Belgium sowly goes out of Lockdown and I could go see my dad after one month and a half. Amongst all the obvious joy of spending time with my family, I found an old stash of drawings I made between 2001 and 2005. And, Oh boy, I've come a long way!  But if you wanna, let's walk down memory lane together and take a look  

There is way too much to insert in an improvement meme. The stash I found was more than 250 pages worth of these drawings. 
I spent most of my teenage years really wanting to become a fashion designer so I mostly drew thin, long women with "original" clothes on. We don't quite realize it by now, but 15 years ago, Internet wasn't what it is now and it was quite difficult to find relevant infos and quality pictures of what a fashion designer does ^^ 



I had a period where I numered the designs or gave them names, cuz' they do that in fashion shows and La Redoute's catalog ^^

I went through different styles too. I didn't remember most of these. But look, flowy lines made their appearance around 2004! 



So many influences made me change my style ^^



Buuut, you're here for the past fails, ain't ya? Ahah, I have those too ^^
First of all, there was a time where I drew boobs better than faces  



Aaaand, to my eternal shame, drawing mostly women's clothes meant I rarely if ever drew male characters. I know, how could I? So when I tried, it failed quite miserably. My gosh, they are awful! 



And last but not least, some random pics. Yeah, my signature was a fairy for 5 years. Now it's a nail, I'm not sure it's an actual improvement ^^




I hope you enjoyed this little time capsule! Tell me if you too have some very old art you're both proud and ashamed of now. For me, these are moments I hold dear.

Coming Soon

I said I'd enter a few contests, now I need to make my entries
www.deviantart.com/k-naille/st…

I'm also having a blast with my clay sculptures so you can expect to see Encore and Patience's little brother and sister coming soon  

  

Then, maybe I'll need your advice, or at least your opinion, on what you want to see/read here. I have many stories in mind and I'm debating lots with myself on wich one should come first. 

 La Reliquaire (med fantasy)
 Becomers (urban fantasy)
 Lori and Loren (draft title) (fantasy and romance)
 New Les Amoureuses stories
 Massive rewriting of Carmine to make it more fitting publishers expectations?

I'm too caught between all these ideas, but the rewriting of Carmine is a big part of why other projects don't take shape yet. I have this bad feeling of unachieved work there, because I didn't bring my story to the level I expected to, and I know I can do better, yet I love how Carmine is and some of it's "fault" are conscient choices I made to NOT be another YA fantasy novel with the demure female lead thrown in the unknown. Should I change that? Should I avoid every sex jokes I put in Sylva's mouth? Should I not mention rape, or death, or swearing, or politics...? I'm not sure anymore... But still my stupid brain yoyo-s back to Carmine at random, and it's like butterfly effect. Each change I'd make would completely unbalance the whole project and ask for more rewriting later, etc. 

La Reliquaire

The main characters are set, I'm currently working on the story. I 'm quite set on making it a comic, wich means... it really became a huge project. On a side note, I'm more in ove with these characters the more I think of their adventures. 

I made a lot of sketches but I stll need to work lots more to fix both my drawing and the story. 

 à lire ou à relire  

Les Amoureuses

First text was published (in FRENCH) for the Cu-cute Words Contest and I really enjoyed writing those little romances since. 

Je me suis beaucoup amusée avec cette série de texte. C'était un exercice intéressant de parler d'amour avec autant d'angles et de voix différentes. Et surtout, des voix de femmes! Après des mois à parler d'amour à travers le regard de Bo uniquement, ça me change! ^^ Rétrospectivement, je pense que j'aurais pu diversifier encore le casting, pour représenter des relations encore plus variées. Initialement c'est la volonté de garder un ton plutôt léger et de ne pas me prendre trop la tête qui a motivé ce choix. Si je m'engageais dans une nouvelle série, je crois que je chercherais moins à écrire des scènes cu-cute et plus à aborder la difficulté d'aimer quelqu'un qui est différent, quelqu'un qui ne s'aime pas lui-même, quelqu'un qui vit avec un handicap... 

Les Amoureuses 1 - Cu-cute Words Contest
Les Amoureuses 2 
Les Amoureuses 3 
Les Amoureuses 4
Les Amoureuses 5
Les Amoureuses 6
Les Amoureuses 7

Carmine

J'ai remis en ligne tous les chapitre du Livre I. N'hésitez pas à les lire ou à les relire et à me donner votre avis! 

Traces / Steps

If you haven't read it yet, my comic is right here : 


I'm currently working on updating each page in a mobile devices friendly format, and to publish it on webtoon. In French first, then in English. 

Coming Soon

I'm currently drafting a new story that I'd like to write. It's based on an old idea and I want to make it shorter, more to-the-point than Carmine was. Can't say much about it yet but if you know me, you know I can't keep silent about my projects
The Cu-cute Words Contest Results finaly were released so I'll soon post the prizes for the winners,  
schmurtzx9      and Cranash64.

