Time of rejoicing

“I want to give myself to You, for You have provided for me with great friends.”

                                                                        — Aimée Duchemin

 

Another passion-fuelled sketch, set to the tone of a drum loop I had recently completed, drawn on DeviantArt Muro, touched up on GIMP and PowerPoint 2010.

 

Love it? Support me by purchasing the print here!

A new track is up on Soundcloud.

Presenting "Capital of Soot" for The National Service Journal.

I did this without a single idea in mind, but later decided that the capital city where Aimée Duchemin comes from would be dreary, cold, dark and grey — reminiscent of London at the height of industrialisation.

On the subject, the places in Les Histoires Duchemin have been renamed to allow localisation, and also to fit with the serious tone of the game.

Lumine is now Whillians.

I initially wanted the place to be a garden city of lights, but that would mean Aimée might have a reason to turn back. The name actually came from the Spanish word for soot — hollin — then we Frenchified it, and it became Houillens, and the English name is now Whillians.

Irinie can technically be called the United Kingdom.

The system is similar to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland — in Histoires, we have Bloomingforth (where the capital is situated) and Elrency. 

I imagine there'll still be quite a bit of renaming to do, but the name Aimée Duchemin stays! 

Oh, and you'd probably be wondering how I got this track on Blogger. I have Soundcloud now.

 follow me at soundcloud.com/troisnyx

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Oh and on a side note...

LLB Year 2 results are out.

I GOT ALL SECOND UPPERS! ^_^

Yahweh Sabaoth be praised!

I can safely say that I am going to Year 3 in September. I once thought the results were going to come out in late July or early August like most modules. Then I found out from three friends that the results would be out a month after the exams, because the resit period for LLB is in less than two weeks. So three of us — Ruth, Sheila and I — got together on Facebook and talked about the results. I'll be seeing them in Year 3 for Company Law, and I'm glad I'll also have Ruth in my class — she's doing Intellectual Property with me.

Will keep you posted on more. In the meantime, I must find a way to offer a thanksgiving mass...... :D

More works.

I do realise it’s been a long time since I wrote a post explaining my works, so here goes. I’m going to provide the titles, the videos and the back story to each of them:

Cookies (remixed): a gift for Rusty8984

Those of you in the Mario Paint Hangout might recognise this.

After seeing what a fun piece the original was, and how it had some errors in the harmony, I decided to take to FL Studio and remake this. And Rusty loved it! ^_^ I’m grateful and glad. Oh, and also, with this comes Cookies Live, a promotional video for the Mario Paint Hangout which I did:

The tempting allure of cookies can be resisted, but for the purposes of this vid, they can’t. :P

The whole thing was done with my PC webcam. I thought of doing it after I saw a pack of Smarties cookies being sold at Asda for £1 — I was thrilled! Those were the same cookies I pictured Luigi eating!

My signature MPC theme

About time!

I decided to jump on the bandwagon of composer themes. My Mario Paint Composer friends Herty, Mario7Mario3 and a few others already had their own MPC themes. This is actually an amalgamation of several works, some of which never made it online, others still in progress (or to be done). Going to this video on YT will allow you to see which previous songs of mine were thrown in.

This was the first entry in the MPC Original Composition Contest Round 16 (I had hosted the previous round).

Credits Theme (remixed): a gift for Xavalma

The idea for the picture came from M7M3, who suggested that this was the most poignant way to get the song across.

Here’s another song which had potential, but I wasn’t a fan of the instrumentation in the original.

Floating in Thunderous Skies

My first ever original composition in 5/4 time.

My second submission to the OC Contest Round 16. The very reason why I came up with this piece was because I wanted to attempt something in 5/4 time (five beats in a bar, so you don’t count one-two-three-four before the next strong beat; it’s one-two-three-four-five). I had kept it untitled for a long time, but after persuasion from fellow MPC users M7 and MrBretowsky, I finally named it. I thought of Mary Poppins whilst doing this — it felt as though I was floating with an umbrella and the skies were dark, and it was rainy, and there was thunder and lightning. Hence the name.

 Westminster Tune ~ Preuve de foi

The words “Preuve de foi” mean “Proof of faith” in French, hinting at the song’s origin and back story.

