I don't know if you guys have heard but....Star Wars is officially owned by Disney now. ;_; And I can hardly believe it. It feels like someone I used to know died. Sometimes that's how I feel about Star Wars, because I write about characters that don't really get a spotlight view in the movies, games, or shows. But it's hard to believe that the person that created Commander Cody and Jango Fett....that they don't even technically belong to him anymore. :'C
The whole idea of belonging....I don't get that sometimes. Despite my apprehensions of what could happen to my characters when they go out into that big world out there (haha, they're almost like my children in a way. ^^) I've come to realize that I can't stop them. I've got to share them with others because as soon as someone cares about your character, that character is alive in them. I think some people don't get this, they throw characters around and half-create them. And the funny thing is, is that these characters still manage to find a home in the minds of people. I guess that's the problem I have with Disney. I never really got to experience anything with their characters. :L Now there are some good Disney movies (in my opinion) like Pirates of the Carribean, Fantasia, Toy Story (that's kinda Pixar's movie isn't it)...but those movies never truly satisfied me in the end. I always went away feeling like there was something missing. I feel like this often when I read books or watch movies, so I guess I'm kinda hard to please. ;)
I can get the part that he wants to retire and open the books, games, and graphic novels to be made into shows or movies, but I'm not sure that Disney will know exactly how to keep the storytelling traditions of Star Wars. I have a feeling that it's going to be very different than the Star Wars we know. :L Like he said though, it would make publishing books easier so I'm still hoping to get my books in. Xd It kinda still disturbs me to think Star Wars will become kinda of a mushy, superficial thing. Didn't mean to offend anyone or ruin anyone's day. Which, by the way, Happy Halloween! XD
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Monday, October 29, 2012
CW Episode Review: TIPPING POINTS
WARNING!: contains spoilers for the Clone Wars episode Tipping Points. You may want to see this before reading on. :) Also please remember that this is my opinion and that I really love the Clone Wars and appreciate being able to watch something new with Star Wars for most of the year. :)
Wow, I'm not going to say "I told you so." because you guys probably agreed with me in my last review. This episode wasn't as blatantly lacking in intelligence as its predecessors but I could still pick apart some things in their plan that I wouldn't have done.
Like the part where they broadcast their central figures. Why on earth would you do that?! Sure the people know and love the old king and his allegiance with the rebels would get them motivated, but it could have backfired so easily. The fact that they're basing so much off of what they're hearing these rebels saying. How do the citizens know if the rebels aren't just trying to take over just so they can form a completely radical governmental system?? If I was a citizen I'd be really wary of these 'freedom fighters'. Not only are their tactics kinda haphazard, but they keep making these public announcements that give the enemy the knowledge of what their leaders look like. If they wore masks or helmets they could have avoided this problem and made this number of announcements. I'm also assuming that they have been 'bouncing' their hologram's signal so it's untraceable. Otherwise, if I were that Sep. General, I'd just bomb their random little hideout because that's where all their leaders congregate.
That brings me to my next point: Why did they keep all their leaders in one place? I could understand if it was to keep them from their hologram channels being tapped or if they were so few in number that they needed to keep close, but as this is apparently not the case I could only look at it as an extremely fatal flaw. Like in the part where all three of their 'leaders' ran off to the exact same place on the battlefield. I was like "WHAT!?" one rocket or one shot from a tank's turbolazer and they would have all been killed at once. Oh yeah, except for that one general-guy, 'cuz they didn't like him anymore for some reason and stuck him out in the way front. :P
Which, again, brings me to my next point: You NEVER demote someone like that right before a stinkin' battle. Not only did that general-guy save basically all their butts in the last episode, but that kills morale. Both his and the men he represents. It's like telling clones who trained years for battle that they're not as good as some three day trained rebels. It's like Obi-Wan just on a whim, demoting Commander freaking Cody that he's got someone better to do Cody's job. >:C I have parts in my books where Kenobi does get into a bit of a conflict with Cody (the war's coming to a close and Jedi can't be seen with beings that were bred for war, so he's got to sever his friendship with Cody. ;_; ), and just that public friction snowballs into deeper matters with the rest of the clone troopers. I digress....
Other comments include: Why wasn't Steela's head/body completely broken up from that fall? Why wasn't Ahsoka's arm torn off from that turret blast (I mean, come on! That's a bomber! It's guns are meant to mess with heavy artillery from destroyers and random people on the ground. They were such a pain in Battlefront 2!!)? Why are the tanks still so vulnerable to a few grenades??!! I liked the commando droids being more of their regular selves. And I'm actually kinda excited about the next episode because it has to do with Illum. I hope they have some amazing 'hallucinations' in those caves like the ones from Jedi Apprentice! XD Those were epic. I'm also looking forward to an episode (hopefully!) centered around Cody FOR ONCE!!!! XDDD He needs more screen time so I don't have to write another book to cover all these plot holes their leaving me with. ;D
Wow, I'm not going to say "I told you so." because you guys probably agreed with me in my last review. This episode wasn't as blatantly lacking in intelligence as its predecessors but I could still pick apart some things in their plan that I wouldn't have done.
