Presentations

The presentations this week were really good. And I'm not just saying that because I was one of the presenters XD I learned a lot about things I didn't know about, like motion graphics and some new video games I want to try out now, as well as Tom Cruise doing his own stunts on that building!? That was insane! I still think he's a weirdo and only a somewhat decent actor, but props to him for doing a stunt like that! I'm somewhat disappointed that we didn't get to watch the Bioshock trailer, only because I myself have not been able to watch it on my own *I've only read the summary of the trailer* and this would have forced me to watch it, and I've always wanted to. But, ah. C'est la vie.
Welp, this is the last blog post I need to do. I've actually enjoyed doing the blogs, even though its been hard to think of things to write about and draw. But its been a fun experience, along with the rest of the class in general.

NaNoWriMo - Continued

First off - if any of you have manga studio, I would suggest NOT coloring in it. Its a pain and it doesn't look nearly as well as photoshop.
Now to what I want to talk about: NaNoWriMo. I know that I already discussed it, but I have more to say. Also, Tori wanted me to summarize my novel.
I won NaNoWriMo on Friday, officially writing over 50,000 words in a month. I still can't quite believe it. What's really sad is my 'novel' is not even close to being complete. Not too much happens within the 50,000 words - just some setting up characters and getting the plot started, that's about it. And a LOT of worldbuilding.
The picture above has the five main characters from the section I wrote for NaNo - From top to bottom, left to right: Karanee, Caleb, Aisha, Rhia, and Ari (with the owl Chillo on his shoulder).
A simplified summary - In a post-appocalyptic future, most civilization has survived only in what used to be the Middle East. After a naive and simple boy named Ari accidentally 'rescues' Rhia, a reserved and distrustful mute, from a group of bandits, he makes it his goal to escort her on the rest of her journey to the capital city. However, on the way he realizes that there is more to her than meets the eye *lame Transformers reference, sorry*, and ends up getting caught up in the business of a female bounty hunter clan.
>.>; its more complicated than that, but that's the basic summary of what I wrote. The story itself is a lot longer, but unwritten. This is only a portion of the first story arc. Though I haven't  quite figured out a lot of what will happen, I'm trying to make it up as I go. That ended up happening a lot in the portion I wrote for NaNo, even though I had that part pretty well thought out.
Either way, it was a fun experience, and I can't wait to do it again...next year of course ^__^ (I wouldn't want to do it anytime soon).

Tree of Life

I'm writing this post now because I want to get my initial, fresh thoughts written out. Tree of Life was definitely a beautiful film. The shots, the visuals, the small glimpses into the life of this boy; it was all beautiful. At the same time it left me feeling conflicted. Like I missed something. I'll probably have to watch it again to get it (I did almost fall asleep several times during the last half hour, to my embarrassment). However, I don't  really have a strong desire to ever see it again. At least not as a whole movie. There are parts that I would like to see again and just watch, like the dinosaur sequence and certain scenes from the boy's childhood, but the movie as a whole was almost too much to take in in one sitting. There was so much happening without explanation, little to no dialouge, and my brain was not really at the capacity to fill in the empty spaces the film gave us to the narrative. But, seeing as the film was not shot as a narrative, maybe there are no empty spaces to be filled. Maybe I am just assuming there should be.

NaNoWriMo

For the last month, I have been rabidly participating in an even called NaNoWriMo. Its taking away my sanity bit by bit. The goal - write a novel of 50,000 words within the month of November. When I tell people that I'm doing this they feel bad for me, thinking this was some sort of assignment for class. Nope. I'm doing it for fun. I'm a little behind, but I think I'll actually reach the 50,000 word mark this year (its my third year participating and the highest I got before was 31,000. Currently I'm at 42,873). What's great about it is that its forcing you to write, sort of like what Stanton says about animation - get it out and get it out fast so you can make your mistakes quickly. The novel of NaNoWriMo is not supposed to be a finished project - just a very rough draft. But it forces  you to write and think through things, and sometimes the things you write in the spur of the moment is better than what you had been planning all along.
My story this year is about a post-appocalyptic future set in the desert (semi-inspired by a Book Of Eli/Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind/Fullmetal Alchemist/Legend of Zelda/Avatar: The Last Airbender environment. Yeah. Lots of different influences), following a naive and goodnatured boy and his owl Chillo (on my head in the picture above) as they get caught up in...stuff. Its complicated.
But its super fun :3

