So I'm on a writing retreat which hasn't been as much about writing as I planned but it's okay because I'm spending time with my sister instead and that's always good.
One thing she helped me with tonight was redesigning my Fire Curses. It dawned on me as I was revising that it made no sense for Fire Curses to have hair. The thought crossed my mind before, but I dismissed it because I really liked Aiden's stringy black mane in his eyes. I conceded when I changed it to ash gray like maybe the hair was gathering ashes or something? It made fringe sense - but fringe is not what I'm operating with now a days.
so I decided to change it to baldness. Fire Curses are turning to fire from the inside out - greasy hair would just immolate anyway if it could stay rooted at all. It made a lot more sense for the hair (and skin it's attached to) to be just as patchy and burned as the rest of them... so now we have this.
On the left is the new Aiden, the same cranky emo I've come to love only now with an eminem hoodie to top it off. He starts off looking more like the lower left with patchy skin and a gray scarf, then travels through the middle and the top as we adventure. By the end he's more scraped and scores an actually honest-to-goodness hoodie which he wears until the end.
On the right is Ildri. I don't draw her as much but she's very important. She's Aiden's girlfriend and travels along with us. She used to have her hair back in a ponytail so to keep the same spirit I tied her scarf so it looked similar. The bottom right is her with it off to give you an idea about what they would look like without their scarves. Aiden has patchy hair too... there are exactly four strands sticking out the front to keep that hair-in-the-face design I've come to associate with him.
So what do you all think? Do you like this design more than the previous? Any kinda suggestions or questions you have? I love talking about #Threadcaster so don't be shy.
I've just started the process of getting it out there, I have no idea if it's going to be published by a big house, a small house or my house! It will be out though, even if it's only as an ebook