Time is like the twilight zone

 

Time is such a precious thing. We have so much of it available and yet we never have enough. Ontop of that comics bend time to its will, allowing time to flow in any direction. After all, how can a series of still images represent time?

Take these two images for example. Looking at them you can tell that three minutes has passed. Yet how can you tell that? For all you know I could have just changed the time on my watch to suit my purposes. And what have I done in these three minutes? From looking at them I would guess I stayed on my computer working on this. But that's wrong. I infact got up to check my dinner in that time. But how can you tell what I did, and what I didn't do between the gaps? It is infact the information that is displayed between the lines that tells you what has, or hasn't happened.

Take this strip from my comic from my webcomic for example (Sorry that it is in pencil, haven't had the chance to digitalize it yet). Each frame is like a small pass of time, only a matter of moments really, yet you can tell time has passed for on the bottom image my character Mike is grinning where in the top one he isn't. Also you can tell that these two are talking in a certain order, yet how is that possible when you don't hear anything thus being unable to tell in which order they are talking. The placement Of the word balloons and frames is what gives you these illusions of time which under normal circumstances should be impossible. Truly time is an interesting thing when depicted on paper.

Blood in the gutter. Ewe gross

I don't c how this could be such a bloody experience. Ha did you c that? I just performed closure. Can you guess where it is? It's in the c ^_^ You see that when I write c here you automatically think see. Where as c on it's own has no meaning, see does, thus the closure. (I kind of feel that what I just wrote was rather lame O.o)

This is a strip from my web comic. As you can see it is rather old considering my style has improved tons, but it will serve my purposes for today. You see here is a good example of closure. Each frame clearly moves large distances however how can one tell that? It is closure. Closure allows us to see that Jason, my character's name, went from walking past a car in scene one, which was probably not near his home, to suddenly being in front of his front door. The next moment of closure goes from outside the house, to inside the house. It is closure that allows this to occurre.

Personally I don't see how blood is involved in all this ^_^

Vocabulary? Me no speakadah engwish

Could I have came up with a title that sounded any less lame?? Ah well not like it matters much, it's just a fail mark :P Anyway onto the show, it looks like I will have a bit of a problem with this blog. Seems I decided to get up and sick one day and was unable to go to the last class. Shame on me. I will try as best as a can, but now promises.

 

This is me. WRONG!! This is not me. This is a graphical representation of me, or rather this is a graphical representation of a photo of me. Cause if this was me, then it would be moving (Not to mention one billion times sexier *grins*).

I just loved how the first page of the chapter turned out, it really gets the cogs in your head moving as you try to understand what in the world he is going on about. Not that he is going on about anything, for all I know that blot of ink the the paper could be female and you would never know... Ok ok I gotta stop doing that hehehe.

This is an icon. It is the graphical representation of my personal favourite online webcomic hosting site "Comic Genesis". I remember reading an article on how this icon was created (by accident) however I can't remember where I found the article (aren't I useless?). Anyway icons like this are bloody useful. When your walking down the street would it would be rather annoying if everything was represented by text. That would be soo lame. Fortunately some genius once upon a time stumbled upon the invention of the icon. Either that or it was just something that spontaneously gave birth to itself.

These guys are useful in oh so many ways. But it can be simply summed up in my earlier statement "A graphical representation of something". It can represent anything, the skies the limit. When I see this little guy I know that I am on a comic genesis site. No it's not cause I am reading any text anywhere, but because to me this symbol means comic genesis.

Our 173 class has also suddenly become related to the current chapter of the understanding comics book. Andrew wants us to draw an abstract version of our faces. Now this is cool cause after reading the current chapter I feel that the task is easy. I can draw my face however I like, so long as it can be recognisable as a representation of myself.This is cool cause that means I can draw my face in my own personal style. Now I just have to actually do that.

Ah comics! My one true love ^_^

Oh wow does this book get interesting. I mean as you know I spend my time drawing my web comic whenever I have spare time and I must say, that although I try to keep my mind open and flowing with ideas, what I have read so far has really made me think deeper on comics. I mean honestly I certainly wouldn't have thought to call them 'juxtaposed static images in deliberate sequence' it just sounds too technical. Yet I understand that that is truly what comics are.

Though then again I have seen some animated web comics. I wonder if they are really comics or something else? But then again, this book was made in 1992 when making animated comics would have been very difficult for anyone to do. Maybe it's a new concept? After all a lot of people are really trying to redefine the term 'comic' though web comics.

Comics certainly have a lot of history. I never would have considered things like Egyptian murals to be comics. But then again they do tell a story which is exactly what comics do. Still when I hear the term comic, the first thing that comes to mind would be cool cartoon pictures depicting a story. Not some Egyptian mural or a sequence of paintings or photo's. Certainly widens ones views. People should keep a more open mind about comics and not just consider it to be a waste of time, it truly does have nigh infinite possibilities.

The Simpsons, South Park and even the Lion king are very good examples that people shouldn't be narrow minded about such things. Each show was designed with both adults and children in mind, yet most people who have never seen them (for example when they first came out), would pass them off as children's shows, when they are really so much more. Just because they are not drawn true to life and tend to be drawn in a cartooned style, doesn't mean someone should just pass them off as childish.

Journal?? *grins*

So think of this like a journal it says. It did say sketches and pictures and give your interests and observations about them. Well I take that as that I can put a picture of something I did up today and talk about it. After all I am supposed to use the readings as an example and they seemed to have all sorts of stuff about work and other things that interest them.

Moonlight Flower and my workspace

Ah what an interesting start to this blog/journal page. The image on the left would be my main character from my web comic I am working on. Unfortunately I haven't been working on it since December as I came down with a case of depression (hey it's an illness too you know) then after that I was more concerned with uni starting and haven't been able to do much about it till recently.