J-Pop

As I said in my last post, I don't watch a lot of music videos, but I probably should have rephrased that: I don't watch a lot of mainstream/American music videos. The most music videos I watch are probably vocaloid ones, but if I'm not watching one of those, I'm probably watching a J-Pop music video. As far as J-Pop videos go, most of them are stereotypical 'dance' videos, which have the members of the group dancing to the music, pretty self-explanitory and for the most part boring; however, sometimes you come across something that is a little more interesting to look at. One of the things I have noticed is some of the technology and such that are used in these videos, they can be pretty fantastic. Now, I'll admit none of these music videos I'm posting are very deep or anything, I'm doing it more for some of the aesthetics and special effects, as well as music I just enjoy that have interesting videos.

First up is Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, singing PONPONPON

I promise none of the rest of them are quite that weird ^__^;

Next is Ka-Ka-Kata Kataka Omoi-C by Hyadain

Oddly enough, even though there is a girl lip syncing in this video, the female vocals are also provided by the boy, Hyadain, through voice modifications.

These last two are by a group called Perfume, my personal favorites. They usually do a more 'dance video' type, but they put a spin on it and the technology used is really amazing!

Fake It (uses Bullet Time effects)

Nee (uses... 360 degrees copies of themselves? I don't know the terminology for it)

They have a lot of other cool videos too, including Natural no Koishite (where they dance on a moving sidewalk) and Voice (where they dance on a 'Hole in the Wall' sort of device where they have to time it just right to fit in with the cutouts).

Virtual Voices

When perusing the internet, one may stumble across pictures of characters like these.

They seem like normal-looking anime characters, so it seems safe enough to ask 'Oh, what anime/manga/video game are those guys from?' HOWEVER think twice before doing that, because I know you might get your head bitten off. Believe me, I've seen it happen on youtube plenty of times.

The characters up above are only a sampling of the now thirty or forty-something Vocaloids. What is a Vocaloid, you might ask? They are computer programs. Voice synthesizers. You put in the lyrics and the musical notes into the program, and the voice will sing it back to you. They have all different kinds of Vocaloids, ones that sing in English, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, and they are even coming out with a Celtic one soon. It provides a way for songwriters to get their songs out without using a vocalist or singing it themselves.

Vocaloids are crazy popular in Japan, and the original seven or so even have concerts. That's right; concerts. Hatsune Miku, the blue-haired girl in the picture above, is currently touring in Hong Kong. How does that work, a concert for a singing program? Holograms, of course.

Miku and some other prominent Vocaloids have toured many parts of Asia, even coming to Los Angeles to perform at the Nokia theater, a sold out show. If you ever want to see something interesting, watch some videos from their concerts - its still a live band performing, but the vocals are pre-recorded, obviously, and the crowd is just as energetic as those that go to see "real" musicians. However, I'm not here to talk about their concerts (though they are pretty flippin' sweet). I want to talk about their music videos.

Since anyone who has 200 bucks can buy their own copy of whatever voice they want (and the selection is growing bigger every day it seems now), there are a multitude of songs on the internet, some even available for purchase on itunes. When the songs are released, they are always accompanied by a video of some sort, whether that just be a picture in the background to the song, or a full fledged animated spectacle. These illustrations and pvs (promotional video) are sometimes done by the writers of the songs if they are artistically talented as well, or they collaborate with others on the internet to do so. The results are often fantastic, and I hardly watch normal music videos anymore because these are so rich and beautiful.

I've provided a few prominent examples below, and I know, I know, you may not like them or understand them or anything, but maybe watch at least one anyways? I only used videos that had english subtitles so that you would know what's going on on.

 

First up is For Campanella by Sasakure.uk feat. Gumi. It goes hand-in-hand with our children and death conversation.



