Lines Traced in, Face Started

As you can sort of see I've traced the lines for the folds, face, and hands onto the board. You can't see at the moment what's on the brown area but trust me I traced it on. You'll see soon enough when the face is a bit more done. The eyes and eyebrows are not painted in at the moment. Hopefully they will be soon however. If it all looks too high in contrast, wait until the robes are done and it'll be more apparent that the face will fit right in with the rest of the icon.

Apology

I apologize for lack of posts, but my internet at home is down so I have to rely on the library in my spare time..

I'll let you know when these problems go away. For now just go to the BEMA (Byzantine Evangelization) site to see the big hub-bub that's going on in my church. It's getting nuts there.

EDIT: I have my internet back, so I'm going to be a little brief. I'll have more stuff on Peter the Apostle done by Wednesday, if not earlier.

St. Peter's Base Colors

Here's Saint Peter with his base colors on. As you can see, I don't start from light to dark like secular painters, but dark to light, general to specific. This symbolizes our journey to Christ, from darkness to light, from accepting Him to being enraptured by Him. Brown symbolizes earth, or if you stretch it a little, strength. Blue symobolizes divinity. Peter was a rock to the Church, keeping it up by the grace of God, thus the brown. He was ordained by God and was their leader, thus the blue on his inner garment. The background is always a solid color, either blue, yellow-ochre, or gold. Saint Peter is looking at us from heaven, this is not Saint Peter as he was in this life, but as he is now, glorified beyond our comprehension. The outer border (currently covered by blue tape) will be a burgundy color, symbolizing humanity and royalty. In a matter of seconds, St. Peter is effectively communicated. Far better than any code made up by Dan Brown, that's for sure.

There will hopefully be two posts today: this one, which will deal with the books I read over the weekend, and the next post will feature the base colors of Peter the Apostle all painted in. Both books I'm going to review are by Peter Kreeft, an author that I had not heard of before.

The first book was Angels (and Demons) What Do We Really Know about Them? This book was in a question and answer format. From whether or not Peter Kreeft has the know-how to make a book like this to whether or not angels can help us win the war with the demons, Peter Kreeft deals with a variety of subjects. He deals with whether angels have emotions, bodies, or a specific look that we can identify them by. He also deals with demons and how they interact with us. He even deals with the idea if an angel can "shapeshift" into a car! Overall this is a very informative and, at times, amusing read. The only real complaint I had was that the book seemed very short. I was able to finish this book within three hours of reading, which for me is a very short amount of time. Four and a half out of five stars on this one.

The second book is The Snakebite Letters. Sound familiar to anyone who read the Screwtape Letters? It really should, because this is, as Kreeft admits very proudly, a book in the same vein as C.S. Lewis' work. The original is one of my favorite books, so I was skeptical yet excited to read Kreeft's attempt. This time it's the senior devil Snakebite coaching the junior devil Braintwister.

This book deals with many different subjects, ranging from chastity to liturgy to Catholic schools. The chapters really are self-contained letters about the person Braintwister is trying to corrupt. The book made me chuckle at some points, for the same reason the Screwtape Letters did, because the demons get so angry! Unfortunately Snakebite doesn't turn into a giant centipede like Screwtape did, but no matter, this is not C.S. Lewis writing. And that's what made this work, was that while Kreeft kept certain things consistent from the original, such as telling Braintwister to muddle his "patient's" logic because logic is of the enemy, some topics are completely original, such as the three chapters on liturgy. The book, however, shifts from chastity to liturgy so suddenly it makes me wonder what happened to the guy that he was all of a sudden going to liturgy after committing the crime that the demons were so happy about. No matter, he starts turning around at the end. This was I'd have to rate five out of five stars because every single letter is in and of itself a masterpiece in my small 18-year old mind.

Tomorrow I'll have St. Peter with his base colors up, as well as several book reviews. Both books are by Peter Kreeft, and both are on the supernatural. Check in tomorrow.
I read a part of the Da Vinci Code today, and I must say, I have no idea how this book became a best-seller. The first four chapters are cheesy, there's way too much information coming in in four chapters.
Of course I'm not a big fan of revealing things too fast, so to the ADD masses this just may be perfect for them. I think I'll stick with Forgotten Realms, Tolkien, and Lewis. Those are the giants of our century, not this guy. Genius goes uncredited while stupidity is given the highest standing ever. Good sign the world's fallen.

