Alessandro Gianna

Recuperatio Consilium: The X-Files Recovery Plan

2009-04-22T00:54:00.003-04:30

I first got caught by The X-Files in 1997 and that show has never really lost it's grip on me. Sure, after the show's production moved to Los Angeles, the scripts seemed to get simpler (or made less sense, depending on your point of view), and it felt like Duchovny was just phoning-in his performance, things were never the same... but even in those lackluster years there were some instances of brilliance, that reminded fans of how great the show used to be. Of the final seasons I believe that the introduction of Doggett was one of the few good ideas the writers and producers made, but then the character was poorly written most of the time. The last season was pretty much a disaster, but they could have redeemed themselves with an incredible finale, a final episode so clever as to put all the naysayers to shame, but instead what we got was the opposite: an episode that reaffirmed all the worse aspects of the X-Files derailed mythology.

Finally, last year, fans got a second movie, and it was almost unwatchable. I Want to Believe (dumb name for a movie) needed to be a home run of a movie, to make the X-Files relevant again. If they wanted to make a small thriller movie, or were forced, due to budget restraints, not to make it an alien conspiracy movie, then movie had to be aiming to be as good as Silence of the Lambs. If I had to rate the movie compared to the tv episodes, I'd put it somewhere in the bottom 15% of the 200 episodes made.

It pains me to see how badly was this franchise screwed by its own creator's contempt for planning ahead, and for believing that his own BS that he was some sort of genius. It's hard to Believe -pun intended- that the same man that wrote "Irresistible" later wrote "Fight Club (not the movie)", that the same people that wrote "Anasazi/Paper Clip" later made "The Truth". A lot of fans ended up learning to hate the conspiracy episodes, because there was never a satisfying payoff, and they were all extremely contradictory to one another, but let's face it, it was these much maligned "mythology" episodes that helped set The X-Files apart from the rest of the television shows at the time.

Frank Spotnitz has said he, and Chris Carter, have plans to make a new movie about the "Invasion" in 2012. Horrible idea, if only because they will have to work with the current state The X-Files' continuity is in.

In a parallel universe where FOX cared at all about rescuing the series that put them on the map (along with the Simpsons), the same parallel universe where I would have any say on how things should happen, the new X-Files series would be a 13 episode mini-series (essentially a mid-season replacement). Long enough to answer all the unanswered questions of the original series, but short enough so that it will never lose it's focus. All episodes planned ahead of time, none of that "We make it up as we go" philosophy... this is how, if it was even remotely possible, I would pitch my idea:

Episode 1

The umpteenth re-opening of The X-Files division. This time the FBI, apparently, is the one sponsoring it. Cases with paranormal overtones that cannot be solved have been piling up for years, making them see the mistake of closing down the unit for such a long period of time.

Introduce a new pair of agents, male and female, because it works. They should be young, competent, but green FBI agents (not rookies). Instead of going for the believer/skeptic dynamic they should both approach the cases in an incredulous way at first, pretty much as a straight-forward detective work. After all, someone like Mulder would be an anomaly inside the FBI. As the series progresses, and the agents have seen enough they would be forced to learn something big and weird is going on. They should have opposite personalities tho, something to tell them apart, one should feel that working in The X-Files is a joke, an insult, a punishment, the other agent, more ambitious, should see this as the stepping stone onto bigger things.

Make their first case together, a stand-alone, end up with a non-paranormal, but instead a logical scientific solution. Avoid at all costs mentioning anything related to the original series' mythology. Mulder and Scully shouldn't be referenced or mentioned either. The new series should start by standing on it's own, and not alienating potential new viewers or casual fans of the original.

Episodes 2 - 5

All episodes should be stand-alone Monster of the Week. They should try to pull no punches and make them all spooky, scary, disturbing, controversial. There is a reason Squeeze, The Host, Irresistible, Home and Pusher are still memorable. Those episodes were well ahead of their time. While they are somewhat tame by today's standards, The X-Files was known to push the envelope back then.

Show that the current FBI agents have a social life, family and friends, maybe their respective boyfriend and girlfriend. Showing they had a normal life, will bring a greater impact to what will happen later. After all, by joining The X-Files they've put, inadvertently, all their loved ones in danger.

As much as I like the episodes written by Darin Morgan and Bad Blood or Small Potatoes, there is no room for a comedic episode in a 13-episode series. The X-Files was supposed to be scary, not lighthearted fluff, something that the show creators forgot along the way.

Every case wrap-up should point in the same direction: that something larger is at hand. Drop small hints (like in tv newscasts in the background, or newspaper front pages) that some worldwide mega-corporation is thriving in difficult economic times. Nothing too obvious.

By the end of the last MOTW episode a new informant should be introduced, telling the agent to look into The Union Systems (placeholder name) corporation. This informant should be intense as Mr. X, but trustworthy like Deep Throat.