Rolling Girl by Wowaka feat. Hatsune Miku

 

Two Breaths Walking by Deco*27 feat. Hatsune Miku

Mozaik Role by Deco*27 feat. Gumi (those are supposed to be two side of a mirror image of a person, just fyi. I can see how the preview picture makes it look like the song is a little...different)

 

I've added some more down here, but just links. They are all pretty good and if you want to hear some good music and cool music videos, I say check them out ^__^ And this is only a small percentage of the many songs and videos out there.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dp1SQgc6X98
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_BANzQccyo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JGaQ3g8WU4

Drawn Together

I know someone else did this already, but I can't resist. Also...I was really dying to draw these characters and this gave me an excuse ^__^;
So this weekend I went to see Wreck-It Ralph. I went to see it AGAIN yesterday because I loved it so much. I felt like it was an affectionate love letter to gamers everywhere, and I being an outspoken gamer girl myself thoroughly enjoyed it. I think even non-gamers should enjoy it, but I've been reading a lot of stinky reviews from people who are OBVIOUSLY not gamers and they totally dismissed the movie. I thought it was brilliant. Maybe not 'the best animated film ever made' brilliant, but definitely one of my favorite mainstream Disney animated movies, if not my absolute favorite (yes. That's right. DISNEY. Not Pixar. Oi...how many times I have to correct that...my head hurts...)
However, I would have paid my ticket price again just to see another gem of a movie that was attached to it.
That's right.
Paperman.

I had already been stoked for Paperman a long time ago, when I heard it was going to be screening with Wreck-It Ralph. Then AniMag covered it in one of their issues, and I wanted to see it just as bad as I wanted to see Wreck-it Ralph...maybe even more. I can gladly say that it did not disappoint. It was charming and nostalgic, and of course completely Glen Keane-y, which is a style I absolutely adore. And of course it is pioneering a whole new style of animation. Basically, they animated the whole thing twice, from what I can tell. They started with the CG animation, then they went over it with lines, giving it the 2D look. It really paid off in the end, I thought it was drop dead gorgeous. The story was cute too, and I especially loved George (the guy) and his expressions. He had the best expressions.

I am glad to announce that Paperman is up for an Oscar, and I really hope it wins it. Because I think it deserves it.

 

If you want to watch a cool video on how they animated it, lookie here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKl9mpGMCiA

Documentary, My Dear Watson

I've never watched a lot of documentaries before, unless you count special features on a DVD or 'The Pixar Story'. I never really thought too much about documentaries as an art form- in fact, the word itself is sort of synonymous with 'boring' in my mind. However, I've always tried to have an open mind in this class, and watched the videos today in that way. Most of them were okay, better than I thought they were, but they just weren't my cup of tea. It reminds me more of a news report than a story - which, I am quite aware that news reports tell stories, I don't know, that's just the first analogy that came to mind. A lot of the shots they used reminded me of shots you would see in b-roll for a news report.

But then we saw 'When Life Departs'.

And I cried. I will freely admit it, I cried. Not a lot, because I'm pretty good at keeping my composure, but my eyes definitely got wet and threatened to overflow and I had to wipe them off when the lights were turned back on. The animation, while simple in design, was so clean and fluid, especially when the children were talking. The boy talking about his dead baby brother was heartbreaking. I think that's when I officially lost it, when the boy talked about his prayer that God would let him see his brother just one more time, and that his brother might be able to come down so that he could hold him again.

Gah.

It was sad.



Clik Clak

I really enjoyed all the movies we have watched the last couple of weeks, but I think my absolute favorite had to be Clik Clak. Clik Clak was absolutely adorable. I admit, I have a huge love for robots (which is why I love Transformers and WALL-E), and the robots in this film were adorable. The animation was pretty spectacular, and it showed how to work with the little they had - using robots as the main characters, a simple design for the child, and a lack of definite background. This coincides with the blog we had to read that talked about not trying to make your shorts Pixar quality - Clik Clak was not overly ambitious, but they did a lot with what they could do well.

