Comics for beginners, part 2

Last time, I said I would talk about how to find good figure drawing classes, and also how to get good resource material for drawing.  I will talk about this today, but I will also talk a little about one of the great comic book artists and writers, Phil Foglio, in my next post!  But first, the art stuff.


There are really 2 types of drawing classes: regular drawing classes (from simple to advanced), and figure drawing.  Most student love to take figure drawing, but you almost always start with drawing still-life...  that is, the boring pictures of fruit and cubes.

Still-life isn't always boring, and many artists have demonstrated a perfect knowledge of color, lighting, and shade by using still-life.  The advantages of still-life over figure drawing is that an apple doesn't need to breath or scratch, an orange doesn't need to take a break, and a wooden cube rarely charges by the hour.  So these are perfect for learning how to draw, when it comes to understanding light, shadow, form, and relationship.  As regular drawing classes progress, they often explore deeper topics.  Sometimes it gets so deep, they start to explore the relationship between drawing and painting.  What is the difference?  Why does it matter?
Once you get up to figure drawing, you start to learn the way the body is shaped, the connections and relationships, the inner-workings and the elegant lines of the form.  It is necessary for all good artists to understand the human form on a deep level if they wish to ever draw a human.  That often means drawing bones, muscles, and skulls.  But it also means drawing from live models.
My school was lucky enough to have the art department situated next door to the dancing department.  I had the pleasure of drawing many attractive young women, which is ideal for art.  Unfortunately, there were very few attractive young men who were interested, so I had only 1 class with a young man.

When you are looking for a figure drawing class, there are 2 places to look, universities/colleges, and art groups/clubs or galleries.
In order to take classes at a university or college, you first have to be enrolled in the school, often in the specific field of study, and paying your dues and fees.  Because college classes need to budget ahead of time for their term, they usually have to charge students an extra fee to help pay for the models, who do not come cheap.  This usually means there is an upfront cost, which can easily be over $100 for a term.  Not all university classes will be able to use young, attractive models either.  When young models are not available, there are plenty of older people ready to take their place.  (I swear, as an art student, you start to wonder if the only thing people do when they retire is pose naked in front of other people.)  Now drawing older people is very good too, and you can learn a lot about drawing different body types, different details such as wrinkles, and how the body ages.  I did find that most of these older models were quite good.
However, unlike colleges and universities, art groups and art galleries can chose to allow anyone to participate, provided they are willing to learn and pay to participate.  Sometimes there is a membership fee, sometimes it is an up front class-by-class fee, sometimes it is a term fee.  While I have not priced them myself, I have heard that models can easily make $100 an hour, and they will pose for several hours at a time.  That is easy money, if you think standing still in a room full of people staring at you naked is easy.  So classes of all sorts need to compensate their models for their time and service.  You may also find that some colleges and universities will offer figure drawing classes to anyone interested as well.

You will find that most figure drawing classes advertise in local art publications, local art galleries, art stores, and even online.  Art clubs and other art groups will often hold a figure drawing class in a studio, where they will either have a series of instructions for those who pay to take the class, or they will have a free form drawing session, where they provide the model, and you draw whatever you want, however you want.  That way, they do not instruct the class, they merely provide a service.  Usually, these classes range from weekly to monthly.  The average cost for these classes seems to be around $10 per class.  They will also often advertise the types of posts they will provide.  Sometimes they have long poses, that can last up to an hour, or short posts, that may last 5 minutes or less.
One exercise is to do gesture drawing.  This is where the model posts for about 30 seconds, maybe less, and changes between different poses one after the other.  The idea is that you have only enough time to get a feel for the motion, the gesture, the essence of what they are doing, how they are moving, and to get that on paper without any actual detail.  This usually allows for a good idea of motion, but it also lets you see people in motion, standing in an uncomfortable position, something you can not do in a long pose, where the model has to be as comfortable as possible.  When they have to sit or stand for 30, 45, even 60 minutes, they often needs breaks, have to be as still as they can, markers are often left where their limbs were so they can get back into position after their breaks, and maybe even need heaters to keep them warm.

Now the biggest and best advantages of drawing from real life, is that you have a person you can communicate to for your pose.  If you need them to lower their hand, or change their balance, or shift their weight, or anything else, they can do it for you.  You also have a 3D life-size model in the room, that lets you walk around them, chose your best position, and even take compliments when they do a good job.  The disadvantages are important to know as well, but are workable.  First, they are not cheap.  Also, you have a human, who moves and itches, and scratches, and has gas, and gets cold, and can sweat, and needs to breath, and take breaks.  This means they are going to be moving, even if just a little bit, which could be enough to throw you off, if you are still learning.  Sometimes the model will be perfect, other times they will be troublesome, and if you have never worked with the model before, you have no way of knowing.  Finding the right model can also be hard.  If you need a middle aged woman to pose for you, but all you can find are old men, you are out of luck.  However, the way I see it, all the great masters managed to create the most beautiful art using live models, long before still-pictures, aka photography, was invented.  If they could create these great works of art, there is no reason we can not follow their example.

