Rituals and Intersections - Equinox Artwork

by MJ Preston

Daniel Blackbird was one of my first virtual drawings.

From May 11th -17th is the May Monster Madness Blog Hop so I decided dig up some of my artwork and present it in a couple of blogs. Often when I write I use this medium to inspire myself in the storytelling process. When writing my first novel: THE EQUINOX I began a virtual drawing of protagonist 'Daniel Blackbird'. I say virtual, because a pencil never touched paper through the process, everything was generated on computer using an early version of Jasc Paint Shop Pro. This was something I used to do as a kid when writing stories. Back then I carried a sketch pad, binder of loose leaf or whatever I could to scratch out my rudimentary creations.
     As I continued to work on Equinox the art seemed to accompany the creation process and I ended up generating a lot of images. What I didn't realize was that most of the artwork was too low in DPI to be published anywhere, so other putting it up here on a blog or on my website, the early Equinox Art had no marketable value. Live and learn I guess. I wasn't really looking at publishing it anyway, but I have since changed my approach to artwork and go big with the originals now.  I don't think this approach to writing is anything new. I believe Clive Barker took a similar approach in his writing, but unlike Barker I do not market my artwork.
     As I wrote each chapter I also continued producing new images

EQUINOX ART -The Black Orb concealing the creature within.

and as with most things my skill improved. As a result, I began inundating friends and family with whatever popped into my head that week. This usually resulted in the odd comment that insinuated that I suffered from sort of mental problems. I tried not to take these attacks on my mental stability to personally. As a result of this born again process I decided that I would take complete creative control of my book and design my own cover for The Equinox once it was ready for publication. I went through a number of drafts and finally settled on two different covers. One for the paperback and the hardcover. Left you'll see one of the early original concepts. I eventually settled on two different covers, but the process was great fun.

Creative Sculpts: The Skin-walker of Chocktee

Early on the task of creating the skin-walkers was a slow process

I have not limited my creativity to just pictures and writing, but did a bit of sculpting as well, bringing to life the nefarious skin-walker of Chocktee. 

Neighbors must have thought I was crazy putting this guy out.

    It took me about three months and a gallon of silicone to put the seven foot monster together. After completing the project I took a couple shots of the big lug and it caught the attention of local media. It also made for an awesome centerpiece on my front lawn which is usually covered in grave stones and zombies on Halloween. He was a big hit with most of the kids, not all of them would come up my driveway to get a treat. I had to meet some of the more timid kids at the road. [insert devilish grin here].
      After Halloween I had to chop the big guy in half because there really was no where to store him. He's under my patio in a crawl space now, no doubt being crawled upon by spiders and bugs as he waits for my wife to open the door.

Using Internet Media

     Following the publication of Equinox I went on to author a couple of videos which outlined my artwork and introducing the public to some of the characters from the book.  Using music from artist Kevin MacLeod and mixing it with art and animation I produced this video called Faces of Equinox. Have a look.

     Well that's it for this MAY MONSTER MADNESS segment. In my next blog I will take you to the City of the Dead and show you a bit more of my work.

Thanks for stopping in and enjoy your hop across the blogosphere.

M

  

Visit: MJ Preston's Official Webpage

MJ Preston is the Author of the Horror Novel: THE EQUINOX

His new novel ACADIA EVENT is forecasted for release in late 2013
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 RATED AS ONE OF THE 
BEST HORROR NOVELS TO HIT BOOKSHELVES IN THE LAST 10 YEARS!!
'The Equinox' is a tour de force of brilliant writing, fast-paced action, and gritty characterisation. 
Get your copy of The Equinox  
Sold in Hardcover and Trade Paperback
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Blog Hop

1.	Annie Walls	18.	GingerRead Review	35.	Tasha's Thinkings
2.	Magaly Guerrero	19.	Carmen Jenner Author	36.	Stuff! Also, Things.
3.	Stephen Tremp	20.	Book Me!	37.	Lexa Cain
4.	Toni @ My Book Addiction	21.	Design du Jour	38.	Roland Yeomans
5.	QueenCicada	22.	Not This Time, Nayland Smith	39.	Real Queen of Horror
6.	Ninja Captain Alex J. Cavanaugh	23.	FIRE IT UP! Beer-fueled Horror Musings	40.	Procrastonaut
7.	Something WicKED this way comes...	24.	Shah Wharton	41.	Ms Misantropia
8.	Little Gothic Horrors	25.	Tim Brannan, The Other Side	42.	Zombie Author Rose Wynters
9.	Maynard Morrissey's HORROR MOVIE DIARY	26.	Holly's Horrorland	43.	Sophie's Thoughts & Fumbles
10.	Kweeny Todd	27.	Professor Z	44.	My Haunted Attic
11.	This and that...	28.	Dark Rosaleen	45.	Dr. Theda
12.	L.G. Keltner @ Writing Off the Edge	29.	The Beveled Edge	46.	Jenny's House of Horrors
13.	The Dark World of MJ Preston	30.	Candilynn Fite	47.	TF Walsh
14.	Entertaining Interests	31.	Jason Lloyd	48.	Fallen
15.	Emily Unraveled	32.	Diane Riggins	49.	It Came From The Man Cave!
16.	Cinematic Catharsis	33.	Lori Parker
17.	Unnatural Selections	34.	Coffintree Hill

(Submissions close in 7d 2h 30m)