BAH THEY ARE SO ADORABLE

 What I think I loved the most about it was the imaginitive world it was in. Robots speaking through making noises, often through fantastic looking Rube Goldberg machines. The sentences were mostly nonsensical French (the little French I knew came in handy; thank you middle school!), but the noises actually sounded like the words! Who thought of that? Whoever did was amazing. In the end, though, it was super bittersweet, since the one robot died...and then the other committed suicide. The boy made another machine that expressed his apology, since he did unintentionally cause the death of the first robot. It was handled in such a way that a child audience could understand, but I still thought it was really sad. Appropriate, but sad. However, I get really emotional over things some other people would not.

SIU

I think all the non-animation students need to take a chill pill and man up. I keep seeing all these blogs about how awful these last few weeks have been because they were animated pieces and they couldn't relate and all this other crap. Guys, seriously? Its only been four weeks. That's hardly any time at all. Have you ever stopped and wondered how the animation people might be feeling? Because the six to seven weeks leading up to this has been mostly live action, and the rest of the semester will probably be focusing on live action. So where does that leave us? We got four weeks to focus on what we came to college for. Four weeks. Not only that, but in DigiTools we've been forced to learn things that aren't really useful in our field, and are downright boring to be honest. And our animations classes haven't started yet so this is the only class we really get to take that's even related to our major. So, in the long run, who really has had the short end of the stick? Who deserves to be complaining and moaning because we get to go to a class where all we have to do is watch movies and be a part of a conversation, but the movies aren't the kind we like or understand?
Have you seen any of the animation students complaining about the weeks on end where we watch live action?
We're in college, guys. Adults. Be mature. Not everything is always going to go your way.
I don't have anything against live action and have enjoyed all the films we have seen in this class, regardless of the medium. But it really ticks me off to see people complaining like little babies, especially about something that's important to me, especially when they've been, for the most part, the priviledged members of this class.
What's worse is that I think these students are missing the point of this class altogether. This is an introductory course, a preview into the world of story, not into the world of live action or animation. This is supposed to expand our mind, our vision, and challenge us. And while live action and animation may be different methods of storytelling, in the end its still storytelling, and you can reap the benefits of how to tell a good story from both mediums.
That is if you actually try and watch them and learn from them instead of just complaining.
Just a little advice.

Uncanny Valley



CG animation continues to amaze me. While I'm partial to  traditional, hand-drawn animation, I appreciate CG and the work Pixar does, as well as some other various works. But for the most part CG feature films aren't that great, and I usually don't bother watching CG shorts so I can't say much on that (though I did quite enjoy 'The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore', and it totally deserved its Oscar). While in some aspects, from what I can tell (which, I could be totally wrong. I haven't really researched it or anything. I just notice sometimes in 2D anime or animated movies when they have vehicles or certain complicated objects/peoples in CG in the 2D world and it bothers me -.-;), CG animation can be easier/more expedient than 2D, at the same time it takes a lot of work and intricacy that 2D can't always get to the same degree of detail. Hair and fur, for example, when done well is far more luscious in CG, as well as elements like sunlight, and anything in general that glows or has some sort of reflective quality.
Often, though, CG is cheap looking, especially on television series. Actually, I can only think of two series that even have relatively good CG, and they are both animated by Polygon Pictures. However, a third series also by Polygon, Tron: Uprising, reminds me of the creepy baby in 'Tin Toy'. The designs are creepy looking and their motions are even worse. Supposedly that was done purposefully, since the characters are supposed to be computer programs, but it still creeps me out.

Uncomfortable

 

Yay for infinite laziness! I think that last panel is my worst by far ^___^

I've always had a level of difficulty watching things that pertain to sexuality, not necessarily because for the most part the sexuality of our culture is totally immoral, but because when I watch it, I feel like I'm seeing things I shouldn't be seeing because they are private. Even when the relationship is between a married couple I get a little uncomfortable if the scene spends too much time in the bedroom because I think sex is something special and private between them, and watching it is a little weird.

Its even worse  if it has to do with rape, which we got a pretty good look at in A Feather Tale. Even though it was not graphically explicit with what it showed (which was brilliant. Making a movie about rape 'sexy' would completely ruin the tone and power), I could tell what was happening, the emotions she was experiencing, and more and more I got uncomfortable. But that was the point of this piece, wasn't it? Surely she wasn't retelling her own, very personal story of being raped with the intent of 'Wow, I bet a ton of people will love this! Its the feel-good movie of the year!' No, it was meant to jarr you, to make you get a taste for the trauma that goes along with it. And as far as that goes, I think it did an incredible job.



