art and music: Sweet Enemy indie music superstar

I've been working on the "The Dharma Bums" Page One Hundred... page and this song came up on iTunes.

It's a ska version of Rush's "The Spirit of Radio" that I was working on a few years ago. I got stuck on the bridge and it has languished. I wrangled Sweet Enemy into singing on it; she's got a pretty good voice when she wants to use it, which is almost never. (Since I have a horrible singing voice, I think it's like having a Porsche 911 and leaving it in the garage). The classic slightly-bored, slightly-annoyed indie-girl sound isn't an affectation, she really didn't want to do this. She's probably pretty happy that I haven't gotten the bridge worked out yet (the problem is that the bridge is, itself, in a ska/reggae sound and I'm trying to figure out how to make it into a different sound. It's proving elusive.

Here's the unfinished version. It was created in Garage Band. Bass and guitars are by me. The drums were hand-sequenced in Garage Band by me. The voice is Sweet Enemy, of course. Since this is unfinished, the mixing is spotty at best, so don't judge it too harshly.



Also, The Dharma Bums is moving slowly. I've decided to try to emulate one of my favorite artists, Michael Cho. His style is so singular, I had to see if I can think like he does. Look at his work. He is able to think and visualize both positively and negatively at the same time. It's not just about line, or color, or shape, but all at once. He's awesome and I totally acknowledge that I'm copying his style just to see if I can.

One sticking point is that I haven't touched gouache in about a decade, but I'm working hard to remember how to use it. Another is that I discovered (the hard way) that the ink I'm using is not waterproof and bleeds when thinned gouache touches it. Lovely.. What do you guys think?

Panel Two:


Panel Four:



And remember, the Great Page One Hundred Giveaway. Leave a comment on that page or mention 'Page One Hundred Giveaway" on these comments for a chance to win.

Listening to while posting: "Tank!" by Yokko Kano ('Tank' is better known as the 'Cowboy Bebop' theme)

Process!

Here's the most recent iteration of the potential collaboration with Sweet Enemy. Some things are working, but some aren't. I'm not entirely happy with with the woman's forward foot and may change it. Her expression has been proving elusive. Most of the time, when trying to get her to be looking down with an affectionate smile, she ends up looking as though she is smiling in that way that people do when they'd rather be somewhere else. I've been re-working the page so much I think it's time to pull out the tracing paper.



I'm also not sure of what to call it now. I thought of a student and teacher, but SE wanted their relationship to be more ambiguous. What do you guys think?

The next two pages of DoaF are ready to go, BUT, I'm debating whether to wait and post the last ten pages all in one go as it's going to be a page-turner. What do you, my loyal readers, want?

Listening to while posting: "Darling, be here" by Bodies of Water

procrastination... of a sort

I've finished two of the four free ink commissions. One is sent out, the other is waiting on another unrelated object to become available to send to the commissioner. The other two commissions are really hard, so I'm procrastinating. I've pencilled one (and had an inking failure) and sketched a bunch of thumbnails for the other, but still they are not done. I haven't forgotten them, I'm just... a wuss.

I've been procrastinating by doing other art, though.

I've pencilled, inked and half-colored the next two pages of Death of a Friend. It's getting heavy, now with only ten pages left to go!

I've also been trying to collaborate with Sweet Enemy. She and I have tried collaborating a couple of times, but we have differing styles as well as differing talents (she kicks my butt, in other words). She's doing an acrylic underpainting demo for the store she assistant-manages and we thought that I could flesh out a sketch I had lying around for her to use (and eventually make into a painting). I did the original sketch back in December while having a coffee and a muffin at a great local deli.

Tonight, I began working out a larger, tighter version. Here it is in progress; it's on 11" x 15" "green bar" paper*.



I've been doing research and am still deciding on the hair and dress for the teacher. It's going to be a 50s thing, btw.

In other news, the inestimable Becca gave me (and six other creative bloggers) an award!. I have to pass it on to seven others and will do that before the end of the week. Probably when I post the update for DoaF.

Cheers!

Listening to while posting: "Young, Thomas (1773-1829)" by Artichoke from '26 Scientists Volume 2: Newton to Zeno'

* Green bar paper was the most awesome thing of having a dad who was a computer developer back in the '70s and '80s. They would print REAMS of this stuff during compiling and dad would bring it home to draw on. It was cheap as free and most of my art until high school was done on green bar paper. I scored (somewhere) a big box of blank green bar paper and have been using it for the initial work on drawings and Obscure Tales pages (before tracing onto Bristol) for the past two years. I hope I find another box before it runs out...

Sweet Enemy Rules!

Here's another example of why my wife is awesome. It's also an example of why I 'hate' her. You see her creativity knows very few bounds while mine... does know bounds. My birthday was recent and she made me this card.

Cover:


Inside:

Sure, you might say, it's a nice card, but what's so darn special about it? You can't see in in the previous image, but check it out: it's a dang pop-up card! Woot!




On the evening of my birthday, SE had gone to bed just before me. A little while later, I walked into our bedroom to find these two:



Awww. Both completely asleep. I got three shots and neither of them moved.

She's also got an Etsy store. I hasn't got anything in it yet, but keep looking!

Listening to while posting: "Man on the Flying Trapeeze" by Spike Jones and his City Slickers ("Noodles, did you leave home? Sure, I left home. Did you put the cat out? I didn't know he was on fire!")

small story

Got back from a good ride and asked Sweet Enemy if there was any mail for me. She mentioned the Discover bill and the bill for hosting Obscurius. When I grumbled at the not-goodness of the mail, she went "oh! There's this!" and handed me this month's Bike Magazine (which, believe it or not, she reads even though I can't get her to ride with me).

As I headed downstairs to change, she handed me the magazine.

"Don't forget to put this in the bathroom, for perusal later."

I gave her a mock-incredulous look.

"Well, you know that's where it goes!" she replied as she turned away

listening to while posting: "Bagman's Dilemma" by the Decemberists

minor update: life in Northern New England

The old joke is true. We waited a minute and this is what we woke up to this morning:



This is last week:



This is how Sweet Enemy looks as of 1030 hrs EST. A couch, a woodstove, a blanket, a cat and a new Terry Pratchett Book = Heaven:




pax!

What we're watching No. 1: Dr. Strangelove

Sweet Enemy had never seen Dr. Strangelove before, so she rented it last week and Monday night, she finally got around to watching it. I didn't come in until 1/3 of the way through (where the bombers get their orders from Col. Ripper), but I watched the rest of it even though it meant getting to bed at 1am.

You know what? It's still damned good satire. There has yet to be a satire so good. I think what makes it so darned good is the juxtaposition of the realistic-feeling (The bomber and crew. The President) with the over-the-top (Col. Ripper. Dr. Strangelove). It was still a funny and rather scary film.

Also noteworthy were two small directorial tricks that Kubrik used that nobody used much again for years. The first is the filming of the attack on Burpelson AFB. It was filmed with the camera low, documentary style and it really made you feel like you were in the thick of it. This was just how the battle scenes in Band of Brothers were filmed. Most of the war films between the two were filmed straight.

The other thing was a small thing, but I had to rewind it to see it again. As the B-52 nears it's target of opportunity, the camera is in the rear near the navigator facing the cockpit. When the co-pilot calls "Target in sight! Where the hell is Major Kong?", the camera zooms up to focus on the barely-visible Russian base. For all the world, it looked just like a shot from the new BSG. Totally. Check it out if you don't believe me (at about 1:13).



The drawing was done at work while waiting for code builds. Obviously, no reference for Slim Pickens was used.
Listening to while posting: The clanking of the woodstove.