Caught In The Whirlwind
Posts tagged art
Movies And Art
01258 days
by Jason
in Uncategorized
I was over at my friends apartment last night for our weekly mid-week gathering. Most of the evening was taken up by the watching of The Dark Knight that just came out on DVD. I still can't believe how awesome it is, especially Heath Ledger's portrayal of The Joker. Every single time I watch the movie I see something new in his performance that I didn't notice before. Truly, he stole the film and I really hope that he wins an Oscar for his performance. It was a supporting character role, but I really don't think there was anyone else who has even come close to his performance.
While we were watching the movie, Wassy was working on some drawing. Specifically a piece for me that I had requested about 4-5 months (I think) ago after she had described the pose to me. It's a pin-up (of the not safe for work variety, although there's nothing really TOO naughty being shown, part of the reason why it's so awesome) piece featuring one of my villains from City of Villains. Dark Frost, specifically. She's the one waving sitting on the wall in my last piece of artwork.
I had told her I didn't want to see it until it was totally finished, but she was over there drawing it and making comments about how good it was turning out so I broke down and looked. I'm extremely excited about it now. Well…I we excited before but now I'm even more excited. She gets the whole pin-up thing very well. VERY well. I can't wait for this one to be finished. The pencils she got done last night were awesome and I've been glancing at them whenever I can. Just has to hold me over for a few more weeks…
We also attempted to play Through The Fire And Flames on Guitar Hero 3 after not having played it for months. That didn't end well. Not well at all. Such a hard song to play, and we were way out of practice. Epic fail!
A Change In Appearances
01399 days
by Jason
in Uncategorized
Last night I went out and got my hair cut. Normally I wouldn't announce this to the world or anything but I've been trying to grow it out a little bit because I got tired of how I've looked pretty much the same since I started getting haircuts. So I let my hair grow for a couple months until it was a decent length and went in last night to get it cut.
It's not a drastic change, really. Right now anyway. It's just longer than it has been in the past. I think I'd like to go for something just a hair longer than it is right now by the end of it. I've been told I look better with hair that's a little bit longer. I wasn't planning on changing over to the final style yet or anything, I just needed it to be a little more under control.
The title also references a change in the appearance of my apartment too. After my haircut I swung by my friend's apartment and picked up the print for my piece of artwork. It came out amazing. All of the little details from the digital piece are in there and it looks like she did the work by hand on that piece of paper as opposed to doing it digitally and having it printed. I'm very happy with how it turned out. I just need to find a good place to put it. I found something I sorta liked but I think I'm going to move things around a little more. My apartment really needs more room for art type things as I've gotten quite the collection over the past few years.
I also picked up Hannibal (because I finished Red Dragon and Silence Of The Lambs since I last posted a book update…working on it!) while I was out which I'm hoping I enjoy. It seems to be a very love it or hate it kind of book, and I hope I'm in the "love it!" camp.
It's Done! It's Done! It's Done!!!
01400 days
by Jason
in Uncategorized
Remember that piece of artwork that I mentioned I was having done a few posts back? Well, it has been completed and I'm very very happy with the result. Wassy has outdone herself with this one.
Yep, it's another piece of art of my favorite City of Heroes character, Frost Magus. The way I figure it, you can't have enough! But this time it also includes my main City of Villains character, Dark Frost. Boring story time!
Dark Frost and Frost Magus are the same person, sort of. Dark Frost is a version of Frost Magus from an alternate dimension that was thrown down the path of evil when one important change happened in the timeline of her dimension that didn't happen in the hero Frost's. They both got their powers through a magical spell that backfired, however the difference was that Dark Frost's parents were killed in the accident while Frost Magus' survived. The loss of her parents gradually destabilized Dark Frost and she became cynical and selfish, only caring about herself in an uncaring world, so she thought. She turned to a life of crime to get by. Meanwhile, the hero Frost was using her powers for good.
Dark Frost was eventually sucked into the dimension where the hero Frost resided due to a lab equipment malfunction during an experiment. Not wanting to let the public know about what happened (because otherwise they would have to admit their research is pulling random people from other dimensions into their own…not a very popular thing you can imagine) they threw her into jail and tried to coverup what happened. Eventually Dark Frost escaped with help from Arachnos and ended up in the Rogue Islands, increased her power and proved that she was in fact one of the Destined Ones. All of that last bit is part of the City of Villains storyline.
While she was in the Rogue Islands though, she found out about the existance of the hero Frost. The more she learned, the more resentful and angry she got. Here's another her that got all the good breaks…all the breaks that she (Dark Frost) deserved to have. After she achieved the height of her power she decided that she was strong enough to strike out to Paragon City and meet up with the woman who had (in her view) stolen her real life.