Like the part where they broadcast their central figures. Why on earth would you do that?! Sure the people know and love the old king and his allegiance with the rebels would get them motivated, but it could have backfired so easily. The fact that they're basing so much off of what they're hearing these rebels saying. How do the citizens know if the rebels aren't just trying to take over just so they can form a completely radical governmental system?? If I was a citizen I'd be really wary of these 'freedom fighters'. Not only are their tactics kinda haphazard, but they keep making these public announcements that give the enemy the knowledge of what their leaders look like. If they wore masks or helmets they could have avoided this problem and made this number of announcements. I'm also assuming that they have been 'bouncing' their hologram's signal so it's untraceable. Otherwise, if I were that Sep. General, I'd just bomb their random little hideout because that's where all their leaders congregate.
That brings me to my next point: Why did they keep all their leaders in one place? I could understand if it was to keep them from their hologram channels being tapped or if they were so few in number that they needed to keep close, but as this is apparently not the case I could only look at it as an extremely fatal flaw. Like in the part where all three of their 'leaders' ran off to the exact same place on the battlefield. I was like "WHAT!?" one rocket or one shot from a tank's turbolazer and they would have all been killed at once. Oh yeah, except for that one general-guy, 'cuz they didn't like him anymore for some reason and stuck him out in the way front. :P
Which, again, brings me to my next point: You NEVER demote someone like that right before a stinkin' battle. Not only did that general-guy save basically all their butts in the last episode, but that kills morale. Both his and the men he represents. It's like telling clones who trained years for battle that they're not as good as some three day trained rebels. It's like Obi-Wan just on a whim, demoting Commander freaking Cody that he's got someone better to do Cody's job. >:C I have parts in my books where Kenobi does get into a bit of a conflict with Cody (the war's coming to a close and Jedi can't be seen with beings that were bred for war, so he's got to sever his friendship with Cody. ;_; ), and just that public friction snowballs into deeper matters with the rest of the clone troopers. I digress....
Other comments include: Why wasn't Steela's head/body completely broken up from that fall? Why wasn't Ahsoka's arm torn off from that turret blast (I mean, come on! That's a bomber! It's guns are meant to mess with heavy artillery from destroyers and random people on the ground. They were such a pain in Battlefront 2!!)? Why are the tanks still so vulnerable to a few grenades??!! I liked the commando droids being more of their regular selves. And I'm actually kinda excited about the next episode because it has to do with Illum. I hope they have some amazing 'hallucinations' in those caves like the ones from Jedi Apprentice! XD Those were epic. I'm also looking forward to an episode (hopefully!) centered around Cody FOR ONCE!!!! XDDD He needs more screen time so I don't have to write another book to cover all these plot holes their leaving me with. ;D
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Random Commander Cody Animation by ME!! XD
Ok, this is so random it's insane. Xp This is the product of a weekend of nothing last year. It probably took me about an hour and a half or more to do. I made this by drawing the face and then erasing the parts I was changing and drawing in new lines to show the change in the face. The lines in the background was from me trying to make a set of heads, with each slightly changing the face into a frown. However, I soon discovered that making an identical head was near impossible to do without onionskin paper (translucent paper that is kinda like tissue paper only more sturdy). :P
This is officially the first animation I've ever done in my life so it is kinda randomly.....um, weird. It's supposed to be Commander Cody frowning. The clip is very short and goes by pretty quickly so you might have to watch it a couple times to see all the different parts of his face that move. :) Have a great day! XD
|p.s| I don't really get why it stops/jerks along in the middle there. Sorry. I'm pretty sure I uploaded it in HD. :/ Also, watching it full screen helps a bit.
Check out an awesome writer's story/ideas!
As a writer, I share a great deal of her views on things. I find this very interesting and witty. Especially after reading Imagine: How Creativity Works (which, in my opinion, was very interesting at first but after a while I lost motivation to finish it. :P ) and reading about how it is almost natural for creative people to be sad/depressed sometimes (not that it's required), and that as a creative thinker I can seriously relate to some of her fears. Especially since I'm writing fanfiction which probably doesn't have a very good chance at being published. :L (but I'm still optimistic!!! I'll never know until I try!!! :D )
I think this goes to show how we as creative people (because everyone is creative if they want to be! XD ) have to learn to deal with the ups and downs of our feelings and our profession/skill as they come. We have to create our way out of them!! It really proves the power of inspiration and thought! Hope you enjoy it everyone! |p.s|And thank you all so much for all the views. You guys are amazing.
