Ramblings of a Self Defeatist

Well after the only three people on Earth who read this thing gave the first part a unanimous "Yay!"
I figure I'll finish up. If you missed out on the first part, go read So you want to draw Heroes, and Villians?

When we left off, we had erased our unnecessary bubbles. We should look something like this:

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Again not perfect myself, as I'm still doing this soley with a mouse. So proportion is going to be off a bit so bear with me. But anyway, as you can see the removed bubbles clear up needed room, and the fragments leave details to expand upon later.

Next we will add a face. Remember the lines that we drew earlier? We can use those to line up the eyes, nose, and mouth:

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Granted, I've never been the best facial artist, and I'm even worse with a mouse. That said at least it gives you an idea of how the lines help layout where everything should go. And this is also where that bubble head is sculpted into whatever type of head you want. Not every character will have a Spidey, or Spawn, or Deathstroke head you know.

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Now we can start to add our costume detail. For the sake of getting through this example I cheaped my way out here.
It's relatively easy to put lines for where our tight lines end, and boots or gloves begin. I also used the shape tools to create a rudimentary katana, and a shield. I also added a quick cape.
But we're not quite done...

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Wow. I come home from a long day of work to find out that them internets are all abuzz over the announcement of DOOM IV. I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Even more than Wolfenstein, Doom did kind of define id software the way Street Fighter embodies Capcom, or Mario embodies Nintendo.

Doom was a huge game when it came out. It came out at a time when the internet was becoming bigger than the BBS would ever be. It was at a time when there were literally hundreds of dial up providers shilling the "Excitement" of "Chat Rooms", and immediately big wigs everywhere started saying, "No one wants to talk to our under-appreciated employees whose souls we crush forcing them to peddle crap extra stuff. Let's put our crap on the website"
While some of these things did, in fact psyche people. id had also seen this as the perfect opportunity to expand their shareware fanbase. For the longest time, a consortium of independent developers had distributed shareware over the old BBS systems to many a PC gamer in the know. But with Compuserve, AOL, Prodigy, and the like, it was even easier to garner new fans. And unlike Wolfenstein 3-D (Which was in fact a very popular widespread game)
Doom introduced something many of today's younger gamers see as a mere bullet point on every box that is taken for granted: DEATHMATCH.

I remember Doom fondly because it was a game that more than even the addictive need for an internet connection, had been the killer computer application.
Where Super Mario World, and Sonic The Hedgehog made one want to run out and dump money on a 16 Bit Console
Doom was the game that made one want to spend a little bit more for that 486 processor. (Oh sure a 386 might play it, but did you really want to deal with a choppy frame rate?)

Doom reportedly crashed many a network. Even white collar fifty somethings, who hadn't played a game since Space Invaders were playing Doom with their colleagues instead of their Jacobson Files, and TPS reports.

Doom II came out a short time later, and did ok for itself, adding a few new baddies, and a double barreled shotgun.
But it didn't reach the quite reach the popularity of the original.

Even my late Grandfather enjoyed Doom. Yes you would think his Generation would be among those who do no research before slagging on something. But after helping with whatever computer problems my Grandparents had, he would want me to stick around, looking up random stuff on 14.4 baud, and of course defeating friends, and relatives in Modem to Modem Doom.
Probably the best time, was the one where my friend Jason was dialed in for a game (His Grandparents, Ironically enough had also gotten a 486, and also had the shareware edition of Doom), and we played E1M6.
My Grandfather had decided to tell me where to go, and what to do, because I still had reflexes.
But anyway at one point in the map there is a HUGE pool of acid with a very small walkway through the middle.
Off in the distance a hole could be seen in the wall. My Grandfather said to me "Fire a rocket into that hole." I did, and a mass explosion could be heard. "Go in there!" I was perplexed. "Grandpa, we can't. We'll die from the acid before we even get in there." "Ah Baloney!" he refuted. So I go in there, and sure enough there was a bounty of rockets, respawning health kits, and armor.

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"Now wait." After about five minutes, Jason had found his way to that walk way. As he got about a quarter of the way across my Grandfather yelled " Fire at the middle of the walkway!" What you may or may not have guessed by now is that my Grandfather, like many people during the 1940's had served in the US Navy.
Basically, he was "Leading". He had also taught me what would become lamentable in Doom. "Camping"
Jason finally realized where the rockets were coming from, but by that time we were fully stocked on ammunition, medkits, and shields. Around 5 or 6 frags later he would disconnect in disgust.

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Several years later Wolfenstein Got a face lift. So it was reported Doom would follow.

But as great as those early Doom games were, Doom III would be a very good, yet much less arcadey Shooter.
By the time it was coming out, id's own Quake III, and Epic's Unreal Tournament proved that arcadey shooters were the realm of multiplayer. While Valve's Half - Life evolved the genre into well acted, survival horror.
Doom III blended these trends. It took the setting of Doom I, re telling the story of how an experiment on a colony on Mars would go awry, and a demon loving mad scientist would be proven to have actually opened the Gates of Hell on purpose. The thing that disappointed folks, was that the Survival Horror vibe peters out when one begins to realize the formulaic nature of how the demons come to get you. Other fans who wanted another crazy "Kill anything that moves" game in the vein of the first Doom had been hooked on the never serious Serious Sam.

A short time later Quake IV would come out promising to continue the story of Quake II, but few people got into it.
Even less than with Doom III.

