Ok, I started drawing the Darkness Aftermath graphic novel while watching the new Indiana Jones movie (not really relevant, just setting the scene).
Here is a partial scan of the first panel where the Caretaker is speaking with Gwenn: A closeup shot in panel 2 of the Caretaker:
I didn't intend to do all the crosshatching... that's my 'default' drawing style, I was hoping to do a more delineated interpretation.... *sigh* I think I left enough room for the word balloons.
I've started laying out the pages for the first book of Darkness Aftermath. The first page is essentially the top of clouds... they're not as easy to draw as you'd think! I skipped page two, it's more clouds with a shot of a small hut. I want to get an idea of how the caretaker's hut is situated with regards to the cliff before I sketch it in. I have the first page with dialog blue-penciled in and I kind of like how it's turned out so far even though I haven't drawn in almost two months! It's difficult for me to draw people as they are, not sensationalized like in most comics, I have a tendency to lean towards dynamic poses and muscular figures, I'm doing my best to keep it realistic yet fun. I'll probably have to sketch in a few more pages before I trust my hand-eye coordination to do finished drawings.
I have to say, one of my favorite movies has always been Clue (1985). I just watched it again the other night and it still makes me laugh out loud. It's not a typical funny joke movie, all the humor is in the character interaction, facial reactions, innuendo and subtle changes in dialogue... it's hilarious. It's set in a really cool mansion, so it's also nice to look at. The ensemble cast is fantastic (l to r): Lesley Ann Warren, Martin Mull, Madeline Kahn, Michael McKean, Tim Curry, Christopher Lloyd and Eileen Brennan play the main characters. I highly recommend it for fans of subtle/slapsticky humor or fans of the board game.
Honestly, I'd like to punch every single candidate for insisting that I see or hear them every 5 seconds on whatever form of media I'm paying attention to. Especially a certain presidential candidate who is overdoing it, GET OUT OF MY FACE!!
There's probably a very special place in hell for anyone who makes their decisions based off of commercials... which means I'm probably heading there, I've decided that, I too, am cuckoo for cocoa puffs!
Ok, no musing, I deleted them. Sometimes I write things when I'm not in the best of moods and think better of them. Not that they're bad, just easily misconstrued... it's happened too many times for me to write how I 'feel' openly. It doesn't take much to guilt me into changing things... because I care... but if you tell anyone you will need to be fitted for a body cast!@!!#!
Ok, so everyone's experienced having a song stuck in their head and have been frustrated not being able to pinpoint who sings it or whatever... This happens to me too, but I'm a bit odd and have had a portion of a song stuck in my head for the past decade or so that I could only recall was a song from the 80's. I couldn't recall any lyrics just a series of ascending notes that were either from a saxophone or a keyboard, which narrowed it down to every song released between 1980 and 1989.
Well, I was randomly rooting around youtube the other day and found that damn song!!! Anyone remember the band 'Haircut 100'? Well, they had set up shop in my noggin and refused to leave!
The notes that were stuck in my head are the one's being played during the chorus where the singer repeats the word 'Ring' over and over about 1:04 into the song. Actually, I think they were on VH1's 'Bands Reunited' not too long ago which probably further cemented them into my psyche.
Love Plus One by Haircut 100... apparently they all liked to hike their pants up pretty high in the early 80's (shades of Ed Grimley).
ok, so i'm in chicago this week... specifically Schaumburg, where the good money is on IKEA being the most exciting thing in the area. my friend suggested i go to chinatown even though she couldn't tell me where it's at (i'm assuming it's not near IKEA)
so far i've given $10 to some dude desperate to buy gas for his car, been bored, almost was run down by a little korean girl in a bride's dress and her maid of honor (the reception was at the hotel i'm in), gone to training, drove 30 miles to another suburb to go to a gym, been bored, another day of training, been bored... rinse, repeat for another two days. i'm sure i'm easily within 30 minutes of something fun to do... but, it is probably accompanied by jail time.
i'm hoping they don't ask me to present anything back at work about this conference... how many slides can you have that say: Needs more chase scenes and explosions for the excitement impaired.
The other week I was on my way home and decided to stop at a gas station to grab a protein bar and a water after a workout. I walk to the cooler and just happen to notice a man looking around as if he lost something or dropped something. When I get up to the counter he's there feverishly digging into pockets for change to buy his items. After he let's another customer go in front of him he steps in front of me to continue his cash scavenger hunt in his shirt and pants pockets. At this point I'm starting to get annoyed and just want him to leave, whether he leaves the items or just runs out with them.
I pay a little more attention to what's going on: he's buying 3 little novelty rings for his girls he has in the car and he's about 60 cents short.
Now I start to feel bad because of the semi-violent thoughts I was having about twenty seconds earlier. He's just trying to buy little gifts for his kids which I'm sure he promised to them and they're probably excited to receive when he exits the station. Just imagining the look of disappointment on their faces made me feel even worse (I don't know what they look like, but I imagined three adorable little girls with pig-tails and big doe eyes starting to tear up). So, I volunteered a dollar to pay whatever he was short. He instantly had a look of relief on his face and says: "Thank you so much, sir." To which I reply: "You're more than welcome."