Luckily, thanks to the modern science of photography, drawing from a picture is a very good experience as well.  Here, you can draw someone who is in a pose that a live person can not possibly hold, such as in the middle of the air or some other action.  You will also find photographs don't move or take breaks.  There are also a large variety of books and other resources, giving you a plethora of choices for your model and position, and usually books cost less.  However, there are some major draw backs to drawing from photography.  First, the camera.  When you are drawing from a photograph, you have to remember that a camera does not tell the truth, it tells only what it sees.  So nothing is in 3D, you cannot walk around the model and chose your position, you can not chose to readjust the focus, the lens and aperture and film and such all can affect the way the model looks.  Most images are printed at a set resolution, usually around 300 dpi, which means you are stuck with the details presented on the page, and you can not get a close look to get more information.  Whats more is that, while there are a plethora of options, sometimes it isn't enough, or it takes too long to find exactly what you want.  If the model is not right, you have to find one that is close, or keep looking.  If the model is in the wrong position, you can only change what you can figure out, but you can't reposition the model.  If the camera is at the wrong angle, there is nothing you can do to fix it.

That being said, there are a lot of good books available for figure drawing resources, that are a great help when you don't have a live model available.  This is better for if you are trying to draw something for a comic, because you can use stylization and like to compensate, but not so good for leaning if you are just starting out.  If you already can draw people, and have already had classes, these books are great.

Pose File.  From what I can tell, are are 2 series of Pose File books.  The American pose file books are good mainly for costumed super-hero and anime/manga themed comics.  All of these models are dressed, either fully, or at least in underwear.  The often are dressed in costume as well.  The book itself uses a series of camera angles for each pose, showing all of them on one page.  However, if you look at the included CD, you will find that they actually took many photos from a series of angles, with even more positions than the book has.  Since they specialize in costumes, you can see anything from superhero costumes, to schoolgirl outfits.  And of course, they pose as these comic characters should as well.  They provide various flying poses, fighting positions, weapon forms, and so on.  You can even see some detailed shots of the weapons they use.  It is good for getting some unusual shots and positions most reference books just do not do.  They have a series of them available, mostly involving action and combat poses.
Besides the American Pose File books, there are the Japanese ones.  I have not had a change to look at one of these myself, but I can say that they are available on Amazon, and usually involve nude models in various poses, including sports, dancing and martial arts.

The Nude Figure.  There are a few books by photographer Mark Smith, which explore the nude figure.  While he usually works with female nudes, you can also find men, couples, pregnant women, and unusual poses.  He has books with models jumping and dancing and moving.  His photography is excellent, with each model well depicted.  Since this is a traditional reference book, he does not provide costumes or props, and does not cater to the comic artist specifically.  However, he does an excellent job choosing which photographs to use, and provided top quality, detailed images.  His books are usually black and white, but some of them (such as this one) is in full color.  The one drawback to his work is that he does not provide panning or revolving perceptive.  He only takes the images as they are, from his perspective, and from no other position.  I find that, because of this, these are very limited in use for something like a comic artist, since we often need to have the characters in just the right position, from just the right angle.

People and Poses.  There are actually 3 books in this series.  Each one of these has a different theme, which is specific for the comic artist.  There is People and Poses, Men and Boys, and Women and Girls.  While there are other reference books by the same artist, these are the only ones that follow this theme.  He tends to photograph specifically for the comic artist, choosing which angle to present in the book.  These are in full color, and use a series of camera angles for each shot, similar to the Pose File books, but unlike the post file books, he does not represent them all on each page.  Often, these books use a single dynamic shot, one that would be ideal for a comic layout.  These each have flying shots, jumping, weapons, fighting, and more.  they use dynamic photography to give you those head on, close up, and angled shots you love to see in comics.  They even include pages from actual artists that used these models in their art, often with a presentation on how they made the shot.  The best part is, these also include a CD, which has a huge variety of poses, weapon close ups, angles, and more.  All of these use excellent side lighting to see the best details of the models, and they are all in full color.  Unfortunately, while they provide a few costumes, there are no nudes, and the models are all fully dressed or in underwear.  However, this is a minor drawback as these offer some excellent photographs, with some excellent tips and advice.

Facial Expression.  This is perhaps one of the best tools for any artist.  While you may be limited to using a mirror for your own face, these image provide you with a series of models posing in a large variety of expressions, often exaggerated for effect.  The models are listed in order from youngest to oldest, and include everything from young attractive men and women, to acne riddled teen, to the wrinkly old woman.  They include all face types, and the photographs are taken from 3 different positions surrounding the face.  They include side shots, overhead shots, 3/4 shots, straight on, and several in between.  The end of each model also has some art inspired by the expressions of that model, which are often creative and expressive.  This is an excellent way to see how other people react, how emotions are portrayed on the face, and how the age and gender and race can differentiate how we look.  As my good friend would say, it is also the favorite book of her kids, who call it the "funny face book".  The best part of this book is that it includes not only a huge series of expressions from many angles, but also a sequential expressions gallery for animators, a kissing gallery (woohoo!), a hats and headgear gallery, and a Phonemes gallery (that is the shape the mouth makes when you say words and make certain sounds)!

This is only the tip of the iceberg for reference photo books.  There are literally thousands of them out there.  There are entire websites that are dedicated to giving you the best reference picture you can find.  Some of them specialize in live models in various poses for your drawing benefit, others give you samples of various parts of the body for 3D modeling and the like.  There is even a program out there that gives you a full 360º rotation around the model, for best viewing angle.

So for the best reference material out there, you have to get to a figure drawing class or session. The more live model practice you get, the better you will become at drawing a figure from your mind, or from a small reference material like a book.  Book and photograph reference materials are also great, but only if used right.  Don't forget you can use the internet, such as google, to search for a pose, a figure type, even a costume, if you need help.  And while the photographs at websites like istockphoto, corbis and gettyimages are not free, you can often download a watermarked image with their giant logo on it, and use that for your reference for your drawing.  Just make sure you don't draw their logo with it.


