Pig-Iron…

I love doing the mock covers… This was another ‘random’ drawing that turned into one. I think my Joker looks a little like the Neal Adams version (not as good, of course). I once told Mr Adams (amidst all of the stuttering and stammering), that whenever I think of Batman, I almost always immediately think of that Power records comic he did in the 70s(?). His response: “That’s… Interesting.” And that was basically my entire conversation with him… I suck. Waited decades to meet him and then… Anyway.

I also think of that same comic when I see the Joker. For me, the Joker doesn’t look right if he at least doesn’t look somewhat like that 70s Adams rendition. Maybe it’s the sideburns. As for my fake cover, that’s probably why I went with the ‘heh-hehs’ in the background, because there’s a panel in that comic with a Joker headshot and a load of ‘Ha ha has’ around him. I remembered it after I started doing that… And I know… the Joker doesn’t go “heh heh heh”. He goes “ha ha ha”. But I couldn’t go with “Ha ha ha” because  he doesn’t have his mouth open. He’s not in full cackle, yet.  But I do think that panel was subliminal-al-al.

The Joker art’s on eBay (at the time I’m posting this), by the way, if anyone wants it.

(UPDATE) I couldn’t leave well enough alone. I was about to go to bed… Poised to turn off my computer… And I just couldn’t get out of Photoshop…

So I did another version, just to see what it would look like with the Joker taking up more space… And I kinda’ liked that… He looks to be a little more in your face  filling up the entire page and all…

And I tried one more with even less of the entire head visible…I had to change some things to make it ‘work’ a little better (like changing the outline around the ‘Batman’ logo and getting rid of the Joker’s outline). I changed the color of several things ever so slightly so nothing would ‘fall into’ anything else. I also made the Joker’s face wider, just for the heck of it. I could probably kick ‘The Last Laugh’ a little to the left, but I think I better go to bed now, so I guess that will be The Last Gaff for tonight (rim shot… “Thankyooo”…). Photoshop provides the ability to make too many alterations sometimes. I do like how he’s peeking out from below the Bat-logo at this size, though. STOP! Quit! Going to bed now…

Color version, later…

It’s a little dark, but I like dark. Not completely happy with it, but I’m not disgusted by it, either. Most of the graphics added (like the Comics Code Authority stamp of approval) were vector versions that I did,The actual Spider-Girl logo and the line at the top of the ‘cover’ were pulled directly from an ‘actual’ Marvel cover… How lame is that line, though? “The TRUE Spider-Man…?” Marvel nerds will, of course, know that there were lots of Spider-Clones running around at the time, so I guess they thought they would lessen the confusion. Now there’s a whole city full of Spider-Man types… Marvel has lost it. The House of Ideas has become the House of Incest.

So, back to my fake cover… I just wanted to do a couple things different with the cover to try to focus the effect I was going for… You know, to highlight the fake story that may be within the fake comic. This first one…Wait…

Here it is… For this one I took out the background colors to train the eye more on the title character. You still get the grave yard background and if the viewer looks hard enough they’ll see the Parker name on the grave. But doing that, I took the emphasis off of the grave that the silly blurb is referring to… Okay, it’s not that silly. It’s a variation I did from a line in the Book Of Job. My use of it is silly, though. But comics always used to have the grandiose (and silly) blurbs on the covers ensuring the reader that there will surely be ominous events inside… Daunting tasks for the hero (or heroine) to overcome in the very thin 22 pages of story that you get every month… Back to my blurb point; I thought it would be important to make the connection of the words and drawing, so…

I went back to the color background, but I blackened out most of it. The Mr. veal logo appeared to be drawing my eye a little away from the drawing, so I got rid of the red color. I think in this version, there’s an impression of the grave scene (no pun intended) with the silhouettes of more grave markers and stone architecture of a graveyard. I made the one important monument visible, to connect with the words. Sure, I could have had her kneeling in distress over the death of her pa or something like that, but really I started out just doing a sketch of the character… a really rough sketch…

And turning it into the fake cover… No reason, really. I roughed this out on the Wacom and probably did a better job on her face than I did when I inked it. Sometimes things get lost in the ink translation.

I still like the first post the most. It’s more illustration, than graphic design, but I don’t think that’s a bad thing. It’s comics.

I’ll post another random drawing soon (definitely on Sunday, my designated art post day). Thanks for reading if you got this far. I appreciate it.

I was intending to draw some cartoony stuff last night by randomly pulling comics out of one of my boxes and drawing whoever was in the comic. I pulled out Spider-Girl #61 (my ‘signed by Ron Frenz’ copy ). I always liked the character and I ended up trying to draw something a little more serious. I drew a ‘rough cover’ which consisted of Spider-Girl with one of those abstract floating head backgrounds that artists do because they don’t want to actually draw a background, then it kind of became what it is now.  It’s not great, but I can always try again, I guess.

