you want for yourself? You look at the big picture and overwhelm yourself by saying you want all of it, but you don't give yourself a place to begin. Ask yourself what about a piece is something you covet for your own skills. Are you drawn to the fluid lines of the line drawing? Are you drawn to the clever prose in a book? When you're making those assessments make sure those thoughts end positive.  It can turn into a self-bashing session where you say 'I'm drawn to the fluidity of the lines because mine are so wobbly and awful' or 'I like the clever prose because my prose looks like a first-grade primer in comparison.' Eek, no.  Don't. Just don't. There's one trend in modern culture that needs to die right now and it's shooting down one party to lift up another. Admire something, but don't fall into the trap of downing yourself to do it. I'll listen to a feminist talk about female empowerment, but I'm gone the minute she blames men for all of her problems.  There's nothing productive about blotting out any progression with negativity.

My friend Joe and I were discussing something worth repeating too. I do beat myself up on my skill level a lot more than I should. I give you advice but can't take it, right? Hypocrite. However, despite the harsh criticism, I also don't stop. Anyways, I do a bit of creative self-abuse to where I can get terrified that I WILL stop. Joe always has good examples and this time he offered up this advice: Axl Rose has often said that he refuses to listen to Appetite for Destruction because he picks it apart every time he hears it. My first instinct wasn't to be relieved. Celebrities are constantly expressing doubts to make us all remember they're human. I get that little shoulder devil reminding me, well, how can I compare to someone that has 'made it'. Ouch, Krista, you're taking the wrong thing out of that message and you know it. Then I gathered the mess I made of that and remembered this-- creatives are the most self-critical people on the planet. We're not whipping out successful pieces with the confidence that maybe people think we should be feeling. In fact, I have to wonder how good something can actually be when the creator has not admitted to any doubt along the way. Discomfort in the work shows that the author has confronted the honesty that makes for some riveting work. Sorry, but this doesn't go for 'crying with your character'. Dog shows move me to tears when I'm on my period, but I can assure you that no amount of skill is going to make that a riveting piece of writing.

And oy, the young ones are full of confidence... Not that I'm not young, but I can't say I envy that. I look back on what I've kept from my earlier journeys and I cringe at a good deal of it. Unfailing confidence was harmful to the quality but it did keep me going too. I had to go through a grueling creative phase to actually begin to complete anything worthwhile. Even so, the doubt is still real. Maybe more so.  No amount of 'mastery' has removed doubt.  I've made some cringy mistakes. You might want to buy my first book with all of its glorious errors because when I release it as a trilogy, I plan to bury the evidence as soon as possible. I somehow lost my final edit or saved over it in the name of organization, either way I know what became the final publication was not my final edit and I intend to fix it for later editions. However, you do get to see my charmingly clumsy beginning from over a decade ago.

Look, nothing is perfect is all I'm saying. If I'm annoying you by being positive or preachy, remember that. I need to focus on the positive to press on.  I don't have these ridiculous stores of confidence, but I'll fake it to all hell and back. I don't have the ability to lie and tell everyone they'll love my work.  I have no fucking clue what you'll like, virtual stranger, but I can at least guarantee that my approach is unique and the story is deep and involving. My first series is its own entity, by the way. I take a very different approach to my newest series and the same will be said of others. I don't always explore sexuality, I don't always write adult, I don't even plan to stick to one genre. Maybe plans will change with a fanbase but as a newbie, I just have a lot of ideas. 

You're not alone in your doubts. You're not alone if you're not overflowing with confidence. You're not alone if you don't give a shit and continue to do your thing anyway. Okay, I give a shit, clearly I do, but I won't let it paralyze me. You shouldn't either. We all have at least one good story in us. I'm aiming for a dozen or two anyway.  Because why not? Maybe on my own paths riddled with doubt, I'll inspire someone who might have given up. Maybe that person will grow to inspire me as well when I need it most. In light of that, how can you let comparison paralyze you? The mirror isn't showing you a different you on the days you don't like yourself-- it's your attitude that decides whether there is something to like. Learn to look at your journey honestly and enjoy it for what it is.

Wade in the Water

Not all steps in a creative journey are ones that aren't gonna have you splat ass-first trying to charge out of the gate. Some steps have to be done carefully, preferably while scooting your feet along the bottom of the kiddie pool. Bonus points for that foot of water acting as a safety net. Dress accordingly.  You don't wear your prom dress to this party. You wear your pajamas.

