Rainy Tuesday

Woke up late, no morning doodle. Today can be summarized with a series of fart noises.

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Monday Roundup

To Celebrate Episode 5 of [Ghost Stories] we have a crew shot, from left to right: Producer, Cinematographer, Director (among other roles for all three). The series is past the halfway mark!  This is part 2, so be sure to catch up on [Episode 4] before you watch.

Ghost Stories: Episode 5 from Andrew Gitomer on Vimeo.

Page 11 of Mystery Babylon is live, Catch up on Val's weekly comic [HERE]

Take a long lunch break this week and go see Tangled; debate me on my review of the film at [Cinespect]



Been a very offline week.  Am discovering the Breath of Fire series properly; kind of in love with the monster designs in Breath of Fire 2. 

Also, started watching Eden of the East.  Starts off confusing, but kind of amazing.  I'm super hooked, and can't believe we're almost halfway through.  Eleven episode series, highly recommended.

Long Weekend

Thanksgiving meant a four day weekend, and about 20 pages of sketchbook practice!  Here is about 10 of those pages smushed together in a stunning example of avoiding other things.  Featuring Draco Malfoy, Minerva McGonagall, Kara Thrace, and three random people in just about the same pose.

Tangled

This morning's ten minute sketch!

 

 Yesterday morning I didn't have time to sketch, as I was giving my review of Tangled a few finishing touches.  It was an adorable film, and I kind of want to see it again.  If I were twelve I'd be asking my parents for a frying pan after seeing this, so great!  Read the review [HERE] via Cinespect!

Monday Roundup

Right off the bat, there is a new page of Val's [Mystery Babylon] now online!  Check out the continuing adventures

Mid-season episode of [Ghost Stories] premiered today as well, my favorite episode so far!  Marvel at my former roof, the only thing I miss about that apartment.  Oh, and my mad booming on a windy night skills. (lame.)

Ghost Stories: Episode 4 from Andrew Gitomer on Vimeo.

Continuing the Steve Levine trend, check out the video our friends over at Captain Hippo did [Willow Smith's Hair Becomes Murderous]


In random internet links:
-If I had expendable income, I would spend it on [this]
-HP Trend continues, and have come across [Wizard People, Dear Reader] for the first time since 2004.  I know what I'm doing instead of being productive tonight!
-[RIFFTRAX!!!]  over the past two weekends I've watched no less than ten films with Rifftrax.  This happens once every couple of months, makes me miss my sisters.
-The song [Bro] makes me miss them even more.  Don't you (two) pretend that you're my bro(s)

Of course ending this with the morning, er, weekend doodle:  HP gang in the common room.  The image has been overrun by gingers.

Nostalgia prompted this, so it is sort of for Kara, Becka, Ryder and Watson, who have made hours of jackassery possible. (full size version of this is [here] if you want to see Neville in all his glory)

Motoko Kusanagi

Another installment of before work doodles.  Decided to play with the free-form vector tool.  So, this morning I used vector for the first time in.... maybe five, six years?  It was a frustrating hour.

Every time I see the Major my brain flips into Batou mode and goes: MOTOKOOOOOOOOOO!

I highly recommend Ghost in the Shell to anyone who hasn't had the privilege.  Start out with Stand Alone Complex, you won't regret it.

Fanart Flashback

On the theme of my previous post, a piece of Harry fanart drawn for an exchange community back in 2006. The picture was filling the prompt "Fred, George and Ginny have a bet on who can get Harry and Ron to admit they are more than friends...."

It has always been a personal favorite.

Ten years of Harry

Ten years later and still watching the mail slot (Growing up with Harry)

It’s that time of year again, time for another Harry Potter film. I’ve been thinking about the series and it's impact  this week, mostly because I wound up having a Rifftrax weekend, heavily featuring the boy wizard.  I realized that over time my affection hasn’t seemed to wane. Now, I’m not the only one writing this kind of Harry Potter recap this week, but I’m using this article… thing… to try and see the influence it has had, where and why I remember it being important, just because.  Rifftrax leading to self-reflection, who knew?

The amount of time in and of itself is a bit weird to me, because, as cliché as it is, I was a different person. High School, College and entering the ‘real world’ all happened in that time. I was so resistant at first, the hype was just starting and there was dumb merchandise everywhere. It was about two months until Goblet of Fire hit the shelves. I wasn’t going to read them, no way no how. They seemed dumb, as I was busy reading far more adult things, like mythology texts, Dune, and Sailor Moon comics.