This tune began in Westminster Cathedral (not to be confused with Westminster Abbey) and ended in Hatfield. I first wrote this as a tune to the new translation of Gloria in excelsis Deo, after hearing that at some point, people would start working on singable versions of the new lyrics (besides the plainchant). Then after some time, I realised that the tune would not fit the rest of the lyrics, so I left it. I sequenced a fragment of it on FL Studio, and left it for a few months. Fast forward to May 2011 and I started thinking of the song again. This time I had an idea of what the final result would be, but only a vague one. I got down to sequencing it, then got the feedback of my close friend James, attempted to modify it, saved the modified version, gave it to him for more feedback, then attempted to modify it again… but this time, my PC went wonky on me and I lost ALL my session data. T_T So this is by no means the final result, but it’s one song I can never get back again. I was in the College Lane LRC when I spoke to a coursemate of mine about this, and I cried…

That Poor Cat!

Meow meow meow meow meow meow meow meow meow meow meow meow meow *pant* meow meow *pant* meow…

I did this after looking at the article on That Poor Cat on TVTropes… that should speak for itself.

Éventails: an ambience for The National Service Journal

Some of you might remember this.

I had uploaded a low-quality version on YT once (I had recorded that with my phone), and this is only one of many remade BGM files for The National Service Journal. Now, about Éventails and what it looks like in the story: it’s a province known for its vast plains and grassy fields with flowers. The wind gently blows over the place, and it does so constantly. There are one or two wind turbines at designated areas, but they don’t spoil the place. Whatever the weather, the scenery is beautiful. That’s a place where couples declare love for each other, or people make very important decisions.

Harmonie: one year after my humble beginnings

Yes, friends, one year of music.

Close to one year after I did my first ever cover for YT, I remade my introduction to Les Histoires Duchemin: Harmonie. Another friend and fellow singer on YT, Usagiflower, wrote me a version with lyrics — I must get to that soon.

CODENAME=PENYEKSAAN: my first work in my own constructed language

Presenting… Sauveterrané!

In case you’re wondering what this is, it’s Sauveterrané. A conlang I’ll be using for Les Histoires Duchemin. I actually sequenced the music to this song (and had the idea for the melody) late last year, on MPC. This began as a Hymmnos, but I decided against it.

So, Sauveterrané. It’s a heady mix of Breton, Malay, Welsh, French, English, Latin and Hymmnos (of the Pastalia variety). “Penyeksaan” is Malay for “torture” or “supplication”.

Paraphrase on Kairi’s, Naminé’s and Xion’s themes

Kingdom Hearts fans will perhaps love this.

This is my first ever remake of an existing background theme from an existing game. It combines three character themes from the Kingdom Hearts series: those of Kairi, Naminé and Xion. I wanted this to be perhaps a way to lure listeners in. It did get quite a bit of feedback… 9 likes, compared to the minimum of four, but that was it. And I attempted to make this a video response to one of BlueNctrn’s works, but till now I don’t think anyone’s paid attention. T_T

Ubi Caritas (Taizé hymn)

The lyrics are short and singable: it’s “Ubi caritas et amor / Ubi caritas, Deus ibi est”. The full sentence, “Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est” means “Where charity and love prevail, there God is ever found”.

This is the most familiar of all the Taizé hymns to me, as I heard this being sung one Maundy Thursday when I was growing up. For the uninitiated, Taizé is a community in Burgundy, France, and people make pilgrimages there. The commune is best known for its hymns.

Fun fact: Scroll up a few songs and you’ll have listened to CODENAME=PENYEKSAAN. The original name, as a Hymmnos title, was METHOD_over_EXEC_TAIZE/.

And finally…

Prize remixes for the MPC OC Contest Round 15

In the results video (Part 2), I had announced that the top three winners would get remixed versions of their original compositions. After some time (and especially after working on Our Sending), I finally got down to doing two out of three. The final one is coming soon, and I haven’t scrapped it off my to-do list.

Third place: VG Title Theme

Originally composed by DrToadProductions.

Listen to the original.

When I finally put this up on YT, it sounded more like a credits theme than a title theme. It came to the point that one person said in his comments, “The credits roll and Kirby finally gets to eat his cake!”