I might post the color version tomorrow.

A film With Me In It is like a Hitchcock film made as a film school study aid by a writer/professor trying to illustrate how to make a proper suspense entertainment where two murderers are trying to cover up their crime without having them actually be murderers. And that still doesn’t describe the film properly. It’s a British comedy, but works as a suspense thriller while having elements of satire or surrealism.  I didn’t know what I was in for here (the best way to watch a film) and I was happily surprised that this wasn’t just good, but a great film.

Many on this side of the pond will recognize Dylan Moran from his role in Shaun Of The Dead (and maybe Run Fatboy, Run). Mark Doherty, however is the real star here. He writes and stars in the film and winks at the audience all of the way through. He pokes fun at the movie business, film geeks looking to find holes in the films they watch, and even himself. The great thing is that this never goes down the road of the absurd. The situation is surreal but they play it straight the entire film and they don’t cheat ( at least I don’t think they do).

The film opens with Mark Doherty playing… Mark… who is an actor being given the once over by a couple of producers. They pass on him, but not before disparaging his appearance and getting his name wrong. He walks home disappointed  and tries to avoid the landlord. He lives with his girlfriend Sally (Amy Huberman), his brother 9who is wheelchair bound) and a friend named Pearce (Moran), a self proclaimed writer recovering from alcoholism that makes his money betting on horses. The house they live in is falling apart and nothing seems to work at anytime. It’s dilapidated to the point of being hazardous. They want the landlord to fix everything, but he won’t until he gets his rent money. After taking Sally’s dog for a ‘walk’, Mark learns that she’s had enough and is moving out.

I really can’t say any more than that about the plot other than there are a series of highly unlikely accidents that occur in a short period of time that completely turn Mark’s life (and Pearce’s) upside down. As bad as he thinks his life was, it gets much worse for him.

I love that the film not only made me laugh at the dark humor, but made me a bit queasy as the situation becomes more and more out of control for the protagonist. I also like how the two characters work out the film’s script while they are trying to find a way out of their situation. I loved the ending and this is certainly a film that lives up to its title. I checked Doherty’s imdb page and am saddened that he continues to appear only in small roles. He’s not only an actor with deadpan comic timing, he’s also a good writer. Maybe he’ll write another film for himself and it’ll get made.

4.5 of 5

No, this isn’t a review of that Ashley Judd/Ewan McGregor suspense thriller that made no sense but I liked it anyway. This is me vaguely weighing in on DC’s new logo. Above is their last logo they’ve run with for the last few years.

Simple. Kinda’ cool. Harkens back to all of their past logos that had the circle design, the ‘DC’ letters and the stars. This one sort of says Hey! YOU! Read this comic! It’s a lot of fun!”

Here’s the latest logo design. What do I think? (Say this with a Scottish accent) “It’s CRAP”! Do you know why they put the words DC Comics below the ‘DC art’? Because without that you would have no idea that’s supposed to read DC. So, really, this says ‘DC DC Comics’. I read another take on this logo elsewhere on the internet that that middle thing was the “D being peeled back”. I thought it was a sideview of a desk lamp. I had no idea that was supposed to be a D. I can see it now, but I had to be told. And  I’m VERY familiar with all of their past logos. There’s no connection between this new form and what came before. This is like Coke getting rid of their current swoosh and familiar cursive lettering in favor of Grey cans and tiny helvetica lettering under some weird logo design that has a hidden CC in there or something. They’re killing their brand recognition for one thing.  On top of that, it’s surprising that it looks so corporate given that so many top brass of the current DC regime seem to be the kind that would go set up a tent community and ‘occupy’ something. The logo at the top screams “COMICS”! This sad, mousy, pathetic little black and white high school Art I configuration whispers “H & R Block” or “Open Immediately. Bill Enclosed” .

In all fairness, the logo is ‘out of context’. Maybe appearing on the covers (and all of the other MERCHANDISE) will change my opinion. Right now, though: Ble-achghff!

I missed posting last Sunday. Sometimes things get in the way of what your plans are, I guess. I’m working on a logo currently.  Maybe I’ll show that when I’m done.

In the meantime… Yesterday, I ended up at the Plaza De Luna, again. Here’s some video below from the same day (thanks to ‘beaupns’ for posting).

It was a little overcast. I had lunch with Mr. Assertive and  he wanted to see the progress of the new baseball stadium (I think), home of the Bluuuuuuuuue Wahooooooooooos. You tell me. Progress?

