Commission contest: Me punching a killer robot!

For those of you who are regular readers to my blog or are my Facebook friend, you know that I have many commissioned artworks of myself and my coworkers, Lucky Shot and Megan O'Donnell.

Now I want to try out a new idea for more artwork, and I call it a commission contest.  The rules are basically this: I set the theme of the contest, and any interested artists will submit colored rough drafts of what they will do if they win.  After a certain deadline, the boss and I will decide which rough draft will win the prize of a $100 commission!  On top of the $100 commission, you'll also get an awesome review from me of how great your work is, and who doesn't want an awesome review from me?  :-D

Here's the theme:  I want an artwork of me punching a killer robot.  It can be a robot like one of the Terminators, or it could be someone in a killer robot suit.

The angle/pose, etc is up to you.  You're the artist!  But be sure to have me in such a pose like I'm about to really wallop the robot, or just after I punched it, with the gears and other robot parts flying out. 

So if you're interested, then please note the following:

* Submit one or more rough draft entries with some coloring to: bustyherochick@yahoo.com
 Be sure to put this on the subject line of your e-mail: Commission contest - punching robot

The rough draft needs to show enough so that I can see what you'll be doing if I select your artwork for the commission. You don't have to go all out on the detail - I need just enough to see what you plan to do, and I'd like you to add a little coloring to help me visualize this a little better.  Also helpful are links to any sites of your other works.  I suggest using the site that you will want me to link to if you are the winner.  This will serve as a little promo for you.  :-)

* For this artwork, I would like a landscape format, because I may use it for my FB timeline banner and maybe even my blog banner.  Because of this, I would like the action to be like so:

Killer robot on this side <----------> me on this side about to throw a punch, or me throwing a punch.  If it makes a difference, I'm right-handed, but I can punch with either fist.

* Submit as many entries as you like, but remember to make them colored rough drafts.  Label your entries in this format: name-robotroughdraft1 (or 2 or whatever number rough draft this is).  So a rough draft by Jack Kirby would be labeled thus: jackkirby-robotroughdraft1

Sorry... I nerd-drooled on myself for a second there at the thought of actually receiving a rough draft of me by Jack Kirby.  To continue...

* I may ask you for clarification if I can't see exactly where the action is going. 

* Refer to my Facebook album for examples of how my costume looks, but if you need further info, ask me.  One thing to note, though: If you show my boots, then know that they do not have stiletto spike heels!  Simple flat heels please, if you show my boots.

The deadline to submit entries is Friday, August 10th.  I will notify you if you're the winner.  If you are the winner, then you agree to provide a full colored finished awesome artwork based on your rough draft.  I prefer a PSD or JPEG format for the finished work, but other formats are fine so long as the resolution is high so that it will show up nice and pretty on my FB timeline and on my blog banner. We pay by PayPal just so you know, so if you use something else to receive payments, I need to know this ahead of time. 

I would like the finished colored work by the end of August, but if you need more time, I'll be agreeable up to a point.  Have to go a little negative here, but this comes from having dealt with artists before.  ^.^

If you're going to dawdle until December, then I'll award the commission to someone else.  It's why I won't award the commission payment until I get the finished artwork into my greedy little hands.

If this works out, then I might have other commission contests with different themes. For example, I may do the commission contest for October to have a zombie apocalypse theme! Whoohoo!

Good luck, everyone!

Brad Pitt, defend your mother!

What kind of son lets his mother take death threats and all kinds of verbal abuse just for expressing her opinions?  Apparently, sons like Brad Pitt!

Where are you, Brad?  Why did you let your brother Doug take up the defense (which was actually more about Doug's recent commercial that went viral) of your mother instead of you?  But Jane Pitt is not known as Doug Pitt's mother, she's known as Brad Pitt's mother, so it's up to you to come to her defense!  Show that you're more than just a pretty face!

This could be a teachable moment that demonstrates that freedom of speech is not dead, and that family still matters.  In any case, this sort of ugliness shouldn't be tolerated on either side of the aisle, so man up Brad, and get out there!

Note the new banner!

I was gonna wait until tomorrow to do this, but... Check out the new banner! Well, it's the old banner, but with newer, cooler, and more appropriate fonts for a site about superheros and comics! The banner's art is of Lucky Shot, and it was done by Rick Celis; who also happens to be the one who added the fancy new lettering! It looks fabulous! Thanks, Rick! I love it!