Here's St. Peter's completed undersketch, nose courtesy of Fr. Tom. I'll have the base colors kinda "in" tomorrow. I'll have basic washes for you to see. I'll explain the symbolism of the colors tomorrow.

Comic Reviews

One of the "regular" features of this blog will be a review of comics (Spider-Man and others) that I pick up once a month. This month all the reviews are going to be a little crammed because I found and bought all the comics I wished to read all at once, instead of being a good little boy and buying them on their due shipping dates.

The first two comics I will be reviewing are Amazing Spider-Man #532 and Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #9. I'll give you some background on what these titles are about, what history you need to know to understand what's going on, and the writer and primary artist (penciller) involved in these stories.

Recently Spider-Man has undergone some changes. In the 12 part crossover event The Other Spider-Man underwent a rebirth of sorts; he literally crawled out of his own skin after being beaten to death by a relatively new foe Morlun. He found that his body was completely healed, and that he had gained a few new powers. He had gained night vision, organic webbing that he could sense vibrations through, the ability to determine airflow, he now has poisonous stinger that can pop out of his wrists, and his entire body (not just his hands and feet) could stick to any substance. He also gained a better set of reflexes and an improved Spider-Sense that keeps track of his loved ones. During the time he had "died" the super hero community burned all but one of his costumes to cover his tracks. Iron Man, the one who had led in the burning of his classic costumes, offered to make it up to Peter by making a new suit for him. This new suit has some pretty impressive capabilities, most of which will be made apparent over time.

Currently there is a a Civil War of sorts in the Marvel universe. The government wishes to pass a law that would require all super beings to register their real names and addresses with the government. Obviously some heroes accept this, and some don't, but where does Spider-Man fit in? He presumably has much to lose what with his wife and aunt.

Amazing Spider-Man is a comic book that features Spider-Man in the superior community, when he's doing all the stuff that impacts everyone else. Enough with the build up, we'll actually start reviewing the comic. Currently Spider-Man is affiliated with the Avengers, and more closely with Tony Stark/Iron Man. The two are very close friends, given that Iron Man gave Peters family a place to live when his house was burned down a few months ago. This comic is written by J. Michael Stracyznski of Babylon 5 fame, and is pencilled by Ron Garney, an artist I've never heard of until I picked this comic up.

In the last issue, it was made known that the town Stamford, Conneticut had been destroyed in a super-being fight. Spider-Man has been called in along with Iron Man to witness the crowd's reaction. The crowd is very hostile now, they're not actually rioting, but there seems to be a quiet anger toward Spidey and Shellhead. Iron Man says very clearly that he doesn't blame the people for hating super-beings, every super is partially responsible for this tragedy in his mind.

Tony Stark is then called to the White House to speak the the President. Tony brings Peter along with him, for reasons he never really makes all that clear to Peter. Tony goes in to talk with the President privately, and comes out a short time later, very grave. He tells Peter that he's revealed to the President that he's Iron Man, and that he will back the Registration Act that has been the buzz in the dweeb's universe for a long time now. Tony asks Peter if he will back him, at which Peter asks what the costs are. Tony makes it very clear that Peter must reveal that he is Spider-Man to the public to go along with Tony. He explains the legal ramifications (all of which are fairly realistic and pretty frightening) of NOT siding with the government. Peter tells him he'll think about it.

Peter goes home and finds out how much money he has in his private accounts. He tells MJ and May that he's thinking about just running off for England and coming back when all this junk blows over. MJ and May tell Peter that no matter what decision he makes they will stand by him.

As Tony Stark goes to give a press conference Peter catches up with him. He tells Tony that he made a promise to be his friend and ally no matter what happens, and that he will reveal his identity to the public. He will go with the government.

He walks out in his classic costume, mask on, and says: " Hi. Good morning. Thank you for coming. I'm standing here today because....well because.... I have an announcement. to make."

And that's when we get the To be continued letters....

