Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Tuesday Night Life Drawing Class

Had a great night tonight. We practiced memory drawing tonight - where you look at the model for 20 seconds then draw what you remember for the next two minutes. That practiced loosened us up immensely. Everyone's work turned out great as a result after that exercise. I shaded in all of my drawings in 20 minutes as a result of the practice. I've never shaded in a drawing in only twenty minutes ever. Kudos to you, Mitch.

one minutes













two minute memory poses






five minutes




ten minutes



twenty minutes







© 2009 Angela Entzminger

Friday, March 20, 2009

Script Frenzy


The fun starts April 1st. Get ready!

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Web Comic Review: Today Nothing Happened



Slice of life comics often descend into meloncholy desperation where the artist laments that no one understands their genius as they moan and complain about their lives that are usually not that bad. This is especially true if the person grew up in the suburbs, is in college, went to college, and/or is currently in their 20s or 30s having some sort of delusional quarter-life crisis caused by their own lack of ambition.

Happily, Today Nothing Happened is not one of those gawd-awful things. I was pleasantly surprised to find that this slice of life comic, created by SCAD senior and sequential arts major Shazzbaa, updates THREE TIMES a week and is chock full of comic book, D&D, school, and crazy silly madness that nearly every undergrad experiences. You can relive your college days without ever leaving your laptop.

In addition to the comic, you can also see Shazzbaa's personal art and her projects for school - all of which are fabulous and worth checking out.

Friday, March 13, 2009

The Dollar Theater Review: Bedtimes Stories not a snoozefest


Adam Sandler is quickly becoming a more-family friendly comedian in the Disney flick Bedtime Stories. The premise is revealed succinctly within the first ten seconds of the trailer but it is a surprisingly heartwarming and cute tale with an actual plot.

Sandler plays Skeeter, a maintenance man living in the hotel that a rich tycoon bought from his debt-ridden father 20 years ago. Said tycoon promised Skeeter's dad that when the lad was old enough, he would let him run the hotel. As can be expected in these types of movies however, that didn't happen, but Skeeter works harder than anyone else there to repair everything and keep everyone happy.

The story kicks into high gear when Skeeter's sister Wendy (Courteney Cox, who I am beginning to love in every single role she appears in) the principal of an elementary school about to get bulldozed, has to go to Arizona for a job interview. She leaves her two kids in the care of her brother at night, and her teacher friend Jill by day. Skeeter and Jill don't get along at all, which means they'll be madly in love by the end of the movie. But at least their banter is funny.

The movie turns into the movie preview at this point. Every time the kids and Skeeter tell bedtime stories, parts of the stories come true. Skeeter tries to use this to his advantage in order to win favor in the eyes of the tycoon - with mixed results. Hilarious shenanigans involved gumballs, dwarves, and a high speed motorcycle chase ensue.

In the end Skeeter is the hero, gets the girl, and in a lovely heartfelt B story saves the elementary school, which tycoon was going to tear down for the site of the new hotel.

A predictable film in some parts but kids will love it and it's more enjoyable for grown-ups than they would expect.

And Lucy Lawless stares as a mean-hearted witch of a hotel clerk named Aspen. Her reactions to Sandler are worth the price of admission alone.

According to the ratings board, rated PG for mild language and rude humor but honestly I can't recall what language they're talking about. And the humor involves boogers, horse farts and, frankly, Adam Sandler. Typical kiddie stuff.

The Dollar Theater Review: Bolt strikes



Finally saw Bolt with my buddy Anne tonight. Not a bad film. The kids in the audience (and there were A LOT of them) really enjoyed it. I even heard one start to cry when they thought that Penny was in mortal danger.

The movie goes like this: a dog, Bolt, and his "person" Penny fight against the nefarious Green Eyed Man, a slim super villain in Armani suits who has captured Penny's father. But before he was captured, Penny's dear old dad genetically modified Bolt with super speed, super strength, heat vision, laser shooting eyes and a super bark that can decimate heavy artillery. Together he and Penny are an unstoppable duo of crime-fighting might.

Problem is, Bolt has no idea that none of it is real. Unbeknownst to him he is the Buzz Lightyear of canines, a dog starring in a TV program beloved by millions. He spends his weekend in a trailer on the set, and everyone he sees is in on the act. Penny wants to take him home so he can be a real dog, but the director wants Bolt to think that he's always in peril so he can get the best reactions possible.



It's a fine premise but the movie unravels once the set-up is established. Through a mishap Bolt escapes from his trailer and ends up shipped to NYC. He escapes, and together with a declawed cat named Mittens and a sidekick-wannabe hamster named Rhino, they go on an Incredible Journey-esque adventure back to LA in order to save Penny, who in the season finale was kidnapped by the Green Eyed Man.

There are plenty of opportunities for moral tales, warm fuzzies, and hamster ball silliness, but the movie lags in some places and the dialogue is too on the nose in others. And there's not much of a B plot - Penny gets a replacement Bolt so that filming can continue but the dog only functions for two key scenes.

I've seen Wall*E and Kung Fu Panda, and I know now why Wall*E got the Oscar. But the kids will like it and the animation's great.