Les Amoureuses

First text was published (in FRENCH) for the Cu-cute Words Contest and I really enjoyed writing those little romances since. 

Je me suis beaucoup amusée avec cette série de texte. C'était un exercice intéressant de parler d'amour avec autant d'angles et de voix différentes. Et surtout, des voix de femmes! Après des mois à parler d'amour à travers le regard de Bo uniquement, ça me change! ^^ Rétrospectivement, je pense que j'aurais pu diversifier encore le casting, pour représenter des relations encore plus variées. Initialement c'est la volonté de garder un ton plutôt léger et de ne pas me prendre trop la tête qui a motivé ce choix. Si je m'engageais dans une nouvelle série, je crois que je chercherais moins à écrire des scènes cu-cute et plus à aborder la difficulté d'aimer quelqu'un qui est différent, quelqu'un qui ne s'aime pas lui-même, quelqu'un qui vit avec un handicap... 

Les Amoureuses 1 - Cu-cute Words Contest
Les Amoureuses 2 
Les Amoureuses 3 
Les Amoureuses 4
Les Amoureuses 5
Les Amoureuses 6
Les Amoureuses 7


           

Mature Content

La Reliquaire

The main characters are set, I'm currently working on the story. I still have to decide the media I'll use for this project. I really feel it would work more as a comic than as prose, but I know firsthand that making a comic is no easy job. I have to make sure the story is strong and steady before I trow myself in the process, unless I fear I'll tire of the project before it's completed...

I made a lot of sketches but I stll need to work lots more to fix both my drawing and the story. 

   

Carmine

As you may have noticed, I emptied all the chapters from my gallery. The first two books were sent to a few publishers. I have to wait for their teams to read it and statue on my case, but it can take months.

Hi everyone! 

As I said in a recent status, I've once again thrown myself in the oh-so-enjoyable-yet-tiring challenge #inktober . You know the deal : one month, one prompt a day, one inked picture each day. 
To add some fun to these rules, I tried to connect all the prompts into one story.

Wanna see how I held out so far?

    
     
    
    
    
    















Those are the 24 first days of the challenge, with their respective prompts : 
1. Ring, 2. Mindless, 3. Bait, 4. Freeze, 5. Build
6. Husky, 7. Enchanted, 8. Frail, 9. Swing, 10. Pattern
11. Snow, 12. Dragon, 13. Ash, 14. Overgrown, 15. Legend
16. Wild, 17. Ornament, 18. Misfit, 19. Sling, 20. Tread
21. Treasure, 22. Ghost, 23. Ancient, 24. Dizzy, 25. Tasty
26. Dark, 27. Coat, 28. Ride, 29. Injured, 30. Catch
31. Ripe

Here it is. Hope you enjoy!
See you soon with more "Les Amoureuses" and sketches for "La Reliquaire".


I share each pic daily on instagram ( www.instagram.com/knaille_88/ ) 
#inktober2019 #inktoberchallenge #motivation 

Carmine

The last chapters was released (in French) and I'll make good use of the free time I'll have this summer to proof read the whole novel chapter by chapter and then send it to an editor and wish upon my lucky star ^^

Important : quand j'entamerai sérieusement les démarches pour me faire éditer, je rendrai les chapitres inaccessibles en ligne. Les devs resteront visible ( parce que je ne veux pas perdre vos commentaires) mais les textes seront supprimés. Pour ceux qui avaient l'intention de lire Carmine "prochainement", vous savez ce qu'il vous reste à faire  

La Reliquaire

The main characters are set, I'm currently working on the story. I still have to decide the media I'll use for this project. I really feel it would work more as a comic than as prose, but I know firsthand that making a comic is no easy job. I have to make sure the story is strong and steady before I trow myself in the process, unless I fear I'll tire of the project before it's completed...

You've already met 3 of the main characters. The next one comes this sunday

Cucute watercolors serie

I really wish to make some more of these, this is a good exercice and I feel more at ease with my watercolors then I've been in a loooong time.
So, if you have a couple in mind, be it OCs or FanArt, please suggest it in the comments

    

Bookmarks

Quick tributes to the books I read - wich is lots on some months, and fews on others. 

#Summeriscoming challenge 

Read more here : 
#summeriscomingWith :iconTeaDarkA: , we love those drawing challenges that have become traditions. But what to do with our pencils on challenge-less months ? How shall we use this pent up creative energy when there is no prompt list to guide us?
Well, with this brand new drawing challenge, of course! 
Join in the fun by submitting a drawing a day following the prompts below!
And don't forget the hashtag #Summeriscoming
1.     lawn / gazon 

2.     friends / ami

3.     right / correct

4.     wrong / mal

5.     paper / papier 

6.     straw hat / chapeau de paille

7.     nugget,

8.     summer dress / robe d'été

9.     party / fête

Watch out for the daily sketches all the month of June