Sunday, October 21, 2012
Saturday, October 20, 2012
Clone Wars Episode Review: Front Runners
WARNING!: contains spoilers for the Clone Wars episode Front Runners. You may want to see this before reading on. :) Also please remember that this is my opinion and that I really love the Clone Wars and appreciate being able to watch something new with Star Wars for most of the year. :)
Ok, so if you've been following my various rampages on twitter, you probably know that so far season 5 hasn't really impressed me. The plots are just 'ok', the characters aren't really developing that much, there's a lack of intelligence in their moves, and ( most importantly) THERE ARE NO CLONES!!! >:C (for me clone centered episodes = all these things these episodes so far have been lacking.) The worst thing that has bugged me about these last few episodes about Onderon rebels has mainly been the intelligence aspect of it.
In this episode the main action is centered around blowing up a power plant. Ok, it'll take down the droids eventually, but what about everyone else?? My first thought was a hospital. If people get hurt, which they will, how the heck are they going to perform even the simplest/sanitary operation without power? How are these people--who appear to live surrounded by dry desert and forest--supposed to preserve their food stuffs?! How are they supposed to get water?!
What makes this plan work even less is the fact that if there are any fuel-powered generators, the droids will get a hold of them and even more people might get injured or die. Sorry, but if I were those people I wouldn't be cheering the rebels on if they forced me to live in derelict conditions or in constant peril. Ok, so that's the sacrifice I have to make to get the droids out, well guess what, if it means possibly killing people who don't really want to be involved is that really the means you want to get them out?
And just the way the rebels conducted themselves. Jumping out of alleyways or firing off of rooftops, it reminded me more of terrorist tactics than that of a more justice driven group! If Cody or I were to choose, we would keep our rendezvous/strikes to the night. We'd dress in all black, with black plating and nightvision goggles. We'd use our hands or silencer guns to take out the droids a few at a time. Forget about destroying hundreds of droids! When you're trying to keep hidden right under the nose of the guy who wants you dead, you better work on a smaller, more stealthy operation. One with "less noise" as Cody would say. If I was the the king I'd be like, "Well, since forensics [since that's the first thing you always do when trying to figure out your enemy!] show that half the rounds came from rooftop, might as well mount cameras all over my palace walls, place electrodes onto the rooftops, and put some snipers all over the city roofs." I don't know, maybe the king guy isn't so smart. War is just an arms race. They tear the head off of a regular battle droid, you send in only supes (super battle droids). They use the hivemind of the droids to plot an attack, you keep the routes and stations changing. They stage an all out attack on your powerplant, you steal everyone's generator, and make an example of the four random people jumping up and down in front of a burning tank. Duh. The fact that this king guy does absolutely nothing, makes me believe that he is as worthless and stupid as they come. :p If the rebels did kill him, nothing would change.
At least Dooku was smart enough to say, "You need to man up and think, dude! I'm not gonna send you droids so they can get taken out because you're not doing your part!". That's like half the problem! Sure the droids apparently can't think for themselves, but that's why the Separatists have always been very good at employing these crafty leaders! i.e. Grevious, Admiral Trench (though he isn't half as brilliant as Grevious), my OC Thestius Braken, Durge, Asajj Ventress.....
That all was just commentary up there. ^ Wishful thinking, I guess. I realize that they can't possibly pack all that reasoning into such a short amount of episodes. Maybe that's why it takes me so much thought, effort, and time thinking about my books. I want them to be reasonable. I want the characters to act like real, intelligent (or mostly intelligent beings). I want my characters to prove their prowess through their actions and plans, not through just hap-hazard planning like this.
What really burned me, what I really did not like about this episode, was when Anakin remarked that the "501st had competition" from the rebels. >80 .............. WHAT?! The 501st, that had trained since practically birth, been on hundreds of campaigns, killed a rogue Jedi, and did like a thousand epic things because they're clones and Skywalker says that?! How could you say that to a man who's saved your life!?! Ok seriously?! A bunch of rebels that only trained for literally three days is somehow better than an ENTIRE legion of CLONES!?! Is Anakin on crack?!!!! And since the 501st is pretty much the posterboys of the GAR what does that make underdog-212th? Wimpy??!! My mouth literally hung open a minute after he said that because I realized how much that comment must have hurt. If any of the other legions got wind of that, they would hurt even worse. :( I know Anakin was probably joking and Rex was quick/witty enough to just go along with it, but seriously, that Jedi needs to watch his mouth. Those rebels are over confident enough as it is! I'm just waiting for one of them to just get pummeled by a supe or something, and since they took out the power whoever it is is gonna die or get some serious infection because the antibacterial juice (basically penicillin) has turned to crap since it hasn't been refrigerated. xP They need to pull a 212th and get more humble or they're going to mess up big time.