Second place: A Distant Memory

Originally composed by ChristeriousNinja.

This is, hands down, my favourite song in the OC Contest Round 15, but it may not be my favourite remix. Listen to the original.

I’m saying this because this piece was really, really poignant, and in the remix, I did not want to touch it (except perhaps give it a more defined fadeout). I couldn’t find the right tempo for this, and I actually used the original sample in the remix. Also, my idea for M7’s MPC theme might be even better than the actual composition, and this.

Phew. That was a lot in one go. But that’s what happens when I don’t share my works for a long time. Have fun!

Starting line theme, anyone?

This.

La Ligne du Départ done on FL Studio 9.

A remake of this.

La Ligne du Départ, the winning composition for Round 14 of the OC Contest, done on Mario Paint Composer.

I’m quite happy with the way it turned out, and I’ve done some thinking about how to use this track. Picture this:

The trainees are at the starting line, about to begin some intense training. Majors Zulkahar and Evayne in front of them, giving them words of advice. Halfway through the song, there is commotion: two trainees are missing, and both of them are key players — Aimée Durand and Sylvain Dieudonné.

Suddenly, there is a small flash of light in the sky, a rumbling sound coming from the sky, and the clouds part as though by force. Everyone looks up (or gets his friends to look up)… and they see a dragon (it’s Senior [Erroll] de Wardes) flying at full speed, with Aimée, Sylvain and Senior (Llyr) Bleddyn on it. Aimée and Sylvain are having the time of their lives up in the sky. Soon after, they all reach the ground. Aimée, Sylvain and Llyr get off, and Erroll changes back to his human form. Aimée joins her friends at the starting line with a determined smile on her face.

There. I finally put this theme to good use. Plot to be developed soon.

My last uploaded work before Lent

This Lent, I’m giving up the sequencer. And chocolate, and Open Mics.

I realise that I won’t be able to give music up entirely because I might be playing the piano at some point, I do not know when… The whole point is not solely about giving up a negative habit, but also a favourite thing (in my case, three favourite things). It’s a question of self-denial here — how willing are we to curb our tendencies?

I’m also giving it up to prepare for mooting, handle my final bit of coursework and prepare for my exams.

Ash Wednesday falls this Wednesday… so before I take a break from FL Studio 9 and Mario Paint Composer for Lent, here is the work of the season:

This is the first of two final boss battle themes in « Le Carnet du Service National » — there will be a Dies Irae II. But I digress. One of its inspirations is the plainchant “Dies Irae” (the title means “day of ire”, or rather “day of wrath”). The original plainchant talks about the Second Coming of Jesus Christ and Judgement Day, thus it was a calm but sombre piece indeed. This one is by no means calm — I wanted to make it beautiful, but sombre. Those of you who have heard the original Dies Irae might be able to spot a reference to the first line (“Dies irae dies illa”) and a bit of the second (“Solvet saeclum in favilla”).

I decided to go ahead with this one because in the story of The National Service Journal, the final boss, Ankoù, was once the ruler of a kingdom (now fallen into darkness and known as the City of Dreadful Night, where all sin is supreme and all chaos breaks loose), and as a friend puts it, “that city deserves its judgement anyway”.

On a final note, I will be updating this space from time to time, as usual, but I will not be posting any works (except for those which I have sequenced in the past but have not yet released).

To all who observe the season of Lent, may God bless you during this season and may it be a fruitful one!

Filler material for #kingdomherts — works, works and more works

The original song, which can be found under Video Responses to this vid, was created by a fellow Mario Paint Composer user, Herty140. When he heard me singing Erutan’s “Birds of a Feather”, he asked if I could sing one of his songs. At the time I spoke to him about this he had three lyrical compositions, and I decided to pick Brand New Day.

 

And this is the song I let Herty140 listen to — “Birds of a Feather” by Erutan. When I sequenced the music for this, I thought of the heightened drama and happiness when the bride and groom kiss at the alter after the nuptial blessing.

 

This work, “The Fitting Room”, started off as a character theme and then evolved into a shop theme. It’s the most liked work in Project Olivia to date.

