You Are a Cranberry and Popcorn Strung Tree |
 Christmas is all about showcasing your creative talents. From cookies to nicely wrapped presents, your unique creations impress everyone. |
Saturday, December 23, 2006
Cranberry?
Friday, December 22, 2006
Blizzard and comics???
Every three years (it seems to be) Colorado gets hit by a blizzard that causes several feet of snow. The last couple of times it's been during March or February, but this year it's a Holiday Blizzard.
We got about two feet, but I'm still stuck at home due to lack of huge SUV lol. This one wasn't as bad as 2003, but with the holidays approaching, I'm worried the airport is going to be hellish. Be careful Bemmie!
My Squidworks compadres persuaded me to sign up for a Comic Space account. They just opened a few weeks ago and, it's a very cool site. Much more appealing than myspace. It will soon have the capability to show comics. Depending on how easy and pretty the comic page will be, I might upload my "Breakfast at Tivoli" comics. If it is really awesome, I'll re-upload "DayDream" on there and make that site it's new home.
Happy Holidays everyone and be careful when traveling to any destination ^^
Monday, December 18, 2006
Rest in Peace Joseph Barbera
I found out from the Nightly News with Brian Williams that Mr. Barbera. I'm glad they found out and reported this on the air.
He died quietly with his wife by his side. Jeff Harris has a wonderful thought about his passing.
http://www.thexbridge.com/joebarbera.html
Thank you Mr. Barbera
Saturday, November 25, 2006
Comic on sale!!!
UPDATE!!!
I hope Enoch didn't buy too quickly, but my comic is available on the Squidworks website here. It's a lot cheaper and helps out the group a bit. :D
Hurray! My 24 hour comic is available for sale through Mile High Comics! A tad pricey for my meager plunge into insomnia.....
I'm going to post the link up anyway, but I believe later on the Squidworks website will have it with cheaper shipping (Is it okay to say this lol?). $6.00 is a bit too much for my taste. If you're in Colorado, swing by and bug them.
And if you are really low on cash...
I might put up a smaller version up on the internet :D
Here's the link:
http://www.milehighcomics.com/cgi-bin/backissue.cgi?action=list&title=37962938842&snumber=1
I'm just really happy I have a shopping cart for my comic. Novice happiness....^^
I hope Enoch didn't buy too quickly, but my comic is available on the Squidworks website here. It's a lot cheaper and helps out the group a bit. :D
Hurray! My 24 hour comic is available for sale through Mile High Comics! A tad pricey for my meager plunge into insomnia.....
I'm going to post the link up anyway, but I believe later on the Squidworks website will have it with cheaper shipping (Is it okay to say this lol?). $6.00 is a bit too much for my taste. If you're in Colorado, swing by and bug them.
And if you are really low on cash...
I might put up a smaller version up on the internet :D
Here's the link:
http://www.milehighcomics.com/cgi-bin/backissue.cgi?action=list&title=37962938842&snumber=1
I'm just really happy I have a shopping cart for my comic. Novice happiness....^^
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
Realism?
Really terrible quote:
“And even though we are featuring live-action characters, it still had to be done the Cartoon Network way. Re-Animated has proven to be that kind of project.”--Michael Ouweleen, senior vice president, programming and development for Cartoon Network
From Toonzone:
"The Hollywood Reporter states that Disney's The Nightmare Before Christmas 3-D earned $3.3 million in its opening weekend, raking in $291,000 at the El Capitain Theatre in Hollywood to break the house record previously held by Pirates of the Caribbean 2. Buena Vista distribution president Chuck Viane was quoted as saying, 'There is no question now that digital 3-D is having an impact on the box office.'"
These two quotes were just some of several that made me slap my forehead. I swear I have bruises for slapping so hard. Today, I found a quote (more like a paragraph) that made my animation soul flicker.
"Representational art has a place, but it's not for me. I'm more interested in drawings as psychology and expression, a subjective way somebody might see the world. I like little flaws in art because they reflect the flaws in life. I like children's drawings, not just the freedom and imagination in them but the painstaking struggle in the lines. There's conflict and tension there. There's so much richness and personality going on before you even get to what the story is.
CG models and perfect life drawings leave me cold. All that a realistic, representational drawing of a bicycle tells me is, "bicycle." There's so much more mood and psychology to bring to the film if your artwork communicates more than just nouns. It's why photorealism in animation is usually so boring and pointless. It's all nouns. Ninety percent of CG animation is all nouns. I can't feel anything going on behind the image.