Opinion: I'll be honest. I didn't like the position Spider-Man took before I read this comic. It didn't make sense to me, given that Spider-Man keeping his secret is one of the themes that he revolves around, moreso than other heroes, because Spider-Man has a family he needs to protect. But after reading this comic, I understand the decision now. The dialogue in this issue, which is pretty much all there is, is intense and very true to the characters presented. Overall it's a good hit by J. Michael Straczynksi for the writing. The art by Ron Garney is actually pretty decent this issue, but I don't understand why Tony is always looking so grumpy. Could Ron please put a facial expression besides anger on Tony's face please? While it's definitely not John Romita Jr.'s work, which is what Ron seems to try to copy, it's still passable.

Again, please realize that normally I will not review any more than one comic in a post after this one, this is just for content's sake, as my thoughts on these comics are pretty clear at the moment.

Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man is written by Peter David, a man who seems to have the golden touch in every thing he writes. Mike Wieringo is the penciller, who has done Fantastic Four and Spider-Man in the past. He has a somewhat enjoyable style, althoughe he doesn't draw action scenese so well. Last issue Uncle Ben, the man who's death made Spider-Man, appeared, alive and well, right along with the Hobgoblin of 2211. This issue is Hobgoblin 2211's origin, which is rather intriguing.

We start off with a female scientist, Robin, who has figured out how to merge different realities together, since her reality is so crummy (the surface being uninhabitable from WWW3) she wants to reshape other realities to help reshape hers. Her father is the Spider-Man of 2211, and he has found out about her shenanigans and has come to stop her. He arrests her for future murder and destruction of the timelines. She's thrown into a Matrix for thirty years. Unfortunately Lar, Robin's boyfriend/colleague, sends a nanovirus into the "Matrix" to shut it down, releasing Robin. Unforunately the nano virus drives her insane and strengthens her in ways the scientists are still trying to understand, and kills every guard in the prison with the help of her inmates. She bring out a costume that she's been making, along with several types of bombs and such. She destroys Lar by accident and runs off into the timestream. Spider-Man 2211 tracks her down to 2006, our time, where she's fighting our Spider-Man.

At "that moment" Spider-Man has run into Uncle Ben and Hobgoblin 2211. "Hobby" captures Spider-Man and leaves Uncle Ben to deal with Aunt May, who is very very skeptical about what's going on....

Opinion: Peter David is an excellent writer, and he does a good job here. If you're reading this review and scratching your head, please remember that I'm just summarizing very quickly what happens. All the characters involved are very well portrayed and sketched out. Speaking of sketching, Mike's work looks pretty good, better than normal. Of course the reason is that he's not doing any action scenes.

Finally the last comic I will be reviewing is Ultimate Spider-Man, a re-envisioning of how modern writers would do Spider-Man. This book is known for it's quality, since it's scribed by Brian Michael Bendis, who is writing about half the comics in Marvel today, and pencilled by Mark Bagley, who is my favorite comic artist. He has excellent facial expressions and his fight scenes are incredible. Everything about this man's work is top notch. In this comic Peter has known and dated Mary Jane already in highschool instead of college. He's currently dating X-Man Kitty Pryde/Shadowcat in attempt to date someone who can actually defend herself from Spidey's enemies.

A few months ago, Spidey was swinging around, talking to himself, when he saw two people running down an alley-way, one of whom was shooting at the other. Spider-Man swings down, and finds its' a huge black man chasing a smaller guy. Spidey webs up the black man, who had the guns, and tries to help the "victim". He gets a nasty shock when he finds it's a vampire, and a hungry one at that. He gets the drop on Spider-Man and is about to suck him dry when the black guy impales the vampire through the heart, destroying him instantly. Now when I say black guy, I mean someone who looks like he's six and a half feet tall. This guy is HUGE. He slams Spider-Man against a building, puts his sword between Spidey's eyes, introduces himself as Blade, and tells Spidey that if he ever sees Spider-Man again he will eat Spidey's heart. Then he's gone.

Present day, Kitty's grounded because of an incident in the previous issue, which involved a big mutant game show, I won't really get into it now. In short Peter tells Kitty that yes they're still together and that he's not going to break up with her. At the Bugle Jameson is screaming at Ben Urich because of an investigative report on vampires. Apparently some woman was attacked and was bitten on the neck a few weeks ago. Jonah tells Ben that it's crap. Peter reads the story.