Thieving the Cobbler

...I try to generally post about about things that would add to the collective conversation, but I encountered something really cool over the weekend for the first time and had to share about it. I'll try to make it somewhat relevant as well.
Youtube kept suggesting that I watch some movie called The Thief and the Cobbler: Recobbled Cut, which I knew nothing about, so I figured it was youtube giving irrelevant suggestions again. Then, when I was researching more about Cartoon Saloon, I found out the this movie was an inspiration for The Secret of Kells.
So, naturally, I wanted to find out more about it.
Thief technically never got finished, and has the longest production time of any animated movie, being made from 1964-1993. It was conceived and directed by Richard Williams, best known for his animation in Who Framed Roger Rabbit? Due to the fact that he was taking too long and wasn't even following storyboards, the project was taken away from him with only fifteen minutes of animation left to finish. Some big wigs took over, added bland copies of Disney songs, took out some adult content and just overall plot and made several mute characters speak in order to market it as a children's film. If you buy a copy of the movie now (or check out the copy in the Digital Media Library), that's the butchered version you are going to get.
HOWEVER
Some geniuses made a not-for-profit organization who is working on restoring the original movie as close as Williams originally intended it, using workprint copies and archived rough animation in order to fill in the missing pieces: thus, the Recobbled cut.
So I watched this version on Friday night.
And it sort of blew my mind.
I'm not going to delve too far into plot, because to be honest it wasn't that great. It wasn't awful, but it wasn't anything super unique. However, the characters were pretty fantastic, especially Charlie Chaplin inspired Tack, the evil rhyming Zig Zag, the Thief, who has to be the cousin of Wile E. Coyote, and I even sort of liked Princess Yum Yum's design.

Yeah. I know. I probably lost you there with those ridiculous names. To be honest, I like them, but yeah, they aren't normal at all ^__^
What I really liked about this movie was the animation, which is what I always look for in an animated movie. And I could definitely argue that this is the best animated movie ever made. Not meaning in terms of content, but in terms of animation.

Just watch this and try not to be amazed. And remember that this was done BEFORE the advent of computer animation. AKA ALL BY HAND.
I wish more animated films looked as beautiful as this...

Baysplosions

^___^ I really liked the rooster in 'The Fox and the Hare'. He was the coolest, don't you agree!?

 

So, I want to start off with a profound statement by the illustrious Michael Bay (If you can't understand my sarcasm...)

In response to Hugo Weaving commenting that his voice role of Megatron in the live action incarnation was 'meaningless', Michael had the gall to say:

"With all the problems facing our world today, do these grumbling thespians really think people reading the news actually care about trivial complaints that their job wasn’t ‘artistic enough” or “fulfilling enough”?"

To be honest, I totally cared. I tipped my hat to Mr. Weaving for acknowledging the artistic value and the characterization of the Transformers movies to be 'meaningless'. At least someone in the cog of that wrecked machine had the wisdom to ascertain it. Unlike Michael himself, who also recently stated that he decided to direct Transformers 4 (yes...there is going to be a fourth one. Let the booing commence) because  "someone could come in here and screw it up".

First Transformers...next up, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles...does his evil know no end!?

 

I could go on a really big Transformers fangirl-esque rant (I won't deny it, Transformers is something I'm a huge fan of. Not the live action movies, but the other, much better incarnations) on how Michael Bay messed up so-an-so character (aka all of them), made crazy plots, only cared about hot babes and explosions, etc, but that's not the point I was trying to get at.

Michael Bay, I think, is a sad picture of where Hollywood may soon end up. I mean, his movies are wildly popular, Dark of the Moon (by far the worst in the series) being the fifth highest grossing movie in history, and the other two in the series both ending up in the top 50, and nothing seems to stop him from doing more bad films. What's worse is that he is, at least how I see it, openly mocking things I believe in, such as the artistic value in a film. I like to see hints of beauty and true pain in movies.

