A few drawings and some thoughts

OK. So it's been a little over a month since my last post. In that time, my computer I was using for 3D modeling broke down. After trying several methods to revive it, I'm about ready to give up. I'm writing this on an old Windows XP desktop (circa 2004) I had sitting around collecting dust. So, no new 3D stuff. But I am posting a couple of my drawings.

First up is a picture I just did tonight. You'll (hopefully) recognize the subject as the Lone Ranger. This is based on the cover art (by John Cassiday) from Dynamite Comics' 2007 Free Comic Book Day flipbook of The Lone Ranger and Battlestar Galactica. I highly recommend the story in this book, if you can find it anywhere. The cover is beautiful, and so is the interior art (by Sergio Cariello). Good western comics are rare these days. I don't know if this is an active title, but I hope so. I plan to look for trade paperback editions next time I go comic book shopping.

 This is a pencil sketch. I decided not to ink it because (a) the comic book cover art was very cleanly inked, and (b) I wanted to experiment with a few different styles of shading and see if I could capture the feel of the original. I chose not to draw the dust cloud that Cassiday did on the comic, and instead show L.R.'s right hand which he uses to balance himself as he bounds around a pile of rocks.

This next picture is one that I entered in a contest a few months ago. It's called "Think Big". As you might guess from some of the 3D modeling I've done, I have always enjoyed the impractical, but cool lines of the spaceships that SF artists like Jack Gaughan, Kelly Freas and Frank Frazetta did in the 60s and 70s, as well as Al Williamson's Flash Gordon work.

Speaking of Freas, I love the sense of humor that you find in much of his cover art for Analog. This next picture, while nowhere near the quality of a Freas piece, was a lot of fun. It's called "Robot Church".

Although this pen&ink drawing holds little in common with it, one of my inspirations for this piece is David Weber's "Safehold" novel series. I just finished the fifth volume, How Firm a Foundation, a few days ago. These are weighty tomes, and not just physically. While they are generally a pretty fast read, there's a lot of meaty food for thought. For those who haven't read them, I don't want to give too much away, but the ramifications of the idea of the last Christian in the universe being an android who holds the consciousness of his former, long-deceased owner are boggling. Weber, who has described himself in at least one interview as a Methodist lay minister, grapples with several tough theological issues over the course of the series. The man also writes sea battles that rank right up there with the likes of C.S. Forester. He also does a great job on land battles, politics, relationships and hard science fiction. And he develops characters that the reader (at least, this reader) cares about, both positively and negatively. All around good stuff! Some of my favorite SF ever.

While I'm talking about favorites, I have to say that I have a new favorite movie. Ever since the first issue of the Marvel comic came out in 1962, I've been waiting for somebody to make an Avengers movie. Well, it took 50 years, but it was worth the wait. Marvel's The Avengers is to my mind not only the best superhero movie ever, but also the best action movie and best science-fiction movie ever. I know the science is far-fetched. I know that some (much) of the dialog is hokey. I know that Joss Whedon threw in every cliche regarding these characters that he could fit it the allotted time. So what?!?! This movie is everything I have always wanted in a superhero movie. Every other superhero movie has fallen short. Batman Begins and Dark Knight were too darkly themed, the Spider-man series was flawed (especially the third film), as were Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger and Green Lantern. The X-Men films were too busy. And Wolverine was practically incomprehensible. The two Iron Man movies were surprisingly the closest I had seen to anyone getting it right. But in this film, they even got the Hulk right. Whedon obviously understands and LOVES comic books. He understood that this movie, in order to be a successful work (I'm talking more artistically than fiscally), HAD to be loaded with every comic book cliche revolving around these characters. It's, after all, an origin story for the team, if not the individual characters. There is little time for character development. What had to happen in this movie is the recounting of the MYTHOS of the Avengers. And Whedon actually cares about the Lee-Kirby (and Thomas-Adams and Thomas-Buscema) source material enough to set aside his own ego and do this story as it needed to be told. As for Avengers 2? Can Whedon do it again? That remains to be seen. But I'm looking forward to finding out.