oxyborb: unraveler

Showing posts with label unraveler. Show all posts

Brighter Side

I'm probably not the only person feeling a bit down about the state of the world.

I was supposed to go to Disney World at the beginning of the month, but I know how minuscule that problem is compared to what the world is going through. Quarantine and social distancing does make me a little batty. I miss people! The idea of Halloween being cancelled is sad. That's like my spirit energy, my happy place.

Anyway, the brighter side.

I guess, acknowledging how awful the world is and will continue to be.... acknowledging the revolution the USA is going through because of the murder of George Floyd.... acknowledging that 502,387 globally have died and are continuing to die makes any of my issues potatoes shrunk to singular atoms...

I have been using my free time wisely. I've been making a ton of art. I've been working extremely hard on my writing. I made some major changes to my novel, and it's sooooo good right now. I'm super hyped for it. Man, I never thought I'd have this much free time to focus on art. It has been a deep dive. I've been really trying to avoid timesuck-type things like video games, and instead, immersing myself in art study and practice. That part has been great.

I hope to get more done before my job starts back up in August (I'm a theatrical technical director). Anyway, hope is hereafter (<- a phrase from The Unraveler, meaning hope is the dream of the future)! I am sure that things will get better. I am sure the world will grow stronger because of everything going on.

Stage Cross, a painting

My painting is complete!

One of my goals was to make this a painting that was highly reactive to light. The amount of light and direction you're standing determines how this painting looks. More sharp light or angle, more sharp points. Also, the actual light in the room determines how well you can see the red seats in the background. She's a character from my book.

Painting is a skill I am taking up because I want to be better at it. I'm new, so I've still got a lot to learn. I am happy with this one, though!

Stage Cross

normal light

dark

bright light

face

face 2, bright

Thanks for checking this out. If you enjoyed, why not read my short story about what happened at Azkaban next?

About D.H. Aye

Halloween is the blood that pumps through my artistic style. I paint, draw, design sets, play instruments in bands, act, direct, etc, etc. However, the primary focus of my life is writing fiction with a core rooted in fun.

My full name is David Harrison Aye, a writer and artist from the St. Louis metro area. The big thing I’m promoting right now is a novel called The Unraveler, which is a YA fantasy through this world and under with a skeletal rat. I also have an assortment of short stories and poems.

straw men burn and leave no bones

______T h e

The Poet Rosalyn

Prince Kobias always wanted to explore the abandoned Brine Family Theatre. After investigating every secret within the four hundred and forty-four rooms of his home at Castle Oversalt, you would think his talent for uncovering hidden passages would help him sneak into some run down playhouse.

Dewlap the Gat

But boards and mortar block every window and door, leaving the prince and his friends to merely speculate about why the building has been left in disrepair (and what remains inside).

High Executive Arch

One evening, Kobias notices a man walking through the theater’s wall, but even after a close inspection, there is no telling how he did it. The next morning, 15 years after the last closing of curtains, the theater is suddenly being reopened by the mysterious thespian, Ehro, with a new staged play titled, “The Ratking’s Unraveling.”

A kudanite

Anticipation builds throughout the city, yet even Prince Kobias never imagined that this would be a performance to die for.

A vectorman

My novel, The Unraveler, is a 90,000-word YA fantasy that aims to bring readers a fun adventure through a theatrical world and under. This website is dedicated to my journey to seek representation and, with any luck, publication.

If you'd like to keep up, follow me on Instagram. Thank you so much for your support!

Or consider reading some of my short fiction or poetry!

Clink Robots

The Squid Lady, a painting

So, just as an extra project, I’ve been painting. Here it is, finished:

darker lighting

* * *

It was an awesome process to create, spent about a month doing it. She's actually a character from my novel, The Unraveler. I created her as a character a LONG time ago, and one of the first renditions of her was in a play I wrote. Her dress is all squid themed.

