Motion Comics... This May Just Work!

Well, I've seen the new Watchmen Motion Comic which I got off Itunes and I must say "I'm excited." With all the new advances and accessibility of technology it really was just a matter of time before someone came up with a really cool way of reading a comic off your computer. There's been a strong movement going on trying to tap into the computer/internet demagraphic.  Cross-Gen was one early example, trying to just put books directly online, but failed.  Other similar methods have and are being tried with mixed results but nothing that really stands out. Marvel's beginning to upload their catalog and sites like Wowio offering new online comics for free are having their own troubles. (I will avoid bringing Web Comics into this conversation now due to the simple fact that I honestly don't know enough about the genre [yet] so that will have to be a whole other post) 

  But now it seems this new Motion Comics approach actually has a coolness factor to it. At a time where the popularity of comic based Animation is as strong as it's ever been and players and sites like Itunes and Amazon and Xbox make it easily accesible it also gives it a sense of credibility to the format as well.  

  Specifically on the Watchmen Motion Comic ( I haven't seen the Batman one yet) on the whole I thought it was great. It somewhat reminded me of the old 60's Marvel Superheroes cartoons like Spiderman, Iron Man, and Thor, that I grew up with. (No I didn't watch them in the 60's, I wasn't even born yet)  They weren't that advanced but they had that moving comic book feel to them and that's what I got from the Motion comics, though with better quality, directing, and "camera work".  

  I thought Watchmen was a great first try at a new medium for comics and I really feel the potential here, on many levels, is very exciting. Among other possibilities I'm sensing from this, imagine the catalogue of books that could be done as Motion comics, and even comics being drawn as just as a Motion Comic as a first or sole means of release. 

 Very cool, I hope this one really kicks in because the potential is there.

Kudos DC.

Later

WM

Daydreams And Vending Machines

 Been pretty busy trying to catch up on work and tie up some loose ends of some lingering jobs. I'm doing pretty good with it too, although I wish I had an extra week in there somewhere for a bit more time. I've dreamt about have a second one of me around to get everything done herein the studio and try to get even a bit close to keeping up with and satisfying my mind. It's a crazy and daunting task and I've learned to live with the fact I'll never be able to physically do it all. In the back of my mind I've been tossing around the idea of getting a very part time assistant. 

Maybe a local aspiring artist willing to do something like an apprenticeship. I don't know, still needs some thought.  

    On a less dreamy note, and I will try not to make this a habit and let this blog become an advert but on special occasions like this one..., I have up for auction, on the bay, from the Women Of Marvel Card set my last Artist Proof of the Invisible Woman. (Along with the rest of the FF in honor of the upcoming Fantastic Four set) I did only 5 of these and is the only one I left Uncut. These sold extremely fast and I've held this one off a bit until now. 

... end of commercial.

 

Later

WM

One Long Weekend

   Now that I'm in my thirties, I don't believe in "All-Nighters" anymore. (though that's probably because I just can't do them like I used to as I'm usually all messed up for the following 2 days) I find regular sleep to be a wonderful thing and try to get as much work done on a regularly scheduled day. So when I get the chance, I take full advantage of when the fam heads off to the in-laws for the weekend or something to that nature and I can get ALOT of work done. And that's just what I did this past weekend. Locked myself in the studio for 3 days, ordered take-out from the local pizza joint and tried to get caught up on work. 

Most of my Fantastic Four Sketches are done. I have a few more left but the end is in sight. After that I have about 400 Star Trek sketches to dive into. Luckily they're not color, just pencil and are repeat designs. The sooner I can get them done, the sooner I start on the next comic project. (Which is what I'm really anxious about) 

 

On the website front, I recently... ok, not so recently, took over the reins on updating my website which has been suspended longer than a Corellian in Carbonite. I finally made the time to sit down, figure out how it's set up, learned the process, worked over a few programs, and went in and updated some pages. .. and it actually worked, I was thrilled.  

Sometime I get the feeling that things are really moving along around here. 

I'm not used to that, but I like it.

Later

WM

----------------------------------------------------------------

Warren Martineck

"Workin Fool"

Back To The Drawing Board

   6:00 Sunday morning, dark cloudy and rainy and the bed felt so warm and comfortable, but I pulled myself out and got ready for hopefully a productive day of drawing. I'm sitting here writing this while drinking down a strong cup of tea out of my trusty 20 oz Bubba Keg waiting to wake up a bit more before starting. For awhile now I've been sticking to taking at least one day off a week, usually a Saturday or Sunday to spend with the fam and yesterday was it. Today they're on their own and I need to get back to Fantastic Four sketches as this is the last big push before I need to send the cards all back to Rittenhouse.  

    It's been a slow news week but I've been busy nonetheless. I've put myself on an advanced deadline crunch as the sooner I finish these the sooner I can start on my next project which I really need to get a good jump on. It gets that way around here a lot. As exciting as new announcements are, news worthy posts,  some really cool press or whatever, there is a lot of downtime in the studio when you have to do nothing else but sit down and actually draw all this stuff. It's time consuming and (if your not in the right state of mind) sometimes a bit tedious too.    

    Lack of motivation or the drive to keep going is not easy to come by sometimes when you're your own scheduling boss and you don't have someone standing directly over you shoulder asking about it.  A problem, I think,  some freelancers easily succumb to and get themselves into trouble with. Although I never missed a deadline, I had that problem for awhile a few years back and found that to be my least productive period. I go out of my way now not to let that happen again. 

   Caffeine is working it's way through my system now and I think it's time to get to work.

Later

WM  

   

Studio Journal Entry #2: Back To The Drawing Board

I took a 3 day weekend to work on the Studio and pretty much wiped myself out doing so, but it's done. Made a few trips to Home Depot, Staples, and my neighbors house up the street to raid his workshop for supplies and any tools I didn't have. 

 I redid the flooring, the sub-flooring, finished the trim work, patched up some drywall areas, and even repainted the entire room. I returned all the Comic boxes and reworked the layout of the room. One of the problems about the old layout was I had a computer station separate from my drawing table and I found myself doing the up and down back and forth thing constantly when I'm referencing something or just needing the computer while I worked. A big waste of time. So I got rid of one of the two chairs and reconfigured the table and desk into one cohesive station. It's like a really cool drawing cockpit. Only one setback... the drawing table I was using, which was the one I had when I was in school back in the early 90's, decided to finally die in the moving process and let go of some of it's welds. "Well. I guess it was time for that new Drawing Table after all." 

 So here was my chance to make that drawing table I've always wanted. I broke down an old Dinning room table, used the top and the legs, made a few trips back to Home Depot, reworked it and used some cool hardware here and there. I added some features that I've been thinking about for awhile and just about finished it up Monday night. There are only some minor details on the room I need to finish up and some spaces left on the wall for some new pictures, but over all I'm really please with the way it came out. 

 Now that I'm 3 days behind schedule, I guess it's time to get back to work and try out the new digs. I'm so excited.

Now that's a Drawing Table.

Later

WM