With Michael Bay all I get are explosions.

This post didn't go where I originally intended, and for that I'm sorry ^__^; Hopefully I won't let the fangirl in me post like this too often..
...oh...and by the way...WRECK-IT-RALPH COMES OUT NOV 2
(Okay, ending fangirliness...now)

Planting Trees

So...midterms still. At least I had a comic idea, but it came out super sketchy.HOWEVER, the sketchiness made it easier for me to draw what I wanted. I may do more like these sometimes. It takes a lot less time than going through and using the really specific lines with a TON of correction on it (which can overcorrect and then I have to erase and start over -.- and it looks super forced and stiff. This looks more like how I draw on paper, which is usually loads better than what I can do on the computer.
(And, to my defense, I actually DID the reading, but it was two weeks ago and I just skimmed it...)
BUT ENOUGH ABOUT THAT
This week has probably been my favorite of all class. We have watched a lot of great animations, and I've been introduced to two great figures in modern animation. I literally can't look away when I'm watching these. They are that good. Today's were especially beautiful. The use of color and motion...it was spectacular. In 'The Man Who Planted Trees', I was struck with how simple it was at first. The animation had very little color, was simple lines, and yet conveyed a great amount of motion, and even more powerful, emotion. As the forest grew and life returned to the barren wasteland, the color began to grow, until finally at the end there was a rich palette, a literal feast for the eyes. You could see the influence of Renoir in the coloring style, as well as in some of the character design (I especially noticed it in the design of a woman with her child. She turned around and it looked like she had literally stepped out of a Renoir painting).
Classes like this are so enjoyable!

The Joy and Magic of Motion

...its midterms week, guys. Gimme a break. I couldn't think of a comic idea and I have little to no time to work meaningfully on something like that...so I gave you this instead. A simple sketch that sums up how I felt during today's class.
Mesmerized.
Stop-motion animation is something I've only just recently started to appreciate...or even like for that matter. As a child, stop-motion either had to do with Halloween or Christmas specials, because that was the only type of stop motion I ever had contact with (even though I wasn't allowed to watch Nightmare Before Christmas. Still haven't seen it yet). The motions were often creaky and unlifelike, and sometimes they were a little scary (Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and The Little Drummer Boy sometimes had facial expressions that creeped me out!). I was thankfully introduced to Wallace and Gromit, and by extension Nick Park and Aardman, by the time I was in elementary school, but I sort of seperated stop-motion in my head at that point: There was nice, soft-looking Wallace and Gromit...and then there was scary, creaky Nightmare Before Christmas, Corpse Bride, etc. Stop motion didn't appeal to me...it was weird looking and I never let myself actually try it.
And then I saw Coraline.
Someone had been raving about it online, and I had read the book, so I was like 'meh. Why not?' It blew. My. Mind. I recently rewatched it in preparation for ParaNorman (which I still haven't seen!! Gah!) and even got my mom, who was far more adverse to stop-motion than I was, to watch it, and even SHE liked it. Since then I've begun to open up a bit more to the artform, which is only aptly timed since stop-motion is suddenly popular again and movies are coming out in full force.
I really liked Co Hoedeman's works...probably better than any stop-motion I had ever seen. His stories were simple, endearing, engaging. His dragon creeped me out...the way it moved, the music that accompanied it, the stark contrast between it and the children...it was enough to send chills down my spine. But I think what I enjoyed the most was his ingenuity when it came to his craft. How he was able to think up how to do these animations, using the sand, the clear cubes...even having himself in one of his films! It was crazy! He is definitely, without a doubt, brilliant. And he must be uber patient. I can't even imagine working so meticulously...and with so many frames...knowing knocking something out of place could mess up the whole thing.