It made a lot more sense in my head and mostly because I do my best writing in bed.

Regardless, there's always a thought train to push these posts and today's is this: I started to do an outline for my web-comic (WebToon) idea. I'm not sure if I hashed it out in previous posts so if not, here is a quick synopsis. I'm planning a sci-fi romantic comedy involving a child psychologist named Kyra Blake and her run-in with a stranded alien (Zeron) when he shows up on Halloween. Naturally, lost-in-translation hilarity ensues. Working title is Rock My World.

In any case, I spend a couple hours of the morning, writing out the first comic in word form (using a format very similar to my old roots at radio play style writing). Thinking about it was making it seem unattainable so I needed to do something tangible that will stare at me from a little file on the desktop screen of my MacBook Pro (ahhhh yeeeaaah, name-dropping the tech, son!).

So now you know the path of the topic. Ideas are a dime a dozen. Synopses are rarely ever going to offer some jaw-dropping revelation you've never seen before. I wasn't trying to be impressive there, but the point is, I've gone a step further.  Only a teensy bit.  What's two hours to a creator? If I'm working fast I can lay out a color base in that little chunk of time annnnnd, that's about it. Wanna know what a color base is?  This:

It's the blobby color blocks I put behind the line work that I eventually lay texture over. Okay, two hours might be optimistic. Some color bases are far more paint-by-number little chunks of horror.

In any case, not all steps are impressive.  Some are painful or even boring. An artist wants to tell you that the journey is always the important part, but sometimes I do have to tell myself that even though this part sucks, it is going to be SO awesome.

I think many people freeze up because they start obsessing on details like the time it will take or how much beginnings suck. Sometimes I know it is quicker to dive in, but I'm just not motivated or confident enough to trust it. When that happens, I go for the baby steps. A lot of writers will send themselves goofy one word emails to capture those errant thoughts for inspiration later. I work from home so obviously I just grab a notebook or pop open the laptop. Nevertheless I had a couple thoughts warring for later use.

Planter- lost

Pigment on earth - albinoism

Those won't mean anything to you, but because they come with a whole scene attached in my mind, I chuckle like an idiot. Pat myself on the back a little.  Good job, Krista, you self-amused crackpot.

And really when you look at those odd clusters of words, your big ideas seem a little bit smaller. Those two idea clusters there are a couple of comic shorts all on their own. You don't have to bust out a masterpiece, just lay some groundwork and build around it.  How do I create the conditions required for these scenes? Well, who needs to be there? Who doesn't really need to be there but might be there anyway? Where are they? What 'props' need to exist to make it work?

While each kind of writing-- screenplay, comic, novel, poem, etc.-- is refined differently, each one needs to set the stage. If you ever played with a dollhouse, you've done this hands-on. Another good example is a war table where pieces representing troops and weapons are placed to plan out an attack. You aren't just playing with the characters, you are also manipulating the world around them, whether it be fictional or one based in reality.

Whoa, whoa, whoa... I'm going big again. The point is you're not just throwing the furniture into the dollhouse living room and plunging into the chaos. You're setting the lamp in the corner by the stairs because it's the easiest place for anyone coming in the room to turn it on. The couch is going against the wall because it's too big to go anywhere else. The coffee table goes in front of the couch, but it's not exactly the best place because the long-legged dad will almost always bump his leg on it when he's going into the kitchen. 

You don't have to think that far ahead to make it work.  Sometimes you just start with an aesthetic. The chair goes there because it's pretty in the sunlight next to the window. You can apply that logic to a character. You probably want to feature them because you are drawn to the idea of them. Eventually you might get a new piece of furniture (character) that would work better there.  What makes writing so captivating is possibility.  Don't overwhelm yourself with possibilities.  Start with those budding ideas of impulse, then work out some of the kinks as you go. 

I like to encourage all people to write and am ambitious enough to want to reach all people, from those who have only thought about it to those who are experienced but always on a never-ending quest for new perspectives.

There's no right way to do this, but think about what approach might be blocking you.  Sometimes you need to dive, sometimes you have to get those toes in one at a time. The more I test different mediums the more I find what works best and, hey, some things that might work best I can be bad at so it becomes something I need to work on.

