Post by Dabeagle on Dec 7, 2015 21:02:45 GMT -5
I'm sure everyone knows that Robin is very near and dear to my heart. When Ryan originally created him in Broken Hearted, he was only in a few scenes - but was clearly loyal, empathetic and a sweet guy. RYan was very intrigued that I liked this side character so much and we batted a few things back and forth before he started on what would become Preacher's Kid. I admit to not having been really hot on Charlie and, as the story developed, I was trying to explain the foster system to Ryan and felt it should have been longer in some respects. In the original version, Ryan had included the lyrics to the songs that Charlie and Robin, respectively, sang to the other. In my view, and Ryan ended up agreeing, that just fills up space and frequently the song means far more to the author than the reader.
As I mentioned previously, Lucien was my response to the emotion of Robin being there and unattainable. Also, at that time, Ryan didn't have intentions to continue the series. In fact, he'd only intended to write Broken Hearted and wouldn't have written Preacher's Kid, were it not for my 'encouragement'. As Lucien's first story took form, we discussed the characters quite a bit but when the image montage was created for the story we began in earnest to find images to represent our characters. Sasha was easy, as it was his image used for the original Sanitaria Springs (model Alex Watson, brother to Emma Watson of Harry potter fame). Alec was represented by a black and white image of a young man throwing a football, an image used as an A&F poster. Kale was represented by an image of Logan Lerman (Ryan's choice) and Chase was pictured as a model named Derrick Ebner, who'd been in competition some years ago for a teen modeling contract. Ryan's choice for Chase's inspiration was actually Jon Cozart, who's made some very complex and entertaining videos. Lucien's image was hard because there was no acceptable pictures of guys with red rimmed glasses.
But this is about Robin.
Even though Ryan created Robin, I take credit for developing and nurturing this character with a lot of love. Over his many appearances I tried to show his humor, his stability and his knack for remaining calm and his empathy for others. In fact, I think the only place where Robin might be characterized as unreasonable is when it comes to Lucien. So, as you might imagine, selecting an image to represent him was somewhat of a chore - after all, it had to be just right. Ryan and I traded some potential images back and forth as we debated what might work best - something in a lacrosse uniform? Full face or a body shot? Then the image that we agreed on turned up and it was just perfect - bright blue eyes that were rounded in a look of mild surprise and thick, wavy dark hair. So the image was made and the template was set in our minds for what Robin looked like, the template we used going forward to describe him.
Then, one night, Ryan said 'Hey, guess what? Robin has a Tumblr.'
As it happens, the image we found was for a model, photographer and actor named Sean O'Donnell, and he did indeed have a Tumblr. Twitter. Facebook. YouTube. And he seems to be a great guy - his interviews are humble and he is always respectful in his understanding that his fans got him to where he is. He's a pretty good photographer, posting some of his pictures online, and he continues to model. Oh, and all this and he's an ally, too. Robin is a character I just love - in fact, in one of our weirder conversations, Ryan and I were talking about which character we'd become if we were to live in Sanitaria Springs. Even though Kale was pretty much 'Ryan gone right', he really loved Griffin. I said I'd be Lucien - to have Alec back me up, a bus and have Robin? No contest! Sean's Facebook is one we've liked on the site FB, or just do a search and you'll find him. A great kid with a good heart - a perfect Robin.
As I mentioned previously, Lucien was my response to the emotion of Robin being there and unattainable. Also, at that time, Ryan didn't have intentions to continue the series. In fact, he'd only intended to write Broken Hearted and wouldn't have written Preacher's Kid, were it not for my 'encouragement'. As Lucien's first story took form, we discussed the characters quite a bit but when the image montage was created for the story we began in earnest to find images to represent our characters. Sasha was easy, as it was his image used for the original Sanitaria Springs (model Alex Watson, brother to Emma Watson of Harry potter fame). Alec was represented by a black and white image of a young man throwing a football, an image used as an A&F poster. Kale was represented by an image of Logan Lerman (Ryan's choice) and Chase was pictured as a model named Derrick Ebner, who'd been in competition some years ago for a teen modeling contract. Ryan's choice for Chase's inspiration was actually Jon Cozart, who's made some very complex and entertaining videos. Lucien's image was hard because there was no acceptable pictures of guys with red rimmed glasses.
But this is about Robin.
Even though Ryan created Robin, I take credit for developing and nurturing this character with a lot of love. Over his many appearances I tried to show his humor, his stability and his knack for remaining calm and his empathy for others. In fact, I think the only place where Robin might be characterized as unreasonable is when it comes to Lucien. So, as you might imagine, selecting an image to represent him was somewhat of a chore - after all, it had to be just right. Ryan and I traded some potential images back and forth as we debated what might work best - something in a lacrosse uniform? Full face or a body shot? Then the image that we agreed on turned up and it was just perfect - bright blue eyes that were rounded in a look of mild surprise and thick, wavy dark hair. So the image was made and the template was set in our minds for what Robin looked like, the template we used going forward to describe him.
Then, one night, Ryan said 'Hey, guess what? Robin has a Tumblr.'
As it happens, the image we found was for a model, photographer and actor named Sean O'Donnell, and he did indeed have a Tumblr. Twitter. Facebook. YouTube. And he seems to be a great guy - his interviews are humble and he is always respectful in his understanding that his fans got him to where he is. He's a pretty good photographer, posting some of his pictures online, and he continues to model. Oh, and all this and he's an ally, too. Robin is a character I just love - in fact, in one of our weirder conversations, Ryan and I were talking about which character we'd become if we were to live in Sanitaria Springs. Even though Kale was pretty much 'Ryan gone right', he really loved Griffin. I said I'd be Lucien - to have Alec back me up, a bus and have Robin? No contest! Sean's Facebook is one we've liked on the site FB, or just do a search and you'll find him. A great kid with a good heart - a perfect Robin.