*Insert Ingenious Blog Title Here*

...drawing evil looking people is fun >:3

So I've really been enjoying all of the films we've been watching in class this week, mostly because for the most part they have been animations. Not only animations, but from what I can tell most of them have been even hand drawn. That takes real skill. The ones I enjoyed the most was Circuit Marine and Colorforms.
Colorforms was cute and sweet...but at the same time it crawled under my skin because I hate being messy. I'm okay with stuff on my face, like the dust for the Pagwa festival...but the paint everywhere and the toothpaste made me squirm. At least it wasn't mud. In the end, though, I know it was more than just the messiness...it was the girl's creativity that was being repressed. It reminded me of the other film we watched today, Une Artiste. Both of them were girls who were being creative, one through music and one through being...messy.
Circuit Marine was like, completely full of different feels. It was funny and then it was completely heartbreaking and shocking. My favorite part was the pirate captain when everyone was eating his parrot...he looked down at his parrot leg, took a bite, and then couldn't do it anymore. It was so sad!! Am I the only person who gets sad over stuff like that?

Speak Like a Child

Wow. Super lazy all around...I tried a new shading style but I don't think I like it...I was trying to make it more 'manga-ish' but I think I picked the wrong tone. Oh well. I'll try agian next time ^__^ The little girl in the last panel is a character of mine named Bree. Isn't she a cutie?
Anyways...
Today's class brought up an interesting point, especially since I had a conversation with someone about it just two days ago: What are we allowed to teach kids? And by that, I mean, in regards to mature topics like death, sexuality, and evil in general. The girl I was talking to (I'll spare names) basically said that she was going to keep her children as 'innocent' as she could, for as long as she could, and not bring up serious matters until they had to be dealt with.
To be honest, that didn't strike me as 'innocent'. It struck me as naive.
Keeping our children so tightly sheltered will only hurt them in the long run. Wouldn't it be a lot better to explain what death is to a child instead of having a death suddenly come and rock their world completely off of its foundations, unable to comprehend and unable to cope with the new sensation of loss? Of course, you aren't going to take your three-year-old aside and show them pictures from a brutal murder and explain it to them: you have to do it tastefully and gentley. They are going to realize that they were born into a world of suffering eventually...you might as well get it out of the way sooner rather than later.

World of Glory

If I was going to talk about a film shown in class that really, really made an impression on me, it would have to be 'World of Glory' by Roy Andersson. Just that first shot, of the people forced into a truck, comforting each other as they know they will face the inevitable, a slow, agonizing death, naked, everything eeriely quiet, apart from a woman's hysteric screaming...it haunts me to this day, much like the protagonist of the film.

Someone is screaming!

That chilling moment never leaves you. It escalates as the truck doors close. As the engine revs. As the exhaust begins to flow out. As the exhaust is redirected into the truck. As the truck begins to drive in circles, almost in rhythm with the rising screams, which quickly fade back into silence. Even when that scene passes, you can't get over the initial shock. In fact, I wasn't even able to fully concentrate on the rest of it, I was so disturbed. Slowly, as things progressed, I was able to understand what the latter part of the film was, how it coincided with the that opening image, but in the end, the thing that stood out the most was that first glimpse into the film. That glimpse into terror and guilt.
This is definitely something I will watch again, and it will be a whole new experience.
Even so, I will never forget those screams.

Thank you, Mako!

Wow...I was super lazy with this one ^_^;

TO THE TALK

Sometimes I wish I could come up with some great, profound thoughts to put in these blog posts, but often I'm really run dry. I think I've come up with an awesome, pullitzer-prize winning insight, and then someone else's comes along and I realize I put little to no effort into this. Or maybe my insights aren't that deep.
When we were shown that video of Mako (I don't remember his full name, I know his given name was Makoto, but everyone was calling him Mako and that stuck with me) doing the paintings for the new edition of the KJV (or was it NKJV? What's the difference between those, anyways?). They were beautiful, showing a great mastery of the artform...but I didn't understand always what they meant. When he explained them they sometimes made sense...but for the most part I was in the dark. I think they would make more sense if I was actively reading and looking at the paintings, connecting the two.
Regardless, I really admired  Mako because of what he was doing. He was a Christian out in the art world, using his expertise to worship and share with the world. He wasn't being pushy. If he was trying to enforce his views on others, he would outright draw Jesus instead of doing his more...abstract? Yeah, I guess its abstract. Whatever it is, its beautiful, and it encourages me as an artist.