Try not to think much of your skill level. If you want to make a career of it, then yes, eventually you do need to refine your process more. However, if you're writing for fun, then reach for what makes you enjoy it most. No matter if it's work or play, always be prepared to adjust your thinking. In order to give your ideas the justice they deserve, you have to get into the pool somehow.

Keep those things in mind and keep writing!

NaNoNovel: UnNamed

Spent today just working on a book cover for UnNamed, which if you haven't read the previous post or the title, it is the novel I will do for NaNoWriMo in November.  I'm really excited to be able to share it.  It's turning out pretty amazing.

It's like a falling star...  Seriously, that title placement wracked my brain, but popular opinion seems to be leaning towards the middle one.  Letter shadowing is still under scrutiny too. The black border is only because I screenshot it in PhotoShop.  I may be redoing the mercenary there, give him some proper shadow detailing and such, but damn, did I do that?  

For $65K in student loan debt, you're damn right I did.

In Pillows, No One Can Hear You Scream

I've spent a bit of time looking at demographics, marketing, success and failure, probably working myself into the wrong mindset, but the wrong mindset is one of my superpowers.

I keep reverting back to the thing that matters: I love what I do.  Every. Damn. Step.

I've begun to have a rhythm to my workflow.  The books for this series are written, but it didn't stop there.  I've started two more fantasy stories, a romance novel, a sci fi crime novel and a couple of ideas that sit in my DUMB ASS notebook where I've started writing all the things I forget how to do when I haven't done them in a few months.  I still read them, to edit and to enjoy, and I don't get sick of them.  Regardless of how they sell, they are so ME that I remove my doubts when I remind myself of that.

I'm probably not going to get any badass points for appealing to the market trends, but it was exactly what I needed to express and exactly what I wanted from the genre and the cause.  Yes, I would love to get critical feedback to improve, but hell, I'll still write in my echo chamber and love the forest for the trees.

I've made amazing friends out of female authors of varying success.  Don't get me wrong-- I've tried to befriend the males too but the camaraderie never happens.  Sometimes they're wildly successful.  Then again, some of my gals are too but they seem to see more value in building relationships with other authors.  There's a lot of denial that it's a boys club and I didn't want to believe it because I enjoy epic fantasy, but the fact remains, there are men that will admit things like not wanting to read a female main character, don't like the female perspective, need moar swords, etc.  I respect the honesty but at the same time, fuck all that.  I'm not anti- or pro- feminism but there's been a sickening show of bias in the most prominent fantasy fan groups.  But you know what?  I don't want their audience or negativity if they just intend to use those biases to dampen my ambitions.  They may not be my favorite people, but I'm also not going to pout and cry bigotry because that's a giant waste of time and energy I could spend building valuable friendships and doing what I love.

Ah, the drawing is something I'm more intimately aware of and I don't quite get the same reservations.  I've had a thick skin here because it's always been my first love.  Can't you draw anything realistic?  First time I hear that, I was probably 12 years old and I had narrowed my eyes and told him I draw what I like.  And it's always been true.  I've had so much frustration trying to draw things with that universal appeal but absolutely no affect on me.  So I don't.  I can draw like that, but it feels like trying to draw mechanically with someone else's hand.  I stopped caring if people didn't like my style or thought I should impress people with realism.  I see tons of people doing it and it's undoubtedly awesome, but none of it really sticks with me.  Im still captivated by the anime styles and the influence Disney always had on me and THAT is what moves me.

So from the beginning, I've had to face the fact that I'm not highly marketable.  I've looked after the niche market of one. I have not a single clue how to get feedback and I've stopped wasting time worrying about it.  I maintain visibility.  I post something new every week on every social media channel I signed up for.  I stay positive (but do disclose the reality on my blogs-- it does other authors no good, myself included, to suppress any human doubt or discouragement).  I love my work and I will continue to do it because I have a life goal of filling a shelf with my printed books.  And when that's done, I'll probably want to fill another.

Whatever awaits me, I often have to grab that pillow and scream.  Sometimes to muffle excitement, sometimes to let out some frustration.  Mostly so I don't scare the neighbors. I'm a professional-- frustration is no casual acquaintance of mine.  Frenemies maybe.  Do people still use that word?  Oh, that's right, I'm a fantasy author that adds hundreds of words with red squiggly lines on a weekly basis.  We don't really care what's in fashion.  We build worlds.

