C. Gockel's Blog, page 74
March 15, 2015
Gah ...
Took my first stab at drawing Bohdi this morning … and by all accounts missed the mark. I don’t have the perfect model for it, and that is a problem. I didn’t quite have the perfect model for Loki either—I slenderized the model’s face a bit and changed his hair in all three of the pictures (One, Two, Three), but it was already the right color, and his skin tones were good.
For Bohdi I need a young man of East Indian descent WITH GOOD LIGHT and no beard. I would like at least two photos, so I can do slightly different angles (Warriors will probably be Amy and Fenrir).
The body shape doesn’t matter too much. For the pictures of Loki I stuck the head on two of the bodies without too much trouble. But the face and good light have to be right. Also—it’s easier to slenderize a face than give a stronger jaw (that was my lesson this morning—I have a model who is too young. I thought I could age him. No.)
March 14, 2015
I’LL HAVE ANOTHER! I just finished Saga Volume Two, and I’m...
I’LL HAVE ANOTHER! I just finished Saga Volume Two, and I’m about to purchase Volume Three. I reviewed Saga Vol. One a few days ago. I liked the art, and in general liked the story, but felt there were a couple things in the plot that didn’t make sense. Well I understand why one of those things happened now, and am pretty sure I know why the second one happened, so my one quibble with the comic is no more. I read the Volume Two and I liked it even more. Maybe because I know the characters more. Maybe it was just nice to see more of the main couple’s backstory.
The themes of life, death, friendship and parenthood are all going here. With life comes sex, and with death comes violence. It’s definitely NOT a children’s book. It is incredibly imaginative, and I like the mix of magic and science. I’m buying Volume Three right now.
March 13, 2015
ibringthefireodin:party-in-the-blue-box:cute-overload:All perked...
All perked up
http://cute-overload.tumblr.com
source: http://imgur.com/r/aww/YVXDk71
Look cgockel ibringthefireodin!!!! Ratatoskr being cute.
Oh, gosh, just saw this! Now a drabble:
x x x x
Ratatoskr scampered across the Jotunheim snow, shining blue in the sunlight. “Kid, this realm is colder than a Yeti’s chit-a-chat. If you want to take a short cut home through Nornheim, I might be able to provide that for you.”
Bohdi hissed at the squirrel. “Fuck you.”
Ratatoskr ran a paw through his whiskers. “Well technically it wouldn’t be me you’d be—”
“No!”
x x x x
Hey, I wrote in past tense! I’m using past tense for my current WIP and apparently it is contagious. This scene was almost, but not quite, in Ragnarok. Thanks for the adorable picture. Sorry for the less than adorable language.
party-in-the-blue-box Just saw this yesterday. A drabble for your wait.
March 12, 2015
When do you think we will get to see drawings of Bohdi?
I’m working on one now! I started it last night after trolling the intertubes for way too many hours. If I could just take Suraj Sharma’s likeness from the dance scene in Life of Pi and throw it on random bodies in poses I need it would be great. But also it would be illegal. And there aren’t many stock photos of Indian men … and stock photos in general tend to be kind of flat.
But I think I found someone workable—high contrast, almost the right facial features. But he looks like he is 16! If I think if I strengthen his jaw a bit and give him broader shoulders he’ll be perfect.
I’m going to try and put Amy on Warriors, and if I get brave Amy and Bohdi on Ragnarok.
party-in-the-blue-box:cute-overload:All perked...
All perked up
http://cute-overload.tumblr.com
source: http://imgur.com/r/aww/YVXDk71
Look cgockel ibringthefireodin!!!! Ratatoskr being cute.
Oh, gosh, just saw this! Now a drabble:
x x x x
Ratatoskr scampered across the Jotunheim snow, shining blue in the sunlight. “Kid, this realm is colder than a Yeti’s chit-a-chat. If you want to take a short cut home through Nornheim, I might be able to provide that for you.”
Bohdi hissed at the squirrel. “Fuck you.”
Ratatoskr ran a paw through his whiskers. “Well technically it wouldn’t be me you’d be—”
“No!”
x x x x
Hey, I wrote in past tense! I’m using past tense for my current WIP and apparently it is contagious. This scene was almost, but not quite, in Ragnarok. Thanks for the adorable picture. Sorry for the less than adorable language.
March 11, 2015
sunandsilicon:I look at this and I see African art nouveau, and...
I look at this and I see African art nouveau, and I’m really excited about it. We need more African art nouveau. ARTISTS AND DESIGNERS, GET ON IT!
