School for my district has been in session for two weeks now, and man was it awesome! I've got friends in each of my classes except one, which is weird since I walk with one of the girls to it, and she's in the same room, and then we're on opposite sides of the room and so don't talk. Weird, huh? But, I've got at least two in each class, and in a couple, there's so many that I've already gotten the evil eye for 'being distracted.' Wasn't a major problem, and I resolved it in time, so I'm still good.
The classes I'm most excited about are Writer's Workshop and Drawing 1. I'm already fairly rounded in each of those areas, which I love to do, and we do nothing but write and draw all day. Sweet, sweet freedom. And to top it all off, I'm not a freshman anymore, so my status is increased, and my friends and I can pretty much sit wherever we want in the big gym(really big) and in the cafeteria, including the coveted stage! It's like the whole place fades away, and there's plenty of rooms. It's luxurious indeed.
Though, I did finish reading the next installment of the Nicholas Flamel series: The Sorceress.



This was a book that explored a lot of different perspectives, which is a refreshing and interesting take on keeping up with the activities and emotions of all the main characters. There were individual adventures that I really liked, since they all fully explore the personalities of the characters and the element of fantasy involved in this storyline.
I am in the midst of reading The Necromancer currently, and, dismissing all review-related thoughts concerning that installment, this is the best book of the series so far. so much hinges on individual characters fighting for whatever motives that are carefully developed. A great selection of the series!

Inception Review :-)

I'm not very creative when it comes to blog posts, as shown by the title above. But, I know I've not posted for a while, and there really isn't an excuse this time. *shrug* But, as I promised, here's the new movie review:



Yes, Leonardo DiCaprio's newest blockbuster is out, and this movie rocked! In a LOT of different areas too. Makes sense though, since this movie deals with lots of different areas, specifically dreams. The movie is essentially dealing with the human subconscious and dreams, or specifically, layers and layers of them. This is a very tricky subject in any forms of storytelling, but the movie pulled it off very well.
The acting fully brought out the characteristics of the characters in this story, which was very important so that you could understand the gravity of the events. There was a wide range of situations that forced the actors to put on their game faces, everything from tragedy to comedy to action. It all fit nicely into the story and the acting made it believable.
This story is one I'll remember for quite a while. Everything is always shifting, sometimes depending on how the characters feel, sometimes depending on how they want their dreams to look. It's a story you can just loose yourself in and let the imagination run wild. Fertile ground for further story ideas too! Though, I'm not saying you should copy it.
Bottom line is that you should go see it right now!
So, school starts tomorrow, and I've got my schedule already, I keep hearing things about how its gonna be tough, but I already knew that. So, if I'm prepared, what could go wrong? Huh, that's what I thought last year with math, and that grade was on a roller coaster.
Plus, My IQ test results should be coming back soon, and the person in charge said that its already pretty high. Woo-hoo!

IT'S BACK!

Check out this website if you want to learn more, but here I was, minding my own business, when all of a sudden I notice an update on the Avatar wiki. It mentions something called Avatar: Legend of Kora, and all of a sudden I'm thrust into an Avatar wonderland!
Premiering next year(not sure what month, people), is a brand new series that follows the events of our favorite Nick show: Avatar. A new Avatar, new cities, and of course new people(the gang isn't in this one)! Mike and Bryan are working on it as well, so rest assured that it's going to be a hit. I'm excited now!
So here's the big part of this post that I promised yesterday!



Yep, it's Sorcerer's Apprentice. This won't take long, because I don't want to spoil this for those people hoping to see it.
I highly recommend seeing this movie if you're a fan of fantasy. There's great use of magical instruction, artifacts, and mythology. The characters could use a bit more development, but they're so caught up in the story that you seem to ignore those tiny flaws. The affects are spectacular, and the story flows at a logical pace, doing some unexpected stuff. There's something for everyone here too: romance, action, magic... You know, all the good stuff! Bottom line: go see it!

New Stuff!

Not all of the two pics are going to be of the new stuff, but I can still talk about them. First up is a new composition, one that isn't quite finished just yet.



There is only a slight outline of the tree found in this pic, so sorry if you can't see it right but this is a hand holding a tree on its side. I just thought of this off the top of my head.
I've been drawing trees a lot lately. Refining my technique, drawing gesture sketches, figuring out how to make the leaves with the pencil, etc. Great fun! plus, I've got a new book about drawing techniques and media. Most of the techniques are shown individually in the composition, so it's a bit simple compared to what I'm aiming for, but the book makes use of them fairly well.
Gesture sketches are explored a lot in the book too. And those little things are pretty interesting. You can use a combination of either crude lines or shapes to map out a figure, or you can leave it aloen and imagine the possibilities!
Anyways, here comes a new book review!



So, I've reviewed the first book in this series, The Alchemyst, and so with the completion of this one I wanted to contribute my thoughts to my blog.
Nicholas Flamel and the Newman twins arrive in Paris, and the action picks up from there. This book moved along so fast that I was thinking the author had split in the first one in two. In some cases, that's a bad thing, but for the most part, I loved it. The author, Michael Scott, provides such details that makes every turn of these stories enjoyable. He switches perspectives and locations fast enough that you never know what's going to come next. It also makes it somewhat easy to peer into various characters' personalities.
The fantasy aspects of this installment were broadened, introducing various characters from history, fierce creatures, and an all new form of magic. It's a must-read for fans of fantasy, and quickly brought the series to become one of my favorites!
Speaking of fantasy, my next post(tomorrow) will feature my review of The Sorcerer's Apprentice. But on to other matters. The new Leonardo DiCaprio movie, Inception, knocked Sorcerer flat on its back. I hate that statistic, but Inception DOES look pretty freakin' cool! You can add that to my list of movies I want to see, I guess.

