Elijah David

We're officially into the autumn season and October (and Inktober*) has begun. That means our household is in for our annual spooky/Halloween/autumn movie marathon. One of our favorites to bring out this time of year is M. Night Shyamalan's The Village . It's been at least a year, if not several, since I last watched this one but it still makes me happy as both a consumer and creator of stories. However, it's not perfect, so I want to talk about what I (still) love and what doesn't quite work for me after all these years. Love: Ivy and Lucius These two are the heart of this movie (along with Ivy's father), and they are a demonstration of Shyamalan's ability to craft strong characters beset by extraordinary circumstances. Ivy is brave, but still experiences almost crippling fear. Lucius is passionate, but has trouble expressing that passion. Their story unfolds slowly but elegantly, and the climax of emotion and wit that is "the porch scene"...

October is over, and so is Inktober. Here are the last 9 of my Inktober drawings, along with a watercolor sign I painted as part of my Halloween costume (also pictured). I'm moving Watercolor Wednesday up a week this month because the months when first Tuesday and second Wednesday fall in the same week are always harder to keep up with blog-wise and because I don't anticipate a lot of painting getting done this month apart from Christmas gifts that I can't share until after they've been received. Day 23: The Kitsune Girl (Urban) I really had a hard time with this one, but I'm pleased with the fox tail. Day 24: The Anti-Vampire (Urban) Another character sketch from Ashes and Dust , this was one of the prompts I stretched the most, as the character I drew is actually a vampire. But given his role in the plot, I figured it was close enough. Day 25: The Cursed Knight (Forest) One of the quicker drawings I did for Inktober, this one turned...

Inktober is almost over! The month has flown by, and I've only shared the first 8 drawings on here, so this post is remedying that lack of art. The words in parentheses (Fairy-tale, Urban, or Forest) indicate which of the original prompts lists I pulled that prompt from. Day 9: The Genie (Fairy-tale) This is a (bad) drawing of two of the Djinn from the Albion Quartet. They look smoochier than I originally intended (I was aiming for a hug) but it works. No, you should not consider this a spoiler of things to come in the series. But neither should you consider it not a spoiler. Day 10: The Goblin Lord (Urban) I wanted to draw something Labyrinth-related but not necessarily David Bowie. So I found a picture of Toby Froud (the actor who played Toby in the film and also the son of Brian Froud, who worked on the character designs for the film) and drew from there. Day 11: The Wolf Boy (Forest) Have I mentioned that I cannot draw people? Or animals? ...

Last week, I went to my local writing group and, since the person who introduced me to Inktober was there, I shared my first few Inktober drawings with the group. One of the other writers asked how doing a challenge like Inktober affected our creativity. For me, having a creative outlet that differs from what I might think of as my "main" art form (i.e. writing novels) actually fuels my creativity as a whole. It's why I picked up watercolors this year -- to give myself a place for art to spill over when I didn't have the time/drive/energy to sit down at a keyboard. This was the short version of the answer I gave in group. But as I thought about it, I realized that the deeper topic was actually not how does pursuing one art form affect another, but how do I keep from draining my creative well/bucket dry? So here are some of the ways I do that. Consume Other Art This is one of the most common pieces of advice for artists struggling with keep...