Next time, Phil Foglio, and Girl Genius!

Comics for beginners

Time for another update again!
Today, I will talk about the basics of web comic creation, from a beginner, to beginners.  As they say, there is no better way to learn than to teach.  So, I am going to go over a few books, and tools, that I find useful, as I try to figure out how best to tackle web comics.

If you have not already seen my post on drawing tools, check it out here.  I basically went over Paper, pencils, computers, tablets, Photoshop, and so on.  Here, I want to talk about drawing technique and style.
While I am no professional illustrator, I have taken several classes in college on drawing, including large format (such as 6 foot tall canvas drawings), and figure drawing.  I HIGHLY recommend to anyone who is even remotely interested in learning to draw, to draw from real life, especially figures.  Take a drawing class, and more importantly, take a figure drawing class!  This will teach you the basics of the human anatomy, the shapes and contours, as well as the weight, the movement, the form and function, and so on.  One class (as in a semester, not a single session) is really not enough, and I am actively seeking local figure drawing classes.  Even the great masters of our past learned to draw from life, and often used models for all their work.  In one amusing case, the artist could not find any female models, so he has to work from men, and the result?  Rather masculine looking women... with coconut shaped chests.
Regardless, learning to draw from real life, not just photographs, not just internet, not just books, is the best way to learn to draw people.

Now then, on to the books.
Currently, there are several books that are in print that are excellent for both comic art, and figure drawing.  There are many more that are very poor as well.  Finding the right book for you might be difficult, but there are a few things to look for.
Are you trying to learn a specific style, or just enhance your skills?  Are you trying to imitate someone, or develop your own style?  The best answers to these will be to enhance your own skill, and your own style.  Anyone can learn to draw like someone else, but to have your own flare, your own look, your own style with influences from many sources is what makes good art.  I am no master, and my style is still being developed, and still emerging, but I have seen it peak out from behind my pencil lines every so often, and I want to encourage it.
The best way to do this, is to study the classics, the style of art that best represents the human anatomy, and artistic schools of thought.  There are many different things to think about when it comes to drawing even a simple picture, including perspective, horizon lines, depth, weight, form, and so on.  Any good art book will show you all these things, and more, and integrate their study into what you are trying to learn to draw.
One such series of books are by the artist Burne Hogarth.  His series of books, which include Dynamic figure drawing, Dynamic Wrinkles and Drapery, Dynamic Anatomy, Dynamic Hands, and so on, are all excellent books that cover all these elements and more.  They teach you the relationship between each part of the body, the full range of motion, the reaction of cloth and clothing on the body, and so much more.  He is a true master artist, who has thoroughly studied the classical style and very accurately and effectively relayed his knowledge into these books.
While I own some of these books myself, there are a few more books that everyone should know about as well.  Unfortunately, these are no longer in print, but luckily they ARE available online, if you know where to look for them.  The artist that made these?  Andrew Loomis.
Loomis was an artist in the 30's, 40's, and 50's, even stretching into the 60's.  His books are hard to find, although some are available through Amazon.  However, luckily, a simple web search can reveal many (if not all) of his books in their entirety ready for download from various sources.  His method is very thorough, and covers all of the things that Hogarth discusses, and more.  His style is classical, but is also the influence of many other artists, and can be seen in such classic characters as Superman.

These are some excellent books for learning the classic art style, and for bettering yourself.  You must make sure, however, that you actually read these books, and don't just look at the pretty pictures.  Sure, they are full of pictures, but they also often discuss how to do variations of their technique, or how many times you should work on this specific problem they illustrate, and so on.  Yes, artists need to read, not just draw or look at art books and comics.

Speaking of comics, there are several more books, which also require a fair share of reading, that are absolutely perfect for comics, and web comics.  They discuss the more visual and theoretical aspects of comics versus drawing.  Anyone can use these Hogarth and Loomis books to learn to draw anything they want, but the books I will discuss next talk specifically about the art of the comic.

In fact, there are 4 of these books, all by the same artist, Scott McCloud.  McCloud is the creator of Zot!, a poplar comic from the late 80's and early 90's.  McCloud decided that he would fully explore the theory behind comics, in an attempt to better learn them himself.  Thus, he wrote a book all about them.  He discusses everything from the boxes that we limit our sequential story telling to, to the complex relationship between the elements within each frame.  He gives hints, tricks, and advice to all the major problems artists face, and provides excellent real-world knowledge of the comic making process.  It become so popular, he actually went on to write 3 more books, which discuss everything from understand and creating comics, to how the internet has changed the face of comics, and even a book on how to make a full issue comic in only one day.
These are truly invaluable sources for both the professional level artist, and for the aspiring artist.  In fact, I find these so interesting, I would suggest these to people who have no intent to every put pencil to paper, and only read comics.  Understanding the full art style of the comic is far more intriguing than one would imagine, and is actually more entertaining than many comics.