New Compositions

Well, I've had a couple of new ones for a while now, but I'm only just now getting on the share them with the world. I have a Deviantart, as I said before, but the procrastination on there is lot bigger. Anyways, BEHOLD!



So, i made the real ceramic mask that this composition is based on when I was in elementary school, and I dug it up looking for stuff to draw. See, I had done a similar still life drawing in sixth grade with the two drama masks, but it was lost to the heavens*dramatic pause*. So, it's back and better than ever. This was a composition I put together mainly to test my finesse when it came to textures. See, I don't know whether i shade at the lowest points of each individual part of the texture, like a bump's highlights and shadows. This was just an exercise to get me used to that.
And my art palette hasn't expanded since my last post, but I have been using the drawing trees book a lot more often. The techniques on the leaves are VERY tricky indeed, my friends. It goes on to explains gesture sketches, and rough shadows, plus the way you mark with the pencils determines the quantity and shapes of the leaves. For all you art folks out there, you can understand me, right? Erin, this means you!
So I'll be posting some new stuff soon, including a great new mannequin compostion and my attempts with the trees. Ha, that makes it sound like I failed at climbing trees or something. I'm out.

I Have Returned!!!

It's definitely been a while since I've posted, but not as big as that fallout last winter. I can't even remember why I was so out of touch. Anyways, one of this summer's biggest movies, on my list, anyway, has finally made it to the review session. Yep, The Last Airbender was the movie I saw first thing on it's premier, though my friends weren't around so sadly they didn't share this horrendous experience with me.



Yeah, so if you suffer from chronic heartbreak, depression, anger issues, anxiety, or mood swings when it comes to mistakes dealing with your fave franchises, then I suggest you skip this entire section of the post. *REVIEW BEGINS HERE*
I had high hopes for this movie. I mean, you look at the promotional material, commercials, and the epic trailers and think that they're going to include the essential characters and storyline of the show's first season. WRONG! First off, many, many, MANY characters were missing. Sure, you could have gotten rid of Haru, The Fire Sages, and Chief Arnook if you wanted, but destroying the lives of many characters is heartbreaking.
Here's a list of characters that were eliminated that I feel should have stayed: Haru, Jet, Bato, Chief Arnook, Koh(Why did they write him off? WHY?!), Bumi(:0), Roku(insert anger issues), Suki(crying), and Jeong Jeong. It's awful. Some of these people come back and provide the backbones to the story. And the story IS demolished in the movie. There is ZERO character development. So remember the great personalities we all fell in love with? GONE! The Kyoshi Warriors were even planned to be in the movie, but then cut at the last minute. That's what I call pathetic. I'm still not sure whether I want to waste my money in buying the DVD.
*REVIEW ENDS HERE*
So, now that this traumatic experience is over, we can listen to the vast arsenal of art supplies I've got. You all know of my huge collections of colored pencils, which has grown by at least fifteen new colors and values by now. But now, thirty-six new variations of colors have joined the pack. I got them on my birthday(yay), so you may or may not know that. Also, a similar pack of pastel pencils, with a small assortment of plain pastels, are in the collection. Today I bought a twelve-pack of shades of graphite pencils, with one more hat was one degree over the pack I already have.
There's much more, including Newsprint(an accident, actually), Bristol Board(yay, again), charcoal pencils, kneaded and normal erasers, a mannequin, and an assortment of drawing books. Ahh, I'm in good shape now.

No Pictures?!

Yeah, sorry about that. But, my camera's missing in action and that's kinda sad because i had an absolutely hilarious photo of my friend dancing to the Spice Girls. Have you seen something like that? It's almost like cross-dressing, just weird. The night that happened, last Saturday, was also my birthday! And oh boy, do I have some stuff to post about that!
There was a lotta stuff, and I'm thankful for it all. There were two large sets of colored pencils and pastels, which definitely expands my palette of colors. Later over the weekend I got some drawing books and finally Bristol Board! :0 So yeah, I will be shaping up my artistic skills this summer. Also, I got some money and the complete season 2 of Avatar on DVD! That may sound like a dorky thing to flip out over, but REJOICE! REJOICE!
Man, there's so much news for Airbender that I'm not sure if I'll remember it all, and if I do that I'll feel dumb because I'll have someone complain of not having all the cool stuff. So, here's the deal: Check out the Avatar wiki for all sorts of news, including new pics and a TV spot with MOMO! Finally! Here's a link to the very first clip of the movie on Yahoo movies. I love that website just because it's so useful for everything movies-related. And don't worry, Sokka is DEFINITELY starting to liven up in these new TV spots. And last but not least, the release date has been moved a day early: July 1. Yeah, that's not big, but still!
If I find the camera, there will soon be a new pic of my latest and greatest artwork! So you have something to look forward too now!