I totally agree with Steela being the leader, and love how Rex was the first one to see that. She's the most level headed, the most skilled, and probably the one who's going to make up for what the group lacks. I pretty much hate Lux right now. I don't care that Ahsoka likes him save that it might hurt Rex. :c If she were smarter she might have realized these things but I think her character has lost a lot of intelligence after the Citadel arc. :L Maybe in this next one she'll realize what's more important. Like I said before of Lux, I really have no idea why they like each other or what is really that special about him.
The last thing I like about this arc is that it gets me into the deep-writing mood!! XD I've already written at least three pivotal scenes in my earlier Clone Wars books because of the motivation these episodes put me in. Absolutely love it. I can't think of anything I'd rather do: Writing a war novel about clones drinking peppermint tea while listening to the soundtrack from The Pacific or TSFH music........Absolute bliss. X)
Ok, so if you've been following my various rampages on twitter, you probably know that so far season 5 hasn't really impressed me. The plots are just 'ok', the characters aren't really developing that much, there's a lack of intelligence in their moves, and ( most importantly) THERE ARE NO CLONES!!! >:C (for me clone centered episodes = all these things these episodes so far have been lacking.) The worst thing that has bugged me about these last few episodes about Onderon rebels has mainly been the intelligence aspect of it.
In this episode the main action is centered around blowing up a power plant. Ok, it'll take down the droids eventually, but what about everyone else?? My first thought was a hospital. If people get hurt, which they will, how the heck are they going to perform even the simplest/sanitary operation without power? How are these people--who appear to live surrounded by dry desert and forest--supposed to preserve their food stuffs?! How are they supposed to get water?!
What makes this plan work even less is the fact that if there are any fuel-powered generators, the droids will get a hold of them and even more people might get injured or die. Sorry, but if I were those people I wouldn't be cheering the rebels on if they forced me to live in derelict conditions or in constant peril. Ok, so that's the sacrifice I have to make to get the droids out, well guess what, if it means possibly killing people who don't really want to be involved is that really the means you want to get them out?
And just the way the rebels conducted themselves. Jumping out of alleyways or firing off of rooftops, it reminded me more of terrorist tactics than that of a more justice driven group! If Cody or I were to choose, we would keep our rendezvous/strikes to the night. We'd dress in all black, with black plating and nightvision goggles. We'd use our hands or silencer guns to take out the droids a few at a time. Forget about destroying hundreds of droids! When you're trying to keep hidden right under the nose of the guy who wants you dead, you better work on a smaller, more stealthy operation. One with "less noise" as Cody would say. If I was the the king I'd be like, "Well, since forensics [since that's the first thing you always do when trying to figure out your enemy!] show that half the rounds came from rooftop, might as well mount cameras all over my palace walls, place electrodes onto the rooftops, and put some snipers all over the city roofs." I don't know, maybe the king guy isn't so smart. War is just an arms race. They tear the head off of a regular battle droid, you send in only supes (super battle droids). They use the hivemind of the droids to plot an attack, you keep the routes and stations changing. They stage an all out attack on your powerplant, you steal everyone's generator, and make an example of the four random people jumping up and down in front of a burning tank. Duh. The fact that this king guy does absolutely nothing, makes me believe that he is as worthless and stupid as they come. :p If the rebels did kill him, nothing would change.
At least Dooku was smart enough to say, "You need to man up and think, dude! I'm not gonna send you droids so they can get taken out because you're not doing your part!". That's like half the problem! Sure the droids apparently can't think for themselves, but that's why the Separatists have always been very good at employing these crafty leaders! i.e. Grevious, Admiral Trench (though he isn't half as brilliant as Grevious), my OC Thestius Braken, Durge, Asajj Ventress.....
That all was just commentary up there. ^ Wishful thinking, I guess. I realize that they can't possibly pack all that reasoning into such a short amount of episodes. Maybe that's why it takes me so much thought, effort, and time thinking about my books. I want them to be reasonable. I want the characters to act like real, intelligent (or mostly intelligent beings). I want my characters to prove their prowess through their actions and plans, not through just hap-hazard planning like this.
What really burned me, what I really did not like about this episode, was when Anakin remarked that the "501st had competition" from the rebels. >80 .............. WHAT?! The 501st, that had trained since practically birth, been on hundreds of campaigns, killed a rogue Jedi, and did like a thousand epic things because they're clones and Skywalker says that?! How could you say that to a man who's saved your life!?! Ok seriously?! A bunch of rebels that only trained for literally three days is somehow better than an ENTIRE legion of CLONES!?! Is Anakin on crack?!!!! And since the 501st is pretty much the posterboys of the GAR what does that make underdog-212th? Wimpy??!! My mouth literally hung open a minute after he said that because I realized how much that comment must have hurt. If any of the other legions got wind of that, they would hurt even worse. :( I know Anakin was probably joking and Rex was quick/witty enough to just go along with it, but seriously, that Jedi needs to watch his mouth. Those rebels are over confident enough as it is! I'm just waiting for one of them to just get pummeled by a supe or something, and since they took out the power whoever it is is gonna die or get some serious infection because the antibacterial juice (basically penicillin) has turned to crap since it hasn't been refrigerated. xP They need to pull a 212th and get more humble or they're going to mess up big time.
