quickmind

So I just  saw Speed Racer. I hadn't read any reviews of it, and frankly, I don't care about reviews anymore because they tend to color how I feel about the movie in question. When I saw the trailer for Speed Racer months ago, I knew I wanted to see it, at the least just to see how the Wachowskis' handled the visuals. It is evident that they have a lot of love for the original cartoon, because they painstakingly translated it to the  live action screen with only slight traces of irony. Overall, I had a  blast watching this movie.  My expectations weren't that high to begin with, which tends to lead to a pleasant movie-going experience, but I left the theater with a glowing sense of happiness from simply seeing the movie. It was unabashedly a simple story of family values pervailing over corporate greed, with characters that were embodiments of their characters from the cartoon, but I was perfectly ok with it. It didn't need to be some deep realistic reenvisioning of a classic cartoon, because that would not be true to the source material. There were fairly simple themes to the original cartoon and comic, and like most shows and comics of those types, throwing other themes into the mix takes the focus away from the themes the creators were going for. The general atmosphere would be lost by trying to make it more adult. The story has an innocence that would have been lost if it weren't created this way.

Visually, it was unlike anything I'd ever seen before. The blend of CG and live action worked beautifully, once I got used to it. At first, the colors were too jarring, the world too bright, but after the initial shock of it, I realized it was perfect. They really couldn't do it any other way  to represent their story, and that's the bottom line. The closest movie to it visually would be Sin City, or 300, I suppose, just in the way they translated from the original medium. But the colors were just so vibrant; they really captured the intensity of the races and helped to create the fast paced environment of the movie. The pure bright colors worked well to represent the themes and action of the story. Speaking of the action, it had me on the edge of my seat, and I wanted more. I became enmeshed in the  world, it was so gorgeous. All of the cut scenes,  the way characters faces would move across the screen and unveil a new scene worked really well. It was a lot of fun. The movie had a vibrant energy  to it that was infectious. I was highly entertained.

Which brings me to another point. I used to be an elitist about movies. In a way, I still am, I mean you can't go to art school and ever watch any tv or movie, or read any book or comic without inherently picking it apart, but now I approach things a bit differently. Not everything has to be fine art, and entertainment is not a bad thing. I used to look down on that word as representing something  mindless. But there are so many movies and books nowadays that try to be different and deep that they get bogged down by their own highbrow attitudes and lose track of good storytelling and communication. Entertainment, its not so bad. If I forget where I am and get lost in a new story or world or character, only to find myself again after its over, that's a good thing. That means the creator did their job and enhanced my life. That has become my inspiration, this form of communication.

Tomorrow we head out for our double whammy con extravaganza. First its Otakon in Baltimore, then on to San Diego Comic Con. I've made booklets for Samurai Drag Queens as well as personal promotional materials such as postcards and mini-portfolios.

Here's hoping this trip is less stressful than last year's and that Mirana and I both get awesome jobs!

I have updated with some pages from the latest story I worked on. A coworker of mine has had a story brewing for some time called Samurai Drag Queens and back in December we decided to send it to Tokyopop for their Rising Stars of Manga contest. The entry didn't  make it into the book, that's why you're seeing some of the pages here. Because we decided to enter so late in the game, we split each major task between 4 people. I pencilled, Mirana(check out her awesome work at hikarikat.com/mirana) did the inks, another co worker did the tones and two of us did the lettering. Despite some of the story's issues, it has a good heart and is a fun read. We did an amazing amount of work in about 2 weeks while working full time jobs or going to school. Please enjoy the story.

In a way, I miss being in school. I miss the deadlines that were enforced upon me and I miss drawing and making artwork all the time.

I realized earlier this evening that I am sorely out of practice. I can blame this on any number of things, but that's not going to help me improve. I got so frustrated earlier working on a page. I had to force myself to keep going, I was so tempted to put the pencil down and approach the project later.

I can't do that, however, because I need to draw more and often. I have to force myself to do these things so I can get better and get art jobs. I need to discipline myself to do good artwork consistently and confidently. Otherwise, its always going to be like this, frustrating and unfinished.

Well, we made it back from San Diego/Las Vegas. Barely. It was quite an ordeal, but that's really a tale for a different time.  I will be updating as soon as I can make it to a scanner with some new pages I've been working on. I'm  happy with them and hopefully the people I was showing them to are happy with them as well. They're just pencils at this point, but I'm eager to finish them, unfortunately, this place is a mess and for the next few weeks I'll be working 11-12 hour days. Why you ask? Otakon is next weekend. Why oh why did we agree to work Otakon so soon after Comic-con???   

I think Otakon will be better. There's a concert I would like to attend(Mucc), the 5 $ manga table, and even though it will be busier, we will be better staffed and have more room. Anyways, that's all I've got for now.