And thats where this piece comes in. After getting Dark Frost to level 50 in game, I thought it would be very cool if there would be a Frost/Dark Frost piece…a sorta good vs evil type thing. I talked to Wassy who agreed to take on the project and off we went. Through discussion, this scene emerged. Dark Frost has planned out this meeting so she's confident that it's happening on her terms, so she appears relaxed on the wall. But she's ready to spring into action if things start going all unpredictable. She had just called out to Frost, making her presence known and Frost is whipping around trying to locate the source of that strangely familiar voice. And her shock is total when it ends up being her own face looking back at her.
I can't say enough good things about how this piece turned out. It's exactly what I was looking for when I thought that a combined piece would be cool, and in fact it exceeded my expectations when I got the final colored version last night (late last night or I would have posted this then). It looks so awesome, like it was a full page ripped straight from a comic book and all of the layers of meaning that I wanted in there are there. It tells a very important piece of the story of these two characters that can't happen in the game and it's also suggestive of a large scale battle soon to come.
I don't even know where to start. All the little details of this piece make it awesome. I especially like the subtle details of the shading in Frost's face and the way her hand is posed. And Dark Frost turned out amazing as well. And the background setting. And the lighting. And the little touches of detail. And the…well…everything. I'm in a very gushy mood right now, I just love it! I can't wait until I get the print. I need to figure out where I'm going to put the print first…I'm running out of wall space here.
Very Excited
01407 days
by Jason
in Uncategorized
I'm in a very excited mood right now. A couple weeks ago…or maybe it was a month. I've lost track of time since then, I had approached my friend Wassy about doing a commission for me. The basic premise is that I have two characters in City of Heroes (well more than two, but these are the only two that matter here), one a hero and the other a villain. The villain is an alternate reality version of the hero that got all the hard breaks making her a little crazy and moving her down a different path. So through a discussion with my friend, it was decided that the villain would be hunting the hero and this piece would be the exact moment where the hero learns of the villains existance (by being confronted by her near a park)
My excitement level has grown over the time since this was hashed out as she gradually had time to start working on the poses and the detailed penciles for both characters individually. But last night she did the background and put it all together and my excitement level shot through the roof. She nailed exactly what I wanted the piece to be. I was grinning like an idiot for at least a half hour after I opened the e-mail attachment.
I don't want to show it because it's still a work in progress and all that, but you can bet I'll show it off here when it's all done. Which shouldn't be too much longer now…
Wheee!
New (And Expanded) Arts Report
01429 days
by Jason
in Uncategorized
As Wassy mentioned in the comment to my last article, I did leave out something which I should have mentioned. In my defense…certain parts of the weekend felt like they were actually weeks long…one part of that being Sunday. So by the time I got around to writing my post, this seemed like it was ancient history. In any case, here we go.
For a while I had wanted to get a better quality print of one of my favorite pieces of art that I have, Flowy Frost. I really love this piece and it really means a lot to me because it was quite possibly the best gift I have ever been given. I had been going through a very rough couple days which ended in a near nervous breakdown and It was a total surprise. It was also responsible for helping to bring me back to reality. I'll always have a special place for her.
Anyway, the print I had wasn't the best quality and Wassy had recently found a good quality print shop to take care of this stuff. So I decided I wanted a new Flowy Frost print, something that was a little larger and better quality than my other print which happened to come from Staples.
So friday, my 11×14 print was delivered to me and I feel in love with it all over again. The print came out really nicely and I was actually able to find an 11×14 frame that was the exact same style as my 8.5×11 frame that I had been using for it. And along with the Flowy Frost print came another very nice surprise:
Yep, that's my favorite art subject, Frost (My favorite character in the City of Heroes MMO game) in an ink 6×9 mini portrait, as seen through the eyes of my friends not so great scanner. The original piece looks better in person. And based upon what I had been going through for the past couple days (which I don't really want to go into here) I really, really appreciate the timing of this one. Wassy is one of those people who have the gift of giving very nice gifts at exactly the right time to help somebody feel better. And I can't really put into words exactly how much this piece means to me.
If you want to check out more of Wassy's work, you can head on over to www.wassyart.com
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Basketball and…Mermaids?
01584 days
by Jason
in Uncategorized
Yesterday I went out to Syracuse with my parents to watch the Syracuse vs Villanova basketball game at the Carrier Dome. It was kinda ugly and while Syracuse managed to hang in there for a while, they ended up losing it in the second half when they got into some foul trouble and had to play without a couple of their best guys out there. Our seats were a bit weird though. We ended up sitting in the last row of the first level and underneath an underhang where the second level is, so it looked like we were watching the game in a little room with a really big widescreen TV. I guess they were a gift from UPS to my dad because his company is a pretty good UPS customer, so I really can't complain. After the game we went out to Tully's to eat and then we headed back home.
When I got there, my friend Wassy had another surprise to spring on me. I knew she had been cooking up something because she kept IMing me with random "mwahahah!"s and dropping cryptic hints. But she couldn't wait any longer and revealed her plot to me last night. More artwork, whee!
Apparently she thought my fish might enjoy a pin-up girl and I think this will be a fine distraction in their attempts at world domination (they're planning something…). I think this is some of her best detail work yet and you really need to see the full size version to appreciate all the little touches that she put into it.