I have two reasons to find this picture interesting. The first reason is because it is proof that my digital art and drawing skills are improving in leaps and bounds and I am extremely happy for it. Usually I have trouble with the sketching and the colouring/shading process, but I have done now mistakes this time and the only real improvement I can do for the image is to increase my skills in both these areas.

The other reason ties into the second picture, my workspace. This is what I use to draw with. See the second monitor? That's my brand spanking new Wacom graphics tablet/interface *sighs* I think I'm in love LOL. Actually all the computing equipment there is brand new and I must say it is tons easier to digitalise my artwork. My older equipment were slow and chunky (not to mention didn't have a monitor/tablet, only a measly Intous 9x12.)

The new Wacom itself is extremely useful as I no long need to drag my pen across the tablet to tell where my cursor is. It's now a simple look and click on the image, no problem. On top of that it works great with my new graphics software, *sighs* now I wish I wasn't so busy with school work so I could use it more often.

Mandurah train

Good god these things suck. Oh it's great that I have quick and cheap transportation to and from school, but please could the bloody things stop skipping Canning highway. I mean please it sucks having to keep getting off at Armadale road just so I can get a train that travels to my destinations.

On the other hand in a creative sort of sense this picture has tons of promise. Just  the other day I was attempting to draw my main character inside a train with a camera angel similar to this. Of course I did a horrible job at it, but that's why I took this photo so I have reference material. A train view like this could be used in scenes for school travel or city travel and could be used for many types of themes. It's just that like I said, I couldn't draw one without having a picture of it.

Beach near Garden Island

Is it Garden island or Gilligan's island? *giggle* I was thinking this could be a great James bond scene. Bond grabs his jet black water ski and hides a few hundred explosives in places we can never quite figure out. Travels to the picnic area and pretends to be a tourist. Then at night time he slips on his black ninja clothing, sneaks into the base and BOOOOM!!!! Of course it would suck if it happened in real life, but it's a great story idea *smiles*

Roads? Where we're going we wont need roads

Erk did I just write that? Anyway why would I put a picture of a road you ask? Just what the hell is so interesting about a road hmmm? Lots! Roads are found everywhere and each and everyone of them tells a story. Take this road for example, that's a bloody long skid mark in the middle of the road and yet it only shows one skid mark not two. How the hell did they do that? That is so cool. A story all in itself perhaps or maybe just a fluke. Or maybe it just looks like a skid mark, who knows?

But you don't need roads like these to make a story, there are all sorts of roads. Heck you can make a story where the main theme is about roads. Like 'On the long road through life' or 'On the road to oblivion' it's makes no difference. Where once person sees a road, I see endless possibilities. Take this road for example, it is a road to many different worlds. Of course each world is actually someone's home, but the point is that each home is different for each person, thus when you step off of the road, it's like you have stepped into another world. Like I said, roads can be interesting ^_^

Rambling

It would seem I misunderstood what I was supposed to write in my blog on my very own Ramble. Luckily I ramble frequently as I enjoy biking riding along the beach front while exercising. How could exercise be rambling you ask? Well it's simple, I could bike ride anywhere, on the road, around the city, anywhere. Yet I choose to take a nice leisurely ride along the beach as it is a nice and claming activity compared to riding around the plain and boring streets.

I love the feel of the cool ocean breeze as it glides over my face while riding. It is such a pleasant and refreshing feeling to the stale harsh city air. I love riding as the suns setting, watching the beautiful kaleidoscope of colours light up the sky in a final struggle against the moon. I love the feel riding at high speeds, watching the greenery fly past me at tremendous speeds. Riding along the beach paths is an invigorating experience. It's like flying except on the ground.

I don't just use my time riding to exercise but to also think. Over the years I had gained a near out of control imagination. My time used to be consumed staring into space coming up with all sorts of wonderful stories involving epic battles, adventures, possibilities and pasts. However my journey in self discovery had caused my mind to stop wondering so much and had brought me back down to Earth. Sometimes I still have the problem of just switching on music and letting my imagination take me away from the world, and this could be bad as I have so many things I can do these days. However like I started saying this paragraph I use my bike time to think. I allow my imagination to take me away each day as I ride along the beach front.

Listening to my music, looking after my body, the breeze gliding across my face caressingly, beautiful light shows seemingly only for my eyes, riding along the beach is the perfect place for my imagination to feed, to grow healthily. If only other people could discover the simplistic and beautiful nature of riding along the beach like I had, but then why would I want to share such a terrific moment???

MMDesign 175 Blog

This was wrote a few days ago and put into my notepad

I get the feeling that this blog is a waste of time as no class has even mentioned doing one (except in the WEBCT.) But I feel as if it would be beneficial to write one anyway. After all, I don't want to be proven wrong.

I had just read 'The Ramble' and I must say I loved it. I could really connect with the idea of just doing nothing just for the sake of it. I don't mean as in be lazy. I mean to just watch the world go by, gaze at the clouds, watch the ocean. Simplistic pleasures that calms the mind and feeds the soul. At times I wish I could do that more often, but I just enjoy too many things which consume my time and prevent me from slowing down. Atleast I can enjoy reading and drawing.

AH! drawing now that is a simplistic pleasure. I can get lost in it for hours on end, shutting out the world while I sit down and draw. It's really hard to believe that up until six months ago I couldn't even consider taking a course of action such as multimedia design, even though I have such fond memories of drawing. If only I hadn't been in so much pain for so many years, then maybe I might have spent more time doing it.

*Transferred from windows live*