Birthday Gift: Batman and Spider-man Sculpt!

My nephew turned five yesterday, and the little guy is a big fan of Spider-man! Takes after his aunt, he does! Upon asking my sister what he'd like for his birthday, she told me something Batman and Spider-man related. I immediately set to making a small sculpt for him, something that hopefully won't look scary in any way when it's dark in the bedroom.

After some searching around online for reference photos I found this adorable drawing of Spider-man:

It encompassed the perfect amount of cuteness and non-scary-ness that was requested of me. I then found this!:

He's a little pointy, but I figured I'd be able to chibi-ize him to eliminate anything scary.

As one could expect, the webbing for Spider-man's outfit was a real challenge. I attempted to channel the clean, careful lines from Cameron's piece, but I fear I didn't do nearly as well. I just need more practice, that's all! Positive thinking!

I'm not as happy with the Batman. Maybe he doesn't have as much detail, so he doesn't seem as impressive? I'm pretty pleased with his bat logo though! I think it came out well. Also, I thought that some web swinging would add a bit of fun to the piece. Fun, and action! Wa-pow!!

And here we have the finished sculpt! It's framed flat, sadly, but it ended up working well. I was feeling pretty stumped over what to do for a background; I was fairly limited because I didn't use a shadow box frame. Ultimately I think the "wham" and "pow" shapes work well and add some pizazz to the piece!

What do you think? Non-scary and befitting an awesome five year old?

-MJ

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Review: The Amazing Spider-man

This is a great summer for movies: The Dark Knight Rises, The Avengers, Prometheus, Moonrise Kingdom, Men in Black III, Brave, Total Recall, Magic Mike, but forget all of those, go see The Amazing Spider-man.

Andrew Garfield as The Amazing Spider-man. Source.

I was excited to see Andrew Garfield in action as the guilt-ridden, smart mouthed, nerdy Peter Parker. It turns out that the webs of fate were swinging my direction, because a friend that works for Sony offered A Bit of Geek the chance for an early screening of the film!

Let’s jump right in and say that I laughed, I cried, I loved it. The whole film was gorgeous, well-written, and exciting. Garfield plays a perfect Peter Parker (sorry Tobey, you can’t even hold a candle) and he also has great chemistry with Emma Stone, our on-screen Gwen Stacy. 

Garfield and Stone as Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy in The Amazing Spider-man.

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Amazing Spider-man kicks things off with a storyline not often touched, the mystery of the missing parents. At a young age Peter’s aunt and uncle take him in when his parents abruptly leave town. Early in the film Peter’s curiosity is ignited when he finds an old possession of his father’s. Between the unraveling of his parents mysterious history and his gradual evolution into Spider-man, Peter devolves socially and emotionally into a rebellious and temperamental teen.

Uncle Ben (portrayed spectacularly by Martin Sheen), is hardworking, honest, and devoted to his family. When Ben comes down hard on Peter for his selfish antics and recklessness, the importance of the relationship between Peter and Uncle Ben solidifies, emphasizing their father-son bond.

**Herein lies spoilers. Highlight to read!**

The director plays off Sheen’s heavy-handed Ben quite well when it comes to his death: the heat of his words are still ringing around Peter’s angsty head when Uncle Ben is shot. It was beautifully orchestrated, and very believable. This event combined with Peter’s search to know more about his father creates a multi-dimensional springboard for the development of Spider-man’s character.

**End spoilers**

The visual effects throughout the whole film are beautiful, especially when Doctor Connors’ (played by Rhys Ifans) skin changes to lizard scales. Ifans is transformed into a very realistic The Lizard. However, I had two issues with the visuals: The Lizard’s eyes didn’t feel real, and in one scene the interaction between Spider-man and The Lizard’s CG reptilian claws is lackluster. Aside from that, all of the fights were amazingly choreographed and looked simply stunning.

The Lizard and The Amazing Spider-man in one of many violent confrontations. Source.

The Amazing Spider-man contained more surprises than I expected and plenty of epic scenes. The script was near perfection, including many appropriately sarcastic lines for Spider-man himself. There are morals to be learned, and they’re told eloquently as well as subtly; the audience learns with Peter about how power relates to responsibility, and their roles in his new life. The film easily lends itself to a sequel, and I expect to see Garfield and Stone in more action as well as awkward, yet realistic, teenage embraces. I say nine out of ten golden apples, but only because of those few visual slip-ups.