So with that tirade done, Doom IV is supposed to be coming to pass.
It leaves me sort of on the fence. Will it be the answer to Half Life, Doom III wasn't? Will it veer back to it's fragfest roots giving Painkiller a run for it's money?
But then maybe none of that matters. So long as Senior Citizens keep teaching Teenagers how to effectively hoard weapons, and rocket camp.

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Fellow Voxer Eien has been posting a lot of great art up on their blog over the past several months. It got me thinking back to my old high school days many centuries ago, and how my brother and I drew a lot more comic book art then. Of course I still doodle during Writer's block. But I haven't had as much time to draw over the last few years.
That said, we taught ourselves almost as much as what we learned taking cartooning, and animation my senior year.
Ultimately I don't think I'd ever be good enough to hang with the likes of Jim Lee, Dan Jurgens, or either of the Kuberts.
But one thing happened in a few comics magazines back in the day. A little column by Bart Sears in Wizard which I believe he called the bubble method. This technique helps you use simple shapes to set up a base line for your finished project. And if it works for you, I suggest tracking down Bart's old columns, or buying one of his books, because I'm afraid I can't remember but a tenth of it. But that tenth goes a long way. Especially if you love the Marvel/DC classics old Bart himself has drawn many times over.

Also keep in mind along with rust, I don't have a scanner, nor a current copy of Photoshop, or a digital tablet for that matter so I had to do this all with the craptacular MS Paint, A Logitech MX518 Gaming Mouse, and what little eyesight I have left.

But hopefully you'll get the idea, it works for you, and you run with it.

In the figure above, I started out with many BUBBLES. One thing to keep in mind is to keep proper form, your CHEST oval should be two HEAD ovals on their side. Any knowledge of anatomy will also help you out a lot in laying out your bubbles as well. Generally three or four bubbles in the shoulder blades, two around the biceps, a few for the forearm (Dont forget an elbow bubble!), and so on and so forth. Again, I realize the leg bubbles are too large here, but this is merely a point of reference.

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After you lay out the bubbles in a general pose the way you like, remember you're going to have to set up lines on the face of the head. There are three main lines, and some artists label them differently. Personally I set them up, EYES, NOSE, MOUTH. Some people prefer to treat the eyeline as a line for where hairstyle should end. For all intents, and purposes, let's just say I'm right.

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The illustration may not be clear enough, so I'll explain. What you then want to do is DEFINE (Ie: Darken)
the pencils (Areas of bubble) that will be part of the finished project. I darkened some of the shoulders, the left arm, and the chest in this figure. This part takes a long time, but as you can see the bubbles keep a nice guideline, allowing for a point of reference.

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Clumsy
Written, and Copyright (C)2008 Richard Hossan

I'm so awkward
Tripping over myself
Tripping over my words
Fucking up my complexion
As I try to say "Hi" to you
It's obvious
Yet oblivious
The way I look suspiciously
I'll be found out again
Awkward silence means I'm in love again
And that scares me
When it should please me
To know there's not anything I wouldn't do
It really scares me
And quite impairs me
The three words leave me lost, and quite confused

So if you do you'll have to walk me through

Sheepish
Written, and Copyright (C)2008 Richard Hossan

I really want to like you
Cause we hate all of the same things
You're a high flying siren
And I sense theres a feeling

But I can't help but wonder
What wars our differences will bring
And I can't help but wonder
What I'll do to make you leave

But it won't be on purpose
Cause I couldn't bear to see it end
But I've never measured up
To not losing lovers or some friends

And it all sounds fucking Emo (Sorry!)
Another bloodstained sleeve, and song.......

I wish I were like you
So beautifully impulsive

Good news! For the five of you who read this anyway. 100 new tunes on the sidebar! Hope you enjoy them. I tried to keep mostly a punk rock/indie rock vibe, but unfortunately the selection at playlist.com was limited. But I tried anyway.
Wheeeeeeee!

If you hadn't caught wind of it on many a gaming site, Delivery system Steam has Trackmania Nationss Forever available for FREE. Yep $50 game. For FREE. And perfectly legally free I might add.

Saturday wasn't too bad. I worked all day, then visited my Brother, and a few friends. We stayed up watching music videos til the early am.
Sunday I helped my Brother pick up a few cake samples for his wedding, then headed home. We played the aforementioned Trackmania at night online.
Today after working I picked up the new Mario Kart. It's pretty good, though I've noticed at higher cups, the AI gets pretty brutal. My friend Cara is at RAW tonight, I think I got a quick glimpse of her on TV. She was seated on a rarely televised part of the arena.

Tomorrow I have another craptacular day of work ahead. I'm really not looking forward to that at all.

Just a heads up, fellow writer, head of many guilds, and all around swell friend Barrie Kavasch has put out a new book! Shaman Songs.
If you're into nature, historical, or Earth based poetry it's going to be another treat for you. And even if poetry isn't normally your thing, but you're looking for something different check it out. It's far different material than what I write, but I wouldn't be as good as I am without her insight,  advice, and encouragement.
So any book buffs out there looking for a new read, give it a spin.
I'm pretty sure any place that carries independent books can get an order in for you. You can also check out www.kavasch.com  for more info.

Okay, shilling done.

Today work was again, a Ghost Town. I got paid to stand around bored.
After work I gave the soon to be leaving Lead some action figures that resembled many a coworker. It got some huge laughs.
After work I went to the local Gamestore to fart around a bit. I got some free stuff from a guy because I gave away an old copy of Gender Wars that was sitting in my car. After that I bought the Original Star Wars Trilogy on DVD. I figure I'll need those for the new TV when I get it.