Here, a photo of a famous landmark:

No skating:

Another building and no humans:

Doodles from the train/bus:

This trip also showed me that it`s time to buy one of those ugly things:

They look like a half-baked hemorrhoid pillow but HOLYHELL, it seems impossible to sit in a bus for more then 7 hours without them.
All the travel pro`s in the bus had one as well as a smile. Bums like me, without one, no smile, no joy, no sleep.

OK
I`m looking forward to watching the JOAN RIVERS movie this weekend as well as spending some drawing time at Dr. Sketchys.

Next week: Comic stuff and more comic stuff!

And I liked it!
Its a good film and like Scott Pilgrim deserves, a bit more audience and $$$.
But like Scott Pilgrim, no one really went to see it.
May it be because of the advertisement or just for the fact that there is no well known hero character inside.
Kick-Ass also has the problem that it might look different from the outside (posters, trailers) than it really is:

While, staying with the flower allegory, it is way more like this:

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I also read “STARTING POINT” by Hayao Miyazaki

And while not being a GREAT BOOK by itself, it did manage to ignite the flame of DRAWING LOVE and to make me think a bit more about:
working harder/drawing more/wasting less time/not drowning in the internet as much.

It is “a collection of essays, interviews, and memoirs that chronicle his early career and the development of his theories of animation.”
They all show his dedication towards the art form as well as his opinions on things like the Fleischer Studios,
Osamu Tezuka and “where popular culture” is heading towards.
He tends to hate pretty much everything and this golden thing fits well (same goes for John K)

But again, good book and worth the money if in need for more information about him or
if in need for the re-assurance that oneself is not drawing enough.

———————————-

And look, my girlfriend made magnets for me.
FUCKING INCREDIBLE MAGNETS!

Oh and I play Yoshi`s Island a lot.

I have 309 lives BUT NEVER NO EGGS!

Hope everyone has a good week,

OVERANDOUT

AND

Edgar Wright took the comics and made his own version of them, super fast, full of effects and overlays BUT never headache inducing and surprisingly FUNNY (even after having read the comic).
It`s a shame that not that many people are streaming into the theaters to watch it and I wonder what the marketing guys did wrong.

A warning though:

I suggest going into the theater with a belly stuffed with pizza and a good mood to enjoy it to the fullest!

//

Thanks to a reminder by Connor Willumsen, I went and watched this presentation:

And while it was interesting and alright, the best thing about it for me was looking at the different people that came to watch.

It was a mixture of “old school geek” and “new school hipster geek”.

Jeet Heer even made a comment, saying that “no one here probably knows who Neal Adams is, while all the works by Chris Ware are common commodity”
This crowd might only come together the next time at the Fantagraphics store in Seattle.

And here is a first page of something I`m currently working on:

That’s it for today!

Hope everyone is hanging on to what seems to be the last days of summer!

ET PLUS

OPINION TIME!

Saw THE EXPENDABLES today and boy was it “MEH”
I expected this:

But it sadly turned into this:

The first Predator, a movie that sometimes gets too much love, did something really well:

Introduce some funky bad ass people, show through one liners and some thrown sentences WHO they are what role they play and make the action fun and clear.
The beginning of the movie has them fly to the jungle and even though this scene is super brief, everyone has some small THING to say or do that makes him unique. This is a short clip of that flight, I could not find the whole scene:

The Expendables has none of that.
It never feels as “loose” and “natural” and sadly, even the action scenes are boring and confusing.
It feels rushed and “half-cooked”.

- I`m going to watch Scott Pilgrim this weekend and my fingers are crossed that its more fun then the movie today.
Weird enough that THE EXPENDABLES won the box office race..

- And speaking of Scott Pilgrim, Book 6 was a good finish to the series and I`m looking forward to seeing what Bryan Lee O`Malley is going to draw next.

- I`m also HOOKED into reading 20th Century Boys.
Its nothing new to say but: Naoki Urasawa is really one of the best Comic Artists working today.

His series PLUTO and MONSTER as well as the just mentioned 20th Century Boys are incredible in terms of pacing, drama and just pure tension.

It has been a while that I was reading a Comic that made me forget my environment and the time completely.
It always introduces more question marks and it never feels like a gimmick or lame. His work is on a totally different level and I hope more people start reading his stuff outside of Japan.

I think the following short scene from the first PLUTO has more heart and is more human than anything
in shitty and celebrated WILSON from sunny guy Daniel Clowes:

BONUS: A nice TV feature about Urusawa, highly recommended and gives a good insight into the “normal” day of a Japanese Comic artist.

Thanks for reading, hope everyone has a good Wednesday!

WHEW!
This felt like a rock on my head.
Sorry for the switch in coloring and whatnot.

I`m trying some stuff and I might use more watercolor sooner.
This “storyline” is not really done but I felt that I should do some other things in between and clean this up.
It could be more polished and have a better look but this is a good template to take it someplace else.

- I also really liked INCEPTION, even if it was mostly because it was fun to think and talk about it thanks to it having some nice concepts and the care to “leave you” with them without over explaining things.

- The new Arcade Fire is good to go running to (after eating a pack of brownies)

- Next week brings THE EXPENDABLES

- And staying with testosterone, UFC 117 was one of the best ones I have seen so far. Thanks Alison for not complaining!
YOU ROCK!