The point of this medium is you can do literally anything, you can show us amazing things we've never seen before. I want to see animators change the language of cinema! Seriously, we have the means. Push animation deep into the wild new places where the surrealists took their reaction to photography. Rock the damn boat. If you're going to strip animation of all its subjective power and just show me what things look like in real life you might as well be shooting live action."--Don Hertzfeldt
Don just said everything I ever wanted to say about the animation industry and the educational system in a couple of paragraphs. Heck, this quote can reflect life in general. People always strive to be perfect when it is not necessary to be. I hated my high school self because all I cared about was to have perfect academics in all subjects. Only in college did I realize challenging yourself and building yourself was what mattered.
In art especially, you wonder if talent out weighs hard work? I've been struggling with this for quite a while. I could never draw realistically without pulling my eyes out. Maybe I wasn't meant to be an artist. The one thing I could do well was gesture drawings and drawings in brush pen. My professor John Hull helped me figure this out and told me Hokusai can never do Rembrandt and Rembrandt can never do Hokusai because that wasn't their style. I really thank him for such wonderful advice.
In a round about way, animation may have room for someone who can't draw realistically.
Sorry for such a weird and long winded post.....I better end with a Happy Thanksgiving!
“And even though we are featuring live-action characters, it still had to be done the Cartoon Network way. Re-Animated has proven to be that kind of project.”--Michael Ouweleen, senior vice president, programming and development for Cartoon Network
Jaw droppin stupid quote...
From Toonzone:
"The Hollywood Reporter states that Disney's The Nightmare Before Christmas 3-D earned $3.3 million in its opening weekend, raking in $291,000 at the El Capitain Theatre in Hollywood to break the house record previously held by Pirates of the Caribbean 2. Buena Vista distribution president Chuck Viane was quoted as saying, 'There is no question now that digital 3-D is having an impact on the box office.'"
These two quotes were just some of several that made me slap my forehead. I swear I have bruises for slapping so hard. Today, I found a quote (more like a paragraph) that made my animation soul flicker.
"Representational art has a place, but it's not for me. I'm more interested in drawings as psychology and expression, a subjective way somebody might see the world. I like little flaws in art because they reflect the flaws in life. I like children's drawings, not just the freedom and imagination in them but the painstaking struggle in the lines. There's conflict and tension there. There's so much richness and personality going on before you even get to what the story is.
CG models and perfect life drawings leave me cold. All that a realistic, representational drawing of a bicycle tells me is, "bicycle." There's so much more mood and psychology to bring to the film if your artwork communicates more than just nouns. It's why photorealism in animation is usually so boring and pointless. It's all nouns. Ninety percent of CG animation is all nouns. I can't feel anything going on behind the image.
The point of this medium is you can do literally anything, you can show us amazing things we've never seen before. I want to see animators change the language of cinema! Seriously, we have the means. Push animation deep into the wild new places where the surrealists took their reaction to photography. Rock the damn boat. If you're going to strip animation of all its subjective power and just show me what things look like in real life you might as well be shooting live action."--Don Hertzfeldt
Don just said everything I ever wanted to say about the animation industry and the educational system in a couple of paragraphs. Heck, this quote can reflect life in general. People always strive to be perfect when it is not necessary to be. I hated my high school self because all I cared about was to have perfect academics in all subjects. Only in college did I realize challenging yourself and building yourself was what mattered.
In art especially, you wonder if talent out weighs hard work? I've been struggling with this for quite a while. I could never draw realistically without pulling my eyes out. Maybe I wasn't meant to be an artist. The one thing I could do well was gesture drawings and drawings in brush pen. My professor John Hull helped me figure this out and told me Hokusai can never do Rembrandt and Rembrandt can never do Hokusai because that wasn't their style. I really thank him for such wonderful advice.
In a round about way, animation may have room for someone who can't draw realistically.
Sorry for such a weird and long winded post.....I better end with a Happy Thanksgiving!
Saturday, November 18, 2006
Zutara fans are crazy....
Man, Avatar as of late is just getting so crazy....but so addictive :p
I wasn't too sure why at the beginning fans were already pairing Zuko and Katara. They barely meet except in fight scenes.
Aww poor Aang....he better not kill Zuko for this.
I'll blog above the very hilarious Avatar shipping panel at Comic-Con. I'm still rooting for Foamtara lol.
