Secondlina's Panels

So, long and spoiler-free story short : WRECK IT RALPH WAS GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD.

The short before it, Paperman, was really fun too. I marvelled at the new technology. I mean... 3D technology that makes stuff look like 2D? Do you guys have any idea how awesome this is? I hope they use it for the upcoming Snow Queen movie. In all honesty, even if Wreck-it-Ralph would have been bad, Paperman was still worth the ticket price. But it was good, so no issues here.

Lots of adorable things, fun plot twists, scary villains and powerful female characters. So, i'm happy. Definitely something video game fans need to see.

Link adored Vaneloppe. I preferred Ralph. THEM CUTIES.

- Isa

 So, right now, in my house, i'm pretty much watching girly animated shows. The card captor Sakura Dvds I ordered got in. And... Yeah. It's getting girly in here, with the ponies and the Sakura and the Disney and the stuff... But that's cool. Because all the girls in my animated shows are badass. :D

And thus, this is cool.

I pretty much spend all my time drawing for the Namesake book. I still take a break to do a little sketch here and there. Mostly to draw my dreams. I'm getting some interesting dreams right now. I think my brain is trying to decide what my next big project is going to be, so it's brainstorming in my sleep or something. I really love my dream comics. Usually pretty awesome :D 

Oh, oh, ooooh, the Namesake kickstarter just reached 10 000$. SHABAM!! I feel I should do something special for the fans. Free wallpaper of awesome perhaps? What do you guys think? Suggestions?

I was identified as a mythological creature by Link's twin brother yesterday (I think he may have been a bit drunk and overly happy). He seems to like us a couple. Says he admires us for never really having fights and being always kinda like a team, which apparently makes us "legendary"? Which is cute of him to say, he was always a really nice and supportive guy. I do love being in a team with Link. Like right now, he's helping me re-color all the Namesake pages for the book. It's like... projects like these, I can't do without my team. Meg and Link. I know a lot of people like to work on their comics alone, but I think that if you find the right people, it just makes projects more awesome, especially long-winded ones. You can do more with less and have more fun.

Oh, I also dream Mary Poppins with the Eleventh doctor from doctor Who. Because there's this thing on the internet claiming Poppins may be a time lord because of her super cosmic powers. I maintain she's a witch or a genie. But I like the idea of her mixing with the doc. It's adorable.



In final news, did you guys see the latest trailer for the witches of Oz? I feel... Disappointed. This looks like TV movie quality. Yet it gets a cinematographic release. If it was a TV movie, I think I would have expected less? Plus, it doesn't look like it's taking that much from the books (evil witch does have an eyepatch though. Props for that). And Glinda looks amazing. But the rest? Meh. I'm much more excited about the Hunger Games trailer. Holy fuzzballs.

Back to drawing solitude.

Over and out. 

- Isa

Here's the last of my drawings for kids! I'm definitely starting to improve with this color thing.

So, saw the Lion King. I... never saw it in English before. I was amused by the fact that Scar is like the only brittish lion in the whole savannah? Also, Mufasa, you are so cool. Seriously. I never noticed before how much he was present as a dad in the mvoie. as a kid, I mostly remembered the part with timon and Pumbaa. So, I was really honestly sad when he died this time. He's really got the dad voice, figure and style. Aw, Mufasa. You also rock as a cloud. He kinda reminds me of my dad too, which is cool.

Definitely buying this on Blu-ray. 

Oh, for all you montrealers - Craig Thompson, creator of Blankets, is launching his new book "Habibi" at the Drawn and Quaterly bookstore on friday at 7pm (click here for details). Since this guy is one of my heroes and the bookstore is like 20 minutes of my house, I really have every reason in the world to go. EEE. This is gonna be fun!

- Isa

Today was long and exhausting. I felt sick and in pain all day. Ah, the joys of womanhood.

So to make me feel better today, I kinda avoided working on comics and just drew some loose sketches. For some reason, they quickly became less... dressed?

Have some "sexy" Tangled art.

( Nudity. But it's pretty classy. )

For a friend who asked me if I could draw some pre-hair-cutting sensual Tanged art. There you go. I CAN.

I just bought something like 6 fairy tale books. Must go read now.

- Isa

P.s. Has anyone else read this? This is a VERY badass Japanese man. He scuba-dived ina tsunami to save his wife. And mom. AND HE DID IT. 

 

A little Tangled fanart to start things off on a positive note!

First off, i,m so happy it's Friday. My god. Work has been insane for the whole week. I plan on pretty much drawing the full weekend. It sounds like so much fun :D

I'm also going to work on getting con stuff ready. I bought all the stuff I needed today after work. I still hate Omer Deserre (local craft store). They never have the stuff I need. And not in the "we don't carry it" sense. In the "we sold it all three weeks ago and didn't bother ordering more". I wanted to buy cardboard to make small postcard-size things to sketch on at the con. They didn't want to cut them for me, despite the whole paper cutting table being RIGHT THERE. So instead I bought small pieces so I could cut them myself with scissors. Gosh, I know the store isn't that bad, but jeez, every time I go, they never have what I need and the employees always act as if I was bothering them (I interrupted 3 employees talking at the cutting table to see if I could get something CUT and they were talking around it...). I'm not impressed Omer Deserre. Not impressed. 