Fashionable Valkyrie wings?
March 10, 2015
Ragnarok
Just random thoughts and confessions.
Spoilers below the cut.
(For anyone who gets here looking for the next Thor movie, this is actually for the I Bring the Fire series. First book FREE—just clink on the links at the side).
The Larson/Geror relationship makes me cry. I think it could work out. But gah. Hard!
Rush: I’ve noticed that some of the worst misogynists have mommy issues. Sometimes these issues are imagined. But sometimes they are real, earned mommy issues … mom’s that were narcissists, or didn’t like rambunctious little boys, cheated on their dads, or had drug issues. I would kind of like to think there might be hope for most misogynists—because thinking that they will continue to see me as less than human is kind of too painful to bear. I think Rush’s issues were earned (I’m imagining his mom was an alcoholic who was unavailable in every way). I don’t think that is a free pass—one horrible relationship doesn’t give you the right to devalue half the human race (or even a tenth or a quarter). But I think if it’s understood as a sickness with origins, maybe it can be cured? If the person who is like that confronts the issues. Maybe Amy could make him confront the issues—deliver an ultimatum. She’d need Bohdi’s help to do it, but I think that Bohdi would be willing. He doesn’t like Rush, and I could see Rush doing something so vile (or saying something so vile) that Bohdi would want to kill him and Amy would be all, “No! Let’s cure him.”
Why Bohdi hates Rush … I think Rush is Bohdi in a warped mirror. Like Bohdi he’s motivated by emotion, and will do anything for his friends. But unlike Bohdi I don’t think Rush realizes what an emotional creature he is. He is so illogical. (Women as hypergamous solipsistic sluts is a inherent contradiction.) Also Rush calls him Hadji … in the beginning I think he’s trying to be an ass, but later, I think Rush does it because he likes Bohdi, but might be a little afraid of him and jealous of him at the same time, and also he might look up to him a little too. Bohdi is bigger than Rush in just about every way (even taller!) So Rush calls him Hadji at the end of the book to try and prove to himself that he isn’t afraid of the skinny Indian guy who gets the girl, who has wickedly good plans, and who is really good at killing people and blowing things up.
Amy and Bohdi … I think they will wind up together, but I could see them as having a rocky start. I could see Bohdi as becoming more Shiva than Loki—and more dangerous for it. And I could see Bohdi seeing Amy’s life more valuable than all others. Since Amy can’t die, if she was threatened, say in a hostage situation, I could see him pulling a move where everyone died—man, woman, and child—so that she would never be in a situation of spending an eternity in captivity. In his mind death is quick, and not so horrible. She can’t have it. So her life would be worth more. That would be hard on both of them.
Also, they’re both not even 30 yet!
Claire … way too young to have that hammer. She’d be a terror for a while. But then, so often was Thor.
So everyone knows … I imagine Dale, Brett, Bryant, and Harding working on a device that would allow Sleipnir to talk to humans. Sleipnir actually has a brilliant mind for the physics of time travel, because, well … duh! So he earns his Ph. D. and becomes a professor at the University of Chicago. Somewhat to the consternation of Starflower and Pearl Horn, and much to the amazement (and sometimes prejudice) of the two legs at the university.
Go ahead and post spoilers in the comments! And thoughts.
(Comic) Book Review SAGA, Volume 1I finished my series, so I...
(Comic) Book Review SAGA, Volume 1
I finished my series, so I took a bit of time to relax. Saga has been on my TBR list for a while. I liked some of the artwork panels I saw online. The story is about a young couple from rival species (notice one has wings, the other has horns), and their baby. The story is told from the baby’s POV (see the adorable leetle horns? So cute.) It has a nice blend of action, adventure, science, believable characters and magic.
It is NOT for children. There is sex depicted, and nudity, and violence. It isn’t erotic—oh, hell, maybe for some it would be—for me it was like being back in figure drawing class. (The violence IS NOT sexual in nature).
Anyway, figure drawing is one of my favorite things, and the illustrations are beautiful—especially the faces/bodies. Some reviewers commented that the backgrounds were too simple, but personally, I felt like that made it easier to focus on the characters. I saw it as a feature, not a bug.
There were a few things in the plot that had me scratching my head—more in the side character side of things. I think with comics it may be harder to depict complex thoughts, so some of the leaps of logic of the antagonists I wasn’t quite sure of.
Anyway, already bought Saga, Vol 2.
March 9, 2015
"All adventure stories need antagonists to challenge the heroes. These can be natural enemies – sea..."
- Tish Farrell (via writingquotes)
