Sketch Dump: The Random Pad 6

A couple of streamer and Youtube ASMR artist, Frivvy.

 

ASMR artist Goodnight Moon.  I do like this sketch of Erin.  On the right is an attempt at sketching,  chess streamer Andrea Botez.  Not even close.

Moe Shida from the NM State Aggie Women's Basketball team and Romeo & Juliet actress, Olivia Hussey.  What an odd pairing.

Jisoo from Blackpink and chess streamer, Dina Belenkaya.

 Another sketch of streamer Dizzykitten.  

Sketch Dump: The Random Pad 5

Twitch streamer, Dizzykitten and her cosplaying as Asuka from Evangelion.

Streamer Livibee and Addie from Halocene.  I actually like that Addie sketch.

Race car driver Lindsey Brewer and streamer Seum.  I like this drawing of Sam a lot.

A Japanese model (which doesn't look Asian at all, as usual) and streamer Brittin.   (And I'm not doing her justice.  She's really beautiful.)

Another Japanese model and another sketch of Lindsey Brewer.

Sketch Dump: The Random Pad 4

Political commentator, Syrian Girl.

This was a model.  Well, I'll call this a nice try.

Actress Xochitl Gomez.

Twitch streamer Dizzykitten.

 Twitch streamer, Kerol.  

Sketch Dump: The Random Pad 3

Twitch streamer, Dizzykitten.  (She doesn't look anything like this.)

Mexican actress, Fer Urdapilleta, better known as Jenny the cheerleader on La CQ on the left.  Some Internet art on the right.

Twitch streamer, Shubble (Shelby Grace).

Two of Twitch streamer, Frivolous Fox (Youtube Frivvy, Lauren).

These are two thumbnail sketches.  That's a model on the left and supervillain Punchline on the right.  Punchline looks good, but isn't much of a character, frankly.

Sketch Dump: The Random Pad 2

More from the Jim Lee artbook.  Here's Black Canary.  This sketch is reasonable.

Wonder Girl Donna Troy (or whatever superhero name she was using).  Kind of cute, but static in pose and boring in coloring.

New Mexico State Soccer player, Bella Garcia.  I never got a chance to give her this.  Just as well, not that great.

ASMR artist and Twitch streamer Frivolous Fox (Youtube Frivvy or Lauren).  Neither of these look like her.

 Classic actress Gene Tierney.  

Sketch Dump: The Random Pad 1

I guess I threatened to do this.  I finally finished my previous sketchpad earlier this month . . . with great reluctance.  When I bought that Ilya Kuvshinov artbook in 2020, I started drawing again and was sketching every day for a couple of years.  Near the end of this sketchbook, I finally stopped because I got frustrated with drawing and had other things to do.  

Unlike other sketchbooks, I didn't take a picture of every page.  Some of those rejects were bad enough that they weren't even funny enough to mock.  This isn't to say that the "winners" are all that great.  I don't think I'll be be getting overly verbose in describing most of these sketches.

      

I was still drawing out of the Jim Lee artbook to start.  At the top left is Bliss (a character I don't know) and Phantom Girl from the Legion of Superheroes on the right.  (Ignore the rest.) 

Dream Girl in the top center and Saturn Girl in the bottom left from the Legion.  Miss Misely (again, I don't know her) on the right.

Saturn Girl on the top left.  Political commentator Lauren Chen on the top right and streamer, Alyssa Zhu on the bottom right.  Both of these girls are Asian and I can't draw Asians to save my life.

Christy Blaze (a Jim Lee character) on the left and Black Canary on the right.

On the left is Wonder Girl Cassie Sandsmark and on the right is Wonder Girl Yara Flor (this sketch I like).  These are based on Joelle Jones' art.  

The National Museum of Nuclear Science and History

Last week during the three-day weekend, dad wanted to take an overnight trip to Albuquerque to see his friend, Joe, and go to a museum.  I decided to go with him, but unfortunately, he chose Monday as the day to go.  This meant travelling back home on Tuesday and going to work in the evening for me which made for a very long day.  Dad is also, let us say, not a sound sleeper.  (Or perhaps, too much sound.)  I did not get a pleasant night's rest.  Also, he slept in that morning and got up "late" at 5:30am.  

It was a beautiful day for a trip.  We stopped at San Antonio (New Mexico) and had lunch at the famous Owl Café there.  Pulling into the Albuquerque, the first place we stopped was a convenience store for gas.  There was a homeless person pushing a full cart at the drive in and two police cars with their lights flashing.  Ah, the Welcome Wagon.  There was a large homeless encampment down the street from our hotel and homeless in general everywhere.  Albuquerque's poor reputation did not prepare me for reality.     

We met up with Joe.  Dad wanted to go to the Natural History Museum (he'd been before), but Joe suggested the Nuclear Museum. I was bit surprised by this.  I had a co-worker, who'd also suggested it when I told him about the trip.  Dad hadn't gone to the Nuclear Museum before, so there we went.   

First, the museum is a bit pricey.  There are discounts, like my dad was veteran, but I didn't get any except for being a New Mexico resident.  Joe had some kind of pass for all the museums.  I should have asked what that cost.  Second, I didn't take any pictures, but I grabbed some pics off their website.

This place is pretty big and detailed.  There are rotating exhibits, so you can go back and see new stuff.  There are several exhibits and demonstrations that are kid-oriented.  There's staff around that can give more detail on some of the exhibits.  You could really spend quite a bit of time here.  We were there for at least two hours and were there when it closed down.  That wasn't nearly enough time to really see everything.  Too many exhibits got skimmed over.