For people are interested in drawing in the very popular "anime" or "manga" style, there are a series of books that do an excellent job of showing how this style differs from classic study, and so on.  I highly recommend learning the classic art style first, as this is a specific variation that is best studied when you can already draw pretty well.  The "How to Draw Manga" books cover a huge variety of anime and manga topics and styles.  They include everything from how to get started, to how to draw specific costumes and genres.  There are also a variety of similar books, which are by different companies, and tend to range in quality as well.  I will say that, from my experience, learning to draw anime and manga is best left taught by those who are from the country of origin, Japan or Korea (Manwa is the Korean equivalent of the Japanese Manga, and follow the same rules).  One artist to avoid, who is actually quite good at drawing American style comics, is Christopher Hart.
I am not bad mouthing Hart, or saying he can't draw, cause he can, and many of his books are excellent, but he does not draw manga style effectively at all, even though he sells many books on the topic.  I highly recommend looking at his book Human Anatomy Made Amazingly Easy, it has amazingly simple and useful techniques for simplifying drawing people.  However, avoid his books that focus on manga and anime, as his style wreaks of Americanized copycat, which does not stay true to the Japanese form, and actually fails to accurately depict any sort of Japanese style.

Now aside from books like these, which teach you how to draw in various styles, there are also books that do not teach anything, but are just as useful to an artist.  These are reference books.  As I said before, working from a model is second to none, but when a live model is not available, which is most of the time, a book photo reference book is an acceptable replacement.

Next post, I will discuss reference books, and finding live model classes.

Update (About Time)

I know last post seemed like a complaint, and ever since then I haven't made any posts or updates.
Well that is simple.  I have been really busy, and haven't been working on any animation or drawing projects at all.

Well I am desperately trying now to get back into my creative mode at full force now.  About 2 weeks ago, I started picking up the guitar.  I have actually been learning to play both the classic acoustic guitar, and the electric bass guitar.  Since both work on a similar principal, I have slowly been teaching myself both.  I have also decided to start learning how to sight-read music, a skill that is most useful in the music world, and something which far too many people lack.  While many accomplished musicians never learned to read or write music, I find it is not that hard to do if you let your hands do the learning before your mind.  By that, I mean let your fingers figure out the muscle movements before you memorize what all the note names are.  Sure, knowing the names of the notes is important, but it comes second, in my opinion, to your ability to play the music you see.  Once you can play it, you can better understand the technical side as well, such as the note names.
So WHY am I talking about music in an animation blog?
Simple.  Music, just like drawing and animation, is an expressive art form that takes practice and determination, as well as skill, to master.  While I will never be a master guitarist, I find that getting my creative juices flowing again is a very good habit.  By thinking in a creative, and eager to learn way, I am readying myself for the next step in what I am trying to do.  Drawing.
My drawing skills have very much been a roller coaster.  At times, I can barely draw a person, even if they are standing in front of me.  At other times, I am able to draw very well, especially from a model.  I admit my weakness if drawing without a model, so I am constantly looking for reference shots to help aid my drawing.  But that only works so well.  Lately, being mainly out of practice for a long time, I find my skills are lacking, and I need to get them back to where they belong.  Drawing is not like riding a bike.  It takes constant practice, otherwise your skills decrease and you find yourself at square one again.
I am looking into a few books to help me out, as well as a few tutorials.  However, most importantly, I am back to drawing again.  The animation right now, "Weak 1", will be put on a temporary hold so I can work on the prologue to a web comic my brother and I have been working on.  It isn't up yet (obviously), and we want to have the first 8 or so pages finished before we go any further, but I am using this opportunity to get back in the habit of drawing.  I need to do a lot of drawing, in practice and study, as well as in real-world applications.  Here, I am going to using this project for both.  I am going to be setting up a deadline to finish so many pages a month, I am shooting for 1 entire drawn, inked, and colored image every week.  This is to allow for a timely and regular schedule on a web comic, something most people rely on if they like to read web comics.
So why web comics?  Again, it is part of my attempt to get myself back into my creative mode, and the best way is to do creative things.  Writing stories, playing music, drawing, all these are important creative processes, and all of them can help with animation.  The better you are at drawing, the better you will be at animation of any kind.  So I must start from the basics, and improve from there!  Besides, most of my readers enjoy web comics, and probably have found this site, if not directly through me, than through Tangent Artists, a web comic site that I am a part of.  In fact, this very comic, when it is ready to be uploaded, will be featured there, but I will be updating more on that in the future.

Now most comics will update at the very least once a week, but many update far more often.  I have seen ones from 1 or 2 a month, to one or 2 a day.  Sometimes they keep no schedule and update when they are ready, other times they have a regular update at a specific time which they stick to.  I find that those comics that update regularly have a better readership, and a lot more content to play with.  The artists also improve the most in their drawing style.  While many start simple and crude, some eventually become truly impressive as time goes on.  I am hoping that, by spending a week per page, I give myself plenty of time to practice, draw, ink, color, and finalize one page, while still leaving time for everything else I need to do.  I hope that this will help me improve draw better and faster fairly quickly.  Without a set deadline, I will slack off and not follow through.
For now, I am still in the process of drawing the first few pages.  I have been experimenting with inking and scanning techniques, and will be moving onto color soon after.  I have a few ideas on what I want to do, but this is really meant to be a learning experience for me, as well as a tool to help me practice and get better at drawing.
Of course this means the beginning will look rough, stiff, awkward, and even bad at times.  I am always hard on my own work, but every good artist is.  I hope that by using a few books, models, and (someday) classes, I will get significantly better.  This comic will help with that, and I hope that by the time the entire comic is complete, anyone who compares the first chapter and the last chapter will see a world of improvement in the art style and drawing.
Most comic artists improve their style of drawing, but they use a very stylized form, and often encourage that in their art as they develop.  Sometimes this works out wonderfully for them, other times they find they can only draw that style of character, and nothing else.  I plan to use characters that, while inspired by Japanese manga (comics), is clearly not mimicking them, and trying to use fairly accurate depictions of people, in such a way that I can apply the principals of figure drawing to this comic, despite the awkwardness and time consuming process this will create.  It may start hard, and I may never be as masterful an artist as many of my artist heroes, but with this knowledge, I plan to take a new look at my short animations, and start making quality work at a fast pace.

