Statue Heroes

I continue to try and post some examples of art I have created here.  These are polymer clay statues I've done this year.

Review: Kayla-Hard Driving

Kayla: Hard Driving is a 24-hour comic by Lou Graziani I picked up at SPACE this year.  For those of you who don’t know, a 24-hour comic is a 24 pages comic totally written and drawn in 24 hours or less. It’s a technique used by artists to push themselves to be more efficient in getting their ideas out of their heads and on to paper.  I think this is a useful technique because there are far too many projects and ideas that never get developed but stay in someone’s brain as a “that would be cool” thought.  I don’t mean that every idea should be completed in 24 hours, but rather that if you can get something done in 24 hours, you should be able to get other things done when you have more time.

But on to my thoughts about Kayla: The main character in this comic is a young woman who is a computer hacker and is convinced the government is hiding secrets about aliens.  To expose the alien secrets she seduces and senator, hacks into government files, and calls in favors from friends, all in an effort to let the public know the truth about aliens.  This isn’t really a new idea, but I do like the main character, who is surprisingly well fleshed out given the constraints of the story.  Also, there is a sense of suspense as Kayla tries to avoid discovery while continuing to embark on bigger and bigger risks.  There is even a nice little twist to the ending.  Not too extreme, but clever.

The interior art is decent though not as nice as the cover, which I would think is due to the 24-hour constraints.  However, it is easy to follow the action and includes some rather complicated perspectives.  I think there’s less expectation for perfection artistically given the format, of course.  Part of the idea of doing something in a short time is allowing things not to be perfect in lieu of getting a product finished.

Lou has a nice website for this and his other comics, including Cy-Boar which is a clever title.  You can even read Kayla on his site, as well as other comics.  So check it out!  I’ll try to be back soon with more art and reviews!

Star Art

More of my recent Star Wars related drawings.  Did I mention I basically learned to draw drawing Star Wars stuff!

Review: Scribbles

Among my next few posts, I’m going to review some comics I picked up at SPACE- the small press convention held in Columbus, Ohio every year.

Scribbles is produced by Kel Crum, who is an all-around nice guy in addition to being a very funny fellow.  Scribble is a series of collection of some funny comics starring Brenda Visage, Ed Thud, Cornelia, Chickens, and Donna the Dead.  I’ve talked of Kel before and he’s just one of those guys who know how to be funny.  (He also knows everything-and I mean everything- about classic cartoons, but that’s another story.) The stories here range from a girl who comes apart to a dream and a battery powered… well…It’s hard for me to explain the jokes in his comics…so I think you should check out his website and contact him to buy some very good and affordable comics!  If you don’t laugh I’m sure he’ll give you your money back.  Actually, I’m not sure of that at all, I just made it up, but you should buy his stuff anyway.  You’ll laugh!

Boba Art

I wanted to post some of my recent work.  Here's some stuff of a related theme:

 

 

I plan to intersperse some art with my pop culture commentaries on my bloggy for now. Hopefully I entertain some readers!

Review: Woodstalk #4 & 5

I talked about the first three issues of Wolkstalk here, and I think it’s now a good time to revisit the series and discuss what has happened since.  As a refresher, Woodstalk is the comic about the heretofore unrevealed tale of the zombie outbreak at the classic hippiefest concert known as Woodstock. So now on to issue #4 and 5:

Whereas the first trio of issues centered on the British rock group The Zombies, the focus of the tale suddenly changes with the introduction of a couple hippies that shall be the center points of these stories.  Starlight and Sunshine have come to Woodstock selling some homegrown hash to make some cash to invest in their relationship and the raising of their soon-to-be born child.

They find there isn’t much interest in their product as everyone’s more into the brown acid that’s turning everyone zombie-like.  Or maybe it’s actually turning them into zombies.  It’s hard to tell with tripping hippies.  Anyway, Star and Sun find themselves able to rise above their pacifistic nature and take out some zombies as they begin their adventure in the zombie-infested Woodstock.

Writer/artist Bruce Worden does a great job telling a captivating tale of hilarious zombie/ hippie action and mayhem! I highly recommend this series!  It just gets more interesting!

Review: Out With Dad 4.03: "An Island Outing"

Well, if I start now I should be able to catch up on my Out With Dad review/comments before the next episode is released.  So here goes episode 4.03: “An Island Outing”.

This episode takes place on an island.  Of course.  Rose and Nathan are spending some time together much to the joy of Dad (Nathan) who wishes he could spend more time with his daughter.  During their island adventures some important happenings come up in conversation.  They begin discussing Kenny, who is apparently doing something with his life other than seeking further education.  Kenny was never much into the books and school, so this makes sense.  Rose notes how different Kenny and Alicia are, which makes it a wonder they were ever a couple.  Though they are both very caring people who are great friends to Rose, this alone didn’t keep their relationship going after High School.  This, as Nathan notes, is rather typical of what happens as people grow and mature.

Next the duo discusses Valerie, a woman Nathan dated when Rose was younger. Though Valerie and Nathan got along well, in the end it was Rose that split them up.  At least, the fear of parenting eventually scared Valerie off.  Rose gets upset that Nathan always seems to use Rose as an excuse for not having romantic relationships. Then they discuss some closure Nathan had by meeting Valerie at a convenient store.  This leads to discussions of Rose and having some closure with Vanessa or Claire.  We learn that Rose and Claire avoided each other for 3 years of High School.  I find it a bit surprising that Clare stayed in the school where she was treated badly and wasn’t allowed to have a GSA, but maybe that was her way of not giving in.

At the end Nathan mentions that there might be more to Vanessa’s story than Rose is aware of.  Besides the clever choice of words, I hope this will lead to us finding out about Vanessa’s current life soon.  Despite the happy ending of “Vanessa’s Story” she is certainly has confronted and is confronting a whole different level of challenges than Rose.