Episodes 6 - 10

The old Mythology staples in original, exciting ways. The agents will be pretty much the eyes of the audience, so they will learn about the bees, the black oil, the alien-human hybrids, the bounty hunters, clones, et al, along with the uninitiated viewers. The sci-fi elements should be toned down a bit, and always filtered through the sieve that are the human conspirators. I believe the old Syndicate was more believable, and thus more scary, than when the aliens became the main antagonists. A political thriller first, science fiction show second.

Some of the questions that were not entirely resolved in the original series, should find their answers now: Why was it that the black oil had different behaviours, that sometimes it would gestate a violent alien, and other it would just control it's host? What happened to the human-alien hybrid program? Who are the gray aliens? Who are the faceless aliens? Who do the bounty hunters really work for? How many alien factions are there? What do they want? How was the Syndicate, and by default The Union Systems, related to Majestic 12, Blue Book, The Illuminati, the Freemasons, the Illuminati, etc.? No more guess work, half-truths or implied answers, just concrete facts.

Which brings me to one aspect of the mythology I was never happy with was the alien replicants or supersoldiers. Instead of ignoring that, it should be explained that after it was discovered that magnetite was lethal to them, The Union Systems has spent the last 6 years hunting them down and eradicating them, to the point they are not a threat anymore.

By this point, as the agents investigate the X-Files history, it would be okay to have cameos from characters from The X-Files' past.

Monica Reyes: She now works as a behavioral analyst for the private sector, having quit the FBI shortly after The X-Files were closed in 2002. She isn't very forthcoming with information to the new agents, alleging she was only there for little over a year. She also has a family now, and is not willing to put them at risk.

John Doggett: After The X-Files were shut down, Doggett tried to go after the Supersoldiers on his own. He saw and learned of things that ended up shattering his belief system, and made him lost his marbles. The new agents end up finding him in a mental institution where he would warn them to look at him as a cautionary tale. While mentally unstable, he is certain that his current condition was brought up to him by what the Union did to his brain.

Skinner and Kersh: Both might still be working for the FBI, but they are not the direct supervisors of the X-Files anymore. The new series should have it's own set of supporting characters.

Krycek and Covarrubias: 2 familiar (and somewhat surprising) faces in the The Union's board of directors. Krycek is supposed to be dead, and a gunshot to the head doesn't leave that many options to bring him back, so I guess he preemptively cloned himself or something. Marita always crossed back and forth the line dividing good from evil, so she can be a bad girl again. They should not be the focus of The Union, merely 2 among many talking heads.

With the help of their informant, the new guys will slowly uncover what The Union Systems truly is, the origins, and the extent of their power. After The Syndicate's demise in 1999, someone or something had to step in and fill the void left, amass the power they left behind. Many of the companies that provided services to the Syndicate merged, forming a mega-corporation that has it's tentacles in everything ranging from defense contractors to telecommunications; from record labels to pharmaceuticals and genetics; from news networks to cybernetics... effectively influencing, and even controlling, the lives of every man, woman and child on this planet.

Of course the closer the agents get to the truth, the conspirators will make them pay dearly on a personal level. An old, but solid tactic, to make the good guys waver.

Episodes 11 - 13

The new agents go investigate the murders of a couple in rural Wyoming. Prime suspects are an extremist cult that had already sent threatening mail to the couple, threats concerning their child and how this cult wanted the child dead. It happens that the child is able to do things that defy logic, special powers not unlike those of Gibson Praise only bigger. The agents learn the kid was adopted and those were not his real parents.

Enter Mulder and Scully. Tipped by Skinner, Mulder and Scully would've been monitoring the new agents' every move. When they realize that their child, who they had no idea of his whereabouts, has been discovered, it's only a matter of time before the dark forces put his life in danger. That would be more that enough to force them out from hiding again, and reveal themselves to their succesors at the FBI.

During these episodes, it would finally be explained why did the replicants wanted to kill William at one point, but then they wanted to protect him... why did the cult in Canada thought he was a messiah at one point, but then they wanted him dead. Is William a threat to the aliens? The saviour of mankind? Why all the contradictions?

Of course there would be some pull and tug between Mulder and Scully versus the new guys. The former wanting to protect the child as the parents they are, while the latter seeing him as the key to defeat the conspiracy and stop the alien invasion from happening (pretty much mirroring Mulder and Scully's position in the early days of the series).

Things will turn into a big cat and mouse game between The Union and the agents, having to protect Mulder, Scully and William.

Ultimately there should be a fair share of twist endings. Say that the agents were hand picked by The Union and had been used as pawns all along, and because of them Mulder and Scully were lured out to the open. A big reveal of the true identity of the informant, as the CEO of The Union, who was fighting his own creation after the rest of the board of directors began perverting the original mission of the corporation. Krycek overthrowing the CEO, and seizing power for himself.