So, for now, my animations are on a short hold, while I work on this comic.  It will be called "A Twist of Feyt", which is a play on the Celtic inspired fey-realms and fairy creatures.  Once this comic is completed, I have plans to work on a sci-fi comic next.  I am hoping to write a story where I can combine cyber-punk and steam-punk, but that is still a long way off.  So for next time, I will be posting some drawings of my latest comic pages, with some of the techniques I will be using and some of the things I have learned.

Look forward to it!

Reasons to avoid the cinema

Long ago, a trip to the cinema was a major event.  People would only go see a moving picture a few times a year.  Later, it became a regular event, and people would go all the time just to pop in to see the news, or the latest serial.  Nowadays, it is a regular event, one that many companies rely on for their income and success.  Long gone are the days of dressing up in one's finest to go to the movies, instead people will just wear their t-shirts and jeans and go out to see a movie.
While a part of me wishes I could see the grandeur of the cinema in its golden years, the rest of me is glad it is so readily available and commonplace.  Regardless, the ease of access and laid back casual approach to movie watching has generated a variety of bad habits and annoying circumstances that make going to the movies a pain.  Worse still are the real dangers of going to the movies, the ones that can do physical harm.  Don't know what I'm talking about?  I'll get to that, but first I will list the pros and cons of going out to the movies.

Pros:
You will see the latest films before they are available online, on DVD/Blu-ray, or anywhere else.
You will see said films on the biggest screens available
And with the best sound (quality and surround sound a home theater could not even hope to achieve)
You will see the latest in movie technologies, like 3D and IMAX
Your friends can enjoy the movie at the same time
You have fun going out with family and friends and make a night of it
There are more pros, I am sure, but here are some cons...

Cons:
The price is not always cheap for tickets, and never cheap for consessions
The screens are not all the same, some are better than others and you never know what you are going to get
The new technologies have drawbacks (3D can cause headaches, IMAX can cause nausea, etc)
People

People is the main point of this post today.  There are those annoying habits people have like talking during a movie, making a mess, causing a disturbance of some sort, and so on.  In modern times, we are also bombarded with people who decide they can leave their phone on, or outright talk on the phone during the movie.  There are those who think their mobile device's bright screen won't disturb anyone else in the theater.  There are the messes of food and drink all over the floor from the last showing which is not always cleaned easily.  Luckily all these have warnings before the movie, asking you to turn off your phones, don't text (finally), clean your mess, no talking, etc.  Other than that, the common crowd noises are easily ignored (even by me), and if all these rules are followed, a movie is easily enjoyed.
But wait, these things are physically dangerous are they?  No, not normally.  Sure the threat of fires or illness from food exist, but that is rare and not a serious problem in theaters anymore.  What I meant earlier by danger and physical harm can all be boiled down to one word, people.  I will demonstrate with an event that happened yesterday to me and my dad at the theater.