I ended up going to a book store to get most of what I needed.

I'm amused. Kate Beaton did a comic today about a historical personality I really love, Ada Lovelace. I LOOOVE HER. I've been reading a really good webcomic that is basically the "Girl Genius-ish" version of her life, 2D goggles. Actually, Beaton linked this comic below her own comic, which made me really happy. This comic needs more readers.

For those who don't know, Ada Lovelace is like, a mathematical tragedy. She's a countess, and the legitimate daughter of Lord Byron, aka a romantic poet who liked to put his penis in many, many people (he wrote Don Juan, if that's any indication). Her mom got angry at the sexy poet and pretty much forced Ada in mathematics. Ada was gifted, became extremly badass with numbers, worked with Charles Babbage, composed what was essentially the first computer program and died young of illness. 2D Goggles kinda plays with the idea that this woman's life is an ode to math and her enemies are poets. I love it.   

Gosh, i'm such a geek. Love it though.
- Isa

Art for my good buddy torreadora of her character Jenny and two of her beaus, Jude and Eli. I could not decide what version of her character to draw, so I ended up drawing her in two different phases of her life, and inking the crap out of them.



I'm actually really glad I met torreadora  and her sister kit_a_licious because they are turning into indirect drawing teachers. I spend a lot of time looking at the art these two produce, and it's teaching me some new stuff about textures and lines. So thanks guys! :D

Another something beautiful to look at : threeeyesworm  linked me yesterday to a video made by "L'école des Gobelins", a French animation school, possibly the best animation school in the world (graduates get hired by Disney a lot). I simply adore this video. It's the story of this seamstress in a doll world waiting for her husband.to come back from the war. He comes home... different. The seamstress tries to fix the world around her, but it's not so simple. This is like a mix of Howl's moving Castle, Disney's Fantasia and French war stories. And it's GORGEOUS. Please take the time to watch this and other things on the Gobelin's youtube channel. Well worth your time.



Seeing things like this reminds me of why I adore animation. It's simple, powerful and communicates with pretty much any viewer.

Some times, I wish I would have gone into animation, but i'm really more of a comic artist at heart. I don't think I would have been that good at it.

Tomorrow, i've got a day off! Link is heading to Ottawa to see some friends for New Year's. I'll be sticking around here (I don't know the people and I already lost a whole week of drawing.. I really can't afford to slack off for another 2 days). So i'll be around home, eating, inking and being buried in my fluffy new pajamas.

- Isa

Okay! I'm starting a little something I tried to do last year. It's basically a bit gift-of-sketches for the holidays to my f-list.

I'm basically going to do a little sketch for the people on my f-list as a Christmas gifts and just because you guys are so awesome. There's a few ground rules though.

1) Not everybody will get a sketch. This is mostly for my f-list. So if you aren't on it and I don't know you, you probably won't be getting one (i'm sorry! Thanks for reading anyways! I feel kinda cruel now...)

2) These are gifts, meaning that I get to choose what I want to draw. This is not an open book for requests, unless I ask you what you want directly.  I'm mostly putting this rule down because this is the reason I didn't try this last year. First person I told asked for specific drawings and got angry when I said I wanted to choose the subject. Needless to say, this person is no longer on my list. However, chances are, if i'm well-aware of what your favorite fandom is, you're getting what you want! :D

3) Some sketches will be more finished then others, some might even be colored. It doesn't mean I love some people more. It just means I felt like coloring that sketch.

So, first Christmas sketch goes to chameleon9999  - Some Vidia and Prilla art! Because you mentioned not finding enough! I hope you like it!



I don't draw many female duos/couples despite a large amount of friends asking me to. I wonder why? I seem pretty good at it.

I also drew the Tangled sketch I really like of Rapunzel and Flynn hanging out in the forest. I might finish it. I rather like it. I'm a little frustrated because I find these characters so hard to draw. Their designs are actually quite simple. Maybe it's looking at all the awesome Glen Keane art and the amazing fanarts that makes me frustrated. Those artists and their obvious epic superiority! *shakes fist*



In other news, I think I may need to spend on winter gear YET AGAIN. I think my body produces no heat or something. Winter kills me every year. I get sick all the time and I get massive frostbite. It snowed for the past two days and it made me realize that no matter how good my winter gear is, it's not good enough! The skin on my legs is all damaged, despite leggings, thick jeans and leg warmers. What's a girl to do? I need a coat made out of polar bears who swallowed microwaved sunlight, or SOMETHING. Or I need to move to Florida. I wonder if they have work there? Probably not. Economy is pretty horrible. But at least it would be cheap to buy a house, unlike in Montréal.

I'm starting to think about buying a condo eventually. I'm hesitating between having a house and a condo since it's pretty much impossible to have a house in the city. So I have to choose between not having a yard and driving 45 minutes every morning. Not I kinda understand why my parents were living in the suburbs (as a teen I hated all the bus rides).

