Tag Archives: art

Wahoo! I’m Dork-Dancing over the cover for my novel FIRE IN THE WOODS! Coming in September from #Month9Books

I finally have a cover for FIRE IN THE WOODS and I couldn’t be happier.

Since this is a series, I asked for something that could be branded so readers could easily glance at the cover and say “Yep, that’s one of Jennifer M. Eaton’s books.”

 I am so in love with this cover, because it screams not only science fiction, but also the contemporary side, and that purple or “violescent” glow behind him has tons of meaning.

Oh!  And there’s a rafflecopter giveaway, too.  You could win a $10 gift card & a copy of the book, and most of you already qualify.  Good luck!

Are you ready to see?  Are ya? Are ya?

Here we gooooooo!

M9B-Friday-Reveal

Welcome to the Cover Reveal for

Fire in the Woods by Jennifer M. Eaton

presented by Month9Books!

Be sure to enter the giveaway found at the end of the post!

FireInTheWoods.v6-Book1-Final

When a plane crashes in the woods near Jess’s home, the boy of her dreams falls out of the sky—literally. But David’s not here to find a girlfriend. He’s from another planet, and if Jess can’t help him get back to his ship, he’ll be stuck on Earth with nothing to look forward to but the pointy end of a dissection scalpel.

But her father runs their house like an army barracks, and with an alien on the loose, Major Dad isn’t too keen on the idea of Jess going anywhere. Ever. So how the heck is she supposed to help the sweetest, strangest, and cutest guy she’s ever met?

Hiding him in her room probably isn’t the best idea. Especially since her Dad is in charge of the squadron searching for David. That doesn’t mean she won’t do it. It just means she can’t get caught.

Helping David get home while protecting her heart—that’s gonna be the hard part. After all, she can’t really fall for a guy who’s not exactly from here.

As they race through the woods with Major Dad and most of the U.S. military one breath behind them, Jess and David grow closer than either of them anticipated. But all is not what it seems. David has a genocide-sized secret, and one betrayal later, they are both in handcuffs as alien warships are positioning themselves around the globe. Time is ticking down to Armageddon, and Jess must think fast if she’s to save the boy she cares about without sacrificing Earth—and everyone on it.

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Title: Fire in the Woods
Publication date: September 2014
Publisher: Month9Books, LLC.
Author: Jennifer M. Eaton

Chapter-by-Chapter-header---About-the-Author

Jennifer M. Eaton

Corporate Team Leader by day, and Ranting Writer by night. Jennifer M. Eaton calls the East Coast of the USA home, where she lives with her husband, three energetic boys, and a pepped up poodle.

Jennifer hosts an informational blog “A Reference of Writing Rants for Writers (or Learn from My Mistakes)” aimed at helping all writers be the best they can be.

Beyond writing and motivating others, she also enjoys teaching her dog to jump through hoops—literally.

Jennifer’s perfect day includes long hikes in the woods, bicycling, swimming, snorkeling, and snuggling up by the fire with a great book; but her greatest joy is using her over-active imagination constructively… creating new worlds for everyone to enjoy.

Connect with the Author: Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

Chapter-by-Chapter-header---Giveaway

Complete the Rafflecopter below for a chance to win!

(Winners will receive their book on release day)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

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Release day is September 25th.

I’m so excited I could just spit, but I won’t ’cause that’s gross.

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FireInTheWoods.v6-Book1-Final

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_JenniFer____EatoN

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Living up to your potential

Do you have a special gift and not use it? Why?

I think a lot of us do. I don’t draw. Well, I do, but I could have refined my talent and maybe found a way to do something with it. For a long time, I gave up writing. I just didn’t have time.

You know what?

It always felt like something was missing.

Now Available from Jennifer M. EatonOne of the things I’m discussing with Vanessa Chapman today is living up to your potential. It’s part of my blog tour for THE FIRST DAY OF THE NEW TOMORROW.

Vanessa’s interviews are always great fun. I hope you’ll stop over and say hello!

http://vanessa-chapman.com/2013/09/28/the-first-day-of-the-new-tomorrow/

But for now, what about you? What talent do you have that you leave dormant, hiding behind the scenes… and why don’t you set it free?

THEFIRSTDAYOFTHENEWTOMORROW-Banner

Learning to Draw Manga #8.5 – Walking Draft

This week I decided to take on some movement, and there is a lot of perspective to have to worry about when a character is walking toward you.

manga 9 walkI got bleary-eyed before I was able to finish, but here is where I am so far with it.

I started with seven lines to help keep all those body parts in proportion, and followed the directions very closely.

This is tough because her Right arm (and leg) are in a perspective that makes them look smaller at this point.

And the swinging left arm (on the right side of the picture) seems so long and gangly, but it should be longer, because it is swinging toward me.

Now it looks kind of goofy, but I’m sure when I sit down with a fresh set of eyes next time, it will all come together.