 

I wrote this song, « J’apprends » (“I learn”) in 2004, but at a time when Floppy drives were dying out, USB drives were introduced and Windows XP came into the scene, this was one of the few works I recorded on my teacher’s digital piano which ever made it into my computer. And this year, I decided to remake it. I doubt I’d be releasing the original MIDI version until and unless I copyright the songs, or unless YT protects these works enough.

 

This is a paraphrase on a Hymmnos song, EXEC_EP=NOVA/. (I can’t put links in video legends ; please look it up). I wanted to try something which would make my voice as Enyafied as possible, and there were only a few sections in EP=NOVA/. which I liked. I took the middle section and reworked it.

 

Finally ! The opening song to The National Service Journal (Le Carnet du Service National) is FINISHED ! I had written this song in 2009, but I only recently reworked the lyrics and sequenced the music. I wanted to stay true to my original idea that this song would be called « Sur la terre des hommes libres » (“In the land of the free”), that it would sound like this, and that the chorus parts would not have lyrics.

So there you go. Filler material for a period where productivity may be slow. This post is especially for those of you who haven’t been following the chronological order of works on my YT page.

Also, today, one of the Commercial Law lecturers, another lecturer and four coursemates listened to Sur la terre des hommes libres and loved it. At that moment I felt like my inside was poured out for them to see. I didn’t know what to feel… Embarrassed ? Scared ? I definitely did feel vulnerable.

But they loved Troisnyx ! The Lord be praised ! ^_^ What started off as a casual discussion with part of the crew at St Albans turned out to be a bout of self-promotion. Well, here we go.

A new wallpaper is done : )

One of Didier Deschamps this time :

This is gonna be one of his last designs (chronologically) - this is what I intend him to look like by the end of the main series. I imagine the last episode in the series is Les Histoires Duchemin 7. The tattoo on his face is supposed to be the insignia of a warrior : I got inspired by Zell from Final Fantasy VIII, as well as the cultures of several ethnic groups in the Malaysian state of Sarawak which practice tattooing.

The fictional location of Point-Neuf, the place where Histoires begins (also, Deschamps' province of birth), is an amalgamation of many cultures, but predominantly Sarawakian and Breton. Imagine black, white and gold solidarity, tattooing, people who were once masters in head-hunting (read : about a millenium ago), national identity crises, community dance gatherings...... and anything Breton and Sarawakian which can logically be fused together.

Now, about Deschamps. In the first episode, Le Carnet du Service National (English : The National Service Journal), there are four companies in the conscription training camps : Alpha (red), Bravo (blue), Charlie (yellow) and Delta (green). Under the initial system, I placed Didier in Delta. Now it's Alpha (royal blue), Bravo (crimson), Charlie (chartreuse) and Delta (yellow), which makes Deschamps fall under Charlie - I did not want to change the colour associated with him.

I'll do main characters Aimée Duchemin, Erroll de Wardes and Sylvain Dieudonné soon... provided I can stuff them within the same picture size.

This is my first work where everything (yes, everything) was done on a touchpad, and although this work looks like nothing but a draft, I'm quite pleased with the touchpad thing. : )

Drawn on Paint

Colouring and effects done on GIMP

Love it ? Show some love by getting the print here !

The theme song of Le Carnet du Service National !

I titled it audace, meaning "audacity" or "courage". The recording is based on the song I wrote last year during National Service.




English version.





French version (with the original lyrics). I didn't want it to deviate too far from the original.


I was planning for this song to be the theme of The National Service Journal, The Black Journal as well as Les Histoires Duchemin. It'd appear in several instances - during endings, during credits themes... and I'd possibly incorporate it into other themes. I love songwriting !

The music was recorded in the music faculty (opposite the Art and Design building) and there, Emmanuel (yes, the one who recorded the vids of Games Night) taught me how to use Logic 8. I am pleased ! ^_^

New works !

This is Bataille Royale, one of my original themes. It's been heavily inspired by Voyage 1969 from Touhou 8. I intended it for the Examination Duel in The National Service Journal. And because I did it on Mario Paint, I'm gonna state this clearly enough : this is only a draft.



This other work, which is part of Project Hymmnos, is a direct translation of the responsorial psalm from the 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time, which features lines from the story of the Prodigal Son, as well as from a few psalms (I must check the numbers). Immediately when I heard the original lyrics I realised that it could be translated into Hymmnos, since the lexicon covers all the terms used, so a friend and I worked on it together. He did the translations, and I sang them.