Being that she's a part of my novel, I also scanned her in and made a logo graphic:

* * *

The actually finished painting is 3D! I'm all about inserting sculpture into painting. So, her tentacles all pop up and stuff. Her arm is like it's in the process for swinging up, making the viewer wonder who she's aiming at:

* * *

I also wanted to document my process here, to show what I did.

I made the canvas myself out of scrap wood and cardboard

Painted black for a base

I knew she'd be 3D, so I painted it on hard plastic that'd keep it from breaking

pink base, gold light and blue for shadow

cutting out the parts

I looked at actual squid skin to design the tentacle. Took forever to paint white dots and fill them with black dots

Thanks for coming! Keep up with me in Twitter!

Writing & Art Update, The Classified Show

Man, TONS has happened in my life, artistically. I have had an unusual amount of time to devote to creating lately, and I’ve packed it in with art.

First, a big update about The Unraveler. It’s ready to go. I’ve edited it and edited it, used feedback from a bunch of people, and I’ve edited it some more. I think it’s time to try to sell it to agents, so wish me luck on that front. I’ve been perfecting my query letter.

Second, I’ve been working on the sequel novel, and it’s going to be incredible. I’m not trying to toot my own horn, but I’ve designed my novels to have huge payoff. The stuff I’m coming up with is, first and foremost, FUN. That’s the goal of my novel writing: to create novels that have a core rooted in FUN.

Also, I’ve been painting. She’s a character in my novel named Rosalyn, one of my favorites. I’m going to do a blog next month about my painting process, but I’ll share this for now:

Rosalyn Eris of The Unraveler

I also took part in another 24/hour new play festival with PRIME. They have an awesome new website. I was a set designer this time around, and so I helped to create the set that is pictured below. It’s supposed to be an apartment for a conspiracy theorist that has been ransacked by an unknown agency. Evidence is littered through the set. Each of the plays was about a conspiracy of sorts, so the set went with each.

Thanks for reading, catch up with me on twitter.

A post shared by David Oxyborb Aye (@oxyborb) on Apr 29, 2017 at 9:02am PDT

Best-of Me Around the Internet (Part 1)

I do a lot of stuff online that isn’t on this blog, so I thought I’d do a best-of sort of post that highlights some of my favorite art/writings/blogs/videos/etc. that I have up around the net.

oxyborb.tumblr.com

First up is from my tumblr, which is dedicated to all the sketches and drawings I do. I felt inspired to draw a preying mantis one day, and I love the way I positioned its limbs. What do you think?

http://oxyborb.tumblr.com/post/88209224729

oxyborb.com

Oxyborb is my gamertag, but I also named my nerd-culture blog it. One of the most popular posts I’ve written was about Super Smash Bros. for 3DS and Wii U. This mega-sized blog has tons of illustrations done by me!

From the Super Smash Bros. for 3DS and Wii U Mega Blog

So, I think Animal Crossing deserves 3 character slots. I think each could be a unique, non-clone character. I think Tom Nook should have a Red skin. Shovel Knight would be an amazing 3rd party addition. Dillon needs to be upgraded from Assist Trophy. Ridley is not too big, so shut up. Skull Kid would be wicked. Impa could be a heavier Sheik. I want the giant blue pig version of Ganon to be a character, separate from Ganondorf. Petey Piranha is still one of my favorite ideas, using tornadoes and slime as attacks. Nintendo needs to purchase every aspect of Super Mario RPG, and then Geno needs to have a new game made starring him (see pun for details) and a spot on the roster. King K. Rool is more interesting than Dixie.

Continue Reading this SMASHING post!

My music at Soundcloud!

I’m also a songwriter. I wrote an album and two of my buddies helped me perform and record it. One of my favorite songs is here for your listening pleasure.

My song, Explicit:

poetsrevolver.blogspot.com

A Poet’s Revolver is a blog all about my life and thoughts and other stuff. I post photos and tell stories about events. One of those posts was about the time I and a friend went to Chicago and basically partied and went nuts every night.