Many of my friends had already read them, and were ‘encouraging’ me to do the same. Tina and Corey in particular spent a lot of time in Latin class telling me I must love You-Know-Who, and making all sorts of taunting references and jokes I just didn’t get. After weeks, terrible, annoying weeks I said fine, and borrowed the stupid thing from Corey just to know what they were on about. Two days later I traded in for the second, and a week after that (because homework is lame) I was out of content! A few weeks of finals and it was summer; Goblet was released to much to-do.
Of course I didn’t admit I liked them, not enough to buy them at least. Which is why during a family function I read the first two chapters out of my cousin’s book. Everyone else was playing video games, but I saw the chance and took it. Eventually I was able to properly borrow a copy and flew through it, leaving me with the longest wait ever until Order came out. My big gift that year was a box set of books 1-4, which I have read half a dozen times since. It was also the first thing a member of my family bought off the internet, so, landmark event.
Every book release afterward was met with a re-read and a pre-order. The last summer vacation I’ll likely ever have was spent reading in preparation for Deathly Hallows. I spent over a week hiding up in my bedroom, because distraction was intolerable. I finished stupid early, and had time to kill. In that extra time discovered what would turn out to be the greatest of my nerd loves, Doctor Who. I will forever be grateful for that, as I never would have hit play if I weren’t trying to bide my time.

I’ve realized though, it isn’t the stories themselves that make the series as endearing and enduring as it is; let’s be honest, the actual writing is only so-so and the Trio has long periods of annoying bickering and self pity in every single book. Harry himself is the weakest character in the whole series. The pacing is terrible, the dialogue is at times suspect, and there are plot holes waiting to be tripped in. So knowing all of this, why the love?
The thing about Harry Potter is that it just makes me smile, no matter what happened over the course of a day. What makes it so great is a sense of the world, of the community and it’s interactions. I can close my eyes and imagine walking through the halls of Hogwarts, or passing by less than friendly faces on my way into the Hog’s Head. I feel for Neville Longbottom and cheer for Oliver Wood.
I guess my issue with the films (which are neither really all that good or bad) is that there is little or no time to dwell, which emphasizes the flaws in the stories and their protagonists. The world they live in is filled with these fantastic bit players, some of whom get little exposure, but who leave lasting impressions.

This, of course is the information that becomes fandom fodder. A single sentence may be the basis for a 500 page story about the life and times of Susan Bones. I eat that kind of thing up. I haven’t penned any fan-fiction, but obviously I’m a big fanart person, and have taken place in several fanart trades and communities (some of which might make you blush). The amazing thing is that some of these fan works are almost as prolific as the source material within the community, generating fans of their own.
These things helped change how I viewed the source material, giving it new context and develop new views on the characters. Suddenly I could rant for hours on why Barty Junior is the most interesting villain (I got a special bonus when I realized it was indeed David Tennant playing him in the film, oh Doctor…) or why everyone should understand that there is no character better than Percy Weasley.

I interacted this way, but really, what makes the series as important to me as it is all comes back to its presence in my daily life. It became just a part of High School, something to joke about in the halls between classes. It helped me make some of my first, and strongest friendships in College.   First day of orientation I met a girl named Kara, and I believe our first conversation went a little like this: “Comics? Comics. Drawing? Drawing……. Slash? …Slash. Harry Potter?” By the next semester we were room mates.
From Comparing fanart with Kara or cringing after Becka found Fenrir/Draco fiction, it was just another evening in the campus apartments. The three of us chatting in front of Watson and Ryder, them looking at us like we were crazy, then joining in. There was at one point even a fan meetup, and a Wizard Rock concert in the student center. These are some of the memories from college living that lasted, the ones that were beautiful because they were simple, like waiting by the phone for someone to finish a chapter, so you could talk, spoiler free.

So really, as a whole the Harry Potter series gets far more credit than it deserves as a piece of literature. What it deserves credit for is managing to create a world that anyone can relate to and interact with. It has become more of a cultural tool than a work of fiction, which, in my opinion, is endlessly better.

I couldn’t end the night off without a little Percy love, especially when doubled up with Oliver Wood. I still say that Puddlemere United sock stuck in the stairs in book 7 makes this totally canon.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

While I’m thinking on it,
Jesse Cooper Levy’s amazing Wizard Rock.  It is really sweet and catchy, still finds it's way into the morning commute mix.  I miss seeing this guy around campus more than I can say.
http://www.myspace.com/thestruggleofamuggle


And of course, for people who both love and hate Harry, Rifftrax makes everything better. Watch everything they do always.
http://www.rifftrax.com

Sketch and Check

 

If you are bored, check out nine seconds of a doodle I did for Garret Harkawik, shown by the ever talented paper holder Steve Levine:

Flapper

Sunday doodle!

