Rain Drops on Roses and Whiskers on Mishibizhiws

Comic...?

2009-04-06T19:07:00.001-07:00

So this is something I did in January and just reopened.

I'm staring at it and wondering if I should continue.

Mr. Bunny is a great character.

Hurm.

xo

Painting Neil

2009-03-30T14:52:00.000-07:00

Painting Neil

I have the strangest thing for Neil Gaiman. He's probably one of the first little-girlish crushes I've had in a long time. At one point it was Gerard Way, which faded pretty fast with the realization that just about everyone else in the world loved him, too. Shortly thereafter, he got married (and I'm actually jealous, because Lindsey is beautiful). After that was Robert Smith, and that still lasts.
I guess you could call this a respectful crush (and an unquestionable one, because I find Mr. Gaiman fascinating despite the fact that he's currently pushing fifty). He's extremely talented and unique. Not to mention, he's quite charming, accent and all.

So, as I usually do when I find someone has a noteworthy presence, I decided to draw Neil Gaiman.

This is Phase One. Lineart started, just a doodle.

Phase Two. Detailing, humming, sipping at coffee and listening to my grandmother scream about a cooking mistake at this point.

Enter: Phase Three.

Hair. Kind of a tricky thing for me, always. I suppose I thought I was finished, but my hand didn't stop moving.

Phase Four, painting. I didn't think I'd end up using any paint at all, but I seemed to... need the red.

I was just going a little nuts, I suppose. Usually I don't use that much paint or cover this much paper with it, especially not when the initial intent was that this be a drawing. But the end result was that it felt like it needed a "down
the rabbit hole" sort of deep brown and red swirl.

Neil Finito!

xo

My dentist plays World of Warcraft.

2009-03-24T12:20:00.000-07:00

There are probably no days I dread more than the ones that involve visiting the dentist's office.

And it's weird, you know. You'd think the fact that my dentist plays WoW would be interesting and cool.

YOU THINK WRONG.

He talks about it as though staying up until 4 in the morning playing WoW is something I would like to hear. If he gets in to work around 7 (I saw his schedule), that means he probably got two hours of sleep. Do I want someone who's probably either half awake (or shaky and buzzed on caffeine) to be poking around in my mouth with a shiny, pointy metal object? No freaking way.

And he also talks about it as though I care, when in actuality I just want him to hurry up and get the job over with. I've already told him I don't like being there. And perhaps the flinching every time he touches me (the man is rather creepy, all in all) would give him a hint. No.

And I swear, every time I go there I bleed. A few weeks ago when I was just getting a cleaning, this woman cut my mouth open. I tasted blood and it was all over her glove. The funny thing is, I have a high pain tolerance and the bleeding thing doesn't really bother me.

What bothers me is she said absolutely nothing about it.

I kid you not. This is totally MFR. (It's already catching on, Gway.)

I might add that I have a tiny mouth. So everything they do feels weird and obtrusive.

I'm also going to mention that I have the tendencey to be rather claustrophobic. And with that hot light in my eyes, coupled with the dentist and his nursey person closed in around me, accompanied by their nasty tools that have been in countless other mouths (a fact I can never get out of my mind no matter how many times I see them sterilize their instruments), I just about feel like exploding.

Anyway, have you seen the things they used to use? It's just like a tool set. A hundred years ago, fixing your mouth was no different (except for the pain part) than putting a car back together.

Zoom. Zoom. Zoom.

I can't stand the healthy-teeth experience that is far too similar to mouthrape.

But I also have an obsession with having good teeth. So it's a lose-lose situation.

Wait. I'm not done ranting.

You know what would be cool? If the Joker was my dentist. Because at least then, you would know it was supposed to be an unpleasant experience. So absolutely nothing would be out of the ordinary. (Did anyone else see that episode of Batman: The Animated Series...?)

I'm just going to leave you with that mental image.

New York City, plus me. Doom?

2009-02-25T13:25:00.000-08:00

Well, to my surprise, there hasn't been much doom involved in this trip.

Right now I'm sitting in the second apartment owned by my family in NYC. This is James and Z-Z's apartment. I'm staying at Ann and Carey's.
Just so you know, I don't think any of those names are spelled correctly.