I’m also a little nervous to tackle realistic hands as well.

Even at the height of my talents when I was younger, hands seemed to escape me.

Wish me luck! Hopefully I will have a finished product I won’t be too ashamed to post next week. 🙂

swish swivel squiggle

Interested in a slow stroll along the road of Manga?

I’m learning to draw Manga with my son.

Here are my posts on our progress so far.

swish swivel squiggle

Learning to Draw Manga #1 Rekindling hobbies you love (with your kids)

Learning to Draw Manga #2 3/4 view girl

Learning to Draw Manga #3 Front View Boy

Learning to Draw Manga #4 My own character (fail?)

Learning to Draw Manga #5 Profile View

Learning to Draw Manga #6 First Ink – Adult woman

Learning to Draw Manga #7 Adult 3/4 view

Learning to Draw Manga #8 Chibi Full body pose

Learning to Draw Manga #8.5 Walking draft

Related articles

_JenniFer____EatoN

A Review of “The Romance Novel Book Club” by Kastil Eavenshade

After crying my eyes out over the last novel I read, I REALLY needed a light fun read. I’d heard great things about “The Romance Novel Book Club” so I decided to give it a whirl. It ended up being a combination of everything I wanted, and also what I was trying to avoid.

Very mild spoiler alert: I will try not to give too much away.

“The Romance Novel Book Club” starts out as a whimsical story told in a great voice. We have a woman who reads a lot of Romance novels, and is looking for a whirlwind relationship like that in real life. The comparisons she makes to romance novels are truly hysterical, and for quite a long time I was reading with a smile on my face.

Then…. There was this shift.

Same girl. Same plotline, but after messing up her umteenth relationship, she begins dealing with an addiction problem that was a bit disturbing to me.

Addiction of every kind makes me want to yack. I find it truly sad that anyone could become totally dependent on anything. (Other than chocolate… that’s okay in my book. 🙂 )

Anyway… same great voice… same joking… but I began to seriously dislike the main character. At one point, she picks on a wayward waiter that she sets up as the “bad guy” – Normally I would have thought of this person as the bad guy, too… but I just ended up feeling sorry for him. I was considering stopping reading, until – quite to my surprise – the character admitted to her friend that she thought she might have an addiction.

For some reason, that admission – and also having the warm and fuzzy that the author MEANT me to have all those uncomfortable feelings, made me feel better. So I kept reading.

Thanks goodness that from that point forward, things started to get better. Once she had admitted to the addiction, she had the will to try to fight it, and I started to like her again.

So, yes, this is a book that will put a smile on your face, but it will also scare you a little bit. The author tackles a very serious subject. This is NOT a Romance novel. You might consider it an Anti-Romance novel. But there is a romance in it as well… and a happy ending, thank goodness.

Oh… and this is DEFINITELY for the 18 and over crowd.

Scratch that. 21 and over.

Maybe 25 and over.

Not for the kiddies. Get it?

JenniFer_EatonF

Learning to draw Manga # 8: Chibi full body pose

[[[Cringe]]] I’ve been afraid to try a full body anything.  Even when I was drawing regularly, bodies scared me.  I was never able to get the proportions right.

I was happy that the learning to draw book started out with a nice, friendly Chibi.

Chibi is a form of Manga art that is meant to be whimsical.  Large heads, and a body three heads high.

Here she is.

Manga Chibi tall

I’m not crazy about the legs, but this is nearly exactly what the example in the book looks like for the legs.  Things always look better when someone ELSE had drawn them.

I like to look at it like this.

Manga Chibi crop

She looks better without her legs.

Next time [[shivers]] more realistic full body poses—with MOVEMENT.  Yikes!

swish swivel squiggle

Interested in a slow stroll along the road of Manga?

I’m learning to draw Manga with my son.

Here are my posts on our progress so far.

swish swivel squiggle

Learning to Draw Manga #1 Rekindling hobbies you love (with your kids)

Learning to Draw Manga #2 3/4 view girl

Learning to Draw Manga #3 Front View Boy

Learning to Draw Manga #4 My own character (fail?)

Learning to Draw Manga #5 Profile View

Learning to Draw Manga #6 First Ink – Adult woman

Learning to Draw Manga #7 Adult 3/4 view

Learning to Draw Manga #8 Chibi Full body pose

Learning to Draw Manga #6 – My first inked drawing

Okay, I have succumbed to peer pressure!

This week I moved on to the older character lesson.  When I looked at all the “odd” lines that I’d have to add, I was sure I’d mess this up.  When I was done, it didn’t look much like the sample drawing, but I was still pretty pleased with it.

I decided to “take the plunge” and go for the inking.

Before I did ANY erasing of my guide lines and sketch marks, I inked over them with the artist pens I picked up for Dude a few weeks ago. Then, when it was all “permanent”, I erased the pencil marks.