The biggest twist ending would be Mulder and Scully accepting Krycek's offer to join the conspiracy, to keep their child safe and secure. An ending like that would be sooo controversial. While many fans (shippers) would get their wish of having their heroes retire as a family, it would be at the expense of betraying their ideals. I think it would be a bleak, downbeat, very "x-filish" finale.

In the meantime, that would leave the new agents feeling betrayed and with very little to go on with. Maybe they'd be able to bring a few of the Union directors to justice, on corruption charges, but not able to expose anything about the impending alien invasion. This would shake Wall Street and leave thousands and thousands of people without jobs, and damage the economy (think Enron or the current economy crisis). So in the end what was meant to be a victory, ends as a moral loss.

Finally, as long as The X-Files remains open (and it will remain open, since everyone's interest now is that in does), there will be a fighting chance that the aliens will be stopped. With their old informant dead, the agents get new friends from inside the Union that will feed them information, but they will never know it's Mulder and Scully, secretly working to destroy the conspiracy from within.

This will pretty much leave all the pieces in place for a self-contained "Conspiracy Movie", alá Fight the Future, about the Invasion... that I believe it should be about how the invasion was prevented in the nick of time, while no one on Earth even noticed it... in true X-Files fashion.

THE END

Woah, this was long and pointless!

Massimer Raventhorn

2009-03-29T20:08:00.005-04:30

Ok, here, at last, is an artistic rendition of my hunter in World of Warcraft. I wanted this picture to be much more exciting, and avoid a "posed" shot, but like WoW players say: "Epic Fail!" Anyways, I think that it is an improvement over my previous attempt at drawing this character. I really have a hard time trying to draw Warcraft's complicated armor designs. That said, I feel like I will do more Warcraft inspired art in the future.

There Goes My Hero. Watch him as he goes.

2008-12-24T01:06:00.005-04:30

A little vector piece I made in honor of my all-time favorite Calcio player: Alessandro Del Piero.

This man is a living legend. He has pretty much won everything there is to win for a football player. 7 Italian leagues (minus 2 that were later stripped from the club thanks to the match-fixing scandal the Juventus directors were involved with), 1 UEFA Champions League (and appeared in 3 other finals), 1 Intercontinental Cup, 2006's FIFA World Cup... all he is missing is the EURO Cup, and the Golden Ball. At age 34 it is unlikely he will get those 2 final trophies, but with him you never know.

He is one of an endangered species in the sense he has spent his entire career in the same football club. He is the flag of the team, the captain, the most important player in the history of the biggest, winningest club of the Italian League. Juventus has seen the likes of Gaetano Scirea, Omar Sivori, Giampiero Boniperti, Michel Platini. Del Piero has played side-by-side with guys like Roberto Baggio, Zinedine Zidane, Pavel Nedved, Gianluigi Buffon, Fabio Cannavaro, etc. and he hass always been the "go to" man in the field.

He is currently playing some of his best football. He is not quite as fast as he was in the mid-90's, but in exchange he seems to be much more smarter, more of a commanding leader, and he still scores aplenty. So many times he has been written off, considered finished, and he has proven all his detractors wrong, over and over again.

Not many stars would do what he did in 2006, after Juventus was relagated to 2nd division, due to the Calciopoli scandal. While most of the players of that star-studded team decided to jump ship, and seek greener pastures elsewhere, Del Piero stayed, like he was supposed to, and even managed to talk some other stars, even guys who had won the World Cup just a few months earlier, into staying and follow him into the purgatory that would be the Italian Serie B. He, along with Nedved, Camoranesi, Buffon and Trezeguet made it so that, what some thought was improbable, became a reality. Juventus was back in Serie A just a season later, and in no time they were fighting for the Italian title again.

Like it or not, he is in the final stages of his career, no matter how good he is playing today, he wont be playing beyond age 40. At least I don't think a striker should be playing at that age. When that day comes, when the Del Piero era comes to an end in Juventus, I can't imagine how that would be like. I know that, for me at least, it will never be the same again. I will always be a Juventino, but for as long as I've been a fan Del Piero has been there. Thankfully, we still have a few years before that happens.