The Manhattan Project and the WWII atomic bombing flight exhibits are permanent and very interesting.  There are many relics on display.

Here's a pic from the Dark Cube exhibit.

Yes, there's DeLorean on display.

 

Okay, I admit I liked the Little Albert animated puppet display.  I was the only one there at the time.  Joe and dad were too cool to listen to the puppet.

Outside are a bunch of plane and rocket displays.  It was kind of cold.  It had snowed recently and melted, so the ground was a muddy slush.

B-29.

B-52.  Very impressive close up.

The sail from a nuclear sub.  Unfortunately, you can't go inside any of these displays.  Having been inside a B-17 once, I can tell you that nothing really brings these craft to life more than being inside one.  They should consider trying to figure out how to open these up.

Afterward, we went to a Mexican food restaurant in Old Town.  It was pretty good.  (I didn't have any of the Mexican food.  I had chicken strips.)  Then we were watching an NFL game at Joe's apartment.  We all got together for breakfast at Denny's in the morning before we left to return to Las Cruces.  (And that was the most expensive meal of the two days.)  It was also well below freezing when we left.  Thankfully, it warmed up a bit as we travelled south. 

Overall, I'd say it wasn't worth the sore lower back I got from travelling, but if you're in Albuquerque anyway with no other plans, the Nuclear Museum is well worth your time.  I only plan on going back to the Duke City for an Isotopes game someday and probably the Natural History Museum.  (Joe had given me an Isotopes t-shirt a couple of years ago.  I wore it for the trip.)    

Comics Review: Alice and Red Sonja

So I went back to Zia Comics and bought some more comics.  My last trip to the store did not go well (and was kind of scary).  Most of the comics I’ve read lately have been disappointing (11-16-23 and 12-20-23).  (I have a small gripe against Archie Comics.  When I put in the order, they offered five free download comics, which I never got.  That’s okay.  Their giveaway comics aren’t usually that great.  Also, while I got a 22% discount when I put in the order, that discount code is now 40% for New Year’s.) 

 

This time I went right before Christmas.  I had business at the bank in the Downtown Mall.  I had no time to get anything to eat at any of the restaurants, unfortunately.  I had no time to go to Coas Bookstore, but just enough time to dip into Zia Comics.  I actually saw several comics on the racks that looked interesting.  From past experience, I knew they’d probably be disappointing.  I frantically looked over the trades section, but didn’t see anything I was interested in that wasn’t expensive. 

 

I finally settled on two comics.  Shockingly at the register, I noticed there were a bunch of kids at the store.  They weren’t buying American comics, of course, but they were there buying stuff.  That’s sort of heartening.  I should embarrassingly mention that the only reason I went to the store was because I was anticipating not getting anything fun on Christmas day.  That happened, but I did get a bunch of nuts, which I’ll enjoy.

 

Alice Never After #1

Great cover.  I’m sure it’s an homage to a classic artist, but I don’t know who.  I’ll also mention that the pages are really quality in substance.  They feel nice to the touch and seem very durable. 

 

Alice in Wonderland is an evergreen topic for media.  I don’t exactly know why, maybe it’s the pure whimsy element.  Whatever, I’m not immune to it.  This story takes place after the original stories (Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass), though it feels like this story is picking up from some story in the setting that I don’t know about.

 

Alice is still mentally going in and out of Wonderland, while her sister tries to find treatment for her.  Meanwhile, Alice’s father is visiting the two nefarious people who had been treating Alice.  In Wonderland, Alice gets lost in the woods following a mystery. 

 

It’s beautiful, but nothing really happens in this book.  I cheated and read ahead on an online “archive” site.  The story gets more interesting and involved.  And it’s not for kids.  The story hasn’t finished, but I can see where it’s going and it’s a bit dark, really dark.  The first issue doesn't exactly let you in on this.  Do I recommend this?  Sort of, but only to adults and only if you plan on getting more issues. 

 

Savage Red Sonja #1

It wasn’t until I opened this comic up that I suddenly realized that both of the comics I’d bought were written by the same person, Dan Panosian.  This was surprising, since these comics were featuring different characters from different companies.  Panosian did this excellent cover, which sold me on buying it.  He also did some of the art on Alice, the grittier-looking segments outside of Wonderland, which were very good. 

 

This is a straight-up fantasy adventure story featuring Red Sonja.  It has a good set up.  It gives you a good summary of Sonja and her feelings with spare text.  There’s good action.  It’s not a complete story, but gives you enough while leaving off at a good stopping point. 

 

My only crab with this is the artwork.  The samples I’m putting up look great.  The colors pop and the layout is sensational.  However, the artist can’t draw faces worth a crap.  This may be the only time I ever say this, but I think I could have done better in that aspect.  The artwork of people does show emotions, but not attractively.  I do recommend this anyway, even up to the point that I haven’t read ahead on the “archive” site.  I might be buying more issues and don’t want it spoiled. 

 

Sigh.  For both of these comics, I despair of ever getting a complete story in a floppy.  I appreciate giving stories enough space to be well told, but for the price ($3.99), I want more value.  Making individual issues a full story might fulfill that.  I actually turned down one Indy comic that I thought might read well (though the art didn’t look that great) because of the price ($4.99).  No more decompression.  No more writing for the trades.           

         

What have we learned here?  For myself, probably nothing.  I’ll likely end up back at the comic book store at some point to overpay for more abuse.  The only thing I really want in the store are some of these large hardback books featuring Conan and such.  It finally occurs to me that it would have been cheaper and better if I’d just bought one of these $100 books than all of these disappointing floppy comics over the years.