I guess....

Didn't want to do this one, especially since I'm the one who did this image. But right now, I can't think of anything else to do for this week.
This was an experimental image I work on during March Break. I wanted to practice with textures, background, and a darker kind of shading. (psstt....I failed at doing the ground DX ). It was a random doodle I did Friday before the March break, it was done completely on Photoshop 7.
And this is also my original character, not that anyone wanted to know.

This is just my character, just plainly walking by as if nothing has happened, and I tried to make his expression emotionless or just neutral at the moment. But now that I'm looking at my own image from another glance I can see something different from my own image.

Judging from the peasant like clothing I drew on him, it seems that his life is a struggle right now, since people of lower class tends to have more difficultly surviving in the world than people of higher classes. And that emotion on his face can say how he's actually feeling about his life right now. He's undecided about what the main road of life actually is and that is why there is no definitive expression on his face. And he is in fact walking down a road, and that could possibly consider that he actually decided on a path to go on but is unsure whether he made the right choice or not.
Many people in real life could relate to my character here, they choose something that affects their future (like your parents forcing you to do law instead of science. You go with it, but your still unsure whether it would actually benefit you).

ZERO!!! XD

Everyone knows I'm a Megaman fanatic, so I was bound to blog about a game sooner or later XD
But for those of you that don't know, the Megaman franchise is based on a Blue robot warrior who usually saves mankind and robots alike against the all evil Dr.Wily.
The Megaman Zero games however is different than the usual Megaman games. In this series, the main character is actually Zero and not Megaman (or X). And how he awakens from a 100 year sleep after the previous events of the last X games. He then joins Ciel and the resistance in order to protect them and beat other reploid robots in order to maintain society.

What I see in these games is how Zero goes through certain stages, and through those stages he discovers more about himself, how he could be more useful to others and how he overcomes obstacles (reploids, bosses etc.). In real life, it is similar since all of us goes through certain circumstances, and through experience we learn more about ourself and what we are capable of doing. And just like in the Zero games, in order to get to the main boss (which is the goal) you have to go through things that are in our way. A real life example of that would portray a grade 12 student struggling to get high marks in order to reach their goal of going to university in the next year.

Zero's weapons are purely unique, and they are the tools that help him get by in the game, for without them...there would be no action whatsoever. Weapons would represent knowledge in my perspective, since we have to have the wisdom in order to get through things in life. While it may not be physically attacking anything, it helps us comprehend things that are right and wrong. (in certain Zero missions there are certain mavericks you can't attack, or if there's people there you can't attack them). So there's certain things you can attack in life and certain things you shouldn't attack in life.

But overall together, I love the Zero series~ And Zero collection will be coming out soon! =D

I never expected wonderland...

In all truth, I wasn't planning to watch the movie. I don't want to watch the movie, I'll probably be forced to do it in the future but right now, no...

But due to some strange coincidence, I so happened to encounter the artist on deviantart who actually did the designs for 2010's Alice in Wonderland, which came out not too long ago.

Here are some sample's I put together:

michaelkutsche on deviantart was in charge of the character designs for the movie: Alice in Wonderland.

I thought it was interesting how his images are actually paintings and not created from a 3d program or any other complex programs. Although what all of his designs have in common is the dark scheme and the majority of colors used are cool colors (usually blue in this case).

But since he wanted his designs to be unique than all the other designs from different Alice's in Wonderland movies. Since from the book, most of these characters are based off of real life animals like Cheshire cat is a cat, and the White Rabbit is indeed based off of a real white rabbit.
The Caterpillar is also based off a caterpillar from real life.

Mostly the characters base themselves off of animals we would usually encounter in real life. The same goes for the actual novel as well. They are just designed to be more contrasting than their real life counter parts, if that isn't obvious enough in there actual portrayal.

But in particular, I liked how the artist portrays these characters and make them give off a devious dark looks on them, and it makes them a complete mystery of who they really are.

Existentialism idea

The idea that came to me first, was a simple puzzle.
I never expected to think about something like that at first. I just thought of a puzzle since it was existentialism and it involved struggling. (Since usually most of us struggle to finish a puzzle...like me). The image itself took a while to come to my head.
The actual image for the puzzle would be about a person putting a puzzle together. And within that puzzle shows the same image of the person making the puzzle. Thus presenting an endless struggle with a puzzle.
I shared my idea, and I receive a suggestion that for the image, it should show de-familiarization and make things unfamiliar in the actual image.
So I thought that the person itself in the image would compose of pieces of a puzzle. E.g. A Puzzle piece head etc.
The idea itself right now is still a work in progress but the final idea will be set soon.