Empire Magazine's Greatest Movie Character List

2008-12-12T10:19:00.002-04:30

I was reading this list from the british movie magazine, and there are quite a few odd choices that make it to the "All Time Best Top 50". Of course most of these lists are always a popularity contest, and mostly have characters from recent movies... but lets take a look at the list:

1. Tyler Durden (A little too high on the list)
2. Darth Vader (Understandable... as long as they consider Anakin Skywalker a DIFFERENT character)
3. The Joker (I'm assuming this is the overrated The Dark Knight's Joker, in which case... yawn)
4. Han Solo (Is this the "Greedo Shot First" Solo? The Han Solo of Return of the Jedi?)
5. Hannibal Lecter (I have nothing to say here, but again I hope they only considered Silence of the Lambs)
6. Indiana Jones (Maybe should be a little higher than this)
7. The Dude (Just saw this movie recently, it was good)
8. Captain Jack Sparrow (This HAS to be a joke!)
9. Ellen Ripley (O.K.)
10. Vito Corleone (O.K.)
11. James Bond (Over John McClane?!)
12. John McClane (Behind James Bond?!)
13. Gollum (huh? why?)
14. The Terminator (The evil Terminator from the first movie, I hope)
15. Ferris Bueller (Maybe a little too high)
16. Neo (No Way! Really?)
17. Hans Gruber (The only worthwhile bad guy from the Die Hard series)
18. Travis Bickle (O.K.)
19. Jules Winnfield
20. Forrest Gump (Cool)
21. Michael Corleone (O.K.)
22. Ellis “Red” Redding (Cool)
23. Harry Callahan (O.K.)
24. Ash (Too High? Too Low? Probably fair)
25. Yoda (More Star Wars... at least no Anakin Skywalker, Grievous, Mace Windu, yet.)
26. Ron Burgundy (Really? C'mon! Frank the Tank is funnier. What about the Elf?)
27. Tony Montana (*shugh*)
28. Gandalf
29. Daniel Plainview (Haven't seen this yet)
30. Jigsaw (OVERRATED!)
31. Aragorn (More Lord of the Rings?! At least no Hobbits... yet)
32. Jason Bourne (Is this a character? "Shaky-cam" is a more important character in these movies)
33. Tequila (Haven't seen Hard Boiled)
34. Rocky Balboa (*shrug*)
35. Maximus Decimus Meridius (Ugh, Please!)
36. Harry Potter (I dont get it, but I'm in the minority)
37. Edward Scissorhands (The fact that it comes from the only Tim Burton movie I like must mean something)
38. Donnie Darko (I like this movie, but I dont remember the character being that special)
39. Marty McFly (Cool)
40. Patrick Bateman (Have nothing to say)
41. Mary Poppins (/nods)
42. Alex DeLarge (another bad guy)
43. The Man With No Name (cool)
44. Peter Venkman (Too Low!)
45. Amelie Poulain
46. Anton Chigurh (Have yet to see this movie)
47. Blade (Another joke)
48. Tony Stark (The movie was cool, and R.D.Jr did a good job with it, but Top 50?)
49. Walter Sobchak (O.K. I guess)
50. Quint (Too Low)

Where are George Bailey, Norman Bates, Ariel, Clarice Starling, Detective Mills, Charles Foster Kane, Marshall Kane, Atticus Finch, Jimmy Doyle, MacReady (or Jack Burton), McMurphy, Phillip Marlowe...

Final Mascots

2008-11-03T02:50:00.004-04:30

These guys are the mascot designs that were chosen in the end. They appear on banners, eCards and comic-strips within the website.

I have absolutely no plans on posting more golf-related stuff again.

Estos son los diseños de mascotas que fueron escogidos finalmente. Van a aparecer en banners, eCards y tiras comicas dentro del site.

No tengo intenciónes de publicar mas dibujos relacionados con el golf más nunca.

Golfing Reptiles

2008-10-28T18:53:00.004-04:30

Here are a pair of rejected mascots for a golf website/portal. I thought the Gecko (on the right) was an animal you could easily find in a golf course, while the Gator was mostly as a homage to "Gator Golf" from that great game that was Sam and Max Hit the Road. I guess you can find alligators in some golf courses in Florida, I don't know. I don't like golf at all.

The final mascots picked for that golf site are not reptiles, but mammals, thankfully not tigers (how lame would that have been?)

Acá están un par de mascotas que fueron rechazadas para un site-portal de golf. El Gecko (a la derecha) es porque pensé que era un animal relativamente comun en un campo de golf, mientras que el aligator viene como homenaje a ese gran juego que era Sam and Max Hit the Road. Me imagino que se pueden conseguir aligatores en algunos campos de golf en Florida, no sé. No me gusta el golf para nada.

Las mascotas finales que se escogieron para el site no son reptiles, sino mamíferos, menos mal que no son tigres (eso hubiese sido super sonso).

Carilly Hexwrench

2008-10-28T01:05:00.005-04:30

This is the final version I ended up submitting to Blizzard's Fan Art Program. I got an email back saying it takes time for them to review and decide whether or not they will pick up the picture and post it for everyone to see on their site. Fingers crossed they will eventually. I think the final outcome looks good. Could it be better? yes, but I like it.

In fact, I might try to give it another try, and tackle my hunter again... maybe some other characters, who knows? With Wrath of the Lich King coming soon (even if I wont have it in my hands for some time) I might wait a bit to draw Massimer again, but I want to do it.

