Wednesday, March 23, 2016

Man of Steel portrait and a little movie review

My friends who have noticed that all I ever seem to draw lately outside of my Fiverr commissions are women thought it was a cheat that the male portrait I recently did was in a mask asked me to do one without a disguise. Since the last one was of Batman, I thought it made sense that I draw Superman especially since I'm hyped for the upcoming Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice movie.
I admit, among the comicbook superheroes I've read as a kid I'm not as much a fan of Superman as I am of Batman or Spider-man or even the X-Men but since the only memorable comic-based film before the Tim Burton/Michael Keaton Batman was the Superman movie with Christopher Reeve, I did look forward to Man of Steel when it came out.
Despite so much bad review from movie critics and comic fans, I actually enjoyed Man of Steel. I think it made a lot of sense that Warner Bros would take a more mature, serious route after the string of successes of Marvel-based movies from Disney that shared almost the same family-friendly tone as the Superman films of the Chris Reeve era. After all, if this is to be the jumping off point towards their own unified cinematic universe, doing it exactly like Disney would attract an endless barrage of "copycat" comments from haters and Marvel fanboys.
I loved almost everything about the movie, the real world, first contact aspect to the story, Lois Lane doing some investigative journo, the big action sequences and the fact that we get to see Superman go head to head with powers beyond what the military can handle easily. The only thing that I thought they could have done away with was killing off Jonathan Kent again. I like how in the pre- New 52 comics Mr. Kent was alive and contributes greatly to Clark's personality, in how he is more morally grounded and more hopeful than most superheroes, and is still one of the people he turns to for strength and enlightenment in his newspaper and superhero careers.
In the Superman 2 movie in 1980, Superman's battle with Zod ended with Kal-El stripping his powers away at the Fortress of Solitude then tossing him into a solid wall of crystal and ice 30 feet across the room and Zod falls into an icy abyss. Despite Christopher Reeve claiming in an interview that no one dies in his series, it's pretty clear that Zod and his kryptonian cohorts did. What's worse about it was Superman did it with a triumphant smirk, when he didn't even have to hurt them much less murder them when they could no longer fight back anyway, and before the movie ends he goes on to beat up a mere human truck driver with his superhuman strength to get back at him when this man bullied him in the short time he was a powerless Clark Kent.
I like that in Man of Steel, there was clearly no other way to protect earth and humans when he is outmatched by Zod's fighting skills -a being born and bred to be a warrior/protector of Krypton now hell bent on destroying our world- and the act clearly traumatized Superman. The argument that "Superman doesn't kill" doesn't mean he wouldn't but he would only as a last resort just as it was for Doomsday.
With all the destruction left in the wake of Zod's invasion, I'm glad that Batman v Superman would show that beings with power are going to be held accountable for the collateral damage. And after all the waiting, I'm ready to see the DC Trinity finally sharing screen time together. I may have read a lot more Marvel comics as a kid with X-Men, Spider-man and Fantastic 4 but there just isn't anything between Marvel and DC that's quite as iconic as Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman.
On a side note, while I was watching "The Count of Monte Cristo" in the theatre all those years ago, I thought Jim Caviezel would have been great as Superman, had a little chuckle that years later, his kid in that movie would actually be donning those tights instead.

Tuesday, March 8, 2016

The Batfleck

https://www.fiverr.com/iphibbz/make-awesome-digital-paintings-from-your-photos
Hey, world! I've actually been posting my digital portrait practices on my personal Facebook page a lot more than on this blog lately. Have I been too busy to post on my blog? Probably. Does anybody care? Probably not.
Heck, I don't know if anyone ever sees this anyway because I don't know if I have any followers here, haha.
Anyway, because I'm such a closet lesbian and adore the female beauty so much that all I ever draw are gorgeous girls, I got a private message from someone who asked if I can actually draw guys.
This is for that person.
Incidentally, as a comic book fan with no specific preference to either DC or Marvel and a fan of the recent influx of comic book related movies and television series I am extremely excited for the Batman v Superman Dawn of Justice movie. I saw and had fun at the Deadpool movie last month and can't wait to see BvS when Easter comes this month. It feels so long ago when they announced this follow-up to Man of Steel which would be another step into the larger, interconnected DC movie-verse or DCEU and I've been ready to see this in ages. I'm about the only one among my friends who didn't go "NOOOOO....!!!" when they announced Ben Affleck in the Batman/Bruce Wayne role and with the last trailer showing him Arkham Knighting the heck out of a bunch of goons like a huge brutal beast the way he's supposed to, I was all "I told y'all he's gonna kill it!"
I honestly don't get all the pre-release hate this movie has been getting from critics and fans alike because as a movie and comic fan myself I think if this does really well, we all win whether you're a DC or Marvel fanboy. As I see it, even if Marvel has been ruling the box office a successful rival pushes it to still do better, after all not all the Marvel films are even good movies despite the remarkable amount of money they've made. Honestly, Avengers Age of Ultron was the first Josh Whedon movie that not only disappointed me, it made me want to stop shelling money out in the theatres for any more Disney-produced Marvel films.

Mrs Dantes

https://www.fiverr.com/iphibbz/make-awesome-digital-paintings-from-your-photos
This is my rendition of one of my favorite faces among Filipino actresses, the beautiful new mom, Mrs. Marian Rivera-Dantes.
I have used her likeness before on a cover of an issue of "Legend of Isis" that I drew that sadly didn't make it to print but I have made the image available on my deviant art page and also here on my blogger.
There is a timeless quality to her look that while I'm glad I got this portrait right I'm inclined to not ever attempt a portrait of her again  in the near future for fear of getting it wrong.
Although my favorite actress to portray Filipino superhero "Darna" is Angel Locsin, Marian's turn on the role was really good too -her acting is incredible and I hope she gets  cast in another superhero or superhero-like role which is better produced and more serious than her movie "Super Inday."
If you have a favorite celebrity or a favorite selfie that you'd like for me to turn into art please check out my Fiverr gig by clicking here.

Cosplay Queen Alodia

https://www.fiverr.com/iphibbz/make-awesome-digital-paintings-from-your-photos
Here's a likeness I've tried to capture at least a couple of times before, even back in the day before her celebrity status in the local showbiz scene went mainstream.
It can be argued that her self-made success in the cosplay route in the Philippines is what launched cosplaying beyond underground anime geek fad to a somewhat staple of local pop culture nowadays.With her distinct beauty and passion to express creatively with anime and gaming costumes, us geeks gained our
own idol to admire and aspire to and helped us come out to openly declare "hey, geeks are cool," and now everyone is taking notice.
She does dabble in other artistic inclinations with her equally gorgeous younger sister Ashley, like photography, music, and drawing which makes her popularity and success well-deserved and are reasons why she is recognized in cosplay and gaming fandoms overseas too.
If you have a photo of yourself or a favorite celeb you'd like for me to digitally paint, you can check my Fiverr gig here.