Audace, stage choreography.

For the lyrics to this song, kindly see this post.





Now listen as I put in pointers on what effects and moves will appear during several points in the song. Imagine that there's a huge audience, and the stage is right in front. Behind it are LCD screens. The backing dancers are wearing the "normal" uniform from Le Carnet du Service National, while the lead singer wears the commander's uniform (see this post).

First nineteen seconds : Very dim blue lights. The stage is hardly illuminated. If it even is, then only the silhouettes of the performers should be visible to the audience.

0:19 : White lights slowly fade in, and the blue is still on. The main performers should be slightly illuminated.

0:29 : White lights should start flickering arbitrarily, causing a bit of suspense.

0:40 : Almost all lights come in full force except for the bright yellows. All the performers are visible. Performers should gather together in a line as they chant and raise their hands/fists into the air.

0:54 : Back to blue and white, but the blue and white lights stay on. Lead is clearly illuminated, but the backing dancers can be vaguely seen. They take their positions towards the back of the lead singer. Backing dancers perform a routine which involves a sequence like... step-step-step-twist-left-right-left-right-rinseandrepeat.

1:12 : Light is shed a little more on the backing dancers. Everyone raises hands in this sequence... Left side raises left hand, right side raises right hand, both sides raise remaining hands. Drop. Repeat.

1:31 : All lights slowly fade in (apart from the white and blue, of course). Everyone raises his hands to heaven.

1:35 : Chorus. All lights are on in full force. They can be alternated, if necessary. Scenes of Le Carnet start playing in the main LCD whilst the performers' faces and camera angles are projected in the two side LCDs. The sequence is like this : earlier, our hands were raised up to heaven ; now, at prie, the right hand is brought to the heart, and the fist is clenched. At Dieu, the left hand is brought to the heart, close to the right hand.

1:38 : Audace has three syllables in this song : au-da-ceuh. At -da, the right hand is extended to the front, and at -ceuh, the left hand is extended to the front. The hands must be apart, like taking someone in open arms. From Renforce onwards, the lead singer puts her hand to her heart and looks up into the sky. Backing dancers/vocalists switch lines : those in the front row go to the back, and those in the back go to the front. Their movement is akin to that of a diagonal ellipse...

1:44 : Repeat "Je te prie, Dieu, donne-moi d'l'au-da-ce".

1:48 : At "Car j'ai besoin de me lever et leur dire", all the backups take a slow walk to the front, and the lead takes a slow walk to the back until they are all gathered in one line.

1:54 : At  je, the right hand is brought to the heart. At the word vais, the left is brought to the heart... At the word perdre, the backup dancers begin their sequence of step-step-step-twist-left-right-left-right, whilst the lead steps in front.

2:06 : Chants are sung again here. This time, even the lead joins in the dance sequence.

2:15 : Everyone takes a leap in the air. A similar scene from Le Carnet is played in the main LCD, and the backup dancers give a loud WHOOP ! Then, it's back to blue and white lights... the sombre atmosphere. Instead of the fast paced moves that the backups have done in the first verse, this time, the boys and girls walk towards each other and pass by each other. This is at Les jours commencent. And then, at the word lentement, the couples turn towards each other such that they face each other.

2:24 : At Je pars, the boys take the girls' hands, but only the hands. They move past each other, slowly, stately... and the blue lights follow them.

2:28 : At Ce qui est mon destin, the boys let go of the girls' hands, and the girls do a pirouette and stop. The interval between these two movements is moderately long.

2:33 : The other lights (except for the bright yellows) slowly fade in and out according to the time. At Ces yeux sont lourds, the girls move to one side and the boys to another, and at the end of this line, which is at 2:38,  they move as though they are about to dress up their lines in a drill - the left knee is brought up to the thigh and then stamp (at the same time the right arm is lifted to the next person's shoulder, and the performers momentarily look right, and then front again), then the right knee, then several quick steps until the line is dressed. The lead is still doing her prayerful monologue in the front...

2:42 : At Et ces oreilles, the backing performers drop their hands and stand in ready position.