I'm also going to try to infuse a bit of life to this blog again. I have been working with a project where I was not able to post anything related to it due to copyrights and what not, but now I should be able to show some of that stuff.

It's gnome time!

2008-09-18T19:45:00.006-04:30

I tried some months ago to draw my World of Warcraft character, a Hunter called Massimer. It didn't turn out all that well... at least not good enough for me to dare send it to Blizzard's Fan Art Program. The armor of my hunter was just to intricate, too complicated for me to draw (and quite frankly most WoW armor is complicated), I'm just too used to drawing superheroes in spandex.

Still, I wanted to send something to Blizzard, but I didn't want to try drawing Massimer again. So it occured to me I could draw my best friend in-game. Here is how this idea is shaping up. Oh, it also is my first coloring done with my new graphics tablet.
Missing the hostile ogres, and headtitle.

The pencil rough.

Massimer Raventhorn

2008-02-08T17:35:00.002-04:30

Juegos y Actividades.

2007-02-17T12:18:00.001-04:00

De la última revista Brújula.

No tan recientes

2007-02-10T23:46:00.000-04:00

Estás imágenes son parte de el último volumén de la Enciclopedia de Brújula. Estas imágenes son de hace un par de meses atrás. Solo para mantener vivo el blog. Mañana pongo algo de esta semana.

This images are part of the final volume of Brújula Enciclopaedia. This images are from a couple of months back. This to keep this blog alive. Tomorrow I'll post something fron this week.

2007-01-27T23:04:00.000-04:00

This is more of that book and also images for a poster that comes with Brújula magazine. With the new job I don't know exactly what will be of this blog. Maybe I'll only post stuff about my more "action-oriented" style. Or maybe I'll post random stuff here and there. Or maybe I'll turn it into a political rant space. Who knows, only time will tell...

Esto es más de el último librito y también imágenes del poster que viene con la revista Brújula. Con mi nuevo trabajo no sé que será de este blog. A lo mejor solo postearé dibujos de mi estilo mas orientado a la acción. O a lo mejor postearé cosas varias de vez en cuando. O tal vez convierto esto en un espacio de protesta política. Quien sabe, solo el tiempo lo dirá...

2007.

2007-01-27T22:53:00.000-04:00

It's been the longest time since I last posted an update.This is part of what possibly was my last storybook with Brujula, as I now have a new job. I liked a lot how this one turned out. Other than that, 2007 looks so far no good. If you live in Venezuela you'd probably know what I mean.

Ha sido mucho tiempo desde que actualicé este blog. Esto es parte de lo que posiblemente fue mi último librito con Brújula, ya que a partir de ahora tengo otro trabajo. Me gusta bastante como salió este. De resto, 2007 no pareciera ser un buen año. Si viven en Venezuela seguramente saben porque lo digo.

JLA

2006-11-23T11:35:00.002-04:00

Como tengo tiempo sin actualizar el blog subo estos sketches, que probablemente se convienrtan algun día en un lineup a colores de la JLA, o de mis personajes preferidos (en sus versiones ideales) de la liga.

Wonder Woman de mediados de los 90's a 2006.
Green Lantern Kyle Rayner de 2002 a 2006.
Steel de 1999 a 2003.
Hawkgirl Kendra Saunders pero con el cabello largo.

En definitiva, DC Comics ha ido cayendo en picada desde mas o menos el 2003, con Identity Crisis, Infinite Crisis, 52 y One Year Later. ¡¡Ya son mas de 3 años que DC no es mas que un infinito cross-over!! Destruyendo personajes, matando otros y reacomodando la historia de una manera estúpida solo para vender más, aunque pareciera haber logrado lo contrario, ya que Marvel parece haberle sacado una ventaja en ventas que hace unos años habría parecido imposible. Me imagino que conscientes de esto decidieron cambiar el logo "DC Bullet", de Milton Glaser, por el "DC Spin" que parece de producto para lavar ropa o de un equipo de hockey... o de un producto para lavar uniformes de equipos de hockey.

¡88 millas por hora! ¡1.21 Jigawatts!

2006-11-04T18:24:00.001-04:00

Volver al futuro. Back to the future. Probablemente una de las pocas trilogías que es totalmente coherente. Con todo y que originalmente fué pensado como una sola película (como siempre pasa), pero que, dado el exito de taquilla, fue forzada a convertirse en 3 partes. Algunos dirán que la tercera parte no es muy buena, pero temáticamente funciona perfecto con las anteriores y termina definitivamente la saga. He leido que en Hollywood consideran hacer nuevas aventuras en el tiempo con el DeLorean, pero que Marty McFly y Doc Brown ya no serían los protagonistas de la historia ¿que necesidad hay de eso?

El Delorean lo saqué a partir de una foto que le tomé a mi Delorean de juguete. El ayer lo probé con pilas y... ¡aún funciona!