Let me just say that the view from Ann's apartment is amazing. She's right next to Ground Zero AND a graveyard. How could you go wrong with that? The location is truly picture-perfect, at least in my opinion, and I've managed to get a few good pictures without even leaving her door.

I call the above "Looooong Way Up" (aren't I creative?) and this one to the right is "Sunset Over Ground Zero."
Slightly prettier name on that one.

The flight over was alright. But for the final two hours of it I started getting motion sick, which ended up with full-fledged battle of holding back vomit.

The cap drive to Ann's made the migraine start, and during the elevator ride to the 22nd floor I thought I would just die. But a little while of laying down on Ann's comfy bed and all was good again. I don't know why that happened, I rarely get motion sick, but I've just been prone to it lately. :/

My first subway ride in four years was a good one. The elevator down was grungy and smelled of urine, which is actually always an interesting thing to me. It's all just very, very real.

There's plenty of graffiti on the walls to look at, and so many awesome movie and theatre posters to keep yourself amused while you wait for the subway train.

And also, a lot of unique people; so long as you don't get caught looking.

The amount of eye-candy in this city compared to where I live is astounding. Everywhere you look there's an advertisement for something. Every store window has something to offer (though it might not be reasonably priced.)

My favourite posters to see are the ones that show off the upcoming movie for Watchmen. I try to take pictures when I see them.
To the left, I have a good one of Rorschach, and to the right, one of The Comedian lighting his cigarette on a flame throwing-contraption. Isn't he classy?

I also got to go to the greatest comic book store in the universe. It's a place called Forbidden Planet, a place where you can get tons of unique, hidden gems that you've never seen before (and probably never will again). They have a lot of Watchmen stuff up at the moment, and I plan on going again (it'll be my third time) to get Fox a copy of the graphic novel. So far I've purchased four books, one being completely full of monster-movie poster styled art, one being a tiny little book full of creepy paintings of a "man who lived in the sea", and my favourite one called "Clockwork Creature no.1." It features a man who probably represents a devil. It's very dark and southern, and I think it's about lynching. What light, cheery subject matter I drift toward, huh?

I also got an Ozymandias action figure. He and Dr. Manhatten are my favourite Watchmen characters, but they didn't have the doctor. The guy at the store actually said, "Ozymandias is your favourite one from Watchmen?! That's kind of creepy."

I agree.

Oh, geez. How many times I have I mentioned Watchmen? I need to stop. ONWARD TO DIFFERENT SUBJECTS!

I should probably mention the actual reason why I'm in New York. I'm here to look at colleges. First I went and saw Pharson's at the New School, and it was quite nice there. The professors who spoke at the opening were funny and nice, and our tourguide was really sweet. The atmosphere there was friendly and the art that I saw was interesting. The kids there have talent, but it wasn't quite the thing I was looking for.

The School of Visual Arts in Manhatten was definitely my favourite. It's been my first-pick for years and that want still hasn't swayed. My expectations were exceeded. The artwork was stunning, the students obviously learned a lot about art and finding their own style while going there. Out of the three schools, this one seemed to have the largest comic artist community, which was pretty great. I loved looking at all of the things that were created there, and loved the kids who talked to us. They were very friendly and helpful, and they gave me so much stuff to look at about their school. The guy who was at the admissions office actually went out of his way to go and find a book full of students' artwork for me.

Pratt also exceeded my expectations. I thought it would be more about fine art and form, less about your style, but there really were a lot of unique things going on when you got to see the students' artwork on the walls. And there is a LOT of it on the walls, let me tell you. Our guide was sweet and he knew a lot about Pratt, including the fact that it was originally intended to be a Shoe Factory. The artists learning there are talented, and they seem to enjoy being at that school. So my top choices are SVA and Pratt at the moment, but all three were good.

I actually wasn't able to get pictures of the schools, because I was paying a lot of attention and trying to be very respectful. But I'll try to get up some pics of all the brochures and such that they gave me.

Now, Chinatown.

The last time I came to NYC, I was very young, but I remember Chinatown. I love it there. I love all the trinkets, I love all the vernacular you hear while walking past open shops and stores.

I bought a teddy bear for Fox:

I named him Mr. Snore. No idea why.

