Speakerphone

More playing around with Comic Life on the Mac.
After my previous experimentation, I decided to do a series of plays converted to comic using real life pictures of regular people.

But that didn't quite work out -- I'm still building up a library of enough pictures of people in dialogue before I can start matching scenes to them.

In the meantime, I've put together a 4 page booklet entitled "Speakerphone".

I didn't write the text. It's just been modified slightly to accommodate the story.


and a totally pointless title page, for when I get this on its own page on GooglePages.

Wednesday Madness!!!

Haha! Who'd'a thought, I'd be posting just one week later, heh?

Had a very interesting kumzitz the other day, and it appears that I've actually set up with Pazi for Monday evening to start work on, yep, -- the return of A Comic. We decided we'd be doing K-640 -- for those of you who've forgotten, it's the one that actually got published in print just before Senior Yours Truly had to get reinstated -- but I still hold Ping 972 near and dear to my heart I cut my teeth on that comic, and made some pretty bad-ass art for it! Which, sadly, I can't actually put up 'cos it's on a CD somewhere in the freakin' cupboard. I'll have to get around to fishing it out and putting some of my old stuff on here. This weekend. I don't have a fancy network with a fileserver storing all my stuff for me throughout the ages.

As for my drawing classes, those are progressing quite interesting, and I'm putting up some stuff I did today not for you guys, but for me to look at a while away and say hey wow, did I do that then? huh.

I started out with this face just to warm up. I know it looks crooked, 'cos as usual I don't ahve a scanner, but I think it came out pretty straight. The thing that I find amazing is that I just couldn't get the faces right in the past. The proportions, the locations, the shapes of things and their shading, just never saw it before. So ok, it's still a long way away, and I need some practice, but I was actually ready to forgo class this evening. Glad I didn't do that.

But I was still unsatisfied with the whole shading deal. I've always read in the books that you have to start doing those spheres and blocks, and you know what? I always made a half-hearted attempt that very rarely amounted to anything, and I would dismiss the exercise on the "yeah, yeah, I get it" argument.

But I went ahead and did the exercise anyway. And it was pretty tough. It's getting the shading done right that's hard. Started out with a few simple maneuvers just to get warmed up. That was simple enough, but as you can see it was far from convincing.
A little bit more work, using a nice, soft 6B pencil, and it looks like I might be headed in the right direction. the shape is starting to blend in smoothly with the background, and the shading is starting to look more gradual and yet smoother.





I did one more trial run, and tried to focus on using the pencil differently to do the shading. I had started out with a sharp tip, holding the pencil horizontal against the paper and running it from side to side. But once it was worn down, I did the second sketch using the tip with the pencil straight up, filling surfaces with parallel lines and then blurring them with my thumb and fingers till I got a near-even surface. It looked very different, and I was content with trying out different techniques, which ultimately led me to my last iteration of that god damned sphere. It's pretty tough, doing these shadings. And then I have to apply this to real shapes? Holy-mother-of-crap-with-Jesus-in-a-box!
I call it "The All-Seeing Bleaaah". I don't quite know why, but who cares? My next comic is going to be so fucking cool. For me, anyway.

Grab the Feed!

Yep, you can now grab the Atom (I think it's RSS, too?) feed right here, or you can just click the feed icon in the address bar to add to your Live Bookmarks!

That'll keep all y'all up-to-date so you no needless checking of a blog what don't update none too often.

This Week in Jono-land

Let's see...

College application.
Job stress (it's only my second month!)
Didn't practice drawing.
I think I'm taking a barbiturate.
Oh, yes. And haunted by the Ghost of Christmas Past. It's fucking May, and I'm Jewish.

All in all, a good week I would say.

And it's only bloody Tuesday.

Sweet mother of Hypnos!

This is what I was prescribed for my sleep disorder?

Jesus christ, but army doctors are fucking insane. I never got any of this information from the neuroquack. And here I am picking it up again. Well, four more days 'till I'm "saturated".

Happy Birthday, Patriots!

Today is the State of Israel's 58th birthday.

It's been a tough trip, and it's gonna get a lot harder before it gets better.

It's not perfect, but then again, it's a far cry from Darfur, Liberia or Nepal, so we all need a little bit of perspective here.

Israel's been around for almost sixty years, and despite any suggestions to the contrary , we're here to stay.

We're going to end up stepping on people's toes and pissing people off. Some might attribute that to the jewish "hutzpah". Me, I say it's just clumsiness and adolescent awkwardness; I don't get any sort of kick out of refugee camps and tearing down houses, smart-bomb assasinations and witholding independence from the Palestinian Authority.

I am, however, realistic. This is the only place in the world we have. And nobody's going to make life easy for us around here. Suicide bombing is fucked up, and calling for bloody murder is barbaric and primitive. And the people we're fighting -- we are not their enemies; their enemies are ignorance, oppression and the greed and fanaticism of their own government.

So no, six million people are not going to uproot and relocate, big fucking surprise there. No, it will not cease to be a jewish state. No, we're not going to play nice and share. When neither side is willing to compromise, negotiation is nothing more than a charade.

I love my country, for the most simple, base, primitive reason that it is mine. It's an animalistic sense of illogical, unreasoned patriotism. It is the place where I grew up, and it is the only country in the world that will have me.

That said, I abhor violence. I would love nothing more than to see peace come to the region. Life's bad enough as it is without everyone trying to kill each other. Stability in the region would mean more tax money spent on the people, more foreign investments, more jobs, more cultural exchange, more places to visit in the world... There are assholes everywhere, and to them I say - there's nothing glorious in death, it's just a fucking drag.

Spring is here, and life is good. People are going out today with their diminutive barbecues ("mangal", in Hebrew). The men will stand flapping away at the smoking charcoal, a bottle of Maccabi Beer in hand. The children will start a game of football ("soccer", to you American Imperialistic Infidels!) and occasionally kick the ball into someone's hummus. There will not be a park, beach or single piece of open land that will not be occupied by a picnic blanket. Many, MANY sunflower seeds will be eaten.

And, of course, the flags.

To all of you, I say come. Visit. Check it out. There's things to meet and people to do. Home of the Lowest Place in the World, Infected Mushroom, and this weekend I'm going diving off the shores of the Red Sea. As Raven keeps reminding me -- "Israel. Who knew?"

To my country I say... well, I think I've said it.

-Yehonatan "Jono" Barel