We decided to see "Clash of the Titans" in theaters for Easter, while we waited for Easter dinner.  We got to the theater early, got our snacks, even chose assigned seats at the Director's Hall where they were showing it.  We decided against 3D, since this film more or less faked the 3D (it was filmed in 2D, and the 3D was added later).  The movie started, and was somewhat enjoyable at first.  Decent quality theater, clean, and quiet, at first.  I was caught up in comparing the bizarre film to the original in my head, noting the many unusual changes (and reminded myself that the original had its fair share of cheese) when I heard a noise that didn't belong, a man talking loudly.
I looked over and saw my dad walking out to use the bathroom, and his shirt (which was unbuttoned as an over-shirt with a t-shirt underneath) was sticking out strangely, it was a little far, and in the dark, but it looked like it brushed over a man's bald head in the front row (one row down from us).  Instead of just letting it go, he demanded an apology from my dad, loudly.  My dad said sorry at a normal tone (which seemed loud in a quiet theater), and suddenly the man starts cussing at a yelling tone at my dad as he tries to walk to the bathroom.  He bolts out of his seat, and runs after my dad, when the yelling (all coming from this man) continued in the hall.
Seeing how this man so violently got out of his seat and continued yelling obscenities, I was genuinely scared for my dad's safety.  I was sure, not just slightly but absolutely, that this guy was chasing him down intending to start throwing punches.  I ran after them and motioned to them to leave the theater before they continued the disturbance.  I wish it ended there, where I heard my dad say for the second time that he was sorry he bumped into him, explaining it wasn't intentional and he didn't notice.  I wish the guy would have accepted that as an apology, like any normal, logical, sane human being.  Alas, he is not a normal, logical, sane human.
Now, outside the theater and still in the hallway (the one that leads to each screen), the man explodes at my dad for assaulting him.  He used that word so many times, it sounded to me like he was trying to get my dad to admit he assaulted him, or at least find someone else who might side with him against being attacked.  It was like he was trying to scam us.
Regardless, my dad walked into the bathroom as this man yelled after him, as though he was going to find a back way out of the bathroom and disappear.  I was there and managed to keep the guy waiting.  I asked him what happened, and he turns to me and says "that jerk grabbed my head and hit me in the theater".  He then realized I was related, and asked me to tell my dad to "Come back out here and apologize like a man!".  At this point, images of high school bullies, most of whom dropped out, came rushing into my head.  This man already received 2 apologies, but that wasn't enough.  While he was telling me this, he started his tough guy act.  He tried to stand up taller (still a foot shorter than me), rolling up his sleeves, waving his arms around with his chest out, and yelling.
Hind sight is always useless for the situation you were in, but does give ideas for how to protect yourself from the same or a similar thing happening again.  I realize now I should have whipped out my iphone, and started taking video.  Photos wouldn't work, cause I can manipulate those, but I can not manipulate video (yet).  That would have been best, but at least I will be sure to be ready next time someone makes visual physical threats against me or my family again.
I went into the bathroom to tell my dad that this guy has started threatening to call the police, and that his new favorite word was "assault".  We went out together, and found the man still fuming, still yelling.  My dad asked what was the problem, and the guy repeated his mantra (using "assault" for the 50th time).  My dad apologized for bumping into him again, and explained he didn't notice and didn't mean to.  The guy refused, loudly, to accept that answer.  He was egging on my dad at this point.  He was trying to get my dad to say he assaulted him.  He was trying to show how big and tough he was with his waving arms, rolled up sleeves, and cocky attitude.  He repeatedly asked my dad what he was apologizing for "(what did you do? what did you do?", he repeated his at least 6 or 7 times in a row).  My dad said, "you tell me".  I realized now that this guy looked like he was off his medication.  It became apparent to me that I was not going to go back in to see the rest of this movie.  Every time me or my dad tried to go back inside and just ignore the guy, he was block our way.  He came within inches of touching us, as though he was trying to either provoke an actual assault (which he would have regretted since we were both bigger and both have black belts), or tried to get one of us to physically touch him so that he would either feign injury or retaliate in "self-defense".  This guy really has a few screws loose, especially since he was in his 40s maybe, while my dad is a senior citizen.
About this time, 2 of his friends (or family, no idea the relation) came out trying to apparently calm him down.  We explained that my dad apologized for the 4th time, and didn't do anything, and this guy was still yelling and would not accept the apology.  By now, the managers had come over, and my sister also came out of the theater as well.  We all argued, mostly against the crazy nutjob, while his friends did little, as they apparently didn't know why he was acting this way.  They asked him to drop it, and he only got more mad.
The managers could do nothing, except comply to the request the nutjob gave them, to call the police.  Which was fine cause my sister and I had both already dialed 911 and were about to hit the send button when they said this.  By now the guy was so loud and obnoxious, we were asked to be apart from each other.  We had no problem with this, but we heard the man repeatedly say he was going to press assault charges.
Several minutes later, 3 police officers showed up.  First they talked to Nutty McNutjob, while we tried to calm ourselves down and have a chat with the manager about movies and 3D and the like.  He was actually a cool guy, but made sure we understood that when the police get involved, they can do very little.
We occasionally saw the police talking amongst themselves, and one loudly asked "It's a simple question, yes or no?".  Now they were still talking to Nutty McNutjob, when they said this.  Now this brings to mind the many reasons someone would ask this question.  Usually, it is either they didn't get a clear answer, or they didn't believe the guy from the get go.  Here, I think it was both, but that is only speculation, as I heard nothing more of their conversation, but I knew then that the police didn't believe this guy either.
One of the officers came over, took down out information, and asked us to explain our side of the story.  We explained all that happened, how we felt physically threatened by this man, and how he refused to accept an apology.  The officer noted to us that they felt this man had no case, and was blowing hot air, and that they didn't believe him either.  There was no motive for an assault, there were no witnesses to support him and plenty to support us, and so on.
In the end, what came dangerously close to a fist fight in a theater, which probably would have ended in Nutpants McNutter being arrested for assault, and sent to the hospital for injuries when we defended ourselves, as well as spending a night in jail ourselves, finally ended with the police asking him to leave and escorting him out instead.  While charges are still a possibility, there is no case, and no evidence.  If this guy wants to claim assault, where is the evidence?  He had no injury, no bruise, no red spot, nothing.  He was physically threatening, and verbally abusive.  Where are his witnesses?  What is the motive?  He appeared to be either drunk (although we smelled nothing on his breath), on drugs, or not on drugs (i.e. medication he should have been on).  We are convinced it was either the 3rd option, or he is truly one of those people who explode at the tiniest things and should be on drugs and in therapy.
We ended up going back inside to see that last 4 minutes of the movie, meaning we missed about half of it thanks to this guy.  We got refunds from the theater.  The managers were very cool about it.  My adrenaline was all worked up, I felt sick in many ways over this, and my wife was left in the theater during all this although she waited in the hallways since no one came back in for most of the movie.

So, people, like Nutty McNutter here, are a major reason not to go outside and have fun with friends and family anymore, especially at theaters.  You never know when someone is going to forget to take his medication, and decide you are his punching bag.

The irony here is that this guy, while clearly not on the level, and not thinking straight, messed up our movie watching experience, and yet we now have 2 free tickets each to see whatever we want to see at the same theater.  Do not let things like this scare you into not going to the theater.  You should always be ready to defend yourself against an attack, but also be more willing to forgive and let go, especially when you are the one yelling obscenities at people.  Either you get free tickets, or you get escorted outside by the police.

All is well in the end, but I will be using my iPhone to capture video on all events I deem worthy of being evidence in court, if it should come to that.

