joe randel's art dump

I think this past year and a bit I’ve watched more anime then I ever have.  That might sound like a lot, but really it just means I’ve watches two complete series.  One was Sky Girls, which I’ve gone over before and the other was Strike Witches (I’ll make a post about that later).  I also took in the reboot of a series I love to watch, but not sure why exactly… Evangelion Rebuild: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone. I can’t really explain the fascination with the series.  I guess it’s mostly because I’m trying so hard to peel it apart and understand the hidden messages with in it, although I also believe that those messages are so absurdly cryptic that they could be interpreted very differently among just about everyone.

I’ve watched the full tv series plus the two movies (Death and Rebirth) as they all try and clear up an ending that just about no one really understands. So when I heard that Gainax was doing a reboot of the series, I was totally for it.  It’ll be a series of 4 movies that retell/reshape the original.  The first one has been released on DVD and the second one will be out in the spring and after watching 1.0… I can’t wait.

If you’ve seen the original series, then you’ll find that 1.0 is pretty much the same.  They’ve cut out some parts and steamed lined more as well so it flows better.  Some parts have been moved around so it makes more sense and in others, they’ve beefed up the animation so it fits more with today’s standards.  It’s truly more epic then the original and for sure worth the watch, because it’s after this first movie that the major changes start to occur.  New characters and new events will start to turn everything on it’s head.

So if you’re a fan of Evangelion or maybe some one who’s stayed away from it because of the complexity of the series, I totally recommend this new take on the show.  It’s much easier to grasp in this new format.

JOE RECOMMENDS – Evangelion: 1.01 You Are (Not) Alone – Movie $9.99

As any artist knows, nothings beats having a real live model to draw from.  But we don’t all keep nude people around our house for just such an occasion nor do we all have friends that would pose nude for us.  It would be pretty sweet though.  There are substitutes that will work in a pinch.  There are those god awful wooden artist dummies, Stikfas toys and, my favorite, Microman: Material Force figures.  But if you’re feeling fancy and have money to burn in your pocket… you can check out this little number.

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So I’ve wanted to make this post for a long time.  It’s on an anime figure.  Not just any figure though… a naughty one.  Probably the naughtiest one I’ve ever seen.

The figure is from eroge makers Gigapule’s series called Butterfly’s Dream.  Now while the figure seems to star a bondaged up anime girl with removable blanket and panties, but the real focus is on her companion.  ^_^

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Okay, so here’s the deal.  I wasn’t 100% happy with the first TinkerBell pic.  It was nice, but not awesome.  I could tell I was rusty when I was drawing it and Tink gave me a hard time (she wouldn’t stay on model).  So I needed to have another go at her… and I’m absolutely thrilled with this one.  It’s the same idea as the first, just done differently.

I love how the her eyes came out on this one and, as strange as it sounds, feel like my spooge rendering is much better then the last.

Any new thoughts on this one?

So this is the first pic of 2010!  WOO!!!

When I thought of this one I was super excited.  I was all like “Oh man… this one is going to rock!”  But as it got going I realized that TinkerBell is hard to draw.  Well… I though so was anyway.  I used the new 3D TinkerBell movies as my reference, which was all great, but for some reason I just couldn’t get her looking right.  A long story short, she ended up going though several revisions before this one.

I happy with the pic, but I will admit that it was a bit rushed at the end and as a result… I think I want to try a new TinkerBell pic in the future.  I even have ideas already.  But other then that, I”m happy with her and the amount of spooge we’ve got going here.

How about you?  Any comments?

On Feb 9th (one month from now) I will turn 33 years old.

Another year survived!

Everybody… START YOUR PRESENTS!!!!

^_^