I totally agree with Steela being the leader, and love how Rex was the first one to see that. She's the most level headed, the most skilled, and probably the one who's going to make up for what the group lacks. I pretty much hate Lux right now. I don't care that Ahsoka likes him save that it might hurt Rex. :c If she were smarter she might have realized these things but I think her character has lost a lot of intelligence after the Citadel arc. :L Maybe in this next one she'll realize what's more important. Like I said before of Lux, I really have no idea why they like each other or what is really that special about him.
The last thing I like about this arc is that it gets me into the deep-writing mood!! XD I've already written at least three pivotal scenes in my earlier Clone Wars books because of the motivation these episodes put me in. Absolutely love it. I can't think of anything I'd rather do: Writing a war novel about clones drinking peppermint tea while listening to the soundtrack from The Pacific or TSFH music........Absolute bliss. X)
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Clone Wars Episode Review: A War on Two Fronts
WARNING!! : The following contains a review of the titled Clone Wars episode. If you have not seen it you may want to watch it before reading on. :)
I thought the new CW episode was ok. Finally, it had a clone in it. My question still remains *in batman voice*: WHERE IS CODY!!!? I know they just want me to write more to fill in these places *sarcasm*, but I was sad last season because we didn't even get to see his face! X'C What is he doing on his own? Do I seriously need to write another book to fill all this in??! It was an ok episode, I felt like there was some plot holes that, ironically, I cover in my books. Like how the droids found them because their drop ship dropped them off close to where the rebel base is. I was like, "Duh!" right away because in my book Cody makes a point to land like a few HUNDRED miles away so he doesn't jeopardize the people he's supposed to help!! Sure you have to walk a ways but "if you do it smart, then you don't have to worry about another plan". I guess that's the main problem I have with some of the CW episodes: they kinda sacrifice the intelligence of the characters for an ok story. :L I think the intelligence of the characters sometimes makes the story good. Maybe that's why they had to leave Cody behind. He'd be too smart and they'd still be on their way to the rebel base. X) So in that way I'm glad they left him behind because I'd hate him to be like, "Oh sure." to their plan.
Cody would also be the guy to give Lux and that one leader guy a serious talk about getting along. You can't have people squabbling in your regiment or the whole your whole operation is in jeopardy. I don't mean to complain but the thing between Lux and Ahsoka is getting annoying. Xp I don't even really understand why they like eachother that much. Ok, so they talked and had a debate in one episode and after that they liked each other. I liked the idea of Rex and Ahsoka better. They had actually known each other for more than an episode and had been through a lot of stuff together. I'm pretty sure Rex had a sad/slightly jealous look on his face when Ahsoka was giving Lux the goo-goo eyes at the end of the episode. The poor clone gets no love, save from his fangirls. X) And Cody gets even less. DX
I liked the creatures in this episode. It seems like they've been adding more culture and flavor to the Clone Wars, which is exactly how it is! XD <3 I love seeing all the different architecture and flora and fauna. Now for the actual cultures themselves! I want to see some cultural beliefs, some culture-based rules or speculations! :D Like 'Jedi are really sorcerers' or that 'such-and-such is a bad omen so we can't go out fighting today'. Personally, (I know this is getting really digressive and long for something on twitter) I think that the Jedi are kinda like missionaries from the old days. They're kinda disillusioned and don't quite understand the culture. They have the right intentions but are kinda pushing their views on the people, and not taking into account the native's beliefs or reasoning. There are a million things that could be a fault why the people are hesitant about doing something. Example: Maybe by killing people from their planet they'd be committing an offense to the earth spirit or something. Because the Jedi never think to ask, they'll never know this. This being something that could tear their people apart and break a traditional peacekeeping mechanism...*sigh*That's all I've got to say.
I thought the new CW episode was ok. Finally, it had a clone in it. My question still remains *in batman voice*: WHERE IS CODY!!!? I know they just want me to write more to fill in these places *sarcasm*, but I was sad last season because we didn't even get to see his face! X'C What is he doing on his own? Do I seriously need to write another book to fill all this in??! It was an ok episode, I felt like there was some plot holes that, ironically, I cover in my books. Like how the droids found them because their drop ship dropped them off close to where the rebel base is. I was like, "Duh!" right away because in my book Cody makes a point to land like a few HUNDRED miles away so he doesn't jeopardize the people he's supposed to help!! Sure you have to walk a ways but "if you do it smart, then you don't have to worry about another plan". I guess that's the main problem I have with some of the CW episodes: they kinda sacrifice the intelligence of the characters for an ok story. :L I think the intelligence of the characters sometimes makes the story good. Maybe that's why they had to leave Cody behind. He'd be too smart and they'd still be on their way to the rebel base. X) So in that way I'm glad they left him behind because I'd hate him to be like, "Oh sure." to their plan.