- Isa

 I had a bit of free time this weekend, so I drew this. You know that as soon as Minion puts them down, they are going to Accio a can of woop-ass. I love these three movies to bits, even though I haven't seen "Tangled" yet. I've seen Harry Potter though. I want to draw jokes about it, but i'm gonna wait another week and give everybody the time to see it before pummeling you guys with Potter-humor!

However, I have to say, my favorite part of the movie was the animated sequence where they told the story of the deadly hallows. Death looked great. I also want to draw pictures of the trio. A few people have asked me to, actually. They wonder what the trio would look like by my hands.

Anybody else feels Hermione is too pretty? Wasn't she suppose to be sorta homely? I guess the movies needs sex appeal. The twins grew so tall too!

I wish Voldemort was a bit more human. He looks, moves and talks very un-real and campy-like. I dunno. I would find someone who looks like THAT but talks in a dignified, regal, normal voice and moves like a gentleman to be much, much creepier. I always imagined Voldemort to move in a really regal fashion. More like Snape I guess. 

Happy late thanksgiving to all the Americans on my F-list. I hope you all celebrate with your families. I kinda want this holiday to evolve into "family and being thankful" then "Pilgrims offing some natives with guns and diseases".

- Isa

Animated features should unite....to beat Harry Potter!

As said yesterday, i'm going to be gone all weekend. I probably won't get to check Lj posts. So, if you can't reach me all weekend, that's why! don't do anything interesting without me (like taking over the internet!)

Oddly enough, one Deviant art again (and here) my art got compared to Dr Seuss once more. I really need to go check out Dr Seuss' books. I mean, i've seen the "Grinch" animated movie, which is kinda like Seuss' style but I don't see a resemblance. Maybe i'll see it more when I check out he books?

In other news - Link finally got an interview for a position in a video game company! I'm also applying to positions in other video game companies for 2D artists. Wish us luck. I'm making a tiny portfolio on "carbonmade" for the occasion.

Oh gosh, I watched the Nostalgia critic's two videos on top 11 Christmas specials (so 22 films, really). I got hit by such a wave of Nostalgia. Man! Some of my favorites were "Frosty the Snowman" and the Muppet's Christmas carol and Garfield's Christmas movie. The critic had also included South Park's "Critters Christmas". That made me laughs. That's a South Park episode I never tired of.

Yeah, I watch South Park. It's one of my guilty pleasures! I didn't actually like the show in it's first 5 seasons (when it relied on toilet humor). Nowadays, it's more of a social critique geared at mocking society and offending pretty much every social group in existence. It's cruel, rude satirical fun. I know a lot of you aren't into shows like that. But I really like this one. I'm really amused by the latest storyline with the kids dressing up as superheroes. That was hilarious!

Gark. I posted almost everyday this week. Yet, I drew no comics, neither for Namesake or here. I really gotta concentrate on comic-making. I'm such a fickle artist. Boooooo.

- Isa

 

Just a little sketch of Princess Serenity from Sailor Moon. Inspired by the "Tangled" art book.

You guys "Tangled" comes out sooooon!!!!

This is SUCH a good year for animation. And with Ghibli's new feature "Arietty the Borrower" coming out in December, it's just going to get better. I just can't wait for this movie too. I love stories with "little people". And I love the Borrowers. And Ghibli. 

In a somewhat related note, i'm kinda getting tired of all the Dreamworks bashing. It's no secret that I adored Megamind. However, upon reading reviews of the movie online, I felt like the negative reviews were written by people that may have not have seen the movie at all. For starters, they got major plot points fully wrong. And also, almost all these reviews opened with the line "Dreamworks sucks". 

Personally, I love a TON of Dreamworks movies. All the Shreks minus the third, How to Train your Dragon, Megamind, Prince of Egypt, Road to El Dorado, Antz, all feature among my favorite movies. Yeah, it's true, Dreamworks does seem to be very different from Disney. They have more "pop" references and have animation that seems to speak more to teens and adults then children. But is that really deserving of so much aggressive reviews? Even "How to Train your dragon" reviews opened with the line "Look, Dreamworks stopped sucking!" I found that wasn't fair. It's a good studio. Their work is just different. Not all animation companies can produce the same thing. Disney has the heartwarming. Dreamworks has the zany. And sometimes, they trade (Darkwing duck anyone?). Dreamworks are learning to be more subtle in their style (Megamind's pop culture references were very fitting of the character and story). So people really should give it more of a chance and stop dismissing it just because "It's Dreamworks". I'm sorry, but not being Disney should not be a crime.  So they had a few flops. So did Disney. The only flop-free studio seems to be Pixar. For now. Critics have been pretty harsh on Disney lately too (Bolt and The Princess and the Frog got ripped the shreds) but never on the grounds that they were a specific studio.

Little joke to conclude - You know how everybody jokes that Dreamwork's M.O. is to have critters do something critters that do something critters don't do? Well, the new M.O. seems to be "Gadgeteer genius switches sides, has a scaly companion, defeat something big and powerful and gets the girl while learning to be himself". This fits both Hiccup and Megamind. New trend? Perhaps.

- Isa