2:47 : At Mais ils s'ouvrent, the backing performers walk in a stately fashion to where the lead is, until they all form one line. Note that here, the word puissance has three syllables - puis-san-ceuh. At -san, the performers to the left raise their left hands, and at -ceuh, the performers to the right raise their right hands. And just before the chorus, they drop their hands.

2:56 : Same notes as for 1:35 to 1:54, except that towards the end of the chorus, the performers are expected to have their hands lifted throughout the time the lights fade. Yes, in this part, the lights fade ; only the blue lights and two white spotlights remain. The bleaker scenes of Le Carnet are played on the main screen. The backing performers can drop their hands by 3:35, where most lights would've faded out.

3:37 : The lead does a Romeo-style monologue (get what I mean ?). It's a really emotional moment here. We can even have her falling to her knees as she does this, and towards 4:00, we can have two people rushing to her to lift her up.

4:02 : The lighting is still dim. The more hopeful scenes of Le Carnet play on the main screen. Lead goes into prayerful standing position. Towards 4:17 the slightly brighter lights - the greens - fade in.

4:21 : Backing performers reprise their step-step-step-twist-left-right-left-right routine. The red lights start fading in. The scenes in Le Carnet become more and more hopeful.

4:39 : Lead singer joins in the backing performers' routine. All notes for the previous choruses apply. At prie, fireworks are set off from the front of the stage. All lights fade in and out arbitrarily without taking away the brightness of the stage. There should be a sort of ethereal light towards the front of the stage.

4:57 : Fireworks are set off from the front of the stage. The Bravo victory scenes are played on the main screen, thus they are scenes of joy. Confetti (the glittery type) falls on the stage from this point right up till 5:59. The backing performers give the melody this time whilst the lead goes front and messes with the vocals... in a good way, of course. The same routine is applied for this chorus. Except that the last two lines are combined : Je ne vais pas perdre surtout pas maintenant. At je, the right hand is brought to the heart, and at vais, the left. At perdre, the backing performers move behind by one line, and all of them perform the wave... at surtout pas maintenant.

5:25 : Last syllable of the chorus. Everyone joins in the step-step-step-twist-left-right-left-right routine and chants. In the middle of the chants, say around 5:40, the lead takes another performer in her right hand, and he takes another performer, and so on and so on until they form a chain. But the chain's movement is arbitrary : lead starts from the middle, she takes a performer in the right end, he takes a performer in the left, and the sequence carries on until all are connected.

5:59 : Falling resolution. Confetti stops. Lights fade out except for the blue ones. The main screen shows the very secret ending of Le Carnet, which somehow gives the audience a sort of hope. All hands are detached, and all performers are facing the front, heads down. At the end of the song, all lights and screens fade out.

So, what do you think ? If there's anything I missed, do tell me !

Good news !

I went to college to enquire about my first-year results as well as the universities I can go to...

The first hint was that it was more than 50%.

The second hint was that it was a 60% average.

It's three B+ and one B ! Praise the Lord !

Now I know I was least expecting this, especially when I had aimed for a 1st class honours and fell at a 2nd upper, but I somehow believe it's a blessing in disguise. The university which accepts me has two good years to evaluate me, and I pray Yahweh that these two years be blessed !

I have a few choices right now : My initial choice was Cardiff, but now I have a few other options - Hertfordshire, Aberystwyth, Liverpool and Northumbria. And of all these options, I'm trying to choose between Hertfordshire and Cardiff. I initially thought I'd probably go to Wales but it might not look like I'll be saving beached Wales... get the pun ?

The next piece of good news is that I worked on a Le Carnet du Service National-related drawing again, after so many months of inactivity. And now, it's my desktop background !

So these are how the commanders of the companies' female halves look like. The surnames are at the bottom of the title : (Shahida) Evans for Alpha, (Aimée) Duchemin for Bravo, (Alix) Sauveterre for Charlie and (Tatienne) Delacroix for Delta. I'm not sure how the image turned out overall, though I am quite satisfied with what I did for the girls' hair, especially Tatienne's.

This is the full-sized sketch (note that I made it smaller and centred it for the desktop) :

Thoughts ?