Monday, November 13, 2006
Seat is waiting
Right now, I'm currently waiting for my chance to see "Brief Encounters of the Animated Kind" at the Starz Film Festival. It sold out...so I'm waiting if somebody doesn't show up. This year their main focus is Canadian films. What's better than the wonderful NFB!
I struggled through my flu this weekend to participate in the Norman Mclaren: Animation Workshop. He's really quirky and a wonderful animator. All of these techniques are no walk in the park. He really had talent. I got to take clear film and draw animation on them with colored markers. Then, at another table I got to scratch and color on regular film, which was really difficult. Finally, I got to do pixelation or stop-motion with a camera. They used a device called a "lunchbox" connected to a digital camera to take single frames.
I was thinking to myself..."my god! This is the solution to my animation problems. I've been trying to find a single frame camera."
I found out the box cost roughly $7000.....><
I made approximately 3 seconds of film lol. They screened it the next day, but I was too sick :( It was of my Xiao Bao too....can you imagine him on the big screen XD I have pics of the film strip that I will later post. Sadly, I didn't get to keep the film.
Oh yes and I'm also seeing a short later tonight by Chel White. Gosh I hope I get a seat. On one hand...a sold out show for animation is awesome! On the other....I want to see it.
Here's some Mclaren:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=dNzefjYxeEI
The oscar winning and favorite film "Neighbors":
http://youtube.com/watch?v=X6x-Hf9GSfc
I struggled through my flu this weekend to participate in the Norman Mclaren: Animation Workshop. He's really quirky and a wonderful animator. All of these techniques are no walk in the park. He really had talent. I got to take clear film and draw animation on them with colored markers. Then, at another table I got to scratch and color on regular film, which was really difficult. Finally, I got to do pixelation or stop-motion with a camera. They used a device called a "lunchbox" connected to a digital camera to take single frames.
I was thinking to myself..."my god! This is the solution to my animation problems. I've been trying to find a single frame camera."
I found out the box cost roughly $7000.....><
I made approximately 3 seconds of film lol. They screened it the next day, but I was too sick :( It was of my Xiao Bao too....can you imagine him on the big screen XD I have pics of the film strip that I will later post. Sadly, I didn't get to keep the film.
Oh yes and I'm also seeing a short later tonight by Chel White. Gosh I hope I get a seat. On one hand...a sold out show for animation is awesome! On the other....I want to see it.
Here's some Mclaren:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=dNzefjYxeEI
The oscar winning and favorite film "Neighbors":
http://youtube.com/watch?v=X6x-Hf9GSfc
Friday, November 03, 2006
Finally NDK 2006 Report
I'm trying a new thing here. I use to just upload pics on Imagecave, but this time I created a Flickr photo album of my photos from NDK. I couldn't upload all the pics because of a limit ><. If you get confused with all the name blurting, here's the guest list and also the slideshow gives more info.
I had a wonderful time this year! I didn't get to go on Friday to see Opening Ceremonies because of printmaking craziness. I think they showed a trailer of Satoshi Kon's Paprika.
Saturday
I started off with the Madhouse Fan Panel (little did I know they would be there lol). For some reason, I had the courage to yammer my head off as to why Madhouse animation represents such quality work. Not to many people came so Umehara-san asked us to bundle together. I got to sit right next to him 0.o. We mainly talked about whether Japan will slowly go to 3-D like the U.S. Mizushima-san said they're so use to flat images like manga that it won't likely happen. We also discussed the difficulty of the transition to cel then digital to make the work. I like how they described missing the air between the cel and the camera so the color was much different. Also we asked if their studios had any rivals. In reality for Japan, animators work at multiple studios and often collaborate with each other. I guess no Pixar and Dreamworks rivalries lol.
I quickly went to see Fullmetal Alchemist: Conquerer of Shambala movie. I had to leave 10 minutes before the end for my panel :( thankfully my sister stayed for the Mizushima-san questions. She said the best part was when Umehara-san slowly came up and said in broken English "Please would you have an anime in Denver?" Mizushima-san cracked up and said no more questions lol.
I was part of the 24 hour comic panel where we retold the comic kinda like a storyboard meeting. A lot more showed up this year and I think people enjoyed it.
Then I went to the Piano Squall concert. Great musician with a great cause.
