There is a story out there about Gene Day looking at the appendage that Dave was drawing out at the end of an arm, where the question was raised "what is that?" to which Gene says "that's a Dave Sim hand" or, at least, that is a close enough version of the story to encapsulate my reaction to the non-photo referenced drawing of Jaka that is up for auction at the moment. It's not at all a criticism, it's just that our artistic signatures will always show through, like handwriting, no matter what you try to do. That is definitely a Dave Sim hand you are looking at.
Off topic:
Joe, the "Robots and Monsters" guy, really did his homework on those drawings, and I should not assume you can catch the subtle parts.
I put "Spring, China, fireworks" together because the Chinese New Year, or Spring festival, is celebrated with fireworks. Joe called this robot "Yan-wow," which is a delightful almost-homophone of the Chinese word for fireworks ['Yanhua" (smoke and flowers) or "yanhuo" (smoke and fire, or colorful fire when yan is pronounced in a different tone) refers to fireworks].
I put "Summer, Xi'an, Warrior" together because Xi'an is the location of the first Emperor's dynasty, the same fellow who ordered the construction of the Great Wall and the terra cotta warriors. Xi'an is also the start of the Silk Road, and still hosts one of the largest Muslim populations in China, including a great mosque. It is also one of the hottest damned places I have ever visited in China, no matter what time of year. Joe called this guy "Qin" because that was the name of the first Emperor, and it is roughly pronounced "chin" and gives rise to the name of the unified country, "china."
I put "Autumn, Beijing, Moon" together because autumn is the time of year for the moon festival, which I strongly associate with Beijing (and the yummy yummy moon cakes), but for sure it is a country-wide celebration. The robot is in the shape of the CCTV building, a landmark of architecture, and so the name of the robot is "SeeSeeTeeVee."
FInally, I put "Winter, Tibet, Buddhist" together for pretty obvious reasons. The name Joe gave to this robot ("Faxian") is the Chinese name of the historical monk who brought Buddhism to Tibet from India. And the word itself now connotes "wanderer."
Pretty nicely done.
Continuing off topic, just cuz it is my blog and you can bloody well take it or leave it:
At the movies:
"2012" (from the disaster-king who brought us Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow), 2012 was more than I expected it to be - a stunning tour-de-force of special effects, for sure... just how the beejeezuz do that do that?... gracefully punctuated by little character sketches so you can catch your breath. I rather enjoyed it and did not at all notice that is was long movie... at all.
On TeeVee:
"Smallville" - I am enjoying this show quite a bit this year. I have no history with the DC universe, and the week-to-week narrative hopscotches all over the place, but it is a pretty good live-action super-hero program.
"Heroes" - It's like collecting Cerebus when half the issue was teensy-tiny little print that you cannot read - I still think there is a pony here, but I am not willing to squint in order to follow every little thing that is happening. The show is a real mess.
"V" - I like the way this is starting. In two episodes things are moving along, and the incredible distrust of anyone and everyone around you is palpable. The mystery, in my view, is just what a group of dirty, damned lizards with all of this technology actually needs from earthlings that they have to go through all the trouble of a long-term infiltration (a la Marvel's "Invasion" ... the lizards might as well be skrulls) rather than just conquering us with their big-ass spaceships. I hope there's a pay-off to that one.
"Fringe" - I'm one hour into the pilot episode from last year... so far, it has my interest.
"Lost" - Oh.. dear... LOST... if the spoiler reports are right, and the sneaky-pete on-set photos pretty much confirm those reports, I am guessing that every damned hour of that show is going to be a banquet.
1 comment:
So something not traced from a photo is still “photorealism”. Weird. Why not just call it…what’s that word…oh, REALISM.
Or an attempt at it.
And what you cite is exactly the problem the photo tracers, and non-photo tracers have; throughout the course of a single comic one can easily tell which panels they had “reference” for.
While Dave’s pose here is looser than something he’d have traced from a photo, the hands are way off (from being “realistic hands, and from being a pair of hands from the same body) and the crown of the head is off dramatically. Unless it’s a Jaka wig and it’s just misaligned.
The shoulders are shaped oddly, as is the curve from the lats to the hip; more cartoony than “real”.
The creepy facial expression, and possibly this unhealthy ‘size 0’ anatomy, is probably just something that is burned into Dave’s head after flipping through Cosmo too much.
All in all: what is the point?
As for entertainments, if you find yourself in the land of the Queen, check out Kevin Spacey in Inherit the Wind (old Vic). Good stuff. And rather scary how such a play is *still* so damn relevant.
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