Friday Out On The Farm

 

Today was an interesting day, I went out and went to a farm, shopping and got pumpkins.

I was drawing concepts of an actual mascot to the farm we went to. Weber.

These drawings were made on my random sketchpad I never used until now. 

I went outside for a bit and observed the nature around me, there was this leaf as well and the skies and clouds were just beautiful today.

Also drew one of the Artmania Girls, Thea for fun.

Lastly, here's me portraying Johnny Appleseed obviously meant to be a stand-in photo.

Happy belated Autumn! 🍂

What Films Did Best - Camera Angles, Focus, Composition and Structure

 

I'm sure everyone probably had a day where the teacher would put on a movie for us whether there was no schoolwork, right before Halloween or Winter Break or we had to do a very crummy assignment on the actual film itself to answer questions, y' name it.

I could name over hundreds of movies I have experienced while still getting an education. 

I do have to say if became worse every grade I processed. 

I remember all throughout high school we had to get through movies I just wasn't drawn to and they would be 

Remember The Titans, Hocus Pocus, 2019 Aladdin for cripes sake, someone decided to play a Madea movie one time, was really ridiculous, Fences, and a totally R rated film called Memento. Let me tell you it was quite a ride and I did have somewhat interesting memories for these films.

But the one movie I'll say attracted me the most was The Great Gatsby (2013). I actually really liked this film. Sure I didn't watch ALL of it but I was invested in it. There was alot more focus and the characters were extremely likeable and well written.

Anyways this is what I think films should be valued for, I don't think movies should only be taken for the appreciation for the story and characters. I trust the cinematography and style the most.

When I was returning to this movie after what seems like almost 2 years later, I was astounded, I still really like the calm and gentle atmosphere we get in this movie. Now obviously I know this movie is adapted from the original book but I still enjoy it nonetheless. 

This is 1920s done accurately if I'm being honest, alot of these environments are memorable.

I was fully aware of becoming challenged to this type of stuff when I started to watch more toned down and artistically structured movies. 

This is a magnificently gorgeous image from The Band Wagon (1953). I love it because it's really pleasent and full of blooming energy. It takes a moment to relax and soak in all the choreography and colors right at you.

I think that's what the people behind-the-scenes were doing with The Great Gatsby as well. They use the old fashioned techniques in a more modern approach but still have solid colors and excellent form of camera angles.

When it comes to animation being more attentive, there's alot of great choices, but I'm choosing Disney mainly because I've been drawn to the old style ever since I first watched the movies.

There's alot of Disney movies I keep on coming back to like Ichabod and Mr. Toad, Winnie The Pooh, 101 Dalmatians, you name it but were they all trying to go for comedy and over-the-top zany like other animation studios? Heck no. And that's what I truly like about the golden age of Disney in particular. They were experimenting with so much emotion and potential. 

An excellent example is Bambi.

While I don't think it's one of Disney's best achievements ever, you can tell that it was something unique and special even when it first came out. This is also one of the rare instances where the dialogue is economical, for a fact, there is less than 1,000 words spoken throughout the film and to me I think that's fantastic. 

I've been re-watching countless Disney movies especially last month and my favorite moments from Bambi are the rainy scenes, mostly when a storm is coming. It's absolutely riveting work. 

The powerful sense of the older Disney films was the multiplane camera where they have the background and move it in opposing directions and angles to make the environments more realistic and adds point of view. 

To me, this is pure bliss. Most cartoons like short films don't regularly do this, and yet when your watching a feature film if an animated one, it's so much different. Sure it might not be straightforward and comedic but it doesn't have to be. 

This is a shot sequence from Pinocchio (1940) which is probably the most iconic and important animated movies besides Snow White, it's their 2nd animated film obviously but so much passion, complexity and creativity was packed into this movie alongside other films. 

I absolutely love it. You can research into more depth of the multiplane camera and how genius of a concept it really is. 

Another great example is B&W movies. While I don't see myself watching too much of them, some I say are just outstanding in terms of cinematography and style.

This movie is called Orpheus (1950). Now I never actually knew about this movie until now but it's an excellent example of composition. 

Look at that nice view of the person driving. I like the small details given here. The mirror, the car window. 

I got these from Filmgrab.com. 

https://film-grab.com/

This movie is very handsome, the camera angles are absoutely phenomenal and adds a layer of personality. 

Nicolas Hayer is overlooked in the entertainment industry, these are the scenes I chose that immediately captured me the most. 

I'm sure there's over countless of other movies with camera angles this massive but this was the best I searched for so far.

I think this what films are missing out on nowadays. Sure, there are still some films from our current decade I think are hits but in terms of mood, atmosphere and simplicity in vain of the short films and dialogue free movies, I think it's best that the 30s-50s did it best. 

Artmania Girls

 

Today I couldn't stop drawing and thinking about these characters I created.

These were made quite recently. About two weeks ago. I first designed these ladies as concept art. You can find them by clicking the link.

Marinette

Thea

Fennica

Yeah, it wasn't that long ago. I wanted to sorta make another comedy trio, and I actually tried to create the characters to make them more appealing and memorable just like Szac and Dredd.

This is the final product of the three girls.

And fully colorized. 

These characters might appear more often on my blog. When I first created some of my more iconic characters, they were more abstract and clumsy, and I wasn't aware of real acting or the classification of appeal yet but when I finally took a dive into critiques and the medium of art, I was improving my artistic abilities.

Here's some sketches and below it are their info and personalities.