Según el commentrack de Zemeckis y Gale en el DVD de BTTF, el guión de la primera parte, es utilizado por profesores universitarios como un ejemplo a seguir para aspirantes a guionistas de cine. ¿Por qué hoy en día las películas no son de esta calidad?

Jaws was never my scene, And I don't like Star Wars

2006-10-31T14:17:00.001-04:00

Estos Chewbacca, R2-D2 y Yoda (más un X-Wing) son parte de una tarjeta de felicitaciones que hice para una pareja que se casó este fin de semana, donde ambos son fans de Star Wars. Él más fan de Star Wars que ella, obviamente...

A mí particularmente no me gusta Star Wars (y muy en especial George Lucas, aunque si soy fanático de Indy), por lo que jamás habia dibujado ningun personaje de ese universo. Un reto que me impuse fué, que a pesar de ser personajes en estilo cartoony, no fueran copias exactas de Clone Wars. Creo que salió bien. Creo que el hecho de que Chewie nunca salió en esa comiquita me lo hizo más fácil.

Extrañamente Clone Wars me pareció bastante aceptable, por lo que pude ver, a pesar de estar ambientada en el tiempo de las prequels (que son aún mas insportables, como todo el mundo sabe, que la trilogia original). Me imagino que el hecho de que Genndy Tartakovsky haya estado involucrado en ese asunto ayudo mucho.

Con esto, ya son 2 las películas que toco en este blog. Más vendrán en camino.

Terminan los cuentos.

2006-10-22T22:00:00.000-04:00

De nuevo me habría gustado poder envenenar las ímagen en el Fotochop, pero por cuestiones de tiempo no se puede, y más aún en esta oportunidad, que solo tuve 1 semana para hacer todo. Con todo y todo, si no es el mejor librito que he hecho, si es como que el más divertido. Woohoo...

Siguen los cuentos...

2006-10-22T00:34:00.000-04:00

Todavía hay 2 o 3 páginas que podrían llegar a ser buenas como para ponerlas aquí, pero que no han sido vectorizadas aún. El gato con Botas usa un uniforme bastante, pero que bastante similar a unos tres mosqueteros con los que colaboré recientemente.

Un Cuento de Cuentos

2006-10-21T01:40:00.001-04:00

Este es el librito mas nuevo que estoy haciendo, es decir, que aún no he terminado... no por culpa mía, sino mas bien de los que debian haber mandado el texto por lo menos una semana antes. En fin, este librito está mas interesante que de costumbre, trata de explicar que y como es un cuento. Aquí da chance de hacer algo un pelo más divertido que indiecitos con gurrufios. Me ha dado la oportunidad de hacer homenajes a algunas cosas que siempre sirven de inspiración: Maleficienta de Disney, el caballo de "What's Opera, Doc?" (ahora un unicornio alado), Blanca Nieves de Disney, Zim, Ben Caldwell, Moby Dick, etc.

Estas son solo 5 páginas, creo que por primera vez voy a postear mas de 5 páginas de uno de estos cuentos.

Performing Arts.

2006-10-08T20:14:00.000-04:00

Un poco de teatro y de danza. Un par de artículos que pronto apareceran en Brújula. Si, los niñitos y niñitas que bailan son un "homenaje" - o fusil- de Calvin y Hobbes. Ya saben lo que dicen, si te vas a copiar de algo que sea de lo mejor. En la pieza de los titeres con cucharas, hay un cameo de mi perro Ringo.

"He's an ugly little spud, isn't he?"."I think he can hear you, Ray."

2006-09-12T17:41:00.001-04:00

Los Ghostbusters en technicolor. Pensaba ponerle efectos y texturas en Photoshop, pero ya he consumido demasiado tiempo en esté dibujo. Está bien como está. Al final me decidí por incluir a Pegajoso (alias "Slimer", "Onionhead"). Stay Puft quedó por fuera por su tamaño. Por cierto, que si King Kong, que si Godzilla, que si Mecha-Godzilla... ¡el monstruo gigante mas cool de todos es Gozer el Destructor en forma de un muñeco de malvavisco!

Que pena que la inaceptablemente inferior segunda parte, tiene como "gran" villano a un tipo con pelo blanco. Con razón Bill Murray no quería hacer una segunda parte, y ha negado los derechos para una tercera.

El triángulo que quema.

2006-09-08T23:51:00.000-04:00

Parte del más reciente cuentico para Brújula. ¡Por lo menos esta vez no era de juegos tradicionales y flashbacks con indígenas! De los 7 que he hecho, de mejor a peor: "¿Como nos comportamos por las vías?" (Nº 32); "¿Que es la sexualidad?" (Nº18); "El triángulo que quema" (36); "La alegría de Hoy y de Siempre" (33); "Textos para la Historía" (16); "Tintas, Bobinas e impresión" (19); y por último , por chimbo, "Jugar es Convivir" (Nº 20).