Ong Bak 2

Summary:

In 1431, the Kingdom of Ayutthayan conquers the territory of Sukhothai expanding their lands to the East. The noble Lord Siha Decho is betrayed by his Captain, Rajasena, and is murdered together with his wife. However their son Tien is saved by one loyal soldier and left alone in the woods

There’s going to be some spoilers so, only if you’re willing to look highlight the invisible words in brackets

I finished watching this a couple of hours ago, and I truly believe this is one of Tony Jaa’s greatest epics. Ong Bak 2 is the prequel to Ong Bak, which also features Tony Jaa in it. (Hint, hint, at the ending it suggests an opening for a third movie. Apparently, there’s already a teaser trailer out for Ong Bak 3, yay! =D )

And due to certain circumstances and internet connection, I’m unable to put a trailer here. Booooo =(

Anyways, I found everything to be amazing; all the stunts were real, and effects super effective. (The mouth ripping didn’t even look fake). It shows how cultures can go after other cultures and destroy their ancient arts and traditions. I personally thought that they based it off of ancient scriptures and history unknown to the western world. And the main protagonist Prince Tien, struggles through many tribulations in order to defeat his enemies and save his people from tyranny.

It was released in 2008, you better watch it. Even better watch the first Ong Bak movie, and I’ll be happy =)

Rated 10 out of 10 stars, because it’s awesome action packed from beginning to end~

No line on the Horizon

This surreal piece is called: No line on the Horizon, created by americanpsycho on Deviantart.

It is truly a wonderful piece, and as I looked through this artist’s gallery, he has many other beautiful works compared to this one. However I chose this one since it appealed to me more that his other ones and it was the first one I encountered.

As a commenter already mentioned, I love how he put so many colors into this one piece. It made me feel like I was in that field watching the sun go down, like it was an end of a movie and the characters are finally relieved of their duties. The composition is brilliant and it shows how deep the mood of the scene is shown in the piece. It demonstrates a powerful sense of imagery and it’s full of life. It’s purely magnificent; if only there were more scenery photography like this around, people could learn a thing or two from this piece.

Link to deviation is here

Kingfisher on the streets

Original art description:

Spraypaint on ramp side at jubilee skate park, action shot here; link And a happy new year to all =)

When I first looked at this piece, I was amazed at all the details that I believed it was a digital art combined with photography. But after taking a closer look at the image and reading the description, I was shocked that this was created using spray paint. Usually people wouldn’t consider spray paint and graffiti as artwork, but the way this artist presented it made all two hundred and nine commenter’s infatuated with it and how the details art simply beyond regular pieces of artwork.

As the artwork suggests, it is the artist’s interpretation of a kingfisher bird. Done using an abstract style and including vibrant colors bring the image itself into life. Even though it is graffiti, it demonstrates how an artist can use their skills throughout many mediums, and this artist is well known for their fantastical works of street art. This surreal image is the appeal of abstraction and brilliant choreography, for there isn’t any hints of mistakes or faults in it.

Although, I hope the person didn't get into any trouble in the end for doing it ^^;
The title of this art is Kingfisher and it was created by by n4t4 on Deviantart. It also received a Daily Deviation on March 11, 2010 by the deviant: Ricardo-Rick. His words on the deviation:

Just one word: Beautiful

-Ricardo-Rick

Link to the deviation is here.

Nurarihyon No Mago

I couldn’t resist it; I had to do this entry first before I explode.

Nurarihyon No Mago is about Rikuo Nura, a kid that is 3/4 human and 1/4 youkai. He lives in a house full of spirits alongside his grandfather who is the leader of the youkai. Rikuo is destined to take over his grandfather leadership but his human side has no interest. Rikuo is just a normal kid who has no interest to become the leader of youkai.

-Source Wikipedia

Gaining popularity in Japan and is now green-lit for an Anime, Nurarihyon no Mago is an on-going manga by Shiibashi Hiroshi, and it currently has 97 chapters. The plot, and character development is a strong asset in the manga, but what surpasses both of these elements is the art style. It's not often that we see manga drawings in a different perspective, but Nurarihyon no Mago established this new style using calligraphy. As the example used above, incorporating the style of traditional calligraphy along with manga is what the majority of the readers love (basically that was the reason why I was entranced by this manga). In my view, I think the author wanted to combine calligraphy in the manga style since the traditional drawings of demons and such are also done in the same manner.
Even though it is now the 21st Century, I believe that Shiibashi Hiroshi wanted to demonstrate how traditional art and calligraphy still have it's uses in our society and how it make a great impact in artworks of today. Not a lot of people these days are into the old tradition, and calligraphy, for its usually neglected. And using these styles in his works is what makes the designs in Nurarihyon No Mago so powerful. The art of today + the art of the old days= art of epic style and influence. Even I'm considering using calligraphy in my art.

But going off topic, I would recommend this manga to those that are interested in high quality art, great character development, and those who are into shounen and the supernatural. It isn't like the average typical shounen manga's out there, it shows a lot of promise in plot and character, and there isn't a moment where it just drags on. And if you get the chance, support the upcoming anime this summer!