April 2014 End of the Month

Wow, April was SO busy!

This is how I did:

I should do something musical, play piano or sing or something: I didn't record anything but yes, I sang and played the piano more than usual and jammed with my friends :)

Blog post two things that aren't report cards. Done and Done, posted about drawing Malekith and a Review of The Winter Soldier.

Finish Math. Shouldn't take me more than 5 school days including tests. So done. I finished about 2 days before my friends arrived.

Work on my artwork. The project that never ends: Yup. got that done. I actually did a fair amount of solely digital art this month along with my traditional stuff.

Crochet some stuff, I've got a hat to finish and yarn to use: not as much as I was thinking I could do, but hey I was otherwise occupied with my buddies for two whole weeks :P

Have fun with my friends who are coming to TURKEY!!!!!!!! Nailed this one. So totaly nailed this one.

Nicole's is here.

Cheerio!

Captain America The Winter Soldier Review

Stopped by in Tekirdag on Friday and caught Captain America the Winter Soldier in the theatre. Thought I'd get the review done quickly this time so I don't forget about it :P.

So, negatives first. The movie starts off pretty calmly but the action hardly takes a pause from about halfway through until the end. And it isn't all bloodless pummelling from afar. Various characters die, are shot, and take a number of truly brutal poundings with equally brutal close-ups. There are also a couple of disturbing moments, one of which being when we find out that a man has basically put his brain in a machine and is much more of a creepster than originally assumed. And you remember Loki's theory about making mankind free of freedom? Yeah that's basically the new bad guy's philosophy. The bad guys also discuss the murder of several million people and display a disturbing lack of empathy or even concern for events taking place. There are a couple of decidedly awkward scenes when various characters allude to their less than pristine morals, there is also a kiss, to avoid detection by an enemy, and the dialogue is interspersed with a couple of assorted swears.  Also there is lamentably little humour to lighten the oppressive negativity of this film. There are a few laughs, but not nearly enough to make it a film I'd watch a lot. And to make me care even less for this film it ends in a cliff hanger, not even a good cliff hanger like Thor 2, just enough of a cliff hanger to make you wonder what happens next. (By the way, the after credits scene was also creepy.)

On the upside, turns out Captain America is working for Sheild and having well founded authority issues, while Nick Fury is starting to wonder if there's something going on within Sheild that even he doesn't know about. Black Widow also gets her fair share of character development which I appreciated. The twists and turns and various reveals of this movie keep you at least interested throughout the film. The visual effects were stunning, if rather over done in some instances. And the metal wings on the Falcon? Wow, so cool. Few as they were there are some truly funny parts and a couple of "Aww" moments. Also, the Winter Soldier was about everything you could want for an arch minion of a big evil guy. He matches Cap punch for punch and it's quite impressive. There are some other plusses I'd like to mention but I shan't give you any spoilers.

To conclude, I really liked several aspects of this film one in particular regarding the Winter Soldier, but the intense action, severe lack of humour, and decided creepiness of some of the scenes makes this a movie I wouldn't necessarily recommend. And as far as the cliff hanger goes, yes I want to know what happens next, but sorry Marvel. I'll be borrowing it from the library or renting from the movie store. I don't care that much. 

Malekith

So, I drew Malikith from Thor The Dark World, and I decided to show you how I did it.

I drew it in pencil first, photographed it with Nicole's camera and cropped it: 

Then I used the Lighten/Darken and Brightness/Contrast features in Photoshop elements to make the colouring more dramatic:

Then I decided that I'd try some colour and added his blue eye:

 Then I added a new layer and set it to "Soft Light" and added some yellow and dark blue to the highlights and shadows respectively:

I adjusted a couple of the shadows and adjusted where the light hit and voila!

April 2014 Report Card

Welcome to April guys!

This month:

I should do something musical, play piano or sing or something...

Blog post two things that aren't report cards.

Finish Math. Shouldn't take me more than 5 school days including tests.

Work on my artwork. The project that never ends...

Crochet some stuff, I've got a hat to finish and yarn to use!

Have fun with my friends who are coming to TURKEY!!!!!!!!

Nicole's Goals are here.