Life Story

and the cycle continues.

What, No posts?

Yes, I know upset guy,  I missed some posting days, but I swear I drew! I just wasn't feeling all that well, that's how it goes.  So, morning doodles Wednesday-Saturday, with some change.

A bunch of random ladies:

Co-Conspirators:

Cat

 

This morning's before work doodle=cat.  It goes 'Mrooooooooooooow'  I've decided to call him Clyde.  Sometimes I think I really want a pet cat, or a pet in general, then I realize that I really just want a familiar.  Damn years of gaming and Disney movies giving me unreasonably high expectations in animals! 

Monday Recs

So, Monday.  Start of the work week, miserable in and of itself.   If you are like me, the only thing that gets you through the work day is the little random things that you find on the internet.
I'm going to try collecting these things, filtering out most of it, and putting it here.

Seeing as it is Monday evening, and I've just had this thought, I'm going to start out with some shameless plugs!

First off, Mystery Babylon, new weekly web comic by Val Hochberg (relation) Posts Mondays, check out the pretties at http://www.kick-girl.com/


Next there is Ghost Stories, an 8 part web series by friend and gentleman, Andrew Gitomer. http://www.ghoststoriesseries.com/      Episode 2 just premiered this morning, new episodes each Monday.

Ghost Stories: Episode 2 from Andrew Gitomer on Vimeo.

More thought out recs next week!

Grayson and Gordon

 

This morning's before work doodle, probably took 30 minutes (including eating breakfast through it)  I'm not too thrilled with it, but I have to share because I've always had a soft spot for Dick Grayson and Barbra Gordon.  They are adorable, just want to pinch their cheeks.  Batgirl was really a standard for kickass ladies on Saturday mornings.  As far as robin goes, who doesn't love (and on occasion love to hate) the Boy Wonder?

I mean, come on, Dick Grayson grew up to be Nightwing.  He is like, a superhero custom tailored for me.  That and he's prancing around as Batman now.  Even when he is annoying and/or dumb, he's also been the source of so many hilarious moments, how could I ever stay mad at him? 

Though, Babs and I do agree that on occasion he has horrible, horrible taste.

Really just terrible.  Starfire?  Bleh.

Morning Doodle

Drawn in the time between breakfast and laundry coming out of the dryer.  Another successful attempt at procrastination.

Chipettes

Woke up this morning stupid early.  Rather than sit and stare at the wall any longer (had been doing that a good 10 minutes) I booted up and grabbed my tablet, drawing the first thing that came to mind.

That thing turned out to be The Chipettes.

 

They are still pretty badass.  I took all sorts of crazy style cues from them, and, if it weren't obvious, Jeanette was the best.  They weren't a huge part of my childhood, but they definitely left their impact, and was all about girl power and grooving.  

Where The Chipmunks have worn thin, The Chipettes will always be rock stars to me.

Last Night

 

It seems like forever ago; last year I was an Editorial Assistant (Read:Intern) on a film called Last Night.  In the months I worked on it, I completely fell in love with the film as well as the crew I spent my days with.  The film premiered not all that long ago in Toronto and Rome, which is what inspired this little bit of fan art (can it still qualify as fan art if I was involved? I think so...)  This is Jo and Alex, up on the roof enjoying (another) drink.

Though the film currently does not have a US release date, I have my fingers crossed.  I can't wait for the chance to see it on the big screen again.

Ava-tard

Oh, wow. Entered the Twitter contest held by www.avataween.com on a lark (and any excuse to dress up for Halloween is a good excuse, even if it is in digital form) Won a pretty gift to one of my favorite sites! Now to look at pretties on thinkgeek instead of working. Alt Tab is man's greatest invention.

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First Post

So, starting up this art blog in order to get back into the habit of
drawing, which I haven't really done for a depressingly long time;
years since I've last put any art online.  Last week I finished my
sketchbook and added the date to the back, and I realized I had it for
a year.  Well, that got me moving, I went out the next morning, bought
a new one and am trying to get back in the game!

First offerings (scanner is not hooked up currently, so excuse the
crap phone camera 6-12 inches from the page method of capturing)

Drawn on Halloween, concept characters all dressed up (from left to right):

The Invisible Woman; Candy Corn; Frohike (of the Lone Gunmen); Own Evil Twin

 

First design of Mama from an upcoming project

Breath of Fire FanArt!-Nina has a bad day, Ryu and Bo walk through that dungeon

Will try to update regularly, keep me honest internet!