Has any artist ever shown interest in your novel?

[Katzalcoatl]

I suck in romance in real life. Yet I am writing a romance novel. So it is fine. We all have our reasons for writing what we write about.

As a side note, it could be fun designing genderswapped versions of our characters.

I may be bad at drawing but for some reason designing characters is something I do well.

A quick example would be: how bout adding this type of dress/clothe or maybe this makeup.
This hairstyle could work similar to the hairstyle your OC had.

[candiedcotton]

I really like what you've said here, and I totally agree. Sometimes there's a huge difference as well in writing something, and then depicting it visually. You have to use different tools, but the goal is to get across the intention of the writing. You can write that someone is a ghost, but how do you depict it? There are a number of different ways. And to me, figuring out those things with the writer is the best part of crafting the work.

What do I see when I hear the line, "She was there but she wasn't, until she no longer was."

I see a girl in black and white standing in a room full of people with vibrant color. I see gray shades all around her, I see people enjoying their friendships while she stands invisible on the sideline. Eventually she stands there alone, but it makes no difference because she already was alone. It'd be an interesting scene to depict visually.

Ever see Blue Period? It does a beautiful job depicting a huge amount of feelings and experiences the MC is going through internally through visualization.

[Katzalcoatl]

As a novelist I am not against changing the art as long as you respect the design. You can obviously change some details here and there but not the stuff like eye color or hair color.

When I work with an artist I like giving them lots of artistic freedom as long as they respect the original source.

Ofc I know my case does not represent all Novelist.

P.S. I also try to be as specific as possible in a scene that I imagine a certain way so the artist doesn't stray much from my original idea.

[candiedcotton]

Gender swaps are always really fun.

I used to randomly draw peoples' OCs and stuff all the time in other communities, but I had a couple really awful experiences where I basically got chewed out when I showed them to the authors, so I quit doing it. I guess they were offended by the way I saw the characters, I dunno. I mean, I tried to go with the details in the writing, but eh. It was basically treated like a failed commission.

[candiedcotton]

I think it's normal and expected to have basic... er, expectations, for a character's appearance. "She's latino with long black hair and hazel eyes" or whatever. But I've had a crew of authors literally debate over the exact shade-- I mean literally to a point you could barely tell any difference-- for an eye color or skin color, etc. Or tell me the bust of a woman was a cup too small (I don't know why but all my dude clients always want GIANT breasts and I tend to draw more average).

[WildMoonCrow]

I randomly had someone message me on Instagram saying that they wanted to make a comic of my novel, I’m just way too terrified to work with people tbh not because I’m picky or anything, but I’m terrified of being misunderstood cause I’m not a great communicator.

[Katzalcoatl]

I'm jelly but I feel ya.

[Katzalcoatl]

Meh. There can be some very picky authors. I think the only time one should debate such ideas is if it is crucial to the story.

[candiedcotton]

I think people sometimes confuse collaboration with commission, honestly. It's one thing if it's just a straight up commission, but collaborations are supposed to involve collaborating. People just seem to forget that a lot.

[Katzalcoatl]

That is just sad. I would even give a shout out to anyone who did this. I don't think anyone should feel insulted just for a genderswap. It should just be treated like fan art of any kind.

[Katzalcoatl]

OMG!!! Yeesss to this. So many people forget what a collab is all about!!!

[RiidDisBuk3]

You wrote it wrong. I just wanted to make sure.

[RiidDisBuk3]

Sadly no. But I do tend to write my novel in some form of a script format while keeping it a novel at the same time in order to not only have a normal audience, but to also have artists collaborate with me in wanting to write my novel.

[Hayka]

I've seen Blue Period, you mean the change in color and character expressions? Yeah, but it kinda got rushed tho, I'd been a fan for years and was waiting for the anime.
If you want more examples check out Shaft's works like March Comes In Like A Lion and Monogatari and Call Of The Night (it's not by the shaft studio but its a shaft director)

also I liked the depiction you did with a color swap. How about this

panel one: she was there, but she wasn't (colorless girl with colorless desk looking around)
panel two: until she no longer was (complete reversal, colorful desk and colorless environment and a colorless rose on her desk, also the girl disappears)
second panel would show that her presence was only known when she committed suicide and before that nobody knew of her so she was the colorless part, and after she died, it changed, now she was the center of attention and everyone focused on the news and everywhere but her desk lost color, and there's even a colorless flower there that shows someone from the outside put it there, but it doesn't become colorful, it's in contrast with the colorless environment its in, because it's too late to put a flower there and change the color

ahhh sorry this got long
anyway, yeah
best art is made when the artist and the writer both know what they're doing
the artist should know what the author has in mind
and the author should know that the artist can turn the idea and concept the author has inside their dumb head into something with a lot of layers

[candiedcotton]

I'm a massive fan of March Comes In Like A Lion. Really beautiful work.

And I dig that layout, it sounds good. The use of tones and imagery, especially with the rose too late and the empty desk.

I think when an artist and a writer can work together like that, it's like poetry in motion, frame by frame. It really is a beautiful thing.

[Hayka]

yizz. it would be pretty gewd
March really is a great example, and so is Monogatari and many other series

[Hayka]

but I didn't write it ;w;
it was Wings

[Katzalcoatl]

I genuinly laughed after noticing. 🤣

[Hayka]

I guess our pfps are similar from afar...except the blue background. theres a lil bit of red on the left and a lil bit of blue on the right :3

[RiidDisBuk3]

I am not even gonna bother asking xDDD