The Various Rantings of Andrew Elbendari

Just a little insider peek at what I'm doin' lately! 44 pages done so far! BOO YA!

-Drew

Absolutely INSANE ROM cover! This shit is definitely before it's time! I picked it up today.



Also picked up the ACTUAL #1 today and Rom guest starring the X-Men!

Just popped in to the local Toys'r'us and got a blast from the past with this toy!

I totally had the original one and I loved Donatello the best! Purple bandanna and smarts has always made him the raddest character to me!

I also had this van! It was SO pimp! Love it!

Also picked up a skrull that adorns my desk holding a mighty col-erase pencil beckoning me to draw! Wanted this forever and now I had the perfect excuse to get it! (CHEAP!) And since the box was damaged a bit I had no qualms about opening it!!! As for the turtle tho... *stares at it blankly*


Drew

Bought a copy of this bad boy at a little flea-ish market thing in the middle of a shopping center for two bucks! It's still holds up surprisingly! I thought it was #1 but it's just number one annual and it's got a few wrinkles/coffee stains on it so it ain't worth diddly. The best line in it is..."BUT I NEED MORE IF I AM TO BE FREED FROM MY STARSTUFF BONDS!" heh heh. They have like crazy creative names in this book that I don't think I can pronounce yet they call the material this guy is made of "STARSTUFF". LMFAO!

On to other news, I'm steadily pluggin' away at my comic. I have a brief outline done and now I'm just conceptualizing the characters. I hope to have a rough (or "name" as the manga world calls it) of the the comic done in a week or so, so I can get started on the pages! I'm pretty happy with this idea and I hope to really get the ball rolling with this one.

The goal is to go to FANEXPO 2010 and get a table to hock my book! So I have a deadline and I just need to hammer the book out! I'm really lookin' forward to sittin' at a table again and doing commissions for people and such.

Well that's it really, later.

Drew

My last post really makes me cringe! Do I really just use livejournal to just whine about all my shortcomings? An outlet for my whinerism? I gotta cut it out. (or at least do it a little less!)

I bought Brad Warner's third book..



And I just love what he writes about. Mind you it has a lot to do with his life journeys/issues in an autobiographical kinda way. (and the zazen thing he won't shut up about!)

But what it really boils down to is the search for truth. There's SO much crap out there, from everyday life issues, to just bizarre society rituals. I respect that he tries to cut to the essence of life and what he believe in minus the bullshit. Every book I've read (I own all three he's done) and I just enjoy the journey. It's a pretty decent book so far and I would highly recommend it to anyone who's just looking for a little more out of life.

But really, aside from all the buddhist mumbo-jumbo package it appears to be it really boils down to is just one line that I'm sure a billion people have said or have over used to death.

I go around this roller-coaster of false assurance that I'm going to create some fantastic work of comic goodness. And as soon as I put my brain to the paper. I got NOTHING!

I like to think I can draw (well, good enough for me anyway) so the problem is not in the drawing or for my undying love of comics. No the flaw in my master plan, as I'm sure I've said a thousand times before. I have NO IDEAS!!!! O_O

Sure I get the odd idea or two, but what happens to them? They fizzle out! They have no backbone or structure and when I finally muster up the guts to piece all this shite together, it ends up with more holes then a window screen. My idea, no matter how much I try and squeeze it together or "fix it" all it ever turns into is an unsolvable problem. A question with no answer.

Part of me wants to throw my hands up and be done with this whole dream. I want something so bad but no matter how I look at it. I don't have the tools for it.

I'm so sick of running in circles with this. It's been my only real passion/purpose and it's really the only reason I live. But I can't take the irony in loving something you can't do.

I'm never going to stop trying. It's in my blood no matter how I don't want it to be.

I will succeed or die trying. (famous last words of a gagillion people in movies)





Drew


And ya, this is a picture-less entry cuz I'm the only one who ever reads this garbage. Deal with it.

The BEST in guilty pleasure music! Absolutely LOVE it!!! :D

You can read more about this piece at my site.

DO NOT tell a story with song lyrics and panels that have nothing or even some relevance to each other AT ALL!!!

Comics aren't movies. A soundtrack sounds great when there's moving pictures and no dialogue BUT with a stagnant image and words that have nothing to do with the images all you have accomplished is confusing the reader.