A long-awaited update on Le Carnet

Today marks one year since I went for National Service, so it's time to give an update on the project I've long been working on : Le Carnet du Service National.

I have now reached 55,272 words, including the preface. Footers need to be excluded, but still...

Plot-wise, I have a lot to do. There are so many underdeveloped (and even undeveloped) days in Le Carnet du Service National, and I have to write them fast, before November. Thing is, I've got so much to do in so little time. So many projects are running, stuff which I truly want to do before my second year begins.

A friend and I have been discussing on random stuff : places, images, people, certain scenes, but right now, the whole problem lies in getting all these tiny details together. I really can't wait to see the final result, but I have to work hard on it...

Melodies, NaNoWriMo and whatnot

The good thing about being artistically inclined is that I can come up with at least the basic idea for each character, and the soundtrack to fit into the ambience of the actual story.

Well, it isn't entirely plain sailing, and I'm waiting for an opportune time to put some of my drafts for the CDSN Soundtrack online. And I'll have to describe each and every one of them.

I've also thought of trying my luck by submitting the story of Le Carnet du Service National to the team behind National Novel Writing Month. They open for submissions every 1st November to 30th November, but since there's still a relatively long way more to go, I just signed up as a user. I'm thinking of slowly developing every bit of the story, fine-tuning all the fantastical elements... and once November comes, I'll be putting the story in (50 000 words in all) and I'll link to it from here.


More to come from me soon.

Toods !

I must write again.

The whole series of works for Les Histoires Duchemin isn't done yet. And it's waiting for my input.


I'm not sure if I'll ever update this post, but regardless, I'll be posting up a story fragment which has been haunting me of late.


The story fragment doesn't come from the Carnet du Service National, for those of you who have been following this tag for as long as you can remember. Yet, everything I write in this tag is linked. I may seem to be the type to jump here and there (as per Virginia Woolf's "stream of conscience") but I'm gonna make sure that whatever story I write has a proper plot, a proper set of characters, and a proper array of images and original soundtracks.


Eh galère, my back is aching.

Oh, and on a side note, here's a draft cover I made for Le Carnet du Service National :

Clockwise, from top : Didier Deschamps (Delta), Sybil Françaix (Bravo), Tatienne Delacroix (Delta), Aimée Duchemin (Bravo), Sylvain Dieudonné (Alpha), Térence Françaix (Alpha). You'll recognise them by the colours of their outfits more than anything else.

Love the cover ? Support me by purchasing the print here !

Colours are all thanks to Unbirth ; lineart, text and background are mine.

I realise it's a bit too colourful for a macabre story which could easily land a PEGI 12+ or PEGI 16 if turned into a game (ESRB : Teen). Back when I did this I was thinking of the things that made Duchemin and company happy, but...... no, I think I should work on another one.

I'm only putting in a summary of what you can expect to find in Le Carnet, and I'm obviously doing a favour to those who are too lazy to read all the tags I put for this post. This story involves paranormal forces, blood, violence (but not gore), mild language and questions of faith. Given the stringent rating here, it'd probably land 18-PL (combination of two or more adult elements), but elsewhere, it should reach PG-13 at the very least. So, if you can help me come up with ideas for a cover, featuring these six characters, it'd be great !

Emotes.

Left to right, top to bottom : Rouge, Ultramarine, Melen, Verdâtre, Typhon, Schweiss, Étoile, Sauveterre, Nagareboshi and Diablo. I don't know why Verdâtre's emote came out with a black BG though......

My first set of emoticons, all done in GIMP. The basic circle/shape was done on PowerPoint, and I'm quite pleased with the result for most of them (most of them can be seen here). I found the original tutorial here, but it's for Corel Paintshop, and since I only have GIMP, I did a great deal of modifications here and there until I was pleased with the result.

My personal favourite is Étoile, because he's blue, and starry, and has a happy face ^_^

I'll be working on more soon - perhaps.

Oh, and I almost forgot to add these :

The wallpaper featuring Rouge, Ultramarine, Melen, Verdâtre and Typhon, representative of the five companies in Le Carnet du Service National.

Like it ? Support me by buying the print here !

The wallpaper featuring the first eight emotes I worked on.

Like it ? Support me by buying the print here !