From the My Wild Random Road Trip to Chicago:

We stayed the night at a friend from high school’s place and jammed out with his roommates. We went to a Spy Store, and checked out a bunch of weird spy gear you can buy. The next day we did coffee and then visited an old friend who used to run ITP (my old theatre company). We caught up, did a random hike, and talked with his fantastic girlfriend about dinosaur sign language and compared swords… After that, I met my traveling bud’s college friends at a pub, and we ate lunch (I had brussel sprouts). We then went to a hilarious musical comedy called “Cupid Has A Heart On” and then went out clubbing. We danced until 3am and were brought up to V.I.P.P. status, which was crazy. I don’t even want to write all the crazy things that brought us up there. It was a fantastic night, though.

Continue reading about this crazy trip!

unravelatlas.blogspot.com

The Unraveler’s Atlas is a monthly creative experiment I do. Each month, I create a new fantastical beast that I might use (or already have used) in my fiction writing.

From Arbuscula:

The Arbuscula is a sentient tree creature. It has four spiderlike legs and a great maw of a mouth. Some of the leaves are light-sensitive, which give the arbuscula a sense of sight. Arbuscula come in a variety of appearances and several different tree-breeds have been discovered. Although they are very hostile, they will often sit quietly and wait until their enemies leave. Any small-sized prey, however, will be killed if the risk is low enough.

Continue reading about this monster!

harrisonaye.com

My first name is David, but my pen name is Harrison Aye (my middle name). My ultimate goal in life is to become a novelist and create worlds for readers to explore. The Unraveler is the novel I’m focusing on, so this blog is themed after it. But I post other writings on it as well. What I’m sharing here is a short story fan fic set in the Harry Potter universe. While that sounds lame, this is a story I was forced to write because the idea I had was so good that it screamed at me to come out. It’s not like other fan fic, but set in the past with characters well before any of the main book series.

From The King of Azkaban:

0 “So, why don’t you leave, then?” the ruined man asked. He looked a dementor himself, wearing a ratty black cloak over his striped garb and having a face so sunken it barely existed at all.

“Erik, as I have told you many times before, I have as much left to go to as you do,” Sirius Black responded. “I’m old, hurting.”

Erik coughed and laughed at the same time. “As much as I had, you have now. Azkaban is my home, my doom.”

“Is that why the dementors leave you alone?” Sirius asked.

“No, my friend. They leave me alone for the opposite reason that they ignore you.” “Because I can transform into a dog?” “Dogs, like yourself, are innocent, subjects to their upbringing.”

“If you’re the opposite of innocent, then you’re guilty. You’re not the only one here who is.” Sirius laughed into his hands.

“No, I’m not, but I hold regret and desire punishment for my crimes, which is the opposite of knowing that you’ve been wrongly accused. I am a ruined man, and I made myself this way. I have no emotions to feed them.”

“What did you do that was so bad?” Sirius asked.

Erik raised a bony white arm and pointed out the narrow slit in the stone. Sirius did not bother to squint and peer through. Erik meant the dementors. What else could be out there? “What about them?” “It’s quite the tale.” “I have time, obviously,” Sirius said, stretching his arms and folding them behind his head. “I’m stuck here, the same as you, Erik.”

“Only I am stuck, and Erik isn’t my name. It’s Ekrizdis, and I’m nearly eight hundred years old.”

And so Ekrizdis told his story, and Sirius listened.

Continue reading about this story...

Thanks for reading this post! Why not come over and follow me on twitter? 😁
— Harrison Aye (@oxyborb) March 24, 2017

Christmas in the STL

A post shared by David Oxyborb Aye (@oxyborb) on Dec 16, 2016 at 11:08am PST

Oxyborb is my gamertag, but I also named my nerd-culture blog it. One of the most popular posts I’ve written was about Super Smash Bros. for 3DS and Wii U. This mega-sized blog has tons of illustrations done by me!