**end rant**

I was watching Teben (a dude from DA) live streaming his art as he was working on it on his computer. He was using a program called SAI. (or Easy Paint Tool Sai) It's a japanese program for arting and all I gotta say is...WOW! It's SUPER lightweight (the size of an mp3 5mb!) And is far superior to ANYTHING I've used for computer illustration PERIOD! It's rotates the canvas at the touch of a button (photoshop is so behind in that department) with NO...I repeat...NO lag! I heard that even on the junkiest machines out there there is still no lag running this program!

I'm actually considering buying this program since I've only got the 30 day trial and with no crack in sight I think I'll have to fork out the dough. Mind you it's a mere 60 bucks and comparing to everything else out there. It's the 2nd cheapest program around! (artrage, which is awesome and is a mere 25 bucks!)

Well I think I've done enough of an ad for this software but out of all the crap out there with photoshop ($1000 price tag) and everything else. You could spend you money on a lot worse!

So as the never ending research (that I've enjoyed TREMENDOUSLY!) comes to a close here's my final tally of what you should use and what you should leave in it's own dust.

SAI-Great overall program, light weight, light on a few essential features (like locking layers and ability to add text or use a gradient.) It's a great program at such a bargain price!
I will be buying it when my trial is up!

Photoshop-It's the be all end all of the digital world but these days there's a enough competition that it's starting to look dated. The program is a juggernaut no longer and I will only ever use it for spot colour and gradations that I can't do in SAI. Not at all worth the dough.

ArtRage-For concept, sketches and doodles to full finished pieces this program is the best! Best crafted for logical minded folks and the ability to use reference and place rulers on the screen is a huge chunk of the allure!

Now for the underdogs...

Manga Studio-Too much garbage all over the place in this program. Zooming in is frightening and just way to pixelated looking to be of any interest to me. No one needs 1000 preset sizes of pages. And the interface is just god awful. The learning curve would be super STEEP just trying to get comfortable using the program.

Sketchbook Pro-Now I know, a few post ago, I gave this program a decent review and said that it's the most realistic drawing program out there. But after messing around with it so'more I find it extremely lacking any appeal for features and just overall manageability of the program is just amateur at best. I will have zero if any use for this software again.

Now, I know I've missed a bunch like Painter, gimp and Inkscape (a recap) but really these top 3 software programs are all I need for my art and there's enough variety and quality in them to keep me content for the time being as I improve my skills.

If you've read this far into my rant I humbly thank you and hope that what I've said will help you find your perfect tool for your artings!

Later

DruONE

I just discovered Inkscape for inking my artwork and it's great! One of the best FREE vector programs for inking! I love it! So simple and great! No downside yet except I had to install a patch for it to work consistently with my Wacom Bamboo Tablet. It was mega frustrating when the program would lock up the cursor but so far no hitches with the patch!

Give it a try! Remember the magic word! FREEEEEEE! Gotta love open source!

Later!

I have new more expensive obligations these days so I've decided to cut my spending down to just the necessities.

So far...

Zero eating out. My whole banking transaction statements where NOTHING but eating out at various fast food restaurants. All my money BLOWN to the wind! Espically at work, I spent 10 bucks a day on lunches. (50 a week) And now it's just 15 or less on microwave meals! And I pretty content with that the past few weeks. Tons of variety and very easy to handle. (Cold food for me is so 2000 and late)

No more comics! This one is much harder for me cuz wednesday is such a routine for me. I love seeing what new comics hit the shelves and just dumping my money on it without a second thought. Plus I'm trying to read most of my comics online though I do think that it's not good for the industry.

No more Dvd's or Videogames I lose interest in games faster than the speed of light and any dvd movie I ever buy I watch once and that's it.

Also, with all those "media" distractions I spent even less time drawing (which is what I want to do all the time!) And skipping on all the distractions should help tremendously!

I know those are only 3 things but really, that's really 99% of my money spending problems. I don't spend much money on clothes or other necessities. I know there's probably more places in my budget that I could cut but for now it's a start and I can already feel the positive effects!

Catch ya later!

Drew

AWWWWWWW YEAAHHHHHHHH!!!

My veedub was falling apart like crazy! The money I was feeding it for repairs was INSANE!!! So the most logical step is a brand new Honda Civic DXG! It's not exactly this shade of blue but you get the idea! I can't wait to pick it up this week!