An Envelope On The Door
01849 days
by Jason
in Uncategorized
7 page essay on the foundation of society done! Only took 2,018 words and 3 hours at the library in the afternoon to write. After that I went over to my parents house for a bit and then came home after dinner to an envelope hanging on the outside door to my apartment.
From the car, I saw that it had some writing on it and at first I thought it had said something about "Jesus" since I was a little far away so I couldn't make it out clearly. I figured (as has happened in the past) some group was going door to door dropping off religious literature or something.
As soon as I got out of the car though, I realized that it actually said "Second-Favorite Jason", which is what Wassy has been calling me recently (Her husband, obviously, being the #1 Favorite Jason). I ran into the house to grab some scissors to cut it down (after which realizing there was a quick release string on the knot…but…oh well), then I opened it up….
Wheeee! New artwork! If you're wondering that's one of the characters (Probably my favorite one) that I played in City of Heroes (when I have enough time to play these days anyway).
I think this is probably the best piece of work that I've seen her do so far. I love the comic-booky with a hint of anime style. And the face. Oh, and the hair…and…uh…everything else. My gushing abilities are a bit sore from my reaction yesterday, but it boils down to: I love it.
And it was a complete and total surprise too. It seems her secret keeping skills are improving right along with her artwork. There were only a couple minor hints to this one, unlike the last one, and those needed to be pointed out after the fact. I should have picked up on something when she asked how long I had planned to be out doing my laundry this morning…
I need to go buy a frame now. Good thing I only have to go to class tonight to hand in my paper. I can swing by the store and grab something.
Washington DC Trip – Day 2
01892 days
by Jason
in Uncategorized
I'm a little slow in posting this one because of how tired I was the last couple nights, but…here's what went down on day 2 of the Washington DC Trip.
After the extensive walking of day 1, my feet were killing me and I could feel a couple of blisters forming, but I was generally ok. Day 2 was the Smithsonian day where we planned to visit the Air and Space Museum, the National Gallery of Art and the Natural History Museum.
Unfortunately, the weather was still horrible. Rain and wind earlier, turning into sleet and snow later on. By the time we got to the Air and Space Museum, we were soaked.
First thing on the agenda was to get some tickets for the 12:50 showing of Magnificent Desolation, a 3D IMAX film detailing the Apollo moon landings. After that, we went exploring for a while.
One of the highlights for me was seeing SpaceShipOne hanging in the museum atrium. Back when the X Prize was going on, I was following their progress with real interest since I'm of the opinion that commercial space flight is going to be the way to go in the future in order to innovate in the space travel department. NASA hasn't had the budget to do anything radically different since the Space Shuttle was first created.
One thing I learned that surprised me was that pigeons used to be used as spy plane like devices. Strap a camera on them with a timer and let em fly. I'm not entirely sure how useful this one. I'd guess they'd get an awful lot of pictures of statues and trash cans. Wassy brought up the question about what would happen during mating season…which is something I'd rather not think about.
Then we turned a corner and found a model of the strangest flying machine I've ever seen in my entire life. The thing on the left here is a French designed flying ship that was never actually built, probably for very good reason. There's a barrel hanging below the main ship which contains the food and drinks, accessible only by taking a rope ladder from te deck of the ship all the way down to the barrel. Why the heck did they not stick the barrel INSIDE the ship?!? The kitchen is also hanging down by the barrel.
There's a little "flying machine" on the back, I guess in case somebody wants to take a drive.
One of the coolest parts of the museum though, was the pop culture exhibit. The American History Museum was being renovated but they moved the pop culture stuff from there to the Air and Space Museum. They had a ton of cool stuff there. Highlights included Kermit the Frog from the Muppet Show, Dorthy's ruby slippers from the Wizard of Oz, R2-D2 and C-3PO…
I could go on, but I think I'll just throw some pictures down.
After that, we went through the National Art Gallery. I'm not really an art type guy, so I don't have any pictures or very much to say about this portion. Some cool looking things in there, but my legs were killing me too much to really appreciate it. The Da Vinci panting that Wassy wanted to see was removed for maintenance on the enclosure, unfortunetly. We called off the Art Gallery early in order to go back to the hotel and rest.
We skipped the natural history museum and went out to dinner at Chili's which was really good. After that we went back out to the Capitol Building to take a few pictures since we missed it on Day 1.
That's all until I post what happened on day 3.
More pictures from day 2 can be found on my flickr account by clicking here.
QotD: Nice Save
0If you could only save one thing in a house fire (thing, not person), what would it be and why?
Submitted by donnunn.
When I first read this question, a bunch of things came through my head. Like the MacBook, and things along those lines. Then I realized that those are just, you know…expensive stuff that can be replaced.
The one thing I have in my place that I couldn’t replace eventually is (shocker here 
) a drawing my friend did for me. It’s a pencil piece and she sent me the original, so I’ve got the only copy. If there was one thing I could save, it would be that, as it really means a lot to me. Everything else could be replaced.
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