Blog Post #6: Don Martin

Greetings, readers,

Have you heard of Mad Magazine? It's a crazy magazine that makes fun of a lotta stuff! Heard of Don Martin? No??!!! He was an artist for Mad Magazine, and a very big inspiration for me. He died in 2000, but worked for Mad Magazine from 1956 to 1988. I love his cartoony style and the way he draws feet (if you ever see someone with feet like how Don Martin draws them, get them to a doctor quick!). A very interesting thing he did with his drawings was give them really big chins. Despite the big chins and floppy feet he was very good at caricatures of celebrities and famous works of art. Check out the Mona Lisa and American Gothic! Leonardo da Vinci must be spinning in his grave.





I like how he makes any sound effects really big and bright; they make the comic/cartoon a lot more zany and unrealistic. I've tried to incorporate some of his habits into my own drawings since what he does is very funny.

Blog Post #5: Cinematographer

Greetings,

A very interesting cinematographer I found out about recently is a foreign film director by the name of Tonino Valerii. Tonino Valerii has directed movies like My Name is Nobody, A Reason to Live, A Reason to Die, and other old movies from the 60s. My Name is Nobody, released in 1973, is a spaghetti western about a famous gunslinger who wants to retire but can't because of his biggest fan Nobody. The thing I like best about his movie My Name Is Nobody, is the movement of the background characters. Whenever the main characters are talking or something, the background is lively and very realistic (the extras aren't wandering around, unsure of what to do and where to go). Not only are the background characters spot on, but the camera angles are very interesting; there are plenty of closeups and strange angles used.



Below is the bar scene from My Name Is Nobody; concentrate not only on the background characters but also the different camera angles too. Even though it is an older movie, I still find it funny and interesting.

Blog Post #4: ZBrush

Greetings, readers,

A couple weeks ago I started a class learning the 3D modelling software ZBrush (either pronounced zed-brush or zee-brush). Surprisingly, this software is used in a variety of movies like Avatar, Watchmen, and Pirates of the Caribbean. The main reason ZBrush is so popular is because it's like creating models with digital clay (if you do not have a tablet, you won't be able to experience the full controls and attributes of the program with a regular mouse). If you want to, you can also do 2D models but they do not have as many features and capabilities.



When you open the program, a sphere is already selected for you to alter. If you don't want to use the sphere, click on the squiggly yellow shape at the top right hand corner to select a different shape. Remember this, if you select a new shape, remember to click "Make Polymesh 3D" in the top right hand corner or else you can't model on the shape. The images are all things you can do on ZBrush(I haven't gotten that good yet- stick figures are all I can manage right now).

Chair Design In Sketchup- 20 Minutes

Hello everyone,

For a CyberArts assignment, we are designing chairs and creating miniature 3D models of them out of foam core. I designed a monster chair and below is an image of my first try modeling for 20 minutes on a software called SketchUp. It was a bit of a failed attempt; the software is a bit tricky trying to get all the shapes aligned. The back of my chair is curved and the curve on SketchUp didn't exactly fit the shape.

CyberArts Assignment: Romanticism

Lately, in CyberArts, we've been studying Romanticism, an art form that existed in the second half of the 18th century. It was prominently in Europe and emphasized drama and emotion in artworks. It focused on high contrast, composition, line, the majesty of untamed nature, emotions like horror, terror, and awe, and mythologies. The assignment was to create either a collage or a dry-point print (etching on a sheet of plexiglass, filling it with water-soluble ink, then pressing it on paper with a printing press), and make it have a Romanticism theme. I chose to do a dry-point print that focused on the majesty of nature and how small humans are in comparison.


The process work took a while because I was striving to make it look realistic and that was difficult to do in regards to line drawing. The composition I chose was diagonal because I wanted the viewer's eyes to be directed to where the tiny human in the artwork's eyes are looking towards. The final piece shows a small man standing on a bunch of rocks overlooking a lake surrounded by forest and mountains. The biggest problem I had (this affected my prints) was that there was so much detail that I didn't press hard enough in some areas. This caused the ink to rub off too much in some parts of the artwork and made it look a bit odd. The first print I did didn't turn out too bad. The second print I tried in colour, and the ink did not stick. The black ink transfered onto the paper but the blue I used for the sky and the green I used for the forest did not. The third print I did turned out not bad except parts were still hard to see. I used black and grey instead of colour.

Blog Post #3: Video on Trial: The Good, the Bad, and the Outrageously Hilarious Music Videos

Greetings, fellow music video critics!

Have any of you watched or heard of Video on Trail? No? It's a program that critiques music videos; whether they suck, whether they rock, things like that. Today I'll be critiquing 3 music videos (the assignment was to do 2, but the 3rd one I found was too good to pass up). The first one features the song You Spin Me Round by Dead or Alive.This first video I consider to be quite bad. Unfortunately, the music video contains content from Sony Music Entertainment so you'll have to watch it on Youtube since it won't let me upload it to my computer.

Click Here For You Spin Me Round

This music video was made in the 80s (this could count for part of the reason why it is so weird and crazy). The main singer is dancing in a lumpy purple robe and gold scarf in half the video, and an all-black outfit complete with eyepatch the other half. His hair looks like he's been electrocuted on one side, and in part of the video he has 6 arms. All in all, a very strange music video that doesn't really pertain to the song except for the part where people are being tied up as they spin around. The song I like, the video, I do not.

This next video features the song Lollipop by Mika. This one is my favourite. For some strange reason, none of the videos uploaded properly so you'll have to click on the links if you want to see the videos.

Click Here For Lollipop

Lollipop by Mika was released in 2007, and it's one of my favourite music videos- it's animated, the animations are colourful and smooth, and the video makes sense when you hear the song. Sometimes I get bored watching live action music videos all the time so this was a refreshing change.

The third video is an outrageously crazy video. The song is Safety Dance by Men Without Hats and every time I see it I laugh really hard.

Click Here For Safety Dance

I think this video is honestly, totally crazy. I don't know why there are chicken masks, giant S's, and a midget playing a lute. This video is meant for laughs, in my opinion. I don't even get why it's called Safety Dance, and it seems the guy singing in the video kind of wanders around a bit in parts of the video.

Blog Post #2: MAGIX Movie Edit Pro Plus 17

Greetings, all promising movie editors!

Just recently in CyberArts everyone was assigned to re-cut a movie/ video game trailer using sounds and music to change its genre using iMovie. iMovie seemed to limit my creativity too much so I hunted around and discovered a new movie editing software- MAGIX Movie Edit Pro Plus 17! It used to be an audio-editing only software, but recent versions have expanded it to video as well. It's not a very expensive software either, compared to others: $100. Here's a screenshot of the software in action (I found it uploaded on the website among others):



And here's a picture of what the package looks like if you want to buy it:




The thing I like best about this software is how much freedom you have with it. You can mess around with the sounds, fades, and video to your heart's content and it's not even that difficult to learn. The things I needed to know to make the Oliver Twisted trailer I found in the manual and in the Help section on the software itself. It's a software I would highly recommend for promising movie and sound editors.