	Photoshop	Sketchbook Pro	ArtRage	Manga Studio
Pros (+)	Colouring is unmatched Ability to use Add-ons Create brushes Filters (if used properly help the rendering process tremedously)	Simple/Easy to understand layout Most realistic drawing quality Light on system resources	Ability to put reference material right on the layout Economical Price tag Various stencils and rulers make lines and curves a breeze Light on system resources	Designed specifically for comics Ability to see multiple pages in order Very unique line smoothing Auto panel creation
Cons (-)	Stupidly expensive Stability issue with large files Lags Pressure sensitivty turns off randomly	File dpi/size exporting problems Use of tools feels awkward and not seemless. (ie: zoom, enlarge tool etc..)	Penciling quality is poor. File dpi/size exporting problems Most colouring tools look amateur	confusing/overwhelming layout. (huge curve) Redundant amount of page layouts Fine details look pixelated while zoomed in lags
Ease of Use	Good	Good	Best	Worst
Layout	Good	Good	Best	Worst
Price	$1000	$120	$25	$50-$300
Compatability	Best	OK	Worst	Good
Quality	Best	Good	Worst	OK
Colour Capability	Yes	Limited	Yes	No
Overall	A	B	B	B
Winner	Photoshop

Final Words
I've used all four programs pretty extensively and this is strictly my opinion. I'm always searching for the best drawing software out there and so I did this little exercise to hopefully clarify what program I find most useful. So far, for strictly drawing (not colouring) and comic making, I highly suggest trying out all four programs.

I hope you found this useful!  Let me know what you think!

Later

Andrew

It's becoming more and more apparent that life as we know it is not sustainable and is ever changing (most likely not in our favour) Thanks to reading a current issue of Adbusters magazine. (though personally at all costs I try to avoid pointless negative banter) But I found a nugget of truth.

The part I'm interested in most is how our mental environment is deteriorating at such a rapid rate. With an influx of pointless information coming from advertisements, twitter, facebook, and the like we are wasting all our time in a world that has no material wealth for our slowly eroding minds.

Relating to my own life and how I feel like there's so much more and that I'm constantly feeling depraved has finally hit some light. From my addiction to mass consumerism to following the latest hype on "what's hot" I'm more closely starting to realize that I'm am more a product of my time then being if anything; original. I am a product that countless corporations have molded me into. (I know this sounds like paranoid delusions but hear me out here.)

I never feel fulfilled. I never feel I have enough time. I feel like I will never make comics because they are my dream and my dream feels ever so unattainable. Why? One of the biggest factors holding my back is most definitely my ever eroding imagination. Thanks to the lightning fast cutscenes, pointless advertisements, and repetitive and infinitely dull story lines of modern entertainment. I have, if not regularly lost my sense of true self. Lost my self to a world where television is my oppressor. And like any ruthless dictator. They are only satisfied until you are stomped into the ground and broken. And they have succeeded! My mind is as blank as the paper I try to draw on.

At some point we as a culture need to step back and take a look at what we are doing to the mental health of ourselves and our loved ones. We need to change the world of kids sucking at the teet of televison and mass media and start seeing what lies in a world we have yet to explore for ourselves.

Can you imagine a world where your average american family does NOT own a tv? Can you imagine people thinking of that as normal and not eccentric?!

The problem isn't the vehicle (tv) it's the content. Or lack there of and how we decide it matters to us. What constraint we put on it and how we keep our social life alive and well needs to be seriously thought about. (facebook is not a social life fyi.)

Somewhere along the line we decided that watching peoples lives are much more interesting then living our own!

Here's a do it yourself exercise. Try this at home. Pretend the tv is watching you and you are the entertainment! What would you do? You wouldn't watch people sitting on a couch then why are you choosing to live that way?

Hey jude, dont make it bad.
Take a sad song and make it better.
Remember to let her into your heart,
Then you can start to make it better.


She's my new puppy I picked up last sunday! She's a pembroke corgi who's ears haven't rose yet. She's 11 weeks old and I love her to death! She's like having a child at times (mostly when she barks through the night) but she's worth the 4am-5am early rise. How can you NOT fall in love with her! She's MEGA cute!!!

Also I've updated ANDREW COMICS DOT COM with the final layout design and I'm ready to do some more art and comics for the site so check that out ASAP!

My comp crashed a few days ago so I've lost some stuff and I'm workin' hard tryin' to get everything in working order again! (Damn viruses!!!)

Other than that I move in 3 weeks and I finally get my own office! I feel like I should dub it's something rad. Radder than "Cataclysmic Cave for Creating Cool Comicseszes!" I'll figure somethin' out!

I'll try and update my personal life a little more frequent!

Catch ya later