Sunday
This day was mainly for getting autographs and waiting for the closing ceremony auction. We were lucky enough to win the auction for Mizushima-san's signature with Al. Meeting Madhouse this year was one of the most rewarding experience I've had. Although I bet meeting the Animation Show crew will soon top that lol.
The auction was awesome. They raised around $4000 for Piano Squall's MS charity and $7000 for breast cancer. Umehara-san's sketch went up to $2000. It was a really cute sketch. I was right behind him and he was shaking and sweating lol. He came up to each person who bought his sketch and bowed.
This was a group shot with the two people who auctioned to $2000 each.
This is the banner the guy bid on. As a thank you gift for both they got the entire library of Manga Entertainment and lifetime pass to NDK. They both looked pale lol.
This is Sato-san, Mizushima-san, and Umehara-san
All of the guests...Spike Spencer (va for Shinji from Eva) is the one with the sunglasses lol.
My goodies!
Top: Piano Squall poster
Left to right per row: Umehara-san's sketch of me, Mizushima-san's Al, Stan Yan's sketch he gave to me
2nd row: CCS dvd Sat0-san signed, FMA dvd Mizushima-san signed, CD Lisa Furukawa signed
3rd row: PSME dvd Michael Dobson signed, Samurai Champloo dvd Darrel Guilbeau signed
My sister got he Eva figure signed by Spike Spencer which is not present in photo lol.
Check out my pics with Madhouse and more in my Flicker set.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/32106219@N00/sets/72157594359328314/
What a great year! I missed you Will if you're reading!
Can't wait for next year.
I had a wonderful time this year! I didn't get to go on Friday to see Opening Ceremonies because of printmaking craziness. I think they showed a trailer of Satoshi Kon's Paprika.
Saturday
I started off with the Madhouse Fan Panel (little did I know they would be there lol). For some reason, I had the courage to yammer my head off as to why Madhouse animation represents such quality work. Not to many people came so Umehara-san asked us to bundle together. I got to sit right next to him 0.o. We mainly talked about whether Japan will slowly go to 3-D like the U.S. Mizushima-san said they're so use to flat images like manga that it won't likely happen. We also discussed the difficulty of the transition to cel then digital to make the work. I like how they described missing the air between the cel and the camera so the color was much different. Also we asked if their studios had any rivals. In reality for Japan, animators work at multiple studios and often collaborate with each other. I guess no Pixar and Dreamworks rivalries lol.
I quickly went to see Fullmetal Alchemist: Conquerer of Shambala movie. I had to leave 10 minutes before the end for my panel :( thankfully my sister stayed for the Mizushima-san questions. She said the best part was when Umehara-san slowly came up and said in broken English "Please would you have an anime in Denver?" Mizushima-san cracked up and said no more questions lol.
I was part of the 24 hour comic panel where we retold the comic kinda like a storyboard meeting. A lot more showed up this year and I think people enjoyed it.
Then I went to the Piano Squall concert. Great musician with a great cause.
Sunday
This day was mainly for getting autographs and waiting for the closing ceremony auction. We were lucky enough to win the auction for Mizushima-san's signature with Al. Meeting Madhouse this year was one of the most rewarding experience I've had. Although I bet meeting the Animation Show crew will soon top that lol.
The auction was awesome. They raised around $4000 for Piano Squall's MS charity and $7000 for breast cancer. Umehara-san's sketch went up to $2000. It was a really cute sketch. I was right behind him and he was shaking and sweating lol. He came up to each person who bought his sketch and bowed.
This was a group shot with the two people who auctioned to $2000 each.
This is the banner the guy bid on. As a thank you gift for both they got the entire library of Manga Entertainment and lifetime pass to NDK. They both looked pale lol.
This is Sato-san, Mizushima-san, and Umehara-san
All of the guests...Spike Spencer (va for Shinji from Eva) is the one with the sunglasses lol.
My goodies!
Top: Piano Squall poster
Left to right per row: Umehara-san's sketch of me, Mizushima-san's Al, Stan Yan's sketch he gave to me
2nd row: CCS dvd Sat0-san signed, FMA dvd Mizushima-san signed, CD Lisa Furukawa signed
3rd row: PSME dvd Michael Dobson signed, Samurai Champloo dvd Darrel Guilbeau signed
My sister got he Eva figure signed by Spike Spencer which is not present in photo lol.
Check out my pics with Madhouse and more in my Flicker set.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/32106219@N00/sets/72157594359328314/
What a great year! I missed you Will if you're reading!
