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Thread: John Calimee Art (Image Intensive)

  1. #16

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    These are tight! You've covered my two absolute favorites -> Alpha Flight and Green Lantern. Awesome stuff John.

  2. #17

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    After years of being villified for my early Marvel run, it's nice to hear someone say something pleasant about my drawing. Although, in fact there is a great deal of the 'old' Calimee in these drawings. It's very hard to escape one's self and I am no different.

    Now, I know more. Thank god. It would be frightening for 15 years to pass without SOME growth. I understand drawing principles better now than I did then. There was no internet. And I hadn't as yet thought of spray painting action figures white. (I didn't have any action figures!) There are days I wish I was as lucky as Steve Rude to have discovered Andrew Loomis and Jack Faragasso at age 9 instead of my 30's. What a different life I'd be living. What is, is. But in the end, these pages are very much an homage to to comics circa 1969. Back then, a wide eyed kid bought hook line and sinker every line uttered from Stan Lee's typewriter, every pencil scratch from the brilliant mind of Jack Kirby, and every stroke of india ink that graced those bare pencils. I love that stuff.

    I'd like to think 'you guys' today get the same bang and kick out of the comics of your generation as I did out of mine. It's hard for me to imagine that being possible given I wouldn't trade a deconstructed comic for Stan's early Spider-man if you threw in a kitchen sink. But then, hey, I'm 'old balls'...... I like dialogue covering the upper 3rd of my panels, please.

    What can I say? I was there for the first unveiling of MJ. I paid all of twelve cents to see this strange chick with medusa-like red hair signal to the likes of Paste-pot Pete that things were about to beyond AWESOME. -

    If I could do the kind of comic "I" wanted, they'd look a bit like these covers. Very much 'in the tradition of.' I may have been a 'pro' (?), may never be a pro again, but I will always be a fan. It's in my blood. I'm just scratching the surface.

    Thanks for the likes.

    And a big shout out to the Alpha Flight fans in Vancouver!!!!!!! -You might need a time warp to remember, but I remember like it was yesterday.

    Mike, don' be lazy and skimp with the dialogue. I want it should take a half hour to READ my Oem-ega.

  3. #18

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    Hey John, I'm curious, have you ever thought about redesigning Llan the Sorcerer, Witchfire, Auric & Silver and Zeitgeist? Just a thought. Thanks!

    oops! don't want to forget Captain Forsa either.

    MM

  4. #19

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    That Dreamqueen pic....WOW!!!!!!
    Rockin' Roll Martian!!!

  5. #20

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    Quote Originally Posted by shaman
    That Dreamqueen pic....WOW!!!!!!
    I'm very partial to that pic as well
    Del

    Driftwood: Well, I got about a foot and a half. Now, it says, uh, "The party of the second part shall be known in this contract as the party of the second part."
    Fiorello: Well, I don't know about that...
    Driftwood: Now what's the matter?
    Fiorello: I no like-a the second party, either.
    Driftwood: Well, you should've come to the first party. We didn't get home 'til around four in the morning... I was blind for three days!

  6. #21

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    Ok I have to say these are beautiful pieces. I have to say that it shows that practice practice practice are not meaningless words.
    I don't forgive the art of then. I plunked down a lot of money for a title i believed in and the art didn't deliver. Carl Potts and myself are to blame. Carl for trying to believe in someone not ready for it and me for not talking with my dollars and buying something else. Let's face it those issues are a lot cheaper now.
    I do praise the art of now though. This kind of work then might have kept a lot of people with the book.

    Shawn

    If anyone cares I may take on something colourwise with that alpha pic.
    But I'm not in a rush.

  7. #22
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    Quote Originally Posted by JohnnyCanuck
    Carl Potts and myself are to blame. Carl for trying to believe in someone not ready for it and me for not talking with my dollars and buying something else. Let's face it those issues are a lot cheaper now.
    I was no fan of the art, but I loved James Hudnall's writing. Made it much harder to make such a vote.