Update, Schools, and Review

I have been very bad lately.  The point of this blog is to help give me the incentive to work on animations, and even comics.  I wanted to use this as a reason to draw every day, to finish more animations for demo reels and just for the experience of it.  And of course to have fun.
Instead, I have been using excuse after excuse in my head, to avoid working on the things I really want to do.  The problem is, I don't get paid to do what I want to do.  In fact, I get paid very little, and only when I find the work doing freelance jobs.  This is not a complaint, only an observation, on which I have full control over the situations.  Currently, I have been doing album layouts for a wedding photographer, some image edits as well, and I just finished up a big job with a photographer who is trying to get his work in a museum.  He also has a few book deals in the works and he may want my help with that too.  I am busy, no doubt about it, but I do not enjoy the work I do, not the way I should.  I am good at image editing, I enjoy the artistic side of it, but I am forced to do menial tasks, with little reward, and limited creativity.  I don't mind a deadline, in fact I work best when under a deadline, but the work that I do is not enjoyable to me and I am unable to really get behind the work I should be doing.  In the end, I avoiding the work I want to be doing as well.  I rather spend my days doing house keeping and playing games, but this will get me no where, and I must use all the time I have to work on what needs to be worked on.
I have made too many promises to too many people that I have not fulfilled, due mostly to my lack of discipline and self-motivation.  I can not go back on these promises, I will move forward and work on these, as well as all the work I need to do for both income and education.  I have a lot of work ahead of me these next 2 days, but I will somehow find the time to prepare some more art to fill this blog by this weekend!

It's time I put my mind and efforts BACK on the right track!

This brings me to the topic of schools, which I am still looking at.  The DAVE school was an experience, and it isn't a bad school at all.  There are a few downsides, the cost being the biggest for me.  Since it is not accredited, it is not eligible for scholarships or grants.  The best a student can hope for is a student loan, in the amount of approximately $40,000!  Now this is a one year school, and it is not an unheard of price for a specialty private school, such as this, and they are well within their rights to ask for such an amount.  However, for me, since I am already in debt to a school that didn't go anywhere for me, I need to consider my options more carefully.
Luck is with me on this topic though.  It just so happens that I have been put into contact with a company, College Lift Off!, which specializes in finding the right school, at the right price, for each person.  We have been working on finding a school that both excels in the field of animation and visual effects, and is also affordable with ample financing options.  There are several candidates right now, one of which is especially interesting, and I am hoping to learn more this week.  I have tried to get in touch with them, but my timing has been off.  I must concentrate on what I need to do, which is making money, and finding a school.  I have long-since given up the job hunt, since my unemployment benefits are no longer active, so I should be spending all my time furthering my career, not just get a job.  I am a little hesitant to mention specifics at this time, I feel it is in my best interest to continue my search for now, and report back later when I have something significant to post.

So since I am currently, and reluctantly, without any art or animations for you to gaze upon, I will offer a short review on the latest anime title my wife and I have been viewing on Blu-ray, Samurai 7.

Samurai 7

 

Samurai 7 is a retelling of the classic 1954 film directed by Akira Kurosawa, Seven Samurai.  The original film is a masterpiece of cinematography, story telling, acting, and film making.  I know of no other film to date that can compete with the subtle complexities of the story and cinematography.  Seven Samurai is, without a doubt, one of the greatest films ever made.  I could go into a detailed explanation and review on how absolutely magnificent this film is, detailing the masterwork in each scene, but I will not.  For one, many people may not appreciate all the nuances and subtle ingenuity, in much the same way most people do not recognize the genius of 2001: A Space Odyssey.  Of course most film enthusiast would agree that both these films are timeless works of art.  Regardless, a work of art Samurai 7 is not.


 Blu-ray
Movie
Oh, boy, where to begin.  Most of you know I am a big fan of the Japanese pop-art 'sensation' of anime.  I have been an avid watcher since the early 90's, before most people knew what anime was, so you can say my interest is not a mere passing fad.  I appreciate any good animated feature, although recently I have found little to interest me short of Hayao Miyazaki and Pixar films.  Still, I have been interested in the cover art of this particular series when I see it on shelves, and I decided to rent it on Blu-ray to give it a twirl.
Imagine Seven Samurai, now replace all the bandits with (dear God I can't believe I am saying this) Giant Robots.  Yes... Giant Robots.  Oh, I should have stopped watching there, right in the beginning of the first episode when they first showed up, I should have turned off the disc, returned it, and removed the next 2 discs from the queue.  Sadly, I did not.
In an attempt to make the struggle between the samurai, the farmers, and the bandits all the more epic and grandiose, they turned the bandits into 4 story tall robots.  It appears someone from the staff of Gundam snuck in to a staff meeting and decided to throw in a few of his poorly sketched mecha designs.  Granted, the reasoning behind this is quite complex, although convoluted.  They intended to further develop the complexity of the relationship between the samurai, the villagers, and the bandits, as well as the capitol itself, which is run by merchants.  By having the bandits steal the rice, they could sell it to the capitol, which would use it for trade, to become wealthy, and keep the villagers under thumb.  While this seems simple enough, the mechanical nature of the bandits leads to discrimination and fear for anything mechanical.  To this end, they attempted to further complicated the already complicated and well developed character of "Kikuchiyo" (Which the English dub pronounced "Kikucho" or "Kiku" for short), by turning him into a mechanical samurai as well, so not only does he bridge the gap between the farmers and the samurai, but he also brings in an innate understanding of how the bandits work and think, as well as becoming a point of hatred for the leader of the merchants, who fears anything mechanical.
Kikushiyo isn't the only character butchered by this loose interpretation.  While many of the samurai undergo minor character changes, the villagers are downright backwards.  Instead of the village elder sending out 4 men into the city to look for samurai, they decide to send 1 man, 1 "water priestess", and 1 little kid.  Of course, the water priestess is a combination of Shino and many of the villagers, yet she is not Shino, as her character still shows up.  This new character has the ability to dowse for water, or apparently samurai.  The little girl seems to have no point but to be an annoyance that dumbs down any complex aspect and retells the story for those who fell asleep.  Cute, sure, but pointless and annoying.  The rest of the villagers have little importance.  The conflict between the youngest samurai, Katsushiro, and Shino is not even existent.  Instead, they try to move the love triangle (a triangle??) to Katsushiro, the water priestess, and Kambei.  YES...  Kambei.  Oh, is that a spoiler?  Well, trust me, watching this will spoil your appetite, and probably your eyes.
I could go on.  They continue to mutilate this story by adding new characters, factions, overly complex politics, overly simplified and lacking character development and relationships, and extremely unrealistic and laughable fight scenes.  It is amazing they managed to take a 4 hour long masterpiece and turn it into a 26 episode long travesty.  The gigantic explosions at the end of the series signify not only the destruction of the capitol, but also the destruction of any redeemable quality of this anime.  There is a reason I don't watch many anime series anymore, so many of them turn out like this.  Apparently, they assumed that by sticking direct quotes from the original movie into this series would be enough to justify these mutilations, but they only serve to further bury the enormous sonic sword into the heart of Kurosawa and all cinematography.
I give this a 2 out of 5 stars.  It could have sucked even more, but it is so far from the original source, it should be banned in most countries.