"Si alguien te pregunta si eres un Dios...¡dices que SI!". Zeddemore y Spengler.

2006-09-02T23:54:00.001-04:00

Los 2 que faltaban. Ahora falta la version a color. Estaba pensando cuantas veces habré visto Ghostbusters... deben ser mas de 50 veces. Si salió en 1984, son ya 22 años. 2 veces al año, me parecen muy pocas para mí. Deben ser hasta más de 60 veces. Fácil. Que lástima que no haya tanto merchandise de esta película como hay de otras.

Ghostbusters. Venkman y Stanz

2006-08-31T10:05:00.001-04:00

A pesar de que Ghostbusters es mi película favorita de todos los tiempos y de lejos, pocas veces me he fajado en dibujarlos, porque el "proton pack", el "neutrona wand", etc. son de ese tipo de equipamiento tecnologico que es mu fastidioso de reproducir. Hasta que se me ocurrió, ayer, de hacerlos de esta manera. Por ahora solo tengo a Venkman y a Stanz, me parece que estan quedando bien (hay detallito que corregiré a la hora de ponerles color). Zeddemore y Spengler los tendre listos pronto, y de ahi a pasarlos a vectores. No se si hacer a Pegajoso tambien.

De ñapa, unas cosas arbitrarias de Brujula.

Fuego, fuego!! Fire, fire!!

2006-08-22T09:55:00.000-04:00

Imágenes para un artículo sobre los beneficios, peligros, usos, origen, historia, etc. del fuego... y sobre un prendedor de una tortuguita.

Images for an article about the benefits, dangers, uses, origin, history, etc. of fire... and about a lapel pin of a turtle.

Something different. Algo diferente.

2006-08-13T13:17:00.001-04:00

Para diversificar un poco el blog. Esto lo hice hace poco menos de un año. Una prueba para un proyecto que, desafortunadamente, no se dió. Esta es también mi primera (y casi única) prueba de la herramienta "gradient mesh" de Illustrator. Después de esto hice algunas cosas estilo cartoon con gradient mesh, pero asi "fotorealista", más nunca.

To diversify a little this blog. I did this almost a year ago. A test to a big project that, unfotunately, never happened. This is also mi first (and practically only) test with Illustrator's "gradient mesh" tool. After this I did some cartoon-style stuff with it, but never another "photo-realistic" piece.

Más de Brújula

2006-07-30T12:46:00.000-04:00

Estas son las ilustraciones más recientes (parte de ellas) para los artículos de la revista Brujula. Una, para aprender a hacer collages dirigidos por la maestra. La otra, de un articulo dirigido a las maestras, sobre cantar y enseñar, etc.No muy divertido, pero me gustan los dibujos de abajo.

These are the latests (or at lest part of them) illustrations I've done for Brújula magazine. One, for learning how to do collages directed by the teacher. The other, for an article adressed to teachers about singing and teaching. Not extrememly exciting but I like the drawings at the bottom.

Magazine stuff. Cosas de la Revista

2006-06-29T10:22:00.000-04:00

This two images are part of the arts & crafts sections I recently did for Brújula. Not exactly fun, but at least quick and simple. I would put the double-page spreads, but the Brújula people didn't provide me with all the design material this time, only the text. The upper picture was the outcome of doing a pinata, the lower picture about an experiment to do a self-propulsed boat.

Estas dos imágenes son parte de las secciones de manualidaes que hice recientemente para Brújula. No muy divertido, pero al menos rápido y sencillo. Pondría las doble páginas, pero la gente de Brújula no me mandó todo el material de diseño esta vez, solo el texto. La imágen superior es el resultado de hacer una piñata, la imágen inferior es sobre un experimento para hacer un barquito auto-propulsado.

Another storybook. Otro cuento.

2006-06-25T15:34:00.001-04:00

This is story book was kind of a challenge considering it had very similar themes to the very first storybook I ever did: native toys. The "story" was so similar that it bored me to death. In the end, I think this was not my best effort. Hopefully next time they will assign me some exciting text.

Este cuento fué un reto, considerando que tenía una temática muy similar a el primer cuento que hice: juguetes criollos. La "historia" era demasiado parecida, y me aburrí. Al final, creo que no ha sido mi mejor esfuerzo. Con un poco de suerte la próxima vez me manden un texto más entretenido.

Un cuento de carros. A tale about cars

2006-05-24T13:23:00.000-04:00

This are some of the pages I did for a storybook about cars, traffic law and pedestrians. It's been a while since I did one of these Brújula storybooks.

Estas son algunas de las páginas de un librito sobre carros, leyes de tránsito y peatones. Hacía un timepo que no me tocaba hacer un librito de estos para Brújula.

