Friday, October 26, 2007

Happy Halloween


I'm leaving for Durham tomorrow and won't have computer access for a week or so, so I thought I'd post something on my way out. I did this werewolf sketch waaaaay back in May. Not sure why. It was just one of those times where I put down a couple of lines before I even realized what I was going to draw. Most of the way through the drawing, I started to realize that I hated it. Absolutely despised it. It just didn't turn out the way I'd intended. But, having stumbled across it today while clearing out some files on my computer, I seem to have warmed to it a little. I still don't think it's a particularly convincing werewolf but at least it doesn't make the gorge rise up in my throat. And since this is my last post before Halloween, it seemed appropriate to post it.

Christian sent me the finished inks on the Sphinx contest piece and they look great. Since I'm leaving town, he's agreed to also color it for me and print out the submission. Be sure to check it out on his blog in a couple days or so. He's already posted his own submission, a drawing of the Hitman villain, Mawzir. He graciously let me color it for him while he was inking my piece. Heywood's already chimed in, so give him your $0.02 here.

I watched SUPERMAN: DOOMSDAY tonight with dinner. I've had it for some time but didn't have the time to give it the attention it deserved. It was really good but if you haven't seen it and you're expecting a faithful adaptation, you may be disappointed. There are no appearances by any other Justice Leaguers nor are any of the replacement Supermen involved. That didn't bother me as I wasn't a big fan of the original comic book epic anyway. I thought they wove I nice tale in the time in which they were allowed to tell it. The fight scenes were very impressive and well-choreographed. I had to keep reminding myself that this stuff was all 2-D animation. One word of warning for you parents out there, though. This movie, though a cartoon, is strictly adult fare. The fight scenes are brutal and the directors (including Bruce Timm) don't shy away from graphic violence. And the body count, including some on-camera deaths, is high. Even some of the language was surprisingly harsh, including several "hells" and "damns" and a reference to Satan's butthole. Seriously. Even the sexual nature of Lois and Superman's relationship, though handled tastefully, raised my eyebrows. Nothing is shown on screen but viewers aren't left hanging as to whether or not they're "doin' it." They most definitely are. I watched this instead of my usual Halloween-time horror movie because I was feeling a little down tonight and didn't feel up to a bunch of gore and screaming. I thought a cartoon would cheer me up. Turned out not to be the case, as entertaining as it was, because of some of the subject matter. (The funeral and the grieving scenes with Lois and Martha Kent.) Still, I enjoyed it and highly recommend it. Just not for your kids.

All right, I'm off. I hope you all have a great Halloween and eat some candy for me. I'm already looking forward to next year!

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Appreciate the preview of Supe's cartoon-was going to rent it for the kids-lucky me the youngest threw a fit for Brats;Superbabies-then again, maybe I should have taken Doomsday.
I watched it due to I like to see what the kids view. All I can say what happened to "our" cartoons?
The 70's and 80's had the best stuff.
I Youtube alot of that stuff and came across GALAXY RANGERS! The first couple episodes were the best, and had a too short of run (for me)...but the best part was the opening piece w/theme song.
Memories...
Matt, stop "joshin'" us, you know that werewolf pic kicks butt!

Parker said...

I still need to watch that. Oh, and..

BOO!

Squeeze said...

Love your werewolf. Love the coloring on this. Thanks for posting it.

Best Halloween story was when Matt and I were engaged. He came over to the house I was renting with my two girlfriends for Halloween. When he found out that neighborhood got a lot of kids trick or treating, he quickly made up a ghost costume from a bed sheet and some black paint. He volunteered to give out the candy. He opens the door and there stands a little 3 year old who sees this 6 foot 4 scary ghost and immediately starts crying. Matt didn't know what to do so he shut the door in this kids face. He tells us what happened and when we open the door, the kid is still standing there crying!! We tried to explain the the kid that he was a friendly ghost but he was not having it and continued to cry so we had to send Matt to the kitchen until we could give the kid candy and send him on his way with his parents. That was the best Halloween we ever had giving out candy. Tons of kids in costume. The next year we got maybe 10 kids all night.

renecarol said...

That's a great story. My daughter is absolutely scared of everything. clowns, mascots, anything in a mask pretty much (or good makeup like a painted skull face or something).

I really like the werewolf too. I was thinking it reminded me of something from a cartoon I watched when I was a kid. But my brain just can't make the connection as to what it looks like it is from. It definitely has a nostalgic feel to it.

Josh said...

That's an awesome looking werewolf. How did you color that?

Josh said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Josh said...

I mean I know you color it digitally, but how does the process work?

Matt Wieringo said...

In Photoshop, I make the inks the top layer and set it to "multiply". I then color on the layer below that. If I'm adding highlight effects or something I may want to adjust later, I put that on a separate layer to be safe. If I'm doing color holds, that goes on a layer above the inks.

DC recently put out a great book on coloring for comics by, I think, Mark Chiarello. I hightly recommend it.