So even at my low points, I sometimes have remember why I started this.  Why, at my lowest points, I wiped away the tears, swallowed the pain, and picked up that pen.  Whether you want to see more or not, I'm spamming your book retailers with my catalog.  I promise I'm not giving up.  I've been through hell and I've got plenty left to give.

Collection of Cover Art Uncovered

This is a bonus post I plan on adding the full image of my copyrighted book covers to as the books become available.  You get to see the full uninterrupted pictures in their original glory!

Book 1: Heroes Trilogy Volume 1 (August 7)
The Truth About Heroes: One of Many

Book 2: Heroes Trilogy Volume 2 (September 17)

The Truth about Heroes: Two Sides to Everything

Book 3: Heroes Trilogy Volume 3(February 2018)
The Truth about Heroes: Menage a Trois

 The Truth about Heroes: Complete Trilogy (February 2018)

Book 4: World Trilogy Volume 1 (April 20th, 2018)
A World Reborn: Children of Heroes

 *the final book cover was arranged differently but I enlarged the characters and placed them closer together to give you a better view.

Book 5: World Trilogy Volume 2 (May 11, 2018)
A World Reborn: Higher Reasoning

Book 6: World Trilogy Volume 3 (June 1, 2018)
A World Reborn: Deicide

A World Reborn: Complete Trilogy Edition (June 1, 2018)

Book 7: Universe Trilogy Volume 1 (June 15, 2018)
Each Endless Universe: Close Encounters

Book 8: Universe Trilogy Volume 2 (June 29, 2018)
Each Endless Universe: Dual Decisions

Book 9: Universe Trilogy Volume 3 (July 11, 2018)
Each Endless Universe: Original Sin

Each Endless Universe: Complete Trilogy Edition (July 11, 2018)

Book Two Information

I have a lot to say about a lot of things, but this post is just the facts, ma'am.

Or sir, don't get your panties in a bunch.  Old quote, feel free to use the internet for that one...

I have art to finish up this week!  Only six illustrations left to go and the panorama and cover before I move onto the final edit prior to the planned end of September release.  I absolutely do not have a date set.  The date is always 'that day I'm confident it's going to be finished.'

For those who haven't seen my millions of posts on this, this is prior to my participation in Virtual FantasyCon in October.  For the month of October, I'm posting my first ebook, The Truth About Heroes: One of Many, for free.  Please get hooked and pay for the next book.  Grab a print copy while it's still cheap and if you're one of my local friends, I'll sign it for free.  Or I might sign it free anyway, if you're not a dick.  Remember a girl has to make a living too!

Keep your eyes peeled for The Truth About Heroes: Two Sides to Everything.  Yeah, I'm not using standard naming conventions for fantasy.  All three books in a trilogy will have the same main title with a different byline.  It also makes it easier if I ever decide to chunk it all together as one mega-book.  I refer to it as the Heroes Trilogy.  I suppose eventually all of the books set in this world will eventually get some bigger name to encase all of them.  Look at the Game of Thrones series.  Even though GRRM called it the Song of Ice and Fire series, it ended up taking on the name of one of the books.  Yeah, it happens.

That being said, maybe I do have a bit more info to share with everyone.  The second series inspired by this world is called A World Reborn or the World Trilogy and the last is called Each Endless Universe or the Universe Trilogy.  I'm not disclosing whether they are prequels or sequels.  I will say I am currently working on one of the prequel stories to the first series.  I said I was done, but damn it, I love revisiting this world and its crazy history and I always felt like this was a book that needed to be written.  I've designed most of these books to stand alone, but there are definite incentives to bearing through all of them.

Anyways, here's your blurb for Book Two:
Rienna and her group are back to tackle the forces threatening to disrupt their world, but first, they have to tackle the demons of their pasts.  In the aftermath of devastating loss, they become more keenly aware that this may be their last chance to experience life before war cuts it short.  Before facing the very real forces that led them all to find justice, they must make peace with whatever time they have left.