Video
Oh. My. God!  This has got to be the worst Blu-ray I have ever seen in my life!  Nay.  The worst disc!  I am sure the DVD would look better than this.  Allow me to explain.  This transfer most assuredly uses a 1080p HD image, capturing all the detail, or lack thereof, that this anime boasts.  Unfortunately, like some other animated movies, banding is an issue.  That is actually a lie, banding is much more than an "issue", its a serious problem.  It is hard to watch ANYTHING with the MASSIVE banding issues this series sports.  It is consistent through the entire series, from the first unexplained and confusing flashback, to the final eye-gouging explosion.  It is downright hard to see any of the other compression errors this series has thanks to the massive banding.  Scenes that should have no banding at all are full of them.  It is as bad as trying to watch a movie with an 8-bit color pallet, only worse.  The flashbacks, previews, and reviews at the beginning and ending of each episode use a cookie-cutter effect, filled with black dots that start to look like dead pixels or dirt.  Granted this is a minor annoyance, but enough to distract me and make me want to clean off my screen.
The real problem is the fact that the Blu-ray producers decided that 50GB meant they can stick 8 or 10 episodes per disc, rather than the standard 4.  This means they instead of dedicating the extra space to quality video and audio, they compressed the HELL out of it to fit on more content.  The result....  a mess that wreaks as bad as the bog of eternal stench.
I give this a 1 out of 5 stars.  It was in HD... I think... but I bet you watching the DVD will prove less painful.

Audio
I am not really sure where to go with this.  The Japanese had much better sound than the English.  The English changed names and such.  They used decent voice actors to more or less fit the parts, and the acting is not half bad, but there is really no quality to the audio.  It just didn't impress me... sort of blah.
I will give this a 2.5 of 5, since it neither has absolutely awful quality, nor was it really notable.  Just meh.

Extras
What are those?

Overall
This is quite simply the worst anime I have seen in a long time.  Not the worst I have ever seen, but it is pretty bad.  The original movie is so full of nuances and complex relationships, as well as well developed characters and an epic battle, I was hoping to see some of this in anime form, with more explanation into what was going on.  Instead, I am bombarded with a corrupt government stealing rice from farmers through a complexly organized system of giant mechanical bandits who sell rice to "gaurdians" who in turn trade it to the merchants for land (?), who in turn sell the rice for trade.  No one eats this stuff except the samurai, who have no real part in society.  The ingenious schemes of Kambei are suddenly more convoluted and far less impressive.  The crazy antics of Kikuchiyo have turned him into a mechanical samurai equivalent of a 5th grader on crack.  The restructuring of the characters is both pointless and annoying, and only serves to further complicate matters in the wrong way.  Main characters are given completely different goals, outcomes, and roles.  All these things, while occasionally throwing in a random quote from the original film where it best suits them.  About the only thing they did right in this series was kill off the right characters in ways similar to the original film... mostly.
What is it they say?  You can't judge a Blu-ray by its cover?  Something like that...
I give this a 1.5 out of 5.  The story is awful, the video quality is unforgivably vomitous, the audio falls short of anything acceptable, and there are no extras in sight.  But most importantly, they put Akira Kurosawa's name RIGHT ON THE FRONT of this atrocity!  Kurosawa must be spinning in his grave.  The abomination called Samurai 7 is an attempt to assassinate quality film, and the Blu-ray format, as well as HD, anime, and human sight.  To call this watchable is an overstatement.  Most would probably not even rate this as bearable.  I will say it is unforgivable.  A POX on the Blu-ray Authoring group who made this pile of muck.  Even though the story is convoluted, laughable, and an atrocity to the source it names itself after, the very least you can do is spare our eyesight from the banding...

... The Banding...



... THE BANDING!!!