Can't wait for next year.
Monday, October 23, 2006
Tumbleweed
Yup....sorry for the abscence. This weekend I'll try to post up my pics from NDK and if willing and not lazy my 24 hour comic.
I'm not sure if I announced this officially yet, but the cool opportunity that happened is...
I'm now an internet intern for The Animation Show!!! One of my jobs is to write about animators' upcoming works. I posted the first one on Jonathan Nix ("Hello" 2006).
It's all to get ready for Year 3!
http://animationshow.com/journal1.html
I hope everyone bought the Bitter Films Vol 1 dvd. It was truly awesome to behold ^^
I'm not sure if I announced this officially yet, but the cool opportunity that happened is...
I'm now an internet intern for The Animation Show!!! One of my jobs is to write about animators' upcoming works. I posted the first one on Jonathan Nix ("Hello" 2006).
It's all to get ready for Year 3!
http://animationshow.com/journal1.html
I hope everyone bought the Bitter Films Vol 1 dvd. It was truly awesome to behold ^^
Thursday, October 05, 2006
300 NDK
Martial art Spartans...awesome graphics...and Frank Miller...
What more could you want?
http://www.apple.com/trailers/wb/300/
NDK is this weekend...although I may have to compromise in order to finish my printmaking project, but I'll definitely be there for Saturday and Friday. Come see my participation in the 24 hour comic presentation.
I'm a little sad my friend Will won't be there. Everytime we try to meet it is foiled lol.
I'll give a little report on the con.
And a report on DAM....it was so beautiful. Let me just say 3 Damien Hirsts, Janine Antoni's famous "Lick and Lather", and a very sophisticated installation "Engi."
http://www.ucdadvocate.com/media/storage/paper538/news/2006/10/04/PhotoEssay/Dam-Good.Art-2331775.shtml?norewrite200610060017&sourcedomain=www.ucdadvocate.com
I will say nothing about the exploding anime chick. :p
What more could you want?
http://www.apple.com/trailers/wb/300/
NDK is this weekend...although I may have to compromise in order to finish my printmaking project, but I'll definitely be there for Saturday and Friday. Come see my participation in the 24 hour comic presentation.
I'm a little sad my friend Will won't be there. Everytime we try to meet it is foiled lol.
I'll give a little report on the con.
And a report on DAM....it was so beautiful. Let me just say 3 Damien Hirsts, Janine Antoni's famous "Lick and Lather", and a very sophisticated installation "Engi."
http://www.ucdadvocate.com/media/storage/paper538/news/2006/10/04/PhotoEssay/Dam-Good.Art-2331775.shtml?norewrite200610060017&sourcedomain=www.ucdadvocate.com
I will say nothing about the exploding anime chick. :p
Saturday, September 30, 2006
24 hour marathon
Updated throughout marathon:
9:30 pm-Start time of course after Avatar
11:47 pm- Couldn't resist petting Xiao Bao
12:16 am- Geez I have about four pages penciled. For the first time, my story might be too short to fit 24 pages. I feel like I'm already stretching it lol. So watch out for monologues!
1:37 am- On 8th page....man I'm bad at this. I already have the urge to sleep.
2:30 am- 9th page....I'm starting to think in gibberish. I'm definitely a dinural animal. I'm beginning to think I have a disadvantage since I started at night. I'm taking a snooze til 7:30 am. I'll be behind about 3 pages, but I'm hoping my inking skills won't fail me.
9:50 am- Well, past the half mark.....I'm really behind now. I'm on the 10th page. I had to drive with my sister to an interview. Hopefully, I can get some work done before I get to the gallery. Now working on 4 hours of sleep ....><
11:01 am- On page 14,I finally picked up some speed. Geez, I'm sure making a damn depressing story, such a drama queen lol.
11:34 am- Only 11 pages to go....seems a lot but the last couple of pages are going to have wider views...yes cheating. this might be my last post for a while. Don't know how tied up the computer will be at the gallery.
.....
10:00 pm- included driving time
hehe I finished! I was very exhausted and had to bring in my sister to erase lol. Thanks to the Squids for such a great time. I'm prinitng my comic for NDK, so if your there buy!!! I might also be doing a powerpoint narration presentation on the comic on Saturday at 4pm. Don't worry...I'll post it after mid-terms :p
On a final note...best memoriam to a voice actor...look above.