The Amazing Spider-man opens in theatres nationwide tomorrow, July 3rd. Be sure to check it out!

-MJ

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Sunday Photo Spot 2

::: Who doesn't love a little Spider-man and MJ?

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::: Super cute illustration of Wonder Woman. It'd be so cute as a real dress.

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::: Ballpoint illustrations completely blow me away.

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::: This Wolverine is terrifying.

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::: I love The Monarch and Venture Bros.

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::: Probably my favorite Calvin and Hobbes inspired piece.

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::: I like this art style.

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::: Such gorgeous textures! Plus, foxes are adorable.

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::: What a lovely visual :3

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I hope you enjoyed this weekend's round up :)

-MJ

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Would you like to be more like Spider-man?

Ever dreamed of swinging from the rooftops and casting spiderweb-type lines to catch yourself when falling off a tall building? Really? Me too! Fortunately for us, maybe that day is coming a little bit closer.

Scientists in Wyoming have successfully genetically modified silk worms to produce spiderweb strength silk, and in large quantities! [Source]

Will it be sticky enough to hold our weight so we can scale buildings?

I hope so!

They have a lot of nobel goals, such as replacing toughened plastics, stronger stitches and other medical purposes.

The rest of the world just wants to be Spider-man.

-MJ

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Web slinging into my heart

This photo is six or seven years old. My love still stands though.

Comic book week (especially reading The New Avengers) has really made me remember how much I love Ultimate Spider-man. He's the only super hero that I've ever been drawn to, and during my senior year of high school a friend offered up Ultimate Spider-man for me to read. He said that it was a reboot of the original story line, but updated to be more relatable for current day. 

He lent me the Ultimate Spider-man Collection and I gobbled it right up. Lucky for me he also bought the volumes that were released, so I was able to keep up with the series for quite some time.

Eighteen/nineteen year old me loving on Spider-man.

I have since fallen out of the universe. I moved and didn't know where to go to buy comics and also couldn't remember where I had left off. I wanted to buy the Collection for myself but didn't have the money. I think it's time though.

There's a great comic shop that Andrew and I go to called Dreamworld. The employees are nice and chatty, and the first time I was in there the guy working gave me a free comic! I drift over to the Spider-man section every time and gaze at the spines. I long to be a part of the world again. It is time.

Of course, I heard about the death of Spider-man, and even saw it in the store and I almost cried. So... I have certain hesitations. Peter how could you leave Mary Jane and me?!

-MJ

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The New Avengers

The return of Spider-man in my life, what a hunk of man <3

Talk about an intense and awesome comic book injection! 

Andrew was certain I'd enjoy this one since it is most similar to Ultimate Spider-man (and has Spider-man in it!). He was right all five times for my exciting comic book excursion; aside from Hellboy being a little creepy for me, I've thoroughly enjoyed all of them!

I've said this about each comic so far, but I'm pretty sure that Avengers is the one I'll be reading "first". It's so much like Ultimate Spider-man and that makes me really happy! It feels safe and familiar because of how closely related it is to my prior comic book experiences. I was happy to see Brian Michael Bendis' name on the cover because, again, it's something I recognized.

The art is great. It's so sharp, rich and detailed. Currently the faces are weird... I don't know how much I like them, but everything else is top notch in my eyes. The story is, of course, entrapping and exciting.

The dialogue combined with facial expressions/body language illustrate the character personalities so well that even someone unfamiliar with their backgrounds, such as myself, can "know" them right away and understand their MOs. I'm certainly appreciating being able to dive into the story without reading multiple backlogs of comic books. That would be rather off-putting.

It's really fun to see super heroes that I've heard about from friends or seen in movie iterations appear on the pages so I can get exposure to their personalities; it's a taste test of all the big hitters and from there I can decide if I want to delve into their universes on my own.

So! This wraps up my week of comic books! I had a lot of fun and, considering how many comic series there are in the world, it's safe to bet that I'll be doing this again soon. Before that happens though I'd like to get cracking on the five that I was introduced to during this first run-around.

Any suggestions for what I should read next? I know Andrew will have a bunch more, but I'm also interested in hearing what other people prefer/are reading :D

-MJ

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