Cody would also be the guy to give Lux and that one leader guy a serious talk about getting along. You can't have people squabbling in your regiment or the whole your whole operation is in jeopardy. I don't mean to complain but the thing between Lux and Ahsoka is getting annoying. Xp I don't even really understand why they like eachother that much. Ok, so they talked and had a debate in one episode and after that they liked each other. I liked the idea of Rex and Ahsoka better. They had actually known each other for more than an episode and had been through a lot of stuff together. I'm pretty sure Rex had a sad/slightly jealous look on his face when Ahsoka was giving Lux the goo-goo eyes at the end of the episode. The poor clone gets no love, save from his fangirls. X) And Cody gets even less. DX
I liked the creatures in this episode. It seems like they've been adding more culture and flavor to the Clone Wars, which is exactly how it is! XD <3 I love seeing all the different architecture and flora and fauna. Now for the actual cultures themselves! I want to see some cultural beliefs, some culture-based rules or speculations! :D Like 'Jedi are really sorcerers' or that 'such-and-such is a bad omen so we can't go out fighting today'. Personally, (I know this is getting really digressive and long for something on twitter) I think that the Jedi are kinda like missionaries from the old days. They're kinda disillusioned and don't quite understand the culture. They have the right intentions but are kinda pushing their views on the people, and not taking into account the native's beliefs or reasoning. There are a million things that could be a fault why the people are hesitant about doing something. Example: Maybe by killing people from their planet they'd be committing an offense to the earth spirit or something. Because the Jedi never think to ask, they'll never know this. This being something that could tear their people apart and break a traditional peacekeeping mechanism...*sigh*That's all I've got to say.
Sunday, October 14, 2012
How To Draw a Head (Like me! :D *insert TDK Joker voice *)
Wondering how I draw heads?? Want to learn how I draw heads to my characters???! We'll let's start!! :D Here's a few tips, tricks, and steps to draw a head!
One thing to keep in mind, is that the way I draw or think about things and the way you might draw or think about things are probably different. I'm basically a self-taught artist so what I do to sketch things is not necessarily by the books. (Though I did pick up some techniques and hints from various drawing books and artists.) Therefore I will apologize ahead of time if you become completely confused or your drawing (if you're sketching along) doesn't turn out quite like mine. That's the point though--to draw something that's unique to the way you think. The main thing is to have FUN!! XD [Picture examples are beneath the step they're describing.]
Ok, STEP 1: Before I even pick up my pencil I have already formed an image of what I want to draw in my mind. I think this is one of the most important steps simply because without using imagination my drawings would lack the thought that makes them interesting (to me at least ;) and fun to draw. And the more you imagine what you really want to draw, the more details you can add the better! Details, for me, are a big thing and I go a little overboard sometimes. X7
STEP 2: Now that you've got a good idea of what you're going to draw, go ahead and draw a circle. As you can (barely ]:L ) see I made this a very light circle (using a 4h pencil, but you can use any pencil you want as long as you draw lightly). While we're talking about light lines, I think it would be useful if I recommended that you make all the lines light at first. Not only does this help with erasing should you make a mistake, but these are all 'primary' lines--meaning that they are just for the layout and will probably be darkened later.
STEP 3: Like step 2, draw an equally light line vertically down the center of the circle. Or you can put it however you see the face turned as this is the center line in which the nose will lie. As you can see, mine is slightly off center, meaning that his face is turned slightly to our right.
STEP 4: Next draw the jaw and cheeks / sides of face. If your drawing's face is off center as mine is, you will have one more angled side (the jaw) than the other. If not, then your sketch should have both sides smooth arc-like lines for cheeks.
STEP 5: Next, draw a line where you envision the brows to lie.
STEP 6: There are several things going on in this step. One, draw circles were you have the ear(s). If your head is turned like mine is, then you will probably only see one ear. Then draw the hair line. This just where, if your sketch's face had a short haircut, you would see their hair end and the skin on the forehead start. I always do this to make sure I don't put their hair up too high or too low (as I often do :p ). I typically draw three to six little lines to mark the different 'corners' where the character's hair follows. (You may have to look closely to spot where I put this in my drawing as this is kinda hard to see, since the picture is so light. :L Sorry.)