What jumped out at me was the eyes.  I wish now that I’d taken a picture before the inking and after, because looking at it now, I don’t even believe that I drew this.

MANGA 6 granny

It blows me away the “finished” look that the ink gives the drawing.

It almost makes me want to try color.  I said almost.  Someday.

Jennifer___Eaton

Learning to Draw Manga #5 – Profile

I cringed when Dude said the next pose was profile.  I looked at that crazy single line of the nose and chin and thought “that’s never going to look right”

Again, following the directions, and taking one step at a time it was not that hard.  Here it is darkened, but before I took out the guidelines

MANGA 5 LINEDI am still an epic fail with the hair.  I look over at my son and see these awesome elaborate hairdoos, and I have to stare at a picture and draw the lines exactly as the book tells me to place them.  I just can’t fathom how the odd lines play out into the shape of hair.

Dude thinks it’s because he reads and watches manga, so he’ used to looking at it.  Could be.

Here’s the finished product.  Not to shabby.  I’m actually pretty pleased with this one.

mANGA5 SIDE CLEANDude wants me to start “inking” which means finishing a drawing, and then drawing over it with permanent artist’s markers.

Ummmmm.  No.  I’m not there yet.  I’d be pretty ticked at myself if I drew something I liked, and then I screwed it up with a permanent marker.

“Believe in yourself, ” Dude says.  Ummm, maybe next week.

_JenniFer____EatoN

Learning to Draw Manga #4 – Your own Character (Partial Fail)

This week, my son was experimenting with the dreaded 3/4 view, and started making his own characters. He came up with a few really nice ones, so  I decided to give it a try myself.

Partial Fail.  I’ve never been good at forming something in my head.  Dude kept saying “What are you trying to draw?  What do you see in your mind?

I guess that’s my problem.  I can’t get a clear view in my head.  It’s not like this character is moving around in my novel and I know what she’d thinking, you know?  Anyway, this is what I cam up with.

Manga3

My son is still growling at me, but I tried something a little different, and I’m not thrilled.  I went for a more realistic eye, and I had to play with it a lot.  I think I made the hair too high.  She started with an open mouth, but my son said it was all wrong… so I made her sad instead.

This is “I have to write a query” Manga.  Can’t you tell with the sad face and frazzled hair?

_JenniFer____EatoN

Reconnecting with Art – Manga Lessons #2 – The dreaded 3/4 face

After last week’s fairly successful attempt after a 12 year hiatus from drawing, My son and I sat down for another round this week.  He wanted to perfect his character from last week, so he continued with the first pose.

I moved on to a pose that was my nemesis when I drew realistic characters… the 3/4 face.  BBbbrrrrrrr.  Gives me the chills just thinking about it.

Not too shabby though.  This style is really easy to draw in.  (Okay, not completely easy, and my growling son would attest to… but certainly not hard if you have mastered how to make a pencil do what you command)

Manga 2

Anyway, here’s the 3/4 face pose (turned slightly to the side) Again, I’m pretty happy except for the stinking hair!

I will master you, Manga hair. Oh yes, I will!

JenniFer_EatonF

Rekindling your relationship with things you used to love

My oldest son recently has been asking questions about art.  He wants to learn to draw.  Hubby said “Ask your Mom.  She’s a great artist.”  So, I sat with him a few times and gave him pointers… not really expecting him to take anything seriously. (He jumps from thing to thing a lot these days.)

This weekend he asked if I would take him to the store to get some supplies.  Nothing fancy, just some pencils, a real drawing pad, and colored pencils.

He was a little overwhelmed with all the choices, but we decided on a few basic supplies, and I told him I’d see if I had any colored pencils in my old art supplies. He was really interested in learning to draw in the Manga style, so I picked him up an instructional book.

As we sifted through my supplies at home, I came across my old sketch books, and my paintings.

Dude’s eyes opened in awe.  “Wow, you drew these?  Why did you stop?”

Why did you stop?

Well, the truth was, I hadn’t picked up a pencil or a paintbrush since a few weeks before he was born (and he’s 12) I told him, “After I had kids I just had different priorities.”

He said to me, “But we’re all older now.  You should start drawing again.”

So, I figured, why not?

I sat down with a sketch pad, opened up the book on how to draw Manga, and just followed the directions.

To be honest, after not drawing for 12 years I was a little skeptical what I’d be able to do, but I was pretty happy with what popped out of my pencil within 15 minutes or so.

Manga photo 1

I have to admit, it felt really good having a pencil in my hand again.  Yeah, I made a few mistakes and had to erase a little, but I was dern pleased that it didn’t totally stink after being out of practice for so long.

My son asked if I’d take a night a week to draw with him.  I figure, why not?  I need to work on my Manga hair, anyway. Maybe the next one won’t have split ends.  🙂