Savage countdown.

[secondlina]

That's it folks. I'm down to two pages left, and two illustrations left. Then i'm going to scan the beezejus out of these pages and be done with it.

HAHAHAHAHA.

I gotta give myself a little pat on the back. 25 pages in 2 and a half weeks? I think that's pretty darn badass. I am the drawing version of Batman. woo-hoo-hoo.

Okay, done tooting my own horn now.

I want to take a little moment to talk about Romeo and Juliet.

Romeo and Juliet is the story that kinda inspired Rose, i'm not sure why. I'm not a huge fan of the Sakespearian play. I mean, for a french person, it's barely readable. I'm not a big fan of the really famous movies for it either. the 80's one was cheesy as hell and the modern one with guns was confusing (load battles over confused, complicated text. Yeah, that's easy to follow!) so I don't know. I guess I just like the idea being Romeo and Juliet. I mean, it's the story behind every story - two lovers and two sides. It can be used as a metaphor for so many things. However, a few people argue that this story could not happen in modern times (they could have just texted each other, or sued their parents, etc.) I think as long as there are people who can hate each other and arguments, there will be Romeos and Juliets.

Just watched Anastasia again. I know this movie is completely innacurate history wise but GOOD GOD is the animation AMAZING. All the little subtle movements.....ALL OF THEM. I think that is the main difference between Disney style and Don Bluth. Disney kinda exagerates movements (like a punch will be a nice, long, fluid swoop). Don bluth also exagerates them, but he exagerates all the little movements that define the action (a punch with be the character shifting from side to side with footwork, followed by an hesitant, then wide punch, then his weight follows the punch and he looses balance.) I think I like Don Bluth better. I love all the little motions. You can see a few of them in some of the disney movies he worked on (like the fairies in Sleeping Beauty.)

In unrelated news - Lo and behold - the banner I drew for the_flowergirl . Colored by a braver soul then me (I hate coloring). It looks great in colors!



Also - HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO JESS FINK. Artist of the awesome (erotic) webcomic Chester 5000. If you don't mind the sex (It's...frequent...) it's a fun read. Very light a beautiful drawings. Plus, robots (sex-robots) in a victorian setting is really interesting...

Comments

[the-flowergirl.livejournal.com]

Sex, in a webcomic? I can get behind that!

So spoil everyone for my banner, why don't you? ^___~
jk
It looks nice to see it up.

And when chibi Toph gets done, I'll toss it at you. ^_^

[secondlina.livejournal.com]

sweet, thanks!

[ichiban-victory.livejournal.com]

And now I am amused because the one time I saw Anastasia I couldn't get over the movement. They seemed like they were all having trouble holding still or something! (It's been forever since I watched the movie though. All I really remember is that the bad guy grossed me out with his constantly animated rotting going on. *cringe* It haunts my nightmares!) That can be blamed on Walt Disney himself though, since he never wanted to see a character holding completely still, since then they looked static...not to mention dead. If you watch those old Disney cartoons you'll see the characters constantly moving in some fashion, even when they're standing still. Then you can compare those old animations to current animation and cry... -_-

In any case, Don Bluth definitely took what he learned and ran with it, with varying degrees of success. Despite my not liking his style or usual movies, I do have a soft spot for the original Land Before Time as well as Fievel Goes West. (The original An American Tale was just too long and boring for me.)

The only version of Romeo and Juliet I ever liked was West Side Story. Excellent movie that was well done with the music and even the addition of hatred between gangs, different races and cultures. When Maria's singing to Tony and he falls silent it still gets to me... As for the original Shakespeare play itself, I never cared for it. I could never get over two young people being so hopelessly in love with each other that they'd sooner die than move on with their lives. The fact it was all one big misunderstanding just really irks me more. Then again, there are fun lines like, "Oh, happy dagger!" that I'll never use in a social situation but are amusing to think on anyway.

I've always preferred Shakespeare's comedies to his tragedies.

And now that I've blathered on forever, you can get back to your drawing. ^_-;

[secondlina.livejournal.com]

I prefer Don Bluth's style, not 100% for the movement, but for the drawing style. His style is more edgy, more real. Disney is beautiful of course, but everything is so clean and perfect, even in gritty situations. But then again, I like the creepy and the weird. There is a reason I like secret of Nimh so much!