STEP 6: Begin shaping the jaw corner and cheek (This is kinda one of those steps where it doesn't really matter when you do it so long as it's before you darken all the lines.). For this one, think about how you want to draw your character's face. What shape do you want to make it? Since this is a clone, I made his jaw a little sqaurer and his cheekbone (just below where I'm about to put the eye) stand out more. Like I said, it all depends on how you uniquely designed your character. ;)
STEP 7: Continue darkening (slightly, encase you make a mistake) the line along your character's jaw, chin, and cheek(s). Depending on where you imagined the sketch's head turned, you may see the top of the ear or just the side. Since my drawing's face is slightly turned I see the top of the ear a little (that funny little turn of skin, you know) but the parts of the ear closer to me will appear larger, hence why one doesn't see the back of the ear.
STEP 8: Next, draw that little weird triangle of cartilage that's under that little ridge of skin we just drew for the top of the ear. Next draw the nose. What I do to draw a nose is first I start with the bridge of the nose, just between the eyes, right on that center line we drew earlier. Then we follow that line until just past the bottom of that circle we drew to form the tip of the nose. Depending on whether your character is male of female, the nose may be completely different than mine (clones tend to have broader noses ;). Just remember that most noses aren't extremely pointy, there is a certain point where it rounds at the end. Noses are just one of those things that take practice and observation to get the hang of. :)
Draw where you imagine the tops of the brows to lie. Also this depends on whether your character is male of female and how you imagined the shape of their eyebrows to look. Clones tend to have an angled brow that is raised where the bone of the forehead slopes aside to the temple. Like step 6, it doesn't really matter which of these steps go first. However, I like to do the tops of the brows first so I can get a good feel for where the nose should lie.
STEP 9: Next, draw the tops of the eyes. I typically use a straight line that's tapered downwards in varying degrees at the ends for the tops of my characters' eyes. Males tend to have more square eyes where females have more round eyes. The shape of the eyes will also depend on the expression on your character's face. I imagined my clone's face has kind of a serious/focused expression on it so his eyes won't be too terribly wide since his brows are furrowed. Notice I've also connected those little dashes to complete his hairline and darkened around his ear more with the 4h pencil. You can also see that I've added that a slightly slanted line from the back of his head to the edge of the hairline. That's to mark where the line from shorter to longer hair length in his military haircut is.
STEP 10: Then I drew the bottom of his eyes and the pupils. Notice the little circle towards the upper right of each eye? That's the spot I'll leave white when I shade in his eyes. Depending on where you imagined your light-source this spot may be different. At this point I've also erased the 'guide/primary lines'.
STEP 11: Now I've finished in the bottom of his eyebrows. I've also drawn in his lips. Lips were soooo hard for me to draw because I would always make my male character's lips look too feminine. :/ The secret is to draw one half then the other. First I drew the left hand side, curving and shading upwards ever so slightly, before doing the right hand side. The bottom lip is just a little dash, slightly thicker in the middle, a little ways under the dip in the upper lip. Sorry if this part is kinda hard to understand, I should do a lips tutorial to explain this better. X)
STEP 12: Here a perfect example of why it's good to draw lightly first, I messed up his chin. 8C OH NOOOO! Thank God for Mars plastic erasers!!!! As you can see I made his chin/face too long. Luckily it was an easy fix. All I had to do was erase the parts below the bottom of his nose.
From the lines I drew off to the side, you can see the rough estimation one may use to gauge proper placement for the top of the head, brows, eyes, bottom of the nose, mouth, and chin. I'm bad at thinking in things mathematically, being more of a 'if it looks right, then it's good' person, but this might help you see where I went wrong before.
STEP 13: Next, I've added some additional lines to his face such as cheek bones/jaw muscle and that odd little ridge between the temple and the edge of the forehead. These lines are to make the face look a bit more 3 dimensional and do help when one has reached the final shading process.
STEP 14: Now I've drawn in the neck. This is just two lines that taper depending on how your sketch's head is turned. Since mine is kinda sideways, I drew the lines at the corner of the chine and a little past the corner of the jawbone. Cody is sort of a muscular guy so his neck naturally will be a bit more filled out. This is an important thing to consider when drawing your character as the amount of muscle will affect the shape of their face and body. Girls will tend to have thinner necks (unless their a little on the heavy side).
STEP 15: Now I've darkened the most of the lines except some of the expression lines (between his brows and above the upper 'slope' of muscle above his eyebrows), the and the line of his skull on the edge of his forehead. Like I said before, this all depends on the makeup of your character. If they are young and muscular like Cody, then they may have visible muscles like his. Most of the time they do have some muscular lines apparent when there's an expression on their face, but sometimes it's in different places or not as visible. Just something to keep in mind. :)
STEP 16: Ok, here I've shaded in his eye brows and draw in the lines for his neck. For the eyebrows I just used the base shade I wanted them to be as I'll add detail later. With the neck I drew a horizontal line to show the edge of the neck of his bodyglove (that skin tight black fabric the clones wear), and two slanted, vertical lines for his neck muscle. If you look at your own neck, you may see two lines like this on either side of where your adam's apple is. These are muscles that help your head turn from side to side or look up and down. Just put your hand on the side of the neck and move your head, you will feel the muscle tensing and relaxing. I draw these lines to help me remember where this muscle is when I shade his neck later. Like the other muscles you have drawn, the placement and structure of these neck muscles will change depending on what position you draw your character's head to be in. And whether they're male or female.