So what happens when a superhero cracks her super knuckles? This!

To everyone at the game last night: Sorry! Sometimes I forget to not crack all my knuckles at once, and especially in public! Yes, this has happened before, in case you were wondering; and I've been super embarrassed each time...

Movie review: Disney's Brave

Today I review the movie Brave.

First, I saw it in 3D, and I say see it in 3D at least the first time.  In essence, I'm basically saying that the 3D wasn't really necessary for the story, but it is incredible to see the scenery in 3D at least that first time.

Before I critique the movie, it's time for the usual

****WARNING!****

Movie spoilers ahead!  If you haven't seen the movie Brave and don't want what's in it spoiled for you, then 

STOP READING NOW!!!!

You have been warned!

Right off the bat, I will say that I liked the fact that, while the main character is a princess as is usual for female leads in Disney flicks, Merida is not your typical Disney princess. I also enjoyed the fact that she was a believable bratty teenager.  Granted, the very structured life of a princess is difficult - especially in the era of arranged marriages - but at the same time, Merida enjoyed freedoms that the other female teens in the kingdom did not.

Next, the scenery was gorgeous!  It made me want to visit Scotland and see some of those castle ruins for meself!  Er, I mean myself!  It's mainly for this reason that I suggest seeing Brave in 3D at least once.  I also want to look up some Scottish lore just to see if I can spot some of what was portrayed in the movie.

Some of the movie reviews I've read had said that Brave is unlike previous Pixar movies in that it was a tad predictable, which sapped some of the emotion that Pixar movies usually evoke from its viewers.  Consider Toy Story 3, in which I was moved in that final scene in which the college student who was the boy in the first two Toy Story movies gave up his toys to a little girl - even his beloved Woody cowboy action figure.  After having seen Brave for myself, I kinda have to agree with the assessment of those other movie reviewers.

There was one scene in Brave that did draw a tear from me; when Merida was crying in her mother's arms when it looked like her attempt to bring her back from her bear form had failed, but otherwise, this movie was more entertainment than the kind of human interest story that previous Pixar films had been.  I'm not sure what Pixar could have done to make this movie better, but I do have one idea. 

In the trailer, it had suggested that there would be some big showdown between Merida and the huge, huge bear that was the villain in the story, and I thought we were going to have some kind of Mulan-type battle towards the end.  I got this impression from Brave's trailer, and also because the movie is titled "Brave". How much braver can one get than to try to take down a giant bear whose reputation has made its way into the clan's lore? 

In the movie, however, despite Merida being a very skilled archer, her arrows didn't penetrate the huge bear's hide, and I think that is only logical.  Granted, I've never shot a bow in my life, so I don't know a bow's capabilities, nor do I know how thick the hide of a bear is, but the likes of a bear such as the one in the movie - that of a mythic size and strength, it does not seem plausible for mere arrows to penetrate the hide of such a legendary beast.  

But I was expecting to see more of this monster - perhaps a first battle in which Merida barely escapes with her life, and then followed up by the big showdown in which she would have to gather all the wits, courage and skill that she could muster to finally bring him down.  This could have helped to demonstrate even more the sort of myth that has been built around this monstrous bear. 

At the same time, the movie could have made the bear as representing something else, like our own fears of the unknown or something along those lines, like the hyenas in Ernest Hemingway's Snows of Kilimanjaro.  Now, I'm not suggesting that Brave should have had the bear represent something so dark as approaching death like the hyenas were in Hemingway's story, but it could have been along those lines.

Instead, Brave was a typical mother-teenage daughter story - which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but the rebellious daughter fighting with her status-seeking mother has been kinda done ad nauseum in most Disney pics.  If they were going to make this some sort of female empowerment movie, then I think it could have been done better; especially since the trailer hinted in that direction. 

Having said all that, the movie was enjoyable, fun and entertaining - if a tad predictable and formulaic.  Like I said, the scenery was gorgeous and the monstrous bear was indeed terrifying and frightening, and I wish more had been shown of it. 

On a scale in which 1 is a bomb and 10 is THE bomb, I give Brave an 8; mainly for the gorgeous scenery and that the story was still entertaining if a bit lacking from what we've come to expect from Pixar.