Next day at school MJ gives Peter hell over his relationship with Kitty. She's being a typical 16 year-old ex-girlfriend who did not do the dumping. Peter tells her that at least Kitty can take care of herself, which is what Peter needs more than anything at the moment: someone that he cares about that won't get hurt. Mary Jane walks off even more offended than ever when Peter tells her that he still counts her as his best friend.

Meanwhile Ben Urich shows up at the "victim"'s apartment. He knocks on the door to be greeted by the woman, Jennifer, who is now in some lingerie thingy. I have no idea what it is but it looks intentionally weird. She kisses Urich and then says to someone off panel that she's very hungry. In her mind she hears the words to eat, and then the freakiest panel in the whole comic pops up. Jennifer's eyes go red and you see the fangs grow up. Thoroughly bugged me out, the expression on her face. She then bites Urich right in the veins.

It's a day later, and everyone's looking for Urich. No one knows where he is, except for Peter. Peter knows that Urich was following up on the vampires story. So he heads out to go look for Urich as Spider-Man. He finds Jennifer's address, which is in the Bronx, and goes to pay a visit. Well, he obviously can't enter the building as Spider-Man so he stays outside the building, trying to pick out Jennifer's apartment (6C) when a gigantic wolf falls out of one of the windows. The wolf turns into a swarm of bats and flies back into the room, turning back into a wolf as it goes.

Inside the apartment Jennifer is holding Urich's body in a protective stance. Spidey, Jennifer, and the wolf get into a scuffle which is ended by someone else: a vampire in a black costume with a red cape. He tells Spider-Man to leave, he can't win this fight.

Opinion: Wow. That one word sums up this issue. I've always been a fan of Bendis' work, but he really outshone himself this time, pun intended. The story is very dark, and the coloring and dialogue seem to match. Spider-Man is being his usual chipper self with lines like "I always wanted to know what it looked like when someone was actually coo coo for Cocoa Cocoa Puffs! Now I know."

Bagley's artwork....I could ramble on and on forever how much I love his artwork. Everything is incredible. The composition, burst lines, facial expressions, fight scenes, Blade, Spider-Man, all of this stuff is incredible. But the best part was the one panel where Jennifer shows her true dark nature. It, by far, is one of the best panels I've seen in a comic for a long time, and I recomend getting this comic above all the others just to see how well Bagley pulled it off. I haven't been a fan of Bagley's work since I was seven for nothing.


I'm going to quit now. I'll just rate each issue out of five: Amazing Spider-Man #532 gets 4 stars (minus one cause the artist isn't really good), Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #9 gets 3 and a half stars (again, artwork and such), and Ultimate Spider-Man gets a straight 5 stars (Brian Michael Bendis and Bagley were just made for each other).

Icon history

Due to my lack of experience with this blog, the images are putting themselves into reverse order. The one at the top, Jesus Christ Pantorcrator, is not my latest, but is actually my fourth icon. Shows you how much I know about posting pictures in a blog.. The one right next to this text is Virgin of the Three Hands, my first icon. Next up is Joseph, Peter the Apostle, Gabriel the Archangel, Christ Pantorcrator, Tender Mercy (it's not a complete photo I seem to have lost the complete one) , Saint Elizabeth, and Gabriel the Archangel.






My current project is St. Peter the Apostle, this time I'm drawing the pattern out, so you'll be able to see how the icon progresses step-by-step hopefully. I'll post the underdrawing when it is finished.

Thesis of this Blog

Welcome to this blog. I'm making this blog to showcase my iconography, thoughts on whatever is going on in the world, and to every once in a while rant about my interests in Spider-Man and Dungeons and Dragons. This won't cover a terrible amount of my personal life, although every once in a while I may post on something major going on (a death in the family, graduations, etc.). Also, like it or not, be prepared for poems, good and bad, or song lyrics that I'm thinking of for my brother. I'll rant alot about the perceptions of reality that people have, and how that figures into salvation. Every once in a while you'll see something about the comic I'm writing The Multiple Personality Saga, which is a bunch of nicknames of my friends (or enemies) thrown into a world to deal with themselves. You'll also see the plans I have for a book I'm writing that was based off a Dungeons and Dragons Campaign that I did awhile back.

I hope you enjoy.