My Watchmen experience has come to a close, and what now? I don’t want to reveal the plot or the ending or anything, so it makes it a bit hard to really talk about. Number one: I recommend it. It’s a quick read, and just so you can gauge for yourself, it took me about 7-10 hours to complete it and I’m a slow reader. The protagonists are engaging, and, just like everyone else I’m sure, my favorite character is Rorschach.

Rorschach is popular because he’s one of the three really developed characters. Nite Owl is realistic in that he’s an aged masked-vigilante, and having a bit of a mid-life crisis. And then there’s the chick - I guess that really speaks to how great I thought she was, eh? But Rorschach is a man of action, and while we can sympathize with Nite Owl and his problems on a more human level, we want to root for the hero who can (or tries to) get things done! The other characters don’t really seem that involved or important.

One thing I really love about the setting, is the “norm” is there are no heroes with super-powers save for Dr. Manhattan, who, funny enough, suffered a super-science accident to get his powers. The heroes are simply people with their own agendas and problems. Again, I don’t want to reveal anything, you’ll just have to see what’s under the hood (hah!) for these folks.

I’ve got a major gripe about a part of the book’s presentation though. At the end of each chapter, there’s a bit of extra “world-building” thrown in. It could be an excerpt of a character’s autobiography, a news clipping, or a journal. I tried reading them, but these sections seemed to get in the way. After the first couple of these, I outright skipped them. Honestly,  I skimmed a couple of them, and if a phrase looked interested, I looked a little harder, but for the most part, it was boring. I imagine there were complicated back-stories for all the characters, and, rather than fully developing them for a graphic format, the authors went for the “brick of text” approach. Yawn.

In contrast, I would, however, love to see the adventures the characters allude to in their eariler days. I guess that’s what I love about The Venture Bros.. Much of its meaningful story-telling narrative is in flashback. Some are put-off by this, and I can understand completely, but what I believe they’re missing is the presentation is internally consistent: moving pictures, action, and dialogue. Watchmen is not consistent in this regard, and the curve-ball is not appreciated.

The story as a whole is quite good, the plot is well-laid out, and the ending has a nice twist if a little… odd.

Milhouse: When are they gonna get to the fireworks factory?

The Watchmen movie is supposed to be coming in 2009, so I picked up a copy of the graphic novel and have started into it. I’m not too far into the story, but it is very well done. When I first started it, I thought it was good, but I’d seen better: Fables came immediately to mind.

Bobby: if doc manhattin isnt nude in the movie im boycotting it
Bobby: >: |
Bobby: ill have a little sign
Steneub: like a no smoking sign, with a penis instead of a cigarette, INSIDE of a similar symbol - to show you’re against the banning of penises

Of course he’s kidding, but Dr. Manhattan is a blue energy man and he walks around naked (That’s not a spoiler - this happens in the first couple issues), and well, you see cock and balls. It’s not gratuitous and it’s makes perfect sense to see block and tackle there; one is simply used to censorship or to have it obscured or just out of frame.

I know pretty much nothing about Watchmen other than what I’ve read so far. It’s very good, and I want to see where it goes. I’ll probably have a 23 year-old late review posted when I’m done!

Rarely do I get the bug to work on a piece to its completion. It’s hard to say completion though because I pick every last nit to the end and it’s never good enough. “I should have done it this way,” or “I should have left that out,” or “this spot doesn’t look quite right.” I could work on one piece halfway to doomsday and not be done with it.

It’s funny though, I’m laughing at myself a bit for what I can’t get right. When you’re first starting out, anatomy is just a word. Caution to the wind! Arms look like this, I’m sure of it! The sure sign of an amateur is when they say, “But I just can’t seem to get the boobs right.” Then, you realize that hands aren’t something to be put behind objects just so you don’t have to draw them. Sometimes I still say, “Fuck it! The still living corpse of Liefieldbe damned, I’m obscuring these hands (Which almost rhymes - I’m surprisingly proud of that).” Somewhere in all this there’s an anime/manga phase (all of us did it), and I’ll admit it, no matter the shame: I had an offshoot of Furry in my history.

Anymore, I get caught up in small rendering problems. I’m not a trained artist, but I think I know what “rendering” means. Other balance problems bug me, or bad anatomy “uglies.” I need to look at the piece I’m working on again and fix the problems with it as best I can with as much elegance as possible and mark it as done. It’s on par with the other work I have on my wall and I may decide to print it as well.

Ultimately, I’d like to set up shop here and sell prints or do commissions and be like Brandon Bird. I’ve mentioned him at least once before - I wouldn’t say I idolize him though. More like… statuettize.

Indiana: Give me the whip.
Satipo: Throw me the idol. No time to argue. Throw me idol, I’ll throw you the whip.
Indiana: [throws the idol] Give me the whip.
Satipo: Adiós, señor.

Let’s get this out of the way as fast as possible. I like boobies.

When I draw, I don’t draw for you. I draw for me. I’m selfish that way, but I think of art as a sort of therapy. The world closes off and I get absorbed in my work. Sometimes I make great art decisions and I’m ecstatic, other times, it’s… not so good and I have to start over or try another technique. A lot of my art has boobies in in though, and let me tell you, if you’re the least bit prudish, boobies are the least of your worries.

The problem is, I want to share what I do with others. Do I risk embarrassing them or embarrassing myself? The best result is that if they’re not offended at all and enjoy the work - the worst is they condemn me to who-only-knows where and banish me (though I’m not sure that’s entirely the worst, that at least comes with entertainment packaged right in).

I think the problem I struggle with is legitimacy. There’s a raunchy quality to some of the pieces I do, pornographic is the word. Can an artist be taken seriously, even if it’s porn? I’d say it’s possible, but the quality of the art should be flawless in execution and style - anything less would be perceived as amateurish. That would put me in the dreaded realm of furry art. I am forced to admit some of it is very good as far as execution and style, but guess what? It’s still furry art.

Something I have discovered about myself though, I have no eye for fashion, or rather, no eye for coming up with something fashionable. Costume design is way beyond me, but I feel I have a grasp on anatomy well enough to distort it to my own style. When I have a director, an outside influence, or even a reference to copy, things turn out quite well. I still put my own slant on it, and it invariably turns out dirty, but if the subject is wearing clothes, the piece gets a nice bump from porn to erotic. That’s an excellent neighborhood to be in.  With erotic, you can still flash a nipple or any other naughty bit and still be not unacceptable. Erotic carries with it the connotation of class. The best example I can think of is the pinup girl. Well-executed forms, clean style, and

Pinup style isn’t my primary influence, but I will say it’s my latest direction to strive for. Now, I still make a porntastic piece more often than is probably healthy (or is it exactly as often?), but I try and that’s important. To be clear, my first influence is Bruce Timm of DC Comics and Batman: The Animated Series. You know the one. Whenever I feel I’ve gone astray or don’t like where I’m going, I look at his stuff old and new and study it.

But does this shift in focus lead down something more insidious like self-censorship? It all depends on perspective I guess. Like I said before, “I make art for me,” but I really like it when you like the art that I make. The acceptance and praise I receive for a good piece is much better for me than the relaxation I get from the craft. In order to make the art that you find appealing, I need to make my it more accessible.

I can happily say though, regardless of content, my technique is always undergoing refinement and evolution. My drawing tablet is a great investment, but I still use the mouse for more mechanical actions like clicking on menu items or choosing options. It’s hard for me to join the abstraction of the absolute screen-space to tablet-space, when I have a mouse cursor that’s relative.

Weekends are turning out to be the best time for content around here - and I’m not even talking about my non-traditional Tuesday-Wednesday weekends that I have. Saturday and Sunday prove the best days to kick back and relax and play with my website.  There’s really a lot to do if you want; a public sandbox. Actually, a private sandbox that everyone can look into and see what I’m up to.  It’s more like a zoo I guess!

Saturday, I drew a Waffle Block. I need to scan it in and make it the front page for awhile. I’m proud of myself for sort of maintaining things around here semi-regularly. Oh, what’s a Waffle Block? Here, I’ll make it a little more clear:

[14:36] Bobby: http://img.waffleimages.com/…/nosferatu.gif
[14:36] Bobby: hahahah
[14:37] Steneub: blocked by work
[14:37] Bobby: dawww
…
[14:39] Steneub: no… can you put it on imageshack? waffle is blocked
[14:39] Steneub: waffleblock. hehehe
[14:39] Steneub: sort of like WCC
…
[14:48] Steneub: I’m currently drawing a Waffle-block
[14:48] Bobby: heh
…
[16:39] Steneub: my waffleblock isn’t perfect :C
[16:41] Steneub: butter and syrup will make it batter
[16:41] Steneub: LOLOL
[16:41] Steneub: better I mean
[16:41] Bobby: nono, batter

Bobby was trying to show me some images using Waffle Images, which I highly endorse as a matter of fact, but here at work it’s blocked by the filters. Boo. Some funny came of it though!