    ... Come to think of it, I bought them as back issues anyway. But that had more to do with when I started collecting comics than any other factors.

    - LM
    "Any excuse will serve a tyrant."
    - Aesop

  8. #23

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    Quote Originally Posted by JohnnyCanuck
    If anyone cares I may take on something colourwise with that alpha pic.
    But I'm not in a rush.
    Please do Johnny, it's something I wouldn't mind seeing.
    Del

    Driftwood: Well, I got about a foot and a half. Now, it says, uh, "The party of the second part shall be known in this contract as the party of the second part."
    Fiorello: Well, I don't know about that...
    Driftwood: Now what's the matter?
    Fiorello: I no like-a the second party, either.
    Driftwood: Well, you should've come to the first party. We didn't get home 'til around four in the morning... I was blind for three days!

  9. #24

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    Hi Maniac Mike,

    I've got more things to finish off than hours in a day, but if time allows I'll crank up more Alph stuff. If I do, you got dibs.

    Why fault Carl? Ok, the book wasn't the greatest thing on earth and the best reaction is probably to vote with your wallet. But there were a lot of forces that come together when things don't go well. Even bad movies require skill and hard work. Which, in the end makes it all the more frustrating for everyone involved. A tweak here -or there- and things might have turned out for the better. -These images aren't here to 'make up' for the past.

    Life plots a strange, mysterious path and the comics industry is no exception. In it's birth, Illustration was still a formitable art field while comics were a wasteland. It was what one did if you couldn't get 'real' work. Guys like Jack, Steve, Gene slogged on for years learning their craft. And in time proved comics to be an art form. They'd been in the industry for years cultivating what would become the boom years of the 60's. Then, you had 40 somethings -at the top of their craft- producing books for readers 20 years their younger.

    By the 80's it was obvious new talent was needed to replace the old talent. But who could wait 20 years for talent to master their craft? And where would they master it? To make matters worse, a whole host of art talent took the collegiate route and went to art schools that had faculty ill equiped to show them the ropes. Fine art colleges were full of faculty busy pouring paint down inclines. What did they know of perspective or storytelling?

    Today, it's all flipped. The field of Illustration is a disaster, thanks to the computer. Talent is a dime a dozen and comics illustration shines like a beacon of hope (?) by comparison. There are a huge number of artists working in the comics field who would be in better places if things were better elsewhere. A talent like James Jean would be where Rockwell and Leyendecker were, not doing covers for DC.

    And while the Illustration of comics booms thanks to the arrival of the field's very best young ILLUSTRATORS.... comic story tellers that have honed their craft for years are having a heck of a time finding work. Today, the trendy hot talent is practically the same demographic as their reading audience. Young and hip. It makes for very, very, very purdy comics, but I fear -with exceptions- it's lacking.... something.

    Eventually, that something is going to leap off of someone's drawing board... out of someone's typewriter. A meeting of heart, spirit, imagination and a deep sensitivity to the human condition will do the trick. It will usher in the next 'new' age of Comics. Maybe it's happening now. Maybe it's Mike's OmegaFlight!

    I think sensitivity to the human condition is the key. The next golden age is coming and when it does, I'll happily plunk down my thirty five dollars to read it. Or in a more perfect world, be one of the guys making the magic.

  10. #25
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    John,

    You have been reading Scott McCloud, haven't you?

    I hope you're right, that the new age comes, and soon.
    That comics will stop trying to be movies, and take advantage of the strengths of the field, instead of playing little brother and copying its 'better' sibling.
    Done right, they can be a thing of beauty.

    Maybe, John, you should start writing as well as drawing? You do both well.

    - Le Messor
    "Any philosophy that can be put in a nutshell belongs there."
    - Sydney J. Harris

  11. #26

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    You know Messor, there's nothing I love more than a good story. I marvel at the guys, like Oeming, who can tell a great yarn. I particularly enjoy revisiting successful stories to appreciate the economy and structure, be it books, dvd, or comics.