Well, I'm rather hungry and tired of typing at the moment. So off I go to a joint called Joy Burger to get veggie burgers with Kat and Suzanne.

xo
Rain

Postscript:

Who watches the Watchmen? Anyone with sense, that's who.

2009-02-18T08:49:00.001-08:00

Not that I'm sensical. I'm quite nonsensical, most of the time.

Anyway, I finally picked up Watchmen and finished reading it. The last two chapters are definitely the best. At first, I was wondering what the big deal was about this graphic novel. I mean, it's good, the artwork is awesome (especially any and all pages with Dr. Manhatten), and the plot is unique. But what made it movie-worthy besides the visually pleasing parts?

Now I know. When it got to the end was when I really feeling in-tune with the characters, both main and seemingly unimportant. The little things that make the heroes' lives complicated are so different than the sob-stories following most comic book Supers, and just about all of them don't actually have powers. They're fairly normal people with the very abnormal habit of crime-fighting.

To me, what stood out most about the entire novel was the fact that no matter how close these people got to Apocalypse, no matter how deep into war their country was, they had all these little things going on in their lives. You can be on the verge of being involved in a massacre, and still manage to get in a fight with your girlfriend, still manage to introduce yourself to someone you should have spoken to long before, even though you're about to die.

So, if you haven't read Watchmen, do it. Especially before you see the movie. I've been watching the little clips that have been released of the film and when watching it, I actually see the panels that the scene is based off of. I just love that.

NEW YORK IN 48 HOURS, BABY!

xo
Rain

Salutations, earthlings.

2009-02-15T23:52:00.000-08:00

Beginning a blog has to be one of the hardest things for me. Sometimes I can be a bit of a wanderer, and often leave webpages, in progress stories, and many other projects that I start in the dust.

This time, though, I plan to stick with something. Here perhaps I'll be able to record my progress on the comics I start, and the... well, the other things. Schoolwork, bookclub. All that cal.

To introduce myself, my name is Emily. I prefer to be called Rain; it's an old nickname from when I was little(r) and still a Girl Scout (a title that will haunt me for the rest of my life.) I got called that when during Camp, we had a major storm. It rained the entire stay and out of the group, I enjoyed it the most and even went so far as to go out and run in it. A friend of mine I now rarely see, named Raven, said,

"So that's what we should call you. Rain!"

That was... let's see. Quick math tells me five years ago, going on six. I'm 15 now, and am going to be 16 on March the 8th. In some ways I can't wait, in others I'd rather just rewind. I'm sure you know the feeling.

I'm a pale girl with black hair, on the short side, who keeps fairly thin from wandering around town and freaking out on sugar/caffeine highs. I love having energy, but unfortunately it's something that most of the time has to be created; I can't always supply it naturally. At least, not for the first eight or so hours of the day. I'm a bit of a nightowl (understatement).

I'm nearsighted, and sometimes sporting big glasses with a thick black rim that I got about a week ago. I love 'em.

I am one of the few literate texters, often writing entire stories through text with friends. I'm a vegetarian.

I aspire to be a comic book and graphics artist, and in about three days will be going to New York to look at art colleges to help achieve said dream. Those aren't the most glamourous things to want to be, but making art makes me happy.

Where I really want to go is The School of Visual Arts in Manhatten.

Big dreams, small kid.

Well, I guess that's all I have to say for now. It's 2:12 AM and I should really be in bed, I just needed to go ahead and get this thing started. Mom wants me to keep a blog up during my stay in NY, and if I didn't do this now I might just totally forget.

And Dad wants me to keep a record of the difference in the local news there, and here. That will certainly be an interesting task. But watching the news here for a couple of days will be a real downer.

xo
Rain

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Postscript:
The Mishibizhiw is a mythological creature that is also known as an "Underwater Panther." This animal played a major part in Native American culture. Some saw the Mishibizhiw as a good thing, a half-wild cat (or in some cases, lynx, even mountain lion) that resided in the bottom of the lakes to protect those who traveled across its surface, and those who resided close to them on the shore. But more often, it was reguarded as a creature who brought about bad luck and bloodshed.
Personally, I can't see how a feline who likes water could be a bad thing; giving my cat Carmen a bath is hell. And my older cat Luna, well, we don't even try.