Rated PG for live action-y like spy violence, one explosion, a firey set and a man getting doused in pepper spray (don't worry mom and dad, it's one of the funniest scenes in the movie.)

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Tuesday Night Life Drawing Class

Jenny was our model again. She's cool.
Not my best work but here it is anyway. Actually, now that I look at it again, the forms are not that bad.

one minute















five minutes



faces

I'm determined to get better at drawing faces that resemble real people instead of anime characters.



Here's my first attempt.



Here's Mitch's demonstration.



Here's my third attempt. Better!

Sunday, March 08, 2009

Hi, I'm a Marvel...and I'm a DC: Wolverine and Watchmen (Rorschach)

What would a comic book movie review be like without commentary from my favorite youtube celebrity It's Just Some Random Guy?
His little Mac/PC spoofs are always hysterical.
Check out his other vids if you haven't already - COMEDY GOLD.

Friday, March 06, 2009

Who's Watching the Watchmen?

I was!

I saw the movie tonight after all with three of my friends.
Surprisingly enough the theater was not packed - we bought our tickets an hour early, walked right in without waiting in any sort of line at all and found good seats. No one sat in front of us. Few people behind us. Kind of magical. I was shocked. Everyone was clammering to get into IMAX leaving the rest of the screens only half-full.

For those who are wondering - the comic is better. But Zack Snyder deserves recognition for having the guts to turn the work of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons into a film. And it's not a bad film. None of my compadres read the comic - one had never heard of it until today - and all of them enjoyed the film.

I thought it was alright. Most of the GN is in there - in fact some of the most iconic scenes of the comic appear on screen, which was awesome. There were a few omissions - the crazy pirate story was cut out and the giant squiddy monster thing was no where to be found, but I don't think most fanboys and girls will complain.

No, the problem with the movie was the pacing. You literally feel like you've been sitting for nearly three hours. And there were parts of the plot where if I had not read the GN I would have been confused as to what was actually going on. Somehow the writers and director got EVERYONE'S story and backstory and the myriad of plot twists in there - sometimes it worked out, other times you scratch your head for a few minutes as you jump back and forth in time and between plotlines.

However they get Rorschach RIGHT. No character in the GN compares to him. He never loses his convictions or integrity, not once. You have to wonder what society would be like if more people behaved like him. Maybe we'd all be sociopaths, but we would be easy to decipher sociopaths.

"I'm not locked in with you - you're locked in with me!"

Cool Things I Found On The Net This Week: Saturday Morning Watchmen

I found this on Cartoon Brew and had to post.

It's fabulous in its absolute awfulness.
No doubt Moore would go into hysterics if this is what the movie turned out to be like.

Watchmen: Will it be wicked or just sort of stink?


I've been looking forward to this movie since I saw the trailer during The Dark Knight last summer. I read Watchmen several years ago and was greatly impressed by the depth and complexity of the subject matter. It's not my favorite comic (Midnight Nation and Ultimate Spider-Man Vol. 1 are tied for that grand spot in my heart), but it's certainly up there with great literature.

Based on the reviews of Newsarama, NPR and The New York Times the critics are in consensus that the only people who will truly enjoy the film will be fanboys and girls. As I am a fangirl, that suits me just fine. However, I'm not a big fan of violence for violence sake - I passed up on watching Sin City, but I did films like Gladiator, Fight Club and 300. People may ask what the difference is between those movies with violence and a movie like Watchmen, which I hear is uber-violent. My answer is that if the violence serves the plot and is not stomach churning and excessive to the point of nausea then I can take it. Otherwise I'll walk out of the theater - and I've done that too.

My friends are going this weekend to see it on IMAX - sadly I will not be able to join them - DANG! So if any of you, my readers, go see it this weekend, please let me know what you think. I'd appreciate too if you would mention if you've read the GN or not, so that I can get a sense if this is a movie that all audiences would like, or only those of the comic reader persuasion.

Wednesday, March 04, 2009

Script Frenzy Super Sketches Vol. 1

I am the ML for Script Frenzy again this year. AWESOME. Herding cats is my specialty.

This year I am writing a graphic novel entitled Dragonriders. Not those kind of dragons - dragonflies. The protagonists of the story are groundlings - sort of like a cross between a hobbit and a gnome - who fight against the Wasp Queen and her evil cohorts for control of their homeland.

I discovered yesterday that two of my characters are named after people in shows created by Joss Whedon. Firefly was meant as a homage to one of my favorite programs. But having two characters named after his creations now looks like cheating, even though the second, Echo, was not intentional. I'm debating whether to change both names or keep them. Because frankly, having the same idea as Whedon for a character name is wicked sweet.

Echo
The leader of the dragonriders who is only 20 years old.



Firefly
A fifteen year old who joins the team to avenge the death of her brother.



Juniper
Firefly's best friend who is not so certain of her buddy's vocation.

Tuesday, March 03, 2009

Tuesday Night Life Drawing Class

Mary was our model tonight. I like her. She's fun.

We did gesture drawings and then a long pose for two hours. I captured her shape well - the face kinda looks like her. It looks like a beautiful woman at any rate. Close enough.