I don’t know. It doesn’t look much different from this angle than the photo I took in mid October. It did look a little more finished from the street view, though.

There was a small vessel docked in the port. It was called ‘Peacemaker’ and apparently had taken about 19 years to get built.

The mast looked like it was twice as tall as the boat was long. Is that possible? Anyway…

More art on the way… Have to catch up on some things first.

Thanks to ‘DannyGuitar12′ for posting.

While Dreamworks’ forays into CGI animation have lacked the emotional punch of Pixar’s efforts, they have produced some quality films with works such as Kung Fu Panda and now Rango. With this one, they still haven’t been able to completely just write a good story of their own without lifting scenes and jokes (a la Shrek) from films that the adult viewers will know but the kids won’t (especially the Hunter S. Thompson gag). This is a step in the right direction, though. There are numerous references to classic westerns (and to Chinatown) in Rango, but they’re a little more subtle than what occurs in the Shrek films. A lot of the credit has to go to Gore Verbinski, better known as the director of films like The Ring and the Pirates of the Caribbean films.

The main storyline is lifted from Chinatown, but there’s enough new here to give the creators the bnefit of the doubt that they aren’t just stealing. It follows a store bought chameleon (Jonny Depp) living in a terrarium. He’s bored with life and lonely, spending his time using his imagination to pass the time. In a stroke of fate his terrarium is thrown from his owners’ traveling vehicle and onto a southwestern highway.

He is left behind to ponder his existence, wondering where to go from there until he gets advice from an armadillo (Alfred Molina) trying to ‘cross over to the other side’… of the road… to meet the fabled ‘Spirit Of the West. The armadillo sends him off wandering into the desert to find Dirt.

After some complications, the lizard does indeed find Dirt, a dying western town populated by various desert animals. He blends in (as chameleons do) and takes the name of ‘Rango’ from a something with a label notating that it was ‘Made in Durango’. He talks loud and fast to successfully impress the locals until he angers one of the town’s ruffians, a Gila Monster played by Ray Winstone. I won’t say what happens next, becuase that would be giving too much of the story away, but I will say Rango finagles his way into becoming the town’s sheriff. He soon becomes embroiled in a possible conspiracy involving the town’s water reserves. There are some surprises as to where the story goes, I think. There’s a little more here to chew on than most kids’ films (speaking of which, I wonder if this shouldn’t be PG-13. It stretched the boundary of what’s acceptable in a PG movie a few times).

The art of Rango is beautifully done. The film visually captures the heat and dryness of the desert. It also has the laid back tempo of westerns. The wind blows. Tumbleweeds roll. It’s quiet sometimes, almost to a spiritual degree. It does  posit existentialist philosophy throughout and sets that sort of tone. The film does move pretty well, though, especially becuase of the animated (no pun intended) lead character. Rango stares blankly, unmoving except for an occasional twitch when he’s figuring things out, but once he goes into action, the film hops along with him. There are a number of good action sequences.

The characters have some interesting aesthetic detailing (like the bird with the arrow through the head). Rango himself had a funny little crooked neck (figures that it’s straight in the poster above). The town was brilliantly rendered. I also really liked the discarded human objects that have become part of the structures of the various establishments. The roadrunners as horses was fairly clever, too, even if it brings up the deep philosohical question of  ”Why is does Goofy wear clothes and is Mickey’s friend while Pluto doesn’t wear clothes and is Mickey’s pet?”

Verbinski did a good job matching actors to the various animals in the film. The voice acting is well suited to the characters with maybe one exception (in my humble opinion). The rattlesnake villain (Rattlesnake Jake) played by Bill Nighy (who I also like) could have used a better voice actor or at least one more suited to the role. Nighy is a rather dry British actor anyway, but he’s even blander than normal (that sounds like a shot doesn’t it?). Johnny Depp as Rango is acceptable as the hero.  I initially said what he did was ‘standard’, but after I went back and looked at the film, he did a better job than maybe I gave him credit for.  The real ‘characters’, though, are the critters he comes across.

Isla Fisher as Ms. Beans is a clear standout here, at least for me. Her midwestern/Texas accent is a highlight. Beans also has some funny personality tics that work as running jokes. The filmmakers probably could have called this ‘Beans’, lost Rango, and the film still would have worked.

I also found the part time narrators/Mariarchi players (all desert owls) particularly entertaining. As I said, Dreamworks’ efforts lack the impact of the stories Pixar tells, but this was still a pretty good effort. I liked this far more than i thought I would. It made my ‘Best 10 Films of 2011‘ list

4.5 of 5