This was a fun book for me.  They are at a hub in their journey, preparing for war, and they break off into smaller groups.  Some of their motives are selfish, even foolish, but ultimately, they are looking for their reasons to move on.  It will show how vastly people in crazy situations react to the possibility of death and still be chockful of adventure.  I'm never sure why people seem to think these concepts are mutually exclusive.  It's a mix of good and evil, sex and violence, awkward and awesome.

If you're not aware of my writing style, I like to use short stories to tie in bigger themes. I do intentionally break a few supposed rules. Sometimes I do like to devote a paragraph to describing a character-- it's not something I always do, but sometimes I like to knock all of that out right away.  I also don't care to avoid adverbs, especially when they aren't being used as lazy modifiers.  I write the way I do intentionally and not to spite or rebel against the dos and don'ts either.  I've seen quite a few writers lose their voice when they try to hard to please the book gods.  My writing, no matter how much I refine it, is just not going to be for everyone and I'm not looking to follow or capitalize on any trend.  I just wanted an honest book, one that followed this weird world I've visited for so long.  I think that the writing reflects it well.  It's not a world meant to impress.  It's one you want to get comfortable in, just not TOO comfortable.  Things are gonna get weird, so make sure you know where your shoes are.

I'm saying this in light of the fact that many bestsellers kind of put me to shame.  lol  With more recent scenes coming up like the tampon sex in 50 Shades (which is terrible writing all around) or Stephen King's kiddie sex romp in The It (a sometimes brilliant writer-- I get your rationale on that scene, but no matter how you spin it, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to anyone but you.  More power to you for sticking with it.  At the very least, you've inspired me to stick with my awkward spots as an observer in my worlds)-- I won't make you backtrack to catch my train of thought-- With more recent scenes coming up like the ones in 50 Shades (garbage) and The It (thumbs up, you weird bastard), I really shouldn't be second-guessing my own awkward or titillating scenes of human contact.  You're supposed to all have different reactions when you read things, people.  If you think you're supposed to feel awkward, then you're right.  Who gives a fuck what the author intended?  It's YOUR experience.  It might be worth it to stumble through some awkward shit to get to the stuff you like.

I don't know-- give it a chance.  I plan on doing this as long as I'm able, love it or hate it.  Writing and drawing are two very different creatures.  I've been desensitized to any reactions to my artwork for some time.  Yes, I want you to love it, but meh if you don't.  Truth is, I'm a little sensitive to how my writing is received.  I haven't done all of the conventional things, as you probably already know (blog title much?), so I just have to have faith that it's worth reading.  I didn't want it to become a chore-- I truly didn't do all of the acceptable things because I intended to keep it a place I liked to go.  lol  Now, it gets to be unleashed on all of the poor sensitive masses.  I'm not sorry.

And we're off!

Hello out there!

I'll start with a short (maybe-- brief isn't my strong suit) introduction and information on what to expect from this blog.

If you want to see my Goodreads posts up to this point, go here: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8198362.Krista_Gossett/blog

I'm Krista Gossett, a newly published author and illustrator.  I'm not the conventional sort that follows the beaten path.  The most I ever published was some poetry (on Poetry.com) and I'm not in any writer's groups.  I've had a few English teachers gush over my creative writing and the usual accolades from friends and family.  I'm fiercely independent when it comes to working creatively.  In fact, against all good advice, I not only wrote, I edited, designed, illustrated, formatted, and self-published.

Let me defend those actions since, to some people, it seems like an impossible feat that anything worthwhile could come of this.  I studied graphic design in college for four years, getting both an associate's and a bachelor's.  Before that, I was one of those kids that always found her way onto a computer.  My experience with digital design goes as far back as the late 90s, but I went to school to refine those talents with teachers who were either formerly or actively still in the design industry.  I even managed to impress a few of them enough to use my work in future classes.  My art is not amazing by realistic standards, but it is a style I truly love doing.  I have done realism and, like a great deal of artists, found that branching out to surrealism and cultivating my own style was what I truly wanted.  My book covers will not follow the trends, but they will be true to my work.

