This was a really tough call. I have been a huge fan of Osamu Tezuka's work for some time and his most popular creation, Astro Boy/The Mighty Atom/Tetsuwan Atom is a well known figure around the world and quite recognizable, especially after last years film.
The original Astro Boy by Tezuka was the obvious choice for this piece and if I had to draw Astro any time before last year I would have not thought twice.
Then Naoki Urasawa came along. Urasawa's "Pluto" is essential manga reading. If anyone reading this still believes comics are for kids, I urge you to go out and buy Pluto and have your whole world turned upside down.
Urasawa is a master of suspense and his interpretation of the classic Tezuka Astro Boy tale "The Greatest Robot on Earth" is told with love and care and a precision that many a lesser writer would have made a real mess of. Over 8 volumes, he drags you into a world where robots coexist with humans to the point that you want to shed tears when they die.
Pluto was to me a defining moment in comics. It's one of those comics, like Watchmen, that makes you think, "Damn. I don't think that will ever be bettered"
I cannot speak highly enough of Urasawa and of Pluto and it's this utter reverence for the book that made me choose to portray Urasawa's version over Tezuka's. The God of Manga (as they called Tezuka) would have no qualms about that I'm sure.
February 13, 2011 at 6:58 PM
Wow, