Things that get my giggle going? G Tom Mac being inspired by True Blood & re-recording his classic hit 'Cry Little Sister' as the Blood Swamp Version. Get your listen on!
Click Here to go directly there
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Friday, August 28, 2009
Bookie short film
Somedays, you get happy just finding things like this online. Bookie is a great short film by Tran Quoc Bao. Beautifully shot, dripping noir, and a soulful soundtrack, I was sucked in quick and loved every second of it.
Link to Bookie website here or just watch the movie below.
Link to Bookie website here or just watch the movie below.
"BOOKIE" Short Film from povfilms on Vimeo.
Friday, August 21, 2009
Anhedonia
I'm finding it harder and harder to keep up the mask. As I sit here, face frozen in a childish & ungrateful pout, I can't help but wonder why I'm still trying. The more I try to edit every passing thought down into an easily-digestible version for the people around me, the more I just become enraged by it.
Sui Generis
We spend most of our lives building around ourselves carefully constructed walls of faces & idle-thoughts. We wear masks we change at whim, becoming who we need to be to fit into any given situation. We are a society of shape-shifters wearing borrowed bits of personalities we admire or fear, cobbled together in atrocious quilts we laughingly claim we *are* while hiding beneath their fragile shells. Meanwhile, who we truly are thrashes about on basement floors, muscles atrophied, throats worn thin by decades of screaming to be heard, eyes still wide as Hummer hubcaps, hoping to see a glimmer of daylight, longing to be free. Then we wonder why no one truly gets us. Go figure.
I'm sick of it, hiding bits of myself I previously thought too wild or weird to be the face that people see. Sometimes, I can't tell what the hell I want or how the hell I'm supposed to get what I do want. That's okay. That also means I have to be okay with the times when I feel like burning down the world or crying like a baby or laughing till I choke. It means coming to grips with the idea that most people aren't like me and changing myself isn't the answer.
I want a world & a life that feels right for me, I have to be me and look for the things that will make me happy. I have to let go and take the dive and all the other silly little cliches that are cliches for a reason.
I can see the scaffolding holding up the walls of my own insanity, but I can't seem to find a way to either tear them down or build em up. It's like swimming parallel to the shore and wondering why you can't get home and you're starting to drown.
Coming to grips with my own ennui and trying to find the will to fight for something, anything really, is a lot harder than I was told it would be.
Sui Generis
We spend most of our lives building around ourselves carefully constructed walls of faces & idle-thoughts. We wear masks we change at whim, becoming who we need to be to fit into any given situation. We are a society of shape-shifters wearing borrowed bits of personalities we admire or fear, cobbled together in atrocious quilts we laughingly claim we *are* while hiding beneath their fragile shells. Meanwhile, who we truly are thrashes about on basement floors, muscles atrophied, throats worn thin by decades of screaming to be heard, eyes still wide as Hummer hubcaps, hoping to see a glimmer of daylight, longing to be free. Then we wonder why no one truly gets us. Go figure.
I'm sick of it, hiding bits of myself I previously thought too wild or weird to be the face that people see. Sometimes, I can't tell what the hell I want or how the hell I'm supposed to get what I do want. That's okay. That also means I have to be okay with the times when I feel like burning down the world or crying like a baby or laughing till I choke. It means coming to grips with the idea that most people aren't like me and changing myself isn't the answer.
I want a world & a life that feels right for me, I have to be me and look for the things that will make me happy. I have to let go and take the dive and all the other silly little cliches that are cliches for a reason.
I can see the scaffolding holding up the walls of my own insanity, but I can't seem to find a way to either tear them down or build em up. It's like swimming parallel to the shore and wondering why you can't get home and you're starting to drown.
Coming to grips with my own ennui and trying to find the will to fight for something, anything really, is a lot harder than I was told it would be.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
July 30th 09
One day you wake up and realize that the most important thing in life is following your dreams. You make rash decisions, burn bridges, and run headlong into what other people would consider the dumbest possible outcome they could think of, and it's freaking fantastic.
I feel more myself now than I have in years. It's like waking up from a coma and realizing everything that came before was a dream. Your path is clearer, mind sharper, and heart lighter than it's been in a long time. It's hard knowing that I'm happy and I'm gonna get my nuts kicked in for it because the world around me does not understand it.
Art wise, I'm still hammering Lina's world into something manageable that I can get to drawing, but I'm working on some test bed pages to try out the style & look of the world to see if it's anything like I want it to be. You folks will see some of that coming down the pike in the near future.
In the meantime, as stated in a previous blog, here is a Wonder Woman piece I did for a friend. You can click on it to go to the page to see a full view of the piece since it is pretty big. More coming in the near future.
I feel more myself now than I have in years. It's like waking up from a coma and realizing everything that came before was a dream. Your path is clearer, mind sharper, and heart lighter than it's been in a long time. It's hard knowing that I'm happy and I'm gonna get my nuts kicked in for it because the world around me does not understand it.
Art wise, I'm still hammering Lina's world into something manageable that I can get to drawing, but I'm working on some test bed pages to try out the style & look of the world to see if it's anything like I want it to be. You folks will see some of that coming down the pike in the near future.
In the meantime, as stated in a previous blog, here is a Wonder Woman piece I did for a friend. You can click on it to go to the page to see a full view of the piece since it is pretty big. More coming in the near future.
Song of the Day: Lily Allen - The Fear
Friday, July 17, 2009
July 17: HBP & concept babbling
G'day boys & girls,
Welcome to another horrible disjointed babbling session.
Last night, I went and saw the new Harry Potter flick. Visually, it was a feast and they did a great job of making it into something that grabbed the attention of the audience. Obviously, I miss a lot of what was cut out of the movie & the pacing seemed strange because of it, but I can see why they did what they did.
To put it succinctly, I will just use a quote my friend, Larry, said as we were leaving the theater.
"It was like reading every third page of the book."
I loved seeing Draco as someone who seemed genuinely menacing and really did feel for the character by the time you get to the end of the movie. Luna was amazing and that lion headress rocked. Overall, it sort of feels like a half-remembered dream. I'll have to see it again before I really know how I feel about it, but I know, either way, I did like the movie a lot.
I'm still pounding out the details on the world & story that I want to work on right now, but it's coming along. I was sketching the main character today and had one of those rare "Eureka!" moments that really cemented a lot of the ideas I was working on. Lina is one of the characters I've been casually playing with for awhile and it was great to really see the character come together for the first time. I should be starting on the test pages tonight or tomorrow, so there will be stuff to see from that online in the near future. Who knows what changes will be made from there, but, if nothing else, at least I'll have some new sequential pages online for folks to check out.
The more I work on stuff now the more I find I am drawn to drawing sci-fi books, which is miles from what I thought I would be into drawing. Part of the fun of this concept is that it is a story in a real sci-fi world. I will get to draw flying cars, neon-cityscapes, gun play, and hot women kicking ass. Really, at the end of the day, what more can you ask for?
In other art related news, I asked some folks I know stuff they want to see me draw and will be hammering those out now as well, probably as warm up sketches over the next week or so.
Anyway, I think I'm gonna grab a soda & get back to drawing.
Till Next Time,
Anthony Harris
Welcome to another horrible disjointed babbling session.
Last night, I went and saw the new Harry Potter flick. Visually, it was a feast and they did a great job of making it into something that grabbed the attention of the audience. Obviously, I miss a lot of what was cut out of the movie & the pacing seemed strange because of it, but I can see why they did what they did.
To put it succinctly, I will just use a quote my friend, Larry, said as we were leaving the theater.
"It was like reading every third page of the book."
I loved seeing Draco as someone who seemed genuinely menacing and really did feel for the character by the time you get to the end of the movie. Luna was amazing and that lion headress rocked. Overall, it sort of feels like a half-remembered dream. I'll have to see it again before I really know how I feel about it, but I know, either way, I did like the movie a lot.
I'm still pounding out the details on the world & story that I want to work on right now, but it's coming along. I was sketching the main character today and had one of those rare "Eureka!" moments that really cemented a lot of the ideas I was working on. Lina is one of the characters I've been casually playing with for awhile and it was great to really see the character come together for the first time. I should be starting on the test pages tonight or tomorrow, so there will be stuff to see from that online in the near future. Who knows what changes will be made from there, but, if nothing else, at least I'll have some new sequential pages online for folks to check out.
The more I work on stuff now the more I find I am drawn to drawing sci-fi books, which is miles from what I thought I would be into drawing. Part of the fun of this concept is that it is a story in a real sci-fi world. I will get to draw flying cars, neon-cityscapes, gun play, and hot women kicking ass. Really, at the end of the day, what more can you ask for?
In other art related news, I asked some folks I know stuff they want to see me draw and will be hammering those out now as well, probably as warm up sketches over the next week or so.
Anyway, I think I'm gonna grab a soda & get back to drawing.
Till Next Time,
Anthony Harris
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
July 14: Bad artist babbling
You know, when faced with an endless sea of options as to what to draw and what to do to take the steps necessary to nail down some intangible path towards making your life what it is you've always wanted, one, and by one I, of course, mean me, is generally left huddled up in the fetal position in a corner somewhere, weeping softly into a pile of tarnished bristol board , futilely praying that your tears will reveal a pattern on the page that may give you some idea what the hell to do with yourself.
It's harder than I thought trying to come to grips with the idea that the possibilities are endless, my work is only limited by my imagination. The work one can do in the comics medium isn't limited by budget or actors. I can set a scene *anywhere* and can do *anything.* That sort of freedom is mind-boggling and is, for lack of a better term or a willingness to admit to already being considered it, making me crazy. When you sit down to create something, the process is somewhat aleatoric and can be either a masterpiece or self-aggrandizing fluff that forces onlookers to jab nearby objects into their frontal lobe to avoid being forced to view it again.
This is why I am probably going to be a plug & play penciller for awhile. I'm great with coming up with scenes or characters, plotting is fun and interesting, but sit me down to create a complete work and I can't seem to do it. The ideas are plentiful, but I am not a writer. Creating realised worlds to inhabit and a story worth following is something I am not good enough to do at this point. This fact makes me sad, since it doesn't seem the rest of the comic industry is very interested in the kinds of stories I want to tell.
I am a fairly typical guy when it comes to this stuff. I like hot chicks & men dripping with machismo. I like trenchcoats & purple prose. I adore cyberpunk and cityscapes that go on for days. I swoon over kung fu, gunplay, fully realised violence and wanton destruction. These disparate elements are not all very good at meshing together in my brain in anything resembling a coherant story structure. I have 3 pretty well realised concepts that I would love to working on at this moment, but instead I am sitting here , babbling the madness into the internet, trying to get a handle on my own sanity through forcing thoughts into sentences that others can read and understand. This is the blog version of babbling about your problems to friends, not so much so that they can respond or help in any way, but just so that you've had a chance to say the things on your mind and really get a handle on your problems.
I'm going to go get something to drink and sit down to draw now. Hopefully, I'll have something to scan & get online to show folks in time for the podcast tonight. I'm getting tired of becoming a ghost on my own damn show.
It's harder than I thought trying to come to grips with the idea that the possibilities are endless, my work is only limited by my imagination. The work one can do in the comics medium isn't limited by budget or actors. I can set a scene *anywhere* and can do *anything.* That sort of freedom is mind-boggling and is, for lack of a better term or a willingness to admit to already being considered it, making me crazy. When you sit down to create something, the process is somewhat aleatoric and can be either a masterpiece or self-aggrandizing fluff that forces onlookers to jab nearby objects into their frontal lobe to avoid being forced to view it again.
This is why I am probably going to be a plug & play penciller for awhile. I'm great with coming up with scenes or characters, plotting is fun and interesting, but sit me down to create a complete work and I can't seem to do it. The ideas are plentiful, but I am not a writer. Creating realised worlds to inhabit and a story worth following is something I am not good enough to do at this point. This fact makes me sad, since it doesn't seem the rest of the comic industry is very interested in the kinds of stories I want to tell.
I am a fairly typical guy when it comes to this stuff. I like hot chicks & men dripping with machismo. I like trenchcoats & purple prose. I adore cyberpunk and cityscapes that go on for days. I swoon over kung fu, gunplay, fully realised violence and wanton destruction. These disparate elements are not all very good at meshing together in my brain in anything resembling a coherant story structure. I have 3 pretty well realised concepts that I would love to working on at this moment, but instead I am sitting here , babbling the madness into the internet, trying to get a handle on my own sanity through forcing thoughts into sentences that others can read and understand. This is the blog version of babbling about your problems to friends, not so much so that they can respond or help in any way, but just so that you've had a chance to say the things on your mind and really get a handle on your problems.
I'm going to go get something to drink and sit down to draw now. Hopefully, I'll have something to scan & get online to show folks in time for the podcast tonight. I'm getting tired of becoming a ghost on my own damn show.
Friday, June 12, 2009
Embiggen
Hello all. Hope you've been well. I'm burning the candle at both ends & once in the middle , so I haven't been around to blog as much as I'd like to. I'd love to say my time away has started a tsunami of anecdotal events & stories that I could share in a fun and meaningful fashion, but that would be a giant lie, and I can't lie to you, dear readers, never to you.
That said, next week I am going on vacation. I am heading to Heroes Con in Charlotte and I am eagerly counting down the days until I leave. Actually, I'm eagerly counting down the hours left to work before I leave, but it all evens out in the end. I, apparently, have to go pants shopping because my pants, while somewhat baggy before, are now in the realm of embarrassingly large on me. It's a nice problem to have, but still fairly weird. I don't *feel* like I've lost that much weight, but my entire wardrobe looks like I embiggened it in the laundry. Impossible, I know, but that doesn't mean I won't say it. That and I like using fake words like embiggen.
The closer I get to my vacation the more I stop caring about my job and start feeling more myself. I've been in this slump so long I had forgotten what it was like to feel that way and I'm getting greedy for it. I'm sleeping less and I'm going out more. It's tiring, but it's worth it. It's not healthy to have your social interactions be ten hours a day on a phone listening to people bitch about their television service. I missed my friends, I missed having time to think, and, mainly, I missed having time to sit around and draw. It's all I want in my life and I haven't truly had time for it in months, that's just not right.
Anyway, I've ramble/bitched for long enough for oneday lifetime
Till Next Time
Anthony
That said, next week I am going on vacation. I am heading to Heroes Con in Charlotte and I am eagerly counting down the days until I leave. Actually, I'm eagerly counting down the hours left to work before I leave, but it all evens out in the end. I, apparently, have to go pants shopping because my pants, while somewhat baggy before, are now in the realm of embarrassingly large on me. It's a nice problem to have, but still fairly weird. I don't *feel* like I've lost that much weight, but my entire wardrobe looks like I embiggened it in the laundry. Impossible, I know, but that doesn't mean I won't say it. That and I like using fake words like embiggen.
The closer I get to my vacation the more I stop caring about my job and start feeling more myself. I've been in this slump so long I had forgotten what it was like to feel that way and I'm getting greedy for it. I'm sleeping less and I'm going out more. It's tiring, but it's worth it. It's not healthy to have your social interactions be ten hours a day on a phone listening to people bitch about their television service. I missed my friends, I missed having time to think, and, mainly, I missed having time to sit around and draw. It's all I want in my life and I haven't truly had time for it in months, that's just not right.
Anyway, I've ramble/bitched for long enough for one
Till Next Time
Anthony
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