    My buddy Neil gives me grief for my affection for Next Generation dvds. He grimaces at the thought of the girlie vulcan boy, among others. So there are a few bad eggs in the batch? I'd rather delight in the good stories, that are amazingly well crafted. Like the episode where Riker brings a addictive game aboard ship. -Beautiful bit of storytelling there. I've watched 30 times, easy and every time I'm sucked into the story with a big grin on my face.

    Good stories embrace human emotions and human reactions. We've all had days where life feels utterly helpless... and as such we can tap into the emotional state that overwhelms Frodo at the prospect of recovering the ring. Or we've sat in the dark, alone feeling a bit TOO alone for safety's sake. When a story rings true about our human experience, it just works.
    Unfortunately, american story telling tends to assume it's the bells and whistles that are the thing. The plot point IS the explosion. The good guy is the last man standing. Wrong, wrong, wrong.

    The idea should be to tap into human emotions. Set up a situation where WE CARE, WE FEEL and we wonder "OH, MY GOD! WHAT WOULD I DO?!?"
    Case in point: the FF cartoon. What a forgettable experience... It's like a demographicly plotted pastiche of 'kewl.' There are enough light effects in the backgrounds to simulate watching Akira on acid. Johnny's got just enough gel in his hair and point to his chin to brand him as 'hip' from half a mile away. I'm shocked they didn't draw him with just enough droop to his belt line that we could read 2ist, or whatever the latest hip brand is on his underwear. -Attitude abounds. Much of it the worst attitude... Sue is a complaining 4 year old. "I want it and I WANT IT NOWWWWWWW."

    All very sleek and edgy...

    But do I care??????????????????

    Does anyone CARE? Why would they? What human experience can I relate all this too? I suppose the lights remind me of looking at Christmas tree lights in my youth. But those lights sat still long enough to be savored. And as much as I like kids, whining 4 year olds drive me mad. Whining 24 year olds make me want to slap them. What a loss. I watched the first cartoon and the story was so misdirected towards being hip, rather than pulling me into their humanity... I haven't the slightest care to come back.

    Now that Moriarity story on NextGen, I've done that a thousand times... love it. Love it. Love it.

  12. #27

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    Nice to have your opinion, sir. From a professional's point of view. Me, I can barely trace my hand, writing is not my gig on even my best days.
    Time and Tide, no, wait.
    Go Leafs, Go Stamps, Go Omega Flight!

  13. #28

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    I've got more things to finish off than hours in a day, but if time allows I'll crank up more Alph stuff. If I do, you got dibs
    WOO-HOO!!! Thanks John.

    MM

  14. #29
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    Quote Originally Posted by John Calimee
    You know Messor, there's nothing I love more than a good story.
    You've said in the past that you and I think very differently.

    But I agree with everything you said here.

    ... including the 'Love Nex-Gen' stuff. I have them all, too, and love those Moriarty eps.

    'Girly Vulcan boy'? Who? Nex Gen doesn't have any Vulcans... not as ongoing characters. Tuvok from Voyager? (I like that, too.)

    - Mik
    "Professor, it's black magic."
    "Surely the best kind."
    - the aforementioned ep.

  15. #30

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    Quote Originally Posted by Le Messor
    Quote Originally Posted by John Calimee
    You know Messor, there's nothing I love more than a good story.
    'Girly Vulcan boy'? Who? Nex Gen doesn't have any Vulcans... not as ongoing characters. Tuvok from Voyager? (I like that, too.)
    I couldn't by any stretch of the imagination call Tuvok 'Girly' looking, but the only other Vulcan with deep character developement was the one from 'Enterprise' and she was a woman, I think. My eyes aren't what they use to be.
    Del

    Driftwood: Well, I got about a foot and a half. Now, it says, uh, "The party of the second part shall be known in this contract as the party of the second part."
    Fiorello: Well, I don't know about that...
    Driftwood: Now what's the matter?
    Fiorello: I no like-a the second party, either.
    Driftwood: Well, you should've come to the first party. We didn't get home 'til around four in the morning... I was blind for three days!

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