From the Super Smash Bros. for 3DS and Wii U Mega Blog

Continue Reading this SMASHING post!

My music at Soundcloud!

I’m also a songwriter. I wrote an album and two of my buddies helped me perform and record it. One of my favorite songs is here for your listening pleasure.

My song, Explicit:

From the My Wild Random Road Trip to Chicago:

We stayed the night at a friend from high school’s place and jammed out with his roommates. We went to a Spy Store, and checked out a bunch of weird spy gear you can buy. The next day we did coffee and then visited an old friend who used to run ITP (my old theatre company). We caught up, did a random hike, and talked with his fantastic girlfriend about dinosaur sign language and compared swords… After that, I met my traveling bud’s college friends at a pub, and we ate lunch (I had brussel sprouts). We then went to a hilarious musical comedy called “Cupid Has A Heart On” and then went out clubbing. We danced until 3am and were brought up to V.I.P.P. status, which was crazy. I don’t even want to write all the crazy things that brought us up there. It was a fantastic night, though.

Continue reading about this crazy trip!

unravelatlas.blogspot.com

The Unraveler’s Atlas is a monthly creative experiment I do. Each month, I create a new fantastical beast that I might use (or already have used) in my fiction writing.

From Arbuscula:

The Arbuscula is a sentient tree creature. It has four spiderlike legs and a great maw of a mouth. Some of the leaves are light-sensitive, which give the arbuscula a sense of sight. Arbuscula come in a variety of appearances and several different tree-breeds have been discovered. Although they are very hostile, they will often sit quietly and wait until their enemies leave. Any small-sized prey, however, will be killed if the risk is low enough.

Continue reading about this monster!

harrisonaye.com

My first name is David, but my pen name is Harrison Aye (my middle name). My ultimate goal in life is to become a novelist and create worlds for readers to explore. The Unraveler is the novel I’m focusing on, so this blog is themed after it. But I post other writings on it as well. What I’m sharing here is a short story fan fic set in the Harry Potter universe. While that sounds lame, this is a story I was forced to write because the idea I had was so good that it screamed at me to come out. It’s not like other fan fic, but set in the past with characters well before any of the main book series.

From The King of Azkaban:

0 “So, why don’t you leave, then?” the ruined man asked. He looked a dementor himself, wearing a ratty black cloak over his striped garb and having a face so sunken it barely existed at all.

“Erik, as I have told you many times before, I have as much left to go to as you do,” Sirius Black responded. “I’m old, hurting.”

Erik coughed and laughed at the same time. “As much as I had, you have now. Azkaban is my home, my doom.”

“Is that why the dementors leave you alone?” Sirius asked.

“No, my friend. They leave me alone for the opposite reason that they ignore you.” “Because I can transform into a dog?” “Dogs, like yourself, are innocent, subjects to their upbringing.”

“If you’re the opposite of innocent, then you’re guilty. You’re not the only one here who is.” Sirius laughed into his hands.

“No, I’m not, but I hold regret and desire punishment for my crimes, which is the opposite of knowing that you’ve been wrongly accused. I am a ruined man, and I made myself this way. I have no emotions to feed them.”

“What did you do that was so bad?” Sirius asked.

Erik raised a bony white arm and pointed out the narrow slit in the stone. Sirius did not bother to squint and peer through. Erik meant the dementors. What else could be out there? “What about them?” “It’s quite the tale.” “I have time, obviously,” Sirius said, stretching his arms and folding them behind his head. “I’m stuck here, the same as you, Erik.”

“Only I am stuck, and Erik isn’t my name. It’s Ekrizdis, and I’m nearly eight hundred years old.”

And so Ekrizdis told his story, and Sirius listened.

Continue reading about this story...

Thanks for reading this post! Why not come over and follow me on twitter? 😁
— Harrison Aye (@oxyborb) March 24, 2017

Christmas in the STL

A post shared by David Oxyborb Aye (@oxyborb) on Dec 16, 2016 at 11:08am PST