STEP 17: Now comes one of my favorite parts: the eyes!!! XD I always try to picture eyes as liquid so when I draw them I want the light to move through them. I do this by first shading the uppermost part of the eye along that top line of the eyelid. If you look at your own eye you will probably notice that there is a shadow below your eyelid. This is because the eyelid is blocking some of the light so I'll shade this area heavily. Again, depending on where your light source is and how the head is turned the width of this first shading will change (thicker or thinner).
See how I've done this in the picture below? It's just a set of lines that are very close together/overlapping. I've even done a technique where you shade very lightly first and then shade each layer darker to the eyelid. I guess whatever technique works for you, use it. :)
STEP 18: Here you can see how I erased the (our) right side of his forehead to make this brow not so large and swollen looking. If he was a caveman I might have left it the way it was but since Cody's brow is more angular, I chose to reduce the size of it. ;D Some characters might have cavemen brows so if that's your character then go right ahead and leave it! :) I guess I could liken drawing to pottery: you continue molding your work as you go along. As you can see, I've also shaded in his other eye--following the same light-to-dark as his other eye.
STEP 19: Yay!! Time for my second favorite thing to draw!: hair!!! X) Since Cody has short hair I'm going to draw it by drawing lines that kinda swoop upwards. If his hair was wet, I might draw more horizontal lines to give the effect of his hair being damp and lying more closely to his head. But since it's dry I'm going to stick with these vertical slants. (see arrow) To give the impression of there being individual hairs try to draw the lines with slight spacing and shading variation. When you do this it tends also give the effect of layers and dimension.
Ok, so Cody really has wavy hair but since it's so short we can't really tell that save for the direction it's pointing. If your character has longer hair or curly hair you may want to draw more of a swirling pattern with the direction the lines are pointing. Sorry, that sounds really cryptic. I should really do a how to draw tutorial for each of these features (mouth, nose, hair...). ;P
See how I'm drawing a lighter, more tight set of lines for the shorter hair on the side of his army cut? (arrow is pointing to what I'm talking about)
To add perspective, I put another set of lines around the edge of his head to show where the light is and the curvature of the skull. The second (see second arrow) shade is only a bit lighter and falls directly below the first, darker shade.
By now I've also darkened his eyebrows to the way I want them. This is drawing little vertically slanted lines within where I had already shaded in. This technique gives the eyebrow the appearance of actually being made of hair instead of just a block of shadow or something.
STEP 20: here I've begun to work on that black bodyglove that's on his neck. Since it is smooth and form fitting it must follow the contours of his neck. To imply the smooth texture of the fabric I've drawn the lines close together and relatively the same pressure applied to each stroke so it's more flowing (see arrow). As you can see I've begun to shade in the body glove, following the natural curve of his neck and muscles. To show where I know to draw more lightly to give the effect of light reflecting off the more raised areas of his neck, I've drawn these three light circles as guides (see rightmost arrow). I typically don't draw those circles there but for your sake, so you can kinda see what I'm imagining. :)
Yay! You're finally done! :D ....Unless you wanted to go all out and shade in your character's face. Then again, why not! I tend to use a light pencil and the technique of shading with lines close together, then going over with a blending tortillion for a smoother look. Just keep drawing until it's exactly/close to how you imagined it. :)
Then you may become as insane as me (*insert Joker laugh here* :) and draw nonstop!! X3
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
My Minecraft Adventures! --Tandem
Sorry I haven't been posting anything lately, I've been pretty busy with school. Last week I had three exams. Oh well, now I'm back! :D
Here's a world that's become my "roller-coaster" world. I call it Tandem. I was just messing around with how to create a world with numbers and got this. (sorry I didn't write down the number. :[ ) This screenshot is a little old, but you can see at least part of the main mountainous region that Tandem makes up. I'm using Glimmar's Steampunk texture pack at that moment (I just love the packs that have the neat glowstone skin like the one in my hand). Hope you enjoy this meager little tidbit of blogging! :D Now I must get back to reading psychology.
Here's a world that's become my "roller-coaster" world. I call it Tandem. I was just messing around with how to create a world with numbers and got this. (sorry I didn't write down the number. :[ ) This screenshot is a little old, but you can see at least part of the main mountainous region that Tandem makes up. I'm using Glimmar's Steampunk texture pack at that moment (I just love the packs that have the neat glowstone skin like the one in my hand). Hope you enjoy this meager little tidbit of blogging! :D Now I must get back to reading psychology.
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