9:30 pm-Start time of course after Avatar
11:47 pm- Couldn't resist petting Xiao Bao
12:16 am- Geez I have about four pages penciled. For the first time, my story might be too short to fit 24 pages. I feel like I'm already stretching it lol. So watch out for monologues!
1:37 am- On 8th page....man I'm bad at this. I already have the urge to sleep.
2:30 am- 9th page....I'm starting to think in gibberish. I'm definitely a dinural animal. I'm beginning to think I have a disadvantage since I started at night. I'm taking a snooze til 7:30 am. I'll be behind about 3 pages, but I'm hoping my inking skills won't fail me.
9:50 am- Well, past the half mark.....I'm really behind now. I'm on the 10th page. I had to drive with my sister to an interview. Hopefully, I can get some work done before I get to the gallery. Now working on 4 hours of sleep ....><
11:01 am- On page 14,I finally picked up some speed. Geez, I'm sure making a damn depressing story, such a drama queen lol.
11:34 am- Only 11 pages to go....seems a lot but the last couple of pages are going to have wider views...yes cheating. this might be my last post for a while. Don't know how tied up the computer will be at the gallery.
.....
10:00 pm- included driving time
hehe I finished! I was very exhausted and had to bring in my sister to erase lol. Thanks to the Squids for such a great time. I'm prinitng my comic for NDK, so if your there buy!!! I might also be doing a powerpoint narration presentation on the comic on Saturday at 4pm. Don't worry...I'll post it after mid-terms :p
On a final note...best memoriam to a voice actor...look above.
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
24
A lot of craziness has been going on lately. This weekend the Squidworks crew is having a 24 Hour comic Marathon at Capsule Gallery. It is a week ahead of the official date due to NDK being on that same weekend. So if you're in Denver come and watch me become a zombie. The sad thing is I have to start earlier than everyone else due to DAM opening. Pedestrians will get to see the side effects in advance. I'll post my comic ASAP after the event.
The Denver Art Museum opening is a gigantic event. I heard the new contemporary wing is fantastic. Who knew Clyfford Still and De Kooning was in storage this whole time? I'm really curious to see how the slanted walls affected some of the paintings. As you can see it is rather slanted :p
In addition, you may see some design changes on this blog. An awesome opportunity has arised that requires me to post on another journal. So this one may become experimental to improve and work out anything on the other blog. I'll tell you the good news once I make my first post ^^.
The Denver Art Museum opening is a gigantic event. I heard the new contemporary wing is fantastic. Who knew Clyfford Still and De Kooning was in storage this whole time? I'm really curious to see how the slanted walls affected some of the paintings. As you can see it is rather slanted :p
In addition, you may see some design changes on this blog. An awesome opportunity has arised that requires me to post on another journal. So this one may become experimental to improve and work out anything on the other blog. I'll tell you the good news once I make my first post ^^.
Friday, September 01, 2006
Scream with glee
Word came across all art classes around the world...The Scream is found! A lot of people thought this artwork was truly gone, due to the fact this painting was made on cardboard. Oslo police recovered close to two years from the date it was stolen.
It's quite rare for a piece of art to be recovered. What is rarer is the irony and just bizarre coincidence that follows this recovered work.
It's quite rare for a piece of art to be recovered. What is rarer is the irony and just bizarre coincidence that follows this recovered work.
Just last week M&Ms made a promotion to give 2 million dark M&Ms to the person who recovers the stolen Munch. Many thought this promotion was just for show and a guarantee for the Mars corp. to never have to deliver their promise. Then boom...the work is returned lol.
M&Ms is keeping their promise. If it is truly the missing Munch, Oslo police gets to have lots of M&Ms.
See...there is a sweet reward for bringing back artwork....now give me back those Rembrandts!!!
Sunday, August 27, 2006
Rejoice!!
Whoo hoo! Here's my entry for Nan Desu Kan's Anime Artistry contest. Not sure if I can beat last years, but I really had fun with this. I used watercolor pans to create the color.
I haven't named this image yet....and yes Heidi is a terrible name for it. I got inspired by Earthsea...lots of goats in that book lol.
Back at school as well. I have a little cart with me to help move my art supplies. I look dorky, but my back is very pleased. For those who care, I'm taking Printmaking I, Watermedia I, Advance drawing, Intermediate Life drawing, and Contemporary Art History.