As for writing, I absolutely hated everything I ever wrote prior to around 2005.  I had a talent for short stories and poetry, but I wrote far more that ended up in a wastebasket.  You couldn't convince me to share anything I've accidentally kept over the years.  In fact, it would end up destroyed if I were to find it.  Writing is not some new whim, but I was not very generous about sharing it.  I was extremely critical.  In fact, the story that I ended up publishing had started out as about 30 pages, the most I had ever written for one story.  This was right around the time I still hated most of the things I wrote.  It ended up shoved on a CD and I forgot about it for a few years.  I kept finding the disc on some random room raid and I'd pop it in, decide it was kind of interesting and add a little more.

About five years ago, I found the story that wouldn't die again.  I full-on cringed at the dialogue but realized the story itself had real promise.  So I completely overhauled it on an edit and couldn't put it down.  If you're doing any math, this means that I wrote the nine books inspired by this world over the course of 5 years.  2 of those years I was finishing school and working part-time and was able to finish the first three books.  I can't tell you how many times I went back to edit them even after I thought they were squared away, just because I couldn't believe I actually wrote something I love.  The last three years?  It was full time plus overtime, all I could eat, sleep and breathe.  I would bounce around on them, editing one then going back to another.  Sometimes I would step away for a long while and write other stories (some will also be novels eventually), but I would come back, full expecting to hate them and be drawn in all over again.

I know that artists can tend to be myopic and not see their flaws.  I have always been forthright about mine, working my ass off to be objective and not just skilled, but utilizing actual talent.  This wasn't something that I just decided would be fun.  Undoubtedly it CAN be, but if I wanted to make things easier for myself, I would have gone into forensic science.  I aced my science classes in high school even though I failed everything else.  In fact, I would go to first period science then skip school the rest of the day.  Science was my sweet bitch, but she just didn't speak to me like art.

Yeah, that part about keeping things short was put to the test and the lie detector has determined that that was a lie...

Back to college though.  I wasn't the bare minimum student.  I was the student that actually wrote a paper on how hexadecimal color works for RGB.  For those who don't understand, hexadecimal basically means 15 and RGB, is red/green/blue which makes up every color a computer can display. Skip ahead to the next paragraph if the technobabble scares you but I'll sum it up.  Every web color has a six digit signature with black being the lowest value at #000000 and white being the highest at #ffffff.  What's with the letters?  Well, zero through nine are self-explanatory values, but to make the signature contain 6 digits, the numbers up to fifteen are expressed with letter. 10 is a, 11 is b, and so on up to 15 being f.  If you type in these values, you'll see firsthand how the digital palette mixes to form the right colors.  For example, if you want the absolutely most obnoxious forms or red, green and blue available?  You're looking at the codes #ff0000, #00ff00, and #0000ff.  You're maximizing the combinations by placing f's in that color slot.  You already know that red and green paint mixed together in any art class you've ever taken results in an unappetizing shade of brown.  Brown is a dark shade of yellow, so there is your most obnoxious form of yellow #ffff00. Purple is your last obnoxious combo.  There are obnoxious oranges, but this is not a maximum value since you actually drop the green value to create oranges...   And true greys?  Those are created by plugging in the same value in every color coordinate like #7c7c7c. Since black and white are uniform, anything other than a level rise or fall is no longer greyscale, but officially a color. That being said, this is a terrific way to get that signature color, once you understand the basics of the system.  The paper I wrote was much wordier.  I'd love to share it at a later time, if I peaked your interest...

Anyway, yeah, I did that for fun.  No points, I just noticed a few students struggling with it and it set everyone straight.

Let me reassure you, whether or not I project the confidence, I am the consummate professional.  Where design is concerned, I know it inside and out, although I could give fuck-all about trends.  I don't freelance, for that very reason.  Clients want trends, trends sell, but I'd rather work intuitively, make something that I'm not ashamed of years down the line because cutting edge became corny.  I wouldn't go so far as to say I'm a trendsetter, but I like to think I design for the work.  Sure, I love to take risks, but I don't do it simply for the sake of taking risks.  I want to deliver something timeless, something that speaks to people honestly.  I don't want to 'market' or 'sell', I want to encourage people to discover what I do with the same magic I discovered my affinities in life.

