Adventures in Sketchtopia Part 2: BSC Notepad #1

Monsters and madness.

I turn my attention to a BSC (Bismarck State College) notepad. It contains a variety of drawings, most labeled with names of some kind.

Page 1: Dark Machines and Demons. I believe the machines were part of a giant pit concept, where each layer deeper was a stronger danger. For the demons, the Demon of the Pale Blade goes around disguised as a human (center). His normal form is on the right. Whereas, the abyssal fiend (left) while chained is humanoid; unchaining results in the true form expanding (bottom).

Page 2: Undead and Dark Humans. The undead includes a vampire-werewolf hybrid.

Page 3: Evil Magicians and Assassins. I'm not sure what makes a 'magi' distinctive. The demon ninja is either a demon that is also a ninja, or a ninja with demon-like qualities. Either way, a dangerous foe.

Page 4: Barbarian Humanoids and Beasts. You've got your standard orc, goblin and troll combos. Followed by a three-headed monster cryptically called 'Kram', the anagram of 'Mark'. An evil parallel-universe form?

Page 5: Random Undead and Heroes. The undead look to be a heavily clawed skeleton, a zombie with extra claws, and a spirit-animated suit of armor. Below them, I'm fuzzy on what the ninja generals were supposed to be about. Jackel is even more of a mystery. He is equipped with a fusion of magic and technology.

Page 6: More Undead and Obscure Stick Figures. One undead with a lopped off head (left). Another (right) with armor, a bone flail, and a flaming sword made from the skull of a theropod dinosaur. Boss-level danger going on there. The central and right stick figures are surely representations of undead and demons. The left figure though, intrigued me enough to keep this otherwise scrawl of a page. Is it an Ent? A golem? Hmmm?

With that, we've come to the end of part 1. We'll look at the second half next time.

Comments

Creative Tool: Idea Mutation

It's mutating out of control! Here is another wild method of improving the creativity of ideas through the process of introducing random 'mutations'. I call it Idea Mutation. Method: Start with an idea. Add it to a circle on the far left side of a piece of paper. That is round 1. Make two branches off the first idea. Each branch has a new circle. That is round 2. For each branch, roll a 10-sided dice and select the 'mutation' from the table below. For each branch, create a 'mutated' idea incorporating that branch's mutation. Continue branching and mutation ideas for subsequent rounds (3, 4, etc.). Modifications: Include different mutations (ex. Add Thrill, More Collaborative, Clearer, etc.) Add null mutation (no changes for certain branches) Change probability of mutations (same mutation for more than one number) Examples:

Creative Tool: Idea Bracket

Let the Best Idea Win. How to generate great ideas? Why not create an Idea Bracket ? It is analogous to a sports league play-off. Ideas are pitted against each other, with the winning idea moving on to the next round. The last idea standing is the winner. I do have a few additional rules. The Three M's : Modify, Merge, and Markup. These rules allow for both idea modification and saving sub-winner ideas. Simple enough, right? Let's try it out on some examples. Story Beginning Location Floating City and Haunted Graveyard merged into Floating Graveyard Screaming Wastelands modified into Blasted Wastelands Winner was Floating Graveyard and Sundered Titan merged into Floating Graveyard of Titans Artistic Inspiration Shack Brainstorming and Review Idea/Notes merged to Shack Review Ideas TCG View modified to TCG Mashup Shack Review Ideas marked for later Monster App and Walk and Song merged to Walk and Song with Monster App Priming Winner was T...

Writing Tool: Panic Cards

For writing emergencies only... In a previous post , I created a break-in-case of emergency box for days where I'm severely struggling to get my writing goal in. In case that box is not enough, or if I'm away from my house, I've devised another emergency method to keep me from veering off my writing track. Panic Cards. What are they? Simple. Index cards cut in half with encouraging phrases on one side. The other side has a small, randomized reward for completing the writing task. I made it random on purpose to increase the intrigue. To use them, I pull out the card, read the phrase of encouragement, and get the writing done. Once the thirty minutes of writing is completed, I turn over the card and reap the reward. Silly? Maybe. Effective? Time will tell. It's better to have an emergency plan and never use it than to not have one when an emergency comes calling.

The Mark Williamson Creative Universe

Search This Blog