After he leaves, the cashier gives me the leftover change and says: "What goes around comes around, huh?" As if me doing a good deed is going to net some good karma. What the cashier doesn't know is that karma has never paid off for me, besides it never really occurs to me to think past doing the right thing... I just know that I helped a man bring a little happiness to his kids, that's good enough. "Do unto others..."
Soooooooo.... I finally took a stab at parsing the first part of Allen's Darkness Aftermath script into comic page sized chunks. Currently: 28 pages. Now, that is approximately 6 pages more than a typical monthly comic book (Batman, etc.), but it is about 19 pages less than book 2 turned out to be. I haven't checked whether the division of the script was done by script sections or by content, but since Sally's book 2 was finished last spring, there isn't much I can do to match its size and there's only so much content that I'm willing to stretch over several pages of art.
There is a ton of content in the portion of the script Sally chose to tackle, which easily explains why it turned out to be such a large volume of work. The first part of the script seems bare in comparison, not due to quality but solely because so much of the story is taken up in the second book. Segmenting the story into pages is kind of a artistic/scientific process in and of itself, and it differs per person. I try to split dialogue/scenes in logical pages where one would expect to turn a page or place a 'surprising' occurence in the story on the next page so that the reader does not see it unless their line of sight changes pages. I could probably write an entire post on my personal ideas on script-to-page dissection, but I'm lazy.
Recently, my closest friend has asked me to help her sketch a few ideas that she has for some personal pieces. I'm not actually drawing them for her, but just laying out some ideas for her to render further and finish to her heart's content. It's really endearing to see her enthusiasm for learning to draw, she's really interested in expressing herself in a visual aspect. It's great because we get to do a bit of drawing and spend some time together which we rarely get a chance to do. She's learning by mimicking my sketches and my approach to layout, I'm not perfect by any means and she has very little time to devote to drawing, but it's nice to be able to help give her a new creative outlet.
Every time I hear a song from one of these bands I want to vomit. Also, any hip-hop song where 99% of the lyrics is 'uhn-uhn' or some other grunting sound made while trying to stand up from a seated position, it's like they're not even trying.
*sigh*
With that said, here's some good music: "New Way Home"
One of my favorite Foo Fighters songs. It gets quiet half way through... then Dave gets angry.
Lyrics Have you found your way around the down and out? I know it must seem long, so long
Im still trying to keep this time from running out Head down, always moving on and on and on
I never heard this warning, another early morning Takes me, wakes me into
If you could manage me, Ill try to manage you But lately its all I ever do
I felt like this on my way home, Im not scared I pass the boats and the kingdome, Im not scared
Ill never tell you the secrets Im holding I know these things must bore you but I cant find another way Ill never tell you the secrets Im holding I love this leash that holds me, when I try to run away
Im not scared, I felt like this on my way home Im not scared, I pass the boats and the kingdome Im not scared, I felt like this on my way home Im not scared, I pass the boats and the kingdome Im not scared, I felt like this on my way home Im not scared, I pass the boats and the kingdome Im not scared, I felt like this on my way home Im not scared, I pass the boats and the kingdome Im not scared, Im not scared, Im not scared
(Note: Remember, Dave was the drummer for Nirvana who got their start in Seattle where the Kingdome is, which is why it's mentioned in the song)
Figured I'd do a quick sketch of the heroine of Allen's Darkness Aftermath movie, Gwen, with her wooden sword. I know the clothes are a bit off and the hair should go under the blindfold... and I haven't drawn in awhile, but here it is:
Still can't figure out if it's my scanner horizontally squishing the image or if it's blogger's uploading of the image, either way the actual drawing doesn't have her that 'thin'.
Holy Shizz, it was phenomenal! Those boys can play. My seats were on the opposite side of the floor as the stage... however, half way through the concert they dropped a second stage from the ceiling on our side of the arena!! Hellz yea! I NEVER go to concerts, but I've seen fit to add the Foo to my list of concerts... which only includes Robert Plant and Jimmy Page back in '95. That is hallowed ground, my friends.
I didn't realize my friend Allen had intended to do a graphic novel version of his movie. I guess I didn't pay enough attention when one of his students (Sally) actually did a manga style book of his storyline, the middle third of the movie I think. So, my brother and I are going to hopefully start working on the first book of the three... I think I can still draw like this:
Bleh. Thursday and Friday sucked. I woke up Thurs morning feeling like I swallowed a knife. I'd have flashes of delirium and throbs of pain in my stomach while I was trying to get up. Through the morning the pain moved around and lessened enough that I could get to work around noon but I didn't eat much the past two days. Most of the pain was gone by friday, but every once in awhile I'd get a punch to the abdomen to remind me I wasn't well.
I'm feeling better today... usually I get sick on the weekends when I don't have to work, so I guess that's a silver lining :P
Right now I'm working in photoshop going over the line work of the two little girls I posted awhile ago, adding some background and other stuff too. Should be done soon so I can post it.
That's the 'Do Re Mi...' song from Sound of Music if you couldn't tell. Remember when you used to do stuff like this? Ha! Her smile at 26 seconds and at the end always makes me laugh.