"Up, up and away!" "A luchar por la Justicia!"

2006-05-23T16:31:00.002-04:00

This is a sketch that has been layaing around for over a week now, and that I have not been able to ink and color (even if I intend to do so) because of work and deadlines. I made this in spite to Superman Returns. I'm a HUGE fan of Superman, and an incredibly disgruntled one at this movie, one which I fear will further cement the notion that most people have that Superman is the most boring Superhero ever. Something I know is the total opposite from the truth. Oh well, it's not like live-action superhero movies are normally good. The bad guy Supes is beating to pulp is one of my favorites (and the one writers generally misuse writting him too one-dimensionaly), Hank "The Cyborg" Henshaw. Colored version soon, I hope.

Este es un boceto que tiene mas de una semana dando vueltas por ahí pero que no he podido entintar o colorear (aún es mi intención) por trabajo. Hice esto en protesta a Superman Returns. Soy un GRAN aficionado de Superman, y estoy molesto con esta película, que creo va a convencer a mucha gente que Superman es el personaje mas aburrido de la historia. Algo que yo sé no es mentira. Bueno, la mayoria de las peliculas de superheroes no son muy buenas de todos modos. El malo aquí es Cyborg, uno de mis favoritos, y que rara vez lo escriben como la amenaza que es. Versión a color pronto, espero.

Doble páginas... Double-page spreads

2006-05-05T11:48:00.000-04:00

Algúnas de las imágenes de introduccion para cada unidad (que he hecho hasta ahora) de la enciclopedia de Brújula. Las otras imágenes, por lo general, son pedacitos de la hoja, y no son tan llamativos.

Some of the introductory images for each unit (so far) that I've done for the Brújula enciclopedia. The other images, generally, are bits and pieces of the page, and thus not quite as eye-catching.

Hey, chamos! Hey, Kids!

2006-05-02T21:41:00.000-04:00

Un grupo de niños extraídos de lo más reciente que he hecho para Brújula.

A group of children extracted from the most recent I've done for Brújula.

Herbarium/Herbario

2006-04-18T15:12:00.000-04:00

Similar to the Paintbrush instructions, this is part of a double page spread I did for Brújula, only that this time I wasn't provided with the 2-page PDF chart, with the text and design motifs. In any case this is the most interesting part of the piece, the rest was all about tiny hands placing flowers and weeds in a notebook.

Similar a las intrucciones para hacer un aerógrafo, esto es parte de una doble-página que hice para Brújula, solo que esta vez no me mandaron el PDF con la diagramación del diseño y el texto. De todos modos, esta és la parte más interesante de la pieza, el resto eran puras manitos colocando flores y matas en un cuaderno.

Homemade Airbrush for Kids

2006-03-25T15:19:00.000-04:00

This is the most recent piece I've done for Brújula, a magazine for parents and teachers. Sometimes I do the art that complements different articles, other times I must illustrate the instructions for handicraft activities. This one is an example of the latter. Originally, I was contacted for short storybooks that come with the magazine, but in recent months I was reassigned to help with a encyclopedia they are working on.

Está es la pieza más reciente que he hecho para Brújula, una revista dirigida a padres y maestras. A veces me toca hacer los dibujos que complementan los diferentes articulos, otras veces debo ilustrar las intruciones para las manualidades. Este es un ejemplo de lo segundo. Originalmente fuí contactado para unos cuentos cortos que acompañan a la revista, pero desde hace unos mese para acá me han pedido que ayude con unas enciclopedias que están desarrollando.

The New Patriot

2006-02-09T20:23:00.000-04:00

This is The New Patriot. A character created by Neal Bailey. This is a project for a comicbook that has been going on forever, mostly because of me, but it's really great. Neal has finished the script for the first six issues and I've done 12 pages of B&W art, so yes I'm a little behind. The style employed in the book is a little less cartoony than this. This is basically an experiment after such a long time of drawing only in the retro-style cartoon I'm required at work.

Este es The New Patriot. Creado por Neal Bailey. Este es un proyecto de comic que se ha retrasado demasiado, mayormente por mi culpa, pero yo creo que es excellente. Neal tiene listos los guiones de los primeros 6 numeros y yo solo he hecho 12 paginas en blanco y negro de el numero uno, así que sí, me falta bastante. El estilo que uso en el comic es menos "comiquita" que esto. Basicamente estaba experimentando después de tanto tiempo de dibujar solo en el estilo que comiquita-retro que necesita mi trabajo.

Still Testing

2006-02-08T16:16:00.000-04:00

This is one of the few full-page images I've done for the encyclopedia I'm working on. If this image works, I'll be posting more interesting stuff.

Esta es una de las pocas imágenes a página completa que he hecho para la enciclopedía en la que estoy trabajando. Si esta imágen funciona, estaré posteando cosas mas interesantes.