claudeb: A white cat in purple wizard robe and hat, carrying a staff with a pawprint symbol. (Default)
I was hoping to make this post in December, but there were too many distractions. Let it be my first journal of 2026.

Best thing I can say about last year is, I survived! That's a good energy to bring into the new one, because things are going to get worse before they get better.

Second best thing (almost forgot) was starting a paper journal, with a good old-fashioned fountain pen. Makes me feel more alive than in a long time.

My biggest regret in 2025 was failing to complete even one work of fiction. The furthest I went was 5K words into a new novelette, that looked extremely promising before it fizzled out. Wrote a lot of worldbuilding material for The Dream though, and made a lot of art as well. Some of the art fell flat. It can't be helped.

On the plus side I did a lot of web design, and grew my site network considerably. Changed my homepage to reflect that, too, but otherwise it meant largely neglecting it.

Last but not least, over the holidays I learned a new old thing. Resolving to learn even more in 2026, then use it all to make more cool stuff.

Enough talk. Let's get this party started.

P.S. Check out Dreamwidth's own small web community. It rocks!
claudeb: A white cat in purple wizard robe and hat, carrying a staff with a pawprint symbol. (Default)
When I first created my website on Neocities, it didn't yet have a clear purpose, hence the somewhat generic name. Since then, the name in question has become a personal brand used on several websites. Which in turn muddled things because my site was named one thing and showed another.

As my other sites developed their own personality, this one remained the odd one out. In the end, the fix was to add a landing page distinct from my profile. It will serve as an anchor point, plus it helps the site look better and navigate better. You might even recognize some of my art from last year. Have some more, by the way:

Blocky miniature depicting the corner of a room: a table with chair, floor lamp and bookshelf. Light comes in through a large window, casting shadows.

The site still isn't perfect, of course, but I'm a lot happier about it now. Enjoy, and tell me what you think.
claudeb: A white cat in purple wizard robe and hat, carrying a staff with a pawprint symbol. (Default)
Two months ago when I posted the previous entry in my concept art series, there were actually two planned scenes. The second one was meant for the cover of volume six (which is finally out) but as you can see plans have changed, and I'm now free to use it here:

Photorealistic render of three spaceships in a dieselpunk style, ominously coming towards the viewer, under a strange moon. One resembles a submarine, another an airship, and the largest one is reminiscent of a streamlined locomotive.

It's a space opera story of grand-scale conflict that ties together previous installments, and moves the setting to a new stage by the end. There are more stories coming, too, so hopefully that means more art to go with it. But not just yet.
claudeb: A white cat in purple wizard robe and hat, carrying a staff with a pawprint symbol. (Default)
Last night I dreamed about visiting a friend in a foreign country. She lived in an isolated mountain town, albeit a modern one with Communist architecture. At some point people were swept up in a mass psychosis of sorts. Something to do with treating each other as products. We took refuge in an empty storefront, but had no supplies. So my friend handed me a few bills and sent me to the supermarket. I said, wait, I'm not familiar with the money here, why don't we go together. She didn't like that. I went alone. Lost my way, but ran into a group of people I'd met there. We went back to tell my friend, but couldn't find the storefront anymore. So we headed to the supermarket anyway. It was crowded, and a brawl started in which people were sticking labels with discounted prices on each other. Turns out it was all a marketing stunt or something? Either way that was waking up time.
claudeb: A white cat in purple wizard robe and hat, carrying a staff with a pawprint symbol. (Default)
It's been a busy spring, with all the work on the next two Dream books. (Volume five is out now!) Now that we're done with that, I was finally able to work more on my concept art series. This time with a piece that sends back to the tense encounter early on in [personal profile] kantuck's novel Shadowing the Dream:

3D render of two spaceships that resemble dieselpunk submarines. One is chasing the other, firing torpedoes. In the background, planets hang in a dark sky.

There's a new model and a refurbished model. You'll see the former again on the cover of upcoming volumes, too. But first to rest a bit and make another poster like these, because it's so satisfying.

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claudeb: A white cat in purple wizard robe and hat, carrying a staff with a pawprint symbol. (Default)
Claude LeChat

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