For now I'll simply call them The Artmania Girls mainly because they could go for a match between these fine men.

Returning to The Space Uromos

 

I was recently checking out some of my very first posts I ever created specifically on this blog and one particular post was The Space Uromos, I forgot I even designed these little cuties. 

These things were like merchandising appeal, it looked simple and had different distinct colors to each one of them. I designed these all the way back in 2023 while I was watching weird Looney Tunes cartoons.

Remember those shorts where a random out of nowhere scene shows celebrities as objects or animals? My experience with Looney Tunes back then was restless. I could not keep my mind off of it for a couple years.

The picture above shows a few familiar faces, at least in my own words and perspective. Sam And Ralph is obvious. The uromo on the top right is an Italian performer named Totò who I presumably liked for a short time.

These are concepts of other uromos I drawn back in June of 2023, they were inspired by the gremlins from Russian Rhapsody and woolies from Bubsy 3D, a game that's known for being hated amongst the video game industry. I never played it. I don't own a Playstation 1 at all, but I do love the cutscenes. 

They were extremely easy to draw, heck you don't even need to draw basic construction to design them. 

I also wanted to draw classic hollywood actors and actresses as uromos because I was obsessed with those type of cartoons back then. I used to watch Hollywood Steps Out a hundred times. The actors that are in the picture are James Cagney, William Powell, Humphrey Bogart and Eddie Cantor.

This was just a standard sketch time session and these were about to be actual real products. 

I'm not trying to say that I belong in the wrong decade but I'm glad that I somehow knew what style of cinema I should really crave and be influenced by the most.

This is the planet that they are teleported and live in. The background of the galaxy is inspired by my love for the Hubble galaxy pictures. I remember in 9th grade living systems class, I learned about them and the picture themselves looked rich and gorgeous. Here's some examples.

Aren't these just great?

While I was still in school, I made a ton of new ones. Hope you like them!

Here's the old original Space Uromos post from a while back. 

https://sngexplorationblog.blogspot.com/2024/09/my-cute-space-uromos.html?m=1

Movie Lobby Cards

 

I love lobby cards from old theatrical films. My first experience from them were from actual Looney Tunes lobby cards.

These are extremely appealing and worth checking out. I grabbed these from MovieStillsDB.com. They literally have every movie worth exploring the cool pictures. 

Here's a ton of lobby cards from movies I watched that I definitely enjoyed!

When I first heard about It's Always Fair Weather (1955) it was that one scene with Gene roller skating. That scene honestly makes me cry happy tears because of how sweet and normal society really was back then. Those people smiling at Gene's talents was just beautiful. But when I saw Baby You Knock Me Out, it was one of the most powerful dance numbers I ever saw. 

This movie is a masterpiece. I would highly recommend it!

Gene is outstanding in every single movie he's in whether it would be a musical or something different. Look at his joyful expression. Love it!

Here's another movie he's in. I pretty sure everyone knows this gem.

You can't say no to Singin' In The Rain. It's iconic because it's funny, really well-written and also tear-jerking but in a good way. 

Another great dancer is Fred Astaire, the colors in this card are unique to me. Easter Parade is also a one of a kind classic. 

I suspect this is what Hellzapoppin' would've looked like if it was in Technicolor since the previous cards I showed you had accurate color styling.

I keep on coming back to this movie, it's simple and the introduction is one of the best. Should I watch more of Olsen and Johnson's comedies? Maybe. I also think Mischa Auer is an underrated and overlooked actor. He was in East Side of Heaven (1939) a movie I also remembered watching, he was funny in that film.

Now onto Crosby's films. I remember watching Anything Goes (1936) after I finished my first day of 12th grade. Good times, pretty solid movie entirely. The card is gorgeous. 

I also wanted to watch White Christmas so badly and thankfully I bought a DVD at the flea market, it was a great film. All of the songs were outstanding. I also felt secretly inspired by this movie. 

I don't know why but the way Danny dances in some of the music sequences, keep getting in my mind after watching this film for the first time. They hired the right actors for this film and to be honest, is the true christmas movie for it's time. 

I found the story especially the introduction and final act to be impeccable and mature to watch. So much emotion yet entertaining all on it's own. It's not trying to get right into high spirit until it really wants to. 

I was originally going to only post live action movies, but ey Old Disney is just awesome. You all know my love for both these films. The advertising for Ichabod and Mr. Toad was insane back then. You can notice the quote on the top left.

"BING and WALT wake up Sleepy Hollow with a BANG!" 

I think it's funny and an amusing way to promote your movie in my opinion. 

This is one of my favorite of the Three Caballeros lobby cards. This is adorable.

I started to like Crosby's work back in April of 2023, but my first movie I ever experienced from him was a somewhat public domain movie Road to Bali (1952). Just looking at the lobby cards from that movie already gives me nostalgia. It's a hilarious movie. It sucks I haven't watched all 7 of their movies. I only seen Bali, and Rio that's it. I had a huge influence on these movies because the humor and scenarios were easy to appreciate.

I recently re-watched Road To Rio and it feels so weird that it's in B&W considering how gorgeous Road to Bali looked in Technicolor but I still enjoyed alot of the comedy.

I knew little about Lassie, besides actually having an illustrated book of the character. I didn't realize they made feature films of her. I actually really liked the 1943 movie. It was wholesome.

The last lobby card for now. An American In Paris is a movie I'm planning to watch this week as of writing this. It looks like a movie I'll definitely enjoy!