I know there's this general perception that spreading yourself too thin makes you a master of nothing.  I couldn't disagree more.  Creatively, I think that jumping around only enhances each area.  While I clearly wouldn't take on animating a 3D movie all by myself, there are still a lot of projects that aren't impossible to take on alone. (Speaking from experience though, the cheesy 6 second short I did in college took one month to complete and it is still flawed and rough).  To break it down for you, I had to learn Clip Studio Paint Pro to make use of some of their unique brushes and comic book tones.  With prior digital experience, it still took me a couple of weeks to learn and a couple of months to master (using that word loosely since there is always more to learn). The cover art takes me a few days to do by itself, but since it's the first thing you see, it warrants a little more attention.  Each drawing I do, in fact, has a general time frame.  Penciling takes me about 10-30 minutes.  Inking takes me an hour or two.  Scanning in a batch of drawings, cropping and naming them generally takes about 3-4 hours.  I then do a clean-up process where I remove any black spots that didn't go away with scan settings, then remove all of the white and preserve the lines.  This takes about 10-30 minutes per drawing.  If I want to smooth the lines (sometimes I love the rougher look), I pop them into illustrator and do an Image Trace to vectorize and edit the lines.  This can be really quick, just a couple of minutes or take up to a half hour, depending on what I'm going for.  From there, it becomes a layer in Clip Studio Paint.  Color basing (whether done in color or black and white) takes about an hours and a half to two hours.  This is where I just fill everything with a basic color and/or texture.  This is when I finally get around to the final step, detailing.  The time frame on this wildly varies, but suffice to say I can generally do 3-5 drawings in an 8-10 hour day.  Now, keep in mind that my books contain no fewer than 30 drawings but closer to 40+.  Now you see why it takes me a couple of busy months to illustrate.

And why bother?  People will generally read the books OR want to see the pictures.  Well, it's just vanity, plain and simple.  I wanted a way to improve as an illustrator and I wanted my playground to be a world I had grown to love despite my initial skepticism that I could.  And THIS is my primary reason for self-publishing.  Agents want a writer.  Publishers want to keep cost down and profit up.  It wasn't fear of rejection-- I just fought through several deaths of loved ones in recent years and instead of wallowing in grief, I kicked my ass into gear.  I believe in my work, for fuck's sake,  and for once I actually couldn't care less if I was rejected 100 times over, but I was determined to do this my way.

Let's be clear.  Just because someone says you 'can't' or 'shouldn't' doesn't mean you have to listen.  A dear friend of mine once told me that humanity is like a crab tank.  Everyone loves you when you're content with hanging out on the bottom, but the minute they see you swimming for the surface, they grab you by your ankle and pull you back down.  Only a small handful of people actually support you and many will tell you that you should get paid for what you do.  Usually, zero of those people will actually pay anything for your work when push comes to shove.  This is just how it works.  Your audience just isn't going to be your longtime social networking friends.  You might have a few dear friends and family that pull for you right out of the gate.  Some of my friends are struggling to make ends meet but still give me valuable moral support in lieu of a sale.  Some will only join up when you gain popularity.  Some will keep snapping at your ankles, maybe patting you on the back publicly but messaging to others that they don't get what all the fuss is about.  If you've ever tried to lose weight or better yourself, this is nothing new to you, but don't get discouraged.  It's not that these people are real or fake (and I wish society as a whole would stop simplifying people with those shitty words), it's sometimes about their own insecurities or the fear that you will reject them as inferior.  People aren't fake because you radically changed.  If these people are important, take the time to reassure them but you may have to be a little cutthroat if they demand more than you can give.  My advice: part ways, don't burn bridges.  Give people time to miss you and miss them a bit too.

I decided to give you a nice long intro and if you're a reader and stuck with me, I think we'll get along just fine.  I love to let my muse wander when I blog.  The point is?  Defy convention!  Be prepared to sacrifice security and popularity.  Let people look down their noses at you about what genres you use or how much you can afford to pay.  Don't let people tell you that outsourcing is the only way to ensure quality if, like me, you paid in time and hustle.  There are always going to be get-rich-quick schemes, fake books, purists, genre confusion, etc. tripping you up.  Define yourself and build your audience honestly.  I'm going to tell you now-- one book is going to be hard to sell.  Even if you went the conventional route and trusted beta readers to build a fanbase.  In today's market, you may have to publish many times over to be able to call it a stable career.  I can't stress enough how important it has been to me to be a clever promoter...  And since I have a whole blog post for that topic alone, I'll leave this post at that.

Advice, good or not, is just that: advice.  Plan intuitively, think realistically, and write your ass off.