Great things are starting to happen in Denver. We FINALLY have our own Claes Oldenburg sculpture! http://www.amnnews.com/press.jsp?id=2842
Monday, August 14, 2006
Earthsea/ Gedo Senki
When I heard the next Ghibli movie was going to be based on The Farthest Shore part of the Earthsea Cycle by Ursula K. Le Guin, I picked up the first book The Wizard of Earthsea after I got off work. Coincidently, this was around the same time my back gave out and I became bedridden for a couple of days. I was expecting nothing special in particular, but what I found was a beautifully crafted world built on history, languages, and culture.
There wasn't a theme of good vs evil or an overuse of "crazy magic" like in Harry Potter. The character Sparrowhawk/Ged has to literally face himself showing how human beings carry their own good and evil. Throughout the whole six books there is no one who is truly evil, just people with basic human yearning for power and control over death. Magic in fantasy is often a gift that can be used without regret. In Earthsea, magic is based on balance such as if a wizard creates rain for an area, it could cause a drought where the rain was destined to be. Magic is used when absolutely necessary. The power of word is more powerful than magic itself. Every element is governed by their originally name. Each character have different aliases to protect them.
I don't even think I accurately expressed the profound and beautiful affect this series has brought to my mind. I feel greatly ashamed I only found this series just because it was turning into a movie.
Gedo Senki came out at the end of July in Japan. Reviews have been mainly good. From what I hear people are most disappointed because it is quite different from the book, the style, and that the characters' mannerisms and skin color aren't the same. I believe I will enjoy the movie when it comes out in the US. This movie is darker than most Ghibli films and IT IS NOT a Hayao Miyazaki movie. I think Goro Miyazaki should get applause as a first time director. Adapting a book to a movie is a difficult process and I heard the movie was made quite quickly compared to other Ghibli films. I hope he makes more movies and understands that the movie is his own now and shouldn't feel terrible if the author didn't like the outcome.
I made this excrutiatingly long post because Le Guin finally saw the movie and posted her feelings on the web. I read forums and read some negative feedback toward her opinion. People need to understand this series has been always misrepresented which made her very protective of her work. Her characters have darker skin and are never represented in this way; on book covers, crappy Sci-fi mini series, and even Gedo Senki.
The makers of the American TV version, while boasting that they
were "color blind," reduced the colored population of Earthsea to one and a
half. I have blasted them for whitewashing Earthsea, and do not forgive them for
it.
The issue is different in Japan. I cannot address the issue of race in
Japan because I know too little about it. But I know that an anime film runs
smack into the almost immutable conventions of its genre. Most of the people in
anime films look — to the American/European eye — white. I am told that the
Japanese audience perceives them differently. I am told that they may perceive
this Ged as darker than my eye does. I hope so. Most of the characters look
white to me, but there is at least a nice variation of tans and beiges. And
Tenar's fair hair and blue eyes are right, since she's a minority type from the
Kargish.
I'm glad Ms. Le Guin stated this. Japanese animation often has characters that are Japanese but have attributes of Europeans. This might have been because of World War II. It may also be the yearning to be white. I've heard of surgeries on Asians to make them look more European or normal. Whatever the reason, I do believe Ged is dark in the movie, but Arren is not(he has a bronze shade to his skin in the book). It is not completely obvious which might have been a major disappointment. The only main problem I could see from the character designs is Therru wasn't more scarred or mangled, but that might scare too many people.
I recommend anyone to read Le Guin's whole opinion on the movie.
And to also read Goro's journey through this film with the translated blog.
Sadly due to Scifi holdings on the rights, the movie won't come out until 2009.
Read Earthsea, Watch Gedo Senki and thank you for reading this incredibly long post.
Saturday, August 12, 2006
Thursday, August 03, 2006
Xiao Bao's Birthday
His first birthday, which we celebrated on July 27th after my birthday. He was probably actually born earlier in July.
Sorry for the high pitched singing. I go into cutsy mommy role when ever I see him. And yes, he practically ate all of it (parsely, carrot, cucumber, green pepper, and a critter berry treat) and then slept in his fancy new polka dot pouch.
His first birthday, which we celebrated on July 27th after my birthday. He was probably actually born earlier in July.
Sorry for the high pitched singing. I go into cutsy mommy role when ever I see him. And yes, he practically ate all of it (parsely, carrot, cucumber, green pepper, and a critter berry treat) and then slept in his fancy new polka dot pouch.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)