Urgh, West Side Story. I was never able to watch either that or Grease. The songs annoy me and I really can't get into the culture (maybe it's too english american for me?) Also - gangs snapping their fingers to look menacing? Cracks me up.

[ichiban-victory.livejournal.com]

When I think of Don Bluth's style specifically, it doesn't look realistic to me. He always had the really rounded edges (like noses, teeth, etc.). Very fat looking characters. You see it briefly in The Fox and the Hound when Tod is just a baby (nursing on a bottle) and also when the widow is milking her cow. It's stamped all over a lot of his older movies as well, but not so much the newer movies. I loved Secret of Nimh, but that's taken right from a book. They actually changed the plot a bit as well, but that's nothing new with movie adaptations.

I don't know about the culture in West Side Story being too English American. I never grew up anywhere near a city with gangs, but I still like it. Kind of funny though since we had to watch the beginning ALL THE TIME in my music classes as a kid. We seemed forever doomed to get to the dance house scene, only to watch up to that point the next time as well. I just think it had a really strong message to it about gangs and people defying the stigma against inter-racial relationships. When Maria gets up at the end of the movie and walks through all of the gathered gang members and isn't harassed at all, that's really powerful.

But Grease...bleh. Decent movie, up until the very end where it teaches you that it's not up to the guy to become a decent member of society to get the girl! The girl just has to abandon her morals and become a skank to win the guy! XO (Never ever watch the sequel.)

[brendala.livejournal.com]

""But Grease...bleh. Decent movie, up until the very end where it teaches you that it's not up to the guy to become a decent member of society to get the girl! The girl just has to abandon her morals and become a skank to win the guy! XO (Never ever watch the sequel.)""


I hated that, too. Grease's 'moral' is basically: "Peer pressure is awesome! And if the popular people don't like you, then you're frigid and you need to change! And if you give in to a cute bad-boy's harassment to have sex, he'll totally love you (and ONLY you) forever!"
....sorry to rant but good God I hate that movie SOOO much!

[ichiban-victory.livejournal.com]

No no, that's exactly how I feel about that movie. Just what were they thinking? I guess the whole thing was originally a play, but still...way to totally screw up any sort of message for people! (I'll stick with West Side Story. Sure, one of the main characters gets killed, but it has a better message to it at least..)

Man, reading your summary of the movie just reminds me of all those real life crime shows I've watched where the woman does lower her standards for a guy and ends up paying for it with her life. Just because a sleazeball is attractive doesn't mean he's anything more than a sleaze...

[brendala.livejournal.com]

My hatred of that movie has only enhanced since my recent time spent living in a dorm with co-workers around my age. I was under CONSTANT pressure to go out to bars and I refused both because I can't drink alcohol (it makes me sick) and I was disturbed that they all drank to get plastered, came back to the dorm at 3:00AM, and did scary things while under the influence.



""Man, reading your summary of the movie just reminds me of all those real life crime shows I've watched where the woman does lower her standards for a guy and ends up paying for it with her life. Just because a sleazeball is attractive doesn't mean he's anything more than a sleaze...""
Yeah. I knew so many girls in high school who gave into their boyfriends' pressure 'put out' and most of them ended up miserable. Either their self-esteem plummets or, surprise surprise, their horny boyfriends end up cheating on them and breaking their hearts. :P

[ichiban-victory.livejournal.com]

Oh sheesh, reminds me of the few months I worked down in Florida! A lot of my coworkers thought a good time meant going to bars after work to get plastered and be idiots, get little to no sleep, then drag themselves from bed with hangovers just in time for work. I think I shocked more than a few people when they realized I was of drinking age but refused to drink. (Religious reasons for me, but I come from a family of people who cannot handle alcohol or any type of drug well anyway, so it's more incentive to avoid the stuff.) One of the guys apparently lost it in a custodian closet at work but would never admit to it. I was the lucky one to come across it... XO

In any case, kind of sad what it says about our society now, isn't it? Live fast and loose, but be completely taken by surprise when things fall apart.

[gigabahamut666.livejournal.com]

I am the drawing version of Batman.

*giggles* I know have this vision of you sat at your desk all moody looking and speaking with a really gravelly voice. Muwahaha!

I don't know how it is in Canada and America but for school we're usually forced to analyse some Shakespearan plays and so a good amount of English schoolchildren really despise it. I enjoyed the Baz Luhrman version, Romeo + Juliet. I guess because it didn't make the story seem so stuffy and ancient, and it interested that male part of me I suppose that enjoys a good action flick. Yes, it's still silly and over the top but I think I now have more of an appreciation of that particular story than I did before when reading the book.

As I said, we learned them in class through reading but they are plays after all and so you do need to see them acted out.

Ok...I'm done. *starts giggling again* "I'm the goddamn Isa!"

[secondlina.livejournal.com]

(I'm Batman).

I was forced to study a sakespear play (two even!) in my english advanced class in my final year of high school. The plays were Hamlet and Macbeth, which I liked! We didn't study Romeo and Juliet, though we did a reading of it the year before (I was actually Juliet). I loved my advanced english prof because he made us actually read good litterature. I read excellent books like Brave New World and Animal Far and 1984 which I had never heard of before! It might be the most obvious thing to english students, but to me it was brand new and magical! Of course, you should have seen the crap the Quebec Government got us to read. I had two teachers that gav e us decent litterature (like Cyrano de Bergerac!) but most of the time it was this crappy Quebec books full of slang and.....zombies? (I wish I was kidding)

[gigabahamut666.livejournal.com]

(No I'm Batman! Wait...there's something familiar about this...like we're ripping something off. Hmm)

Yup, we had Romeo and Juliet, and Macbeth. We also read Of Mice And Men and a couple of short stories which we had to compare, Malachi's Cove and Eveline. I really didn't enjoy any of it all that much but I basically grinned and beared my way through it all and then I was able to drop it after my GCSE's. I hear about a lot of these great literary works like Animal Farm, 1984, To Kill A Mockingbird, Catch 22, but we just never got anywhere near them. Although considering my desire to read I probably would have found those unenjoyable too.

[yukinoomoni.livejournal.com]

I think you're thinking of Spartacus?

[gigabahamut666.livejournal.com]

Oh no, I worked it out, it was this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MF58II9OKNQ
:P

[yukinoomoni.livejournal.com]

Blah, similar idea.

[ichiban-victory.livejournal.com]

Wait, you read Brave New World AND Animal Farm? Where have you been?! I read those books forever ago (the first for a class, the second because it sounded interesting to me), but most people I know don't even know about them! Brave New World was especially good to me, albeit very disturbing. The more our society "improves" here (in the U.S. at least), the more similar it becomes to the society in that book. Complete with easily removed clothing, sex without guilt, not to mention the drug to take so you feel good despite not being good.... ^_^;; (Dare I even mention the fact that a lot of people do not read Shakespeare or the Bible anymore as well? Thank goodness they're not yet banned, but I'm betting it's only a matter of time if things keep going the way they are.)

[secondlina.livejournal.com]

I find I don't have much english lit. Culture, especially compered to my other friends (Other Isa and Tanya are giant bookworms. Bookworms the size of those things in Dunes!) but I still seem to have more litterature to speak of then the average american/canadian. Which is a little worrysome.

When I was younger I actually read the bible. I'm a big advocate of the *Don't knock it until you tried it!* philosophy. Unfortunatly, if anything the bible make me less sympatic to organized religion. I`'s a weird book - you can see where they remove or mixed some of the texts. Some texts are pretty inspiring but others don't make any sense. Not to mention the whole thing, interpreted badly leads to a lot of abuse (abuse of women, abuse of homosexuals, abuse of other religions, abuse of other cultures, abuse of jews). So I don't know. It makes a good story, but people forget that the bible proposes massive metaphores. They take the stories at face value, when clearly, if this would be a dead religion, they would be seen as myths. Aka, take them as an uplifting and explanatory metaphors and stories, but don't believe things that make no sense, on the realm of physics. I think that is the thing that bugs me about books. People take the written word too litterally.

[ichiban-victory.livejournal.com]

There are a lot of literary masterpieces I've never read or avoid altogether (Jane Austen, I know I'm bad), but when I had access to the school library I read everything I could get my hands on. I miss those days... It's a sad fact that many people don't read anymore, at least beyond what they find on Wikipedia. XP Funny you mentioned Dune. I had an English teacher make me read it (he wouldn't let me read Jurassic Park since the movie was out) and the book was just so long and boring. It was a real chore! On the other hand, I've gotten through books that were even longer like The Hunchback of Notre Dame and really enjoyed them. It all depends on the writing..

The sad thing about the Bible, aside from people taking figurative things literally, is that through the years of translations and such, people have changed the text to fit their agenda. That has to be why there's so much conflict within the books. Things like where in one part of the Bible we're told to love our enemies (like the story of the good Samaritan), but in others we are told to avoid the evils of the world..and I don't know, it is weird. A lot of things fall down to personal interpretation, except even that's not always possible since a lot of people who say they believe in the Bible (and worse, only even know anything of it through what their pastor preaches) have never even read the thing at all. There are of course some literal teachings (avoiding Satan! We need not beat about the burning bush for that message), a lot of it is metaphor and such so that we can apply the principle to whatever it is we're doing now.

People who take things literally all the time are never fun anyway. -_-;

[dqbunny.livejournal.com]

Animal Farm is actually one of my absolute favorite books. I enjoyed it far more than 1984.

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

congrats on getting all that work done -- and I love that illustration with Romeo and Juliet texting!

[secondlina.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

(I can't take credit for it though - it's from the new york post)

[yukinoomoni.livejournal.com]

Um. I am loving that text message picture. Holy shit, totally loving it.

Also, agree 100% on Don Bluth. I like Disney, but 've always like Don Bluth better, especially since his movies tend to be a little more adult as well.

That banner is awesome.

[secondlina.livejournal.com]

I love it too! I saw it in a newspaper a few times and decided I wanted to post it up.

Don Bluth gets my vote for his style. But Disney has a style that is so mutable, they get points for that too. I mean, compare Atlantis to Snow white... Totally different!

[yukinoomoni.livejournal.com]

Okay, I'm too stupid. I don't see the secret. *dies*

[secondlina.livejournal.com]

http://secondlina.livejournal.com/tag/slayers+steampunk

[yukinoomoni.livejournal.com]

*brain explodes*

I look forward to seeing the new secondworld!

Who's the surprise for?

[secondlina.livejournal.com]

the slayers gears is the surprise thing. The secondworld might happen.....someday...when i'm not busy..as much.

[yukinoomoni.livejournal.com]

Awesome.

[earthstar-moon.livejournal.com]

Does this mean you're going to wear a cape and mask when you draw now? *giggle*

I remember reading Romeo and Juliet in Junior High and realizing that Juliet was only 14. This led me to think "This girl is the same age as me?...How could she have gotten married? I wouldn't want to get married." I realize it's the time period, (girls go married younger) but that always amazed me of how young the characters actually are.

I would agree that there's certainly a difference in movement between Disney and Don Bluth. The best example I think would be that music video he did for telling the story of Rapunzel. There were no words, just music and movement and you coul clearly understand the story.

Between the two, I would have to say that I love both style. The Secret of NIHM is one of my favorite childhood movies, right next to Lady and the Tramp and 101 Dalmatians.

(If it's easier for you, I can just colour my own banner, I don't mind since I love colouring. However, if you did want to try colouring it, that's fine with me too. I'm good either way. ^_~ )

[dqbunny.livejournal.com]

My favorite Shakespeare play is actually "Taming of the Shrew." I'd love to visit it some day in an inspired story. Other favorites include "Hamlet." I've never been too too huge of a fan of "Romeo and Juliet," actually. I think Shakespeare created far more interesting characters than those two.

[auriga]

Congrats on being almost there! Run to the finish line!

I never cared much for Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet either (though I did find Othello kind of interesting), but I do agree that the idea behind it is always engrossing. I've been thinking of taking a look at the Romeo x Juliet anime.

[snapdragon76.livejournal.com]

You totally rock, you know that...

Shakespeare is hard to read for a lot of native English speakers, so I can feel you there. Me, I like the 1968 version. Only PARTIALLY because we get a nice view of Romeo's ass in it... Heeeeee...

I totally need to watch Anastasia again. It's an awesome movie. Dimitri is such a cutie pie.

[brendala.livejournal.com]

Congratulations on (almost) reaching the finish line for Rose. I bet it feels great!

I'm glad I'm not alone in hating to color. Coloring would be easier if I could learn to draw on one of those Wacom tablets. But drawing on a tablet feels like drawing with mittens on. :P


I'm with ya on loving Don Bluth. Its a shame he isn't doing much these days. Even as a little kid; I loved and could identify his drawing style. I like it because characters feel more "real" (the round features and the grit). And I loved seeing a Jewish kid (even if it was a mouse) as the star of a film when American Tail came out.