Two Stories Published in Narrator Magazine

Two of my Short Stories were Published in Narrator Magazine Spring Central Tablelands Issue.

Last month I submitted two stories, “Always the Children” and “The Dancing Suit” to the Narrator Magazine hoping that the editors might select one of them for their Spring edition of the magazine. I was very pleased to discover that both stories were picked up for publication in the magazine.

Narrator Magazine is quarterly magazine based in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney and publishes essays, short stories, poetry and artwork, mainly from writers and artists from the Blue Mountains and Central Tablelands areas.

I usually write children’s fiction, but the magazine was asking for submissions for an adult audience.  The first story, “Always the Children” is based on personal experiences during my time as a police officer. The second story, “The Dancing Suit” is a subtle horror story about a tuxedo, possessed by the essence of a very nasty man.

The first story is difficult to read and was even more difficult to write. Sometimes I still see that broken little girls face at night when I close my eyes. I had much more fun writing the second story.

If you are interested in reading the stories, the magazine can be read on-line at http://www.narratormagazine.com/

If you like the stories, take a few seconds to vote for your favourite in the “Peoples Choice Prize”

I hope you enjoy the stories. Back to writing for kids now…

 

 

How I Illustrate

I call this blog Words and Pictures, so I thought it was time to let you into the artistic part of my brain.


When I sketch and paint traditionally (pencils and paints), I usually start with plain white paper but this is a digital painting and I usually do those a little differently. I usually start with a coloured background, chosen depending on the mood I want to express.


Subject: Groat.

Groat is a character I have been developing for a possible graphic novel project.

(I have always liked the classic TV show 'Land of the Giants' and thought it would be pretty cool to on day write a story with tiny people living unknown along-side us).

But, I didn't want to write about fairies or pixies. I wanted something different. I created the Scarrow. The scarrow are about 6cm tall and basically humanoid, tribal and have no knowledge of metal or humans.

Back to Groat. He is a very large, scarred and often aggressive lizard that wanders the countryside near the Scarrow's Territory.

Preliminary sketch.

I wanted to highlight Groat's massive size compared to the Scarrow so I decided not to sketch him completely. I thought if he crept up on one of the Scarrow and they turned in surprise, what would they see?

A big mouth and a big eye.

Detailed Sketch

After I have sketched in the basic shape, I add some detail to the sketch to give Groat some character. I wanted him to look old and gnarly so I added lots of bumpy scales, especially around the eye.






Basic Colour Block

Next I blocked in the basic colour scheme as a guide and to sort out the tonal values of the picture. (Ratio of dark to light)


A lot of people tell me they cant draw to save themselves. I believe they just stop before they add the detail.



Adding the Detail

The focal point of the picture is the eye, so that's where I started to add the detail. I sketched over the scales to darken and texture them. Added in some hot red and yellow tones to draw the viewer's eye to meet Groat's.

More Detail



Basically, I continued to fiddle in the detail out toward the nose and mouth, adding some highlights to the darker scales.

This is the most time consuming part of the painting.

The more detail you want to add, the longer it takes.



Final Painting
















I continued to darken and texture the picture to give it a solidity. Finally, I added in a dark background with just a hint of stems and foliage



This digital painting was created on my A3 size Wacom graphics tablet and stylus and took about five hours of sketching and painting tme to complete.

First Leaves of October

It is the first day of October and the second last day of term. These two leaves were painted for two of the Year 4 girls, both named Mekaela. They were desperate to get their leaves before the end of term.
.

"Otherwise we have to wait a whole 'nother two weeks!"
.

I didn't want to disappoint so I set up this afternoon to finish off both paintings.
.

The first Mekaela wanted a white kitten with a pink bow. Since I had already painted one kitten for Sophie, I decided to do something a little different this time. I painted the kitten sitting up among the toys on the toy shelf.
.

The other Mekaela asked for a koala. That seemed quite appropriate, painting a koala and some gum leaves on a gum leaf.
.

It also seemed appropriate because my family and I are off on holidays in November to Port Macquarie and we are planning visits to the native animal sanctuary and the koala hospital during the trip.

Welcome to Words and Pictures

Words and Pictures will delve into the mind of artist and children's writer Jeffery E Doherty. When the need arises, I can act grown-up, I can fool the best of them but deep down the child is still there.

Terminally juvenile is a wonderful state to exist in. So many things are possible, things that proper grown-ups couldn't imagine.

In this blog, I will highlight some of my own writing and art, plus the works of other writers and artists I admire. I will catalogue my endeavours on the road to becoming a published children's writer - mistakes as well as the things I learn on the journey.

Jeff Doherty

Write tight and power to your keyboard!