Graeme Brandham
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graemesatlas.substack.com
Graeme Brandham
@graemesatlas.substack.com
370 followers 830 following 230 posts
Writer | Artist | World-Builder 🌀Charting the intersection of story, philosophy & wonder in my Substack Atlas. 🌀Currently navigating rabbits, dinosaurs & the nature of reality. 🐰🦕☯️
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Every story has a spirit.
This is Terrance - a character I keep returning to, a personal locus of wonder who has transcended time. He's a creature of energy, imagination, and fun. (1/2)

#characterdesign #illustration #storytelling
Do you ever feel brave enough to do writing that spins a yarn on social commentary? To be a bit Dickensian?
Deciduous and Evergreen:
This is a new short story I’m writing for spooky season, Inspired by that feeling you get from movies like Casper, Hocus Pocus, and Stranger Things, all wrapped in the folkloric texture of a book like Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell.
graemesatlas.substack.com/p/deciduous-...
Deciduous and Evergreen
Part 001 of a spec-fic Halloween adventure.
open.substack.com
What is my serialised book about?

Genre: Sci-fi 🛸

Description: Humans and Rabbits must work together on a journey that will take them into deep space, to discover why it is that Rabbits are gravitationally aligned with the centre of the galaxy.
graemesatlas.substack.com/p/the-string...
The Strings Of Us
Chapter 001
graemesatlas.substack.com
This is awesome! Thank you for sharing! It's always nice to meet creatives exploring the same thing.
Im back after a long holiday, within which, I decided to re-addict myself to Downton Abbey. Foolish? Yes. Worth it? Also yes.

I have spent time here composing some thoughts about what this show does well, and how it uses story to keep you addicted.

graemesatlas.substack.com/p/the-downto...
The Downton Abbey Engine:
A Writer’s Guide to Addictive Storytelling
graemesatlas.substack.com
Sometimes my IRL work permeates into my storied life. This is part 001 of a short story about what happens when an ancient bottle of Madeira wine decides to share its memories.

graemesatlas.substack.com/p/wine-wind-...

#fiction #shortstory #wonder
Wine, Wind and Whipping Sails
A short story: Part 001
graemesatlas.substack.com
21) Is my MC a morning person?
I would say yes and no. Once they get into their journey, strict regimented industrial earth time, i.e. doing a 9-5, is less relevant. He sleeps with the curtains open. So that helps to be a morning person by virtue of the light seeping through.
#FantasyIndiesAugust
Ahh running out of time!
20) Superstitions in WIP
There is a thing called the strings. Its relatively unknown by humans, and those that have heard of it think its nonsense.
Rabbits on the other hand live with it every day. To them it is a way of life. Who has the truth of it?
#FantasyIndiesAugust
My Raw & Unedited series continue. Where you can see both what comes directly out of my notebook, and any thoughts I have about how I might improve it once i get to the second draft.

Let me know what you think!
graemesatlas.substack.com/p/raw-and-un...
The Strings of Us - Raw & Unedited - 002
A Story Within a Story
graemesatlas.substack.com
AI is a hot topic. There are many facets to the discussion that range from ethics, philosophy, politics, creativity.

In this entry, I have focussed only on what we can do, as creatives, to not lose ourselves to the machine entirely, if we do decide to partake.

open.substack.com/pub/graemesa...
Navigating the Age of AI
The cartographers dilemma.
open.substack.com
Oh nice, yes this makes a lot of sense. It also shows up my filmic background starkly because of how I tend to think of expression as a composition of the face.
I like this though, and I've always felt characters really do need to have unique expressions in the way they talk. Especially in writing.
I tried to give Cash’ya a posture that mixes confidence with a hint of impatience and uncertainty. But I'm curious what details you all notice first.
What's the most revealing element of a character's design for you?
(Poll Options: 1. Their expression, 2. Their Posture/Stance, 3. Their Clothes
When you’re first introduced to a new character design, what’s the first thing your eyes are drawn to that gives you a clue about their personality? For me, a character's stance and overall posture can say so much before they even speak a word.
Time to break up my feed with some personal art. A quick scroll through my albums uncovered this. Painted on my iPad (procreate) about 2 years ago. It's an interpretation of Gavilar Kholin, from 'The way of kings' by Brandon Sanderson.
#ArtSky #Art #Illustration #ConceptArt #DigitalArt #Drawing
19) "It's called ma. Emptiness. It's there intentionally. The time in between my clapping is ma. If you just have non-stop action with no breathing space at all, it's just busyness, but if you take a moment, then the tension building in the film can grow into a wider dimension".
#FantasyIndiesAugust
Still catching up
18) a WIP playlist. I tend to let the music fit the mood of what I'm writing. This recent fit of words has been quite a serene one, and so this playlist of mine has been in rotation. It's called 'working in the garden'
#FantasyIndiesAugust

open.spotify.com/playlist/6j5...
A fun worldbuilding problem I had to solve: Do my rabbits wear clothes?
My answer: Mostly no, but they wear robes around humans as a polite gesture to make them more comfortable.
What's a small worldbuilding detail you absolutely love in a book/film/game? #worldbuilding
There is so much cosy upon this piece of art. Cosy has settled into it like squirrels in a tree. Cosy has settled into it like hedgehogs under a log. Cosy has settled into it like Badgers in a set. Cosy has permeated every inch of this picture, like bubble tea in a gentle rain shower.
Rainy Bubble Tea ☔️🦡🧋 #art
Perhaps it's more accurate to simply say we grooved together. It was the best band I never played in. (7/7) 🎏
Funny that in hindsight, my language would be used in much the same way. To shout ‘their’ at their naming of me served to divide them too. To approximate a shape and size thrown into a humanmans bucket. 👇
They didn't realize that in this moment. I was the subject of their bass-line. And boy was I walking. I wasn't coy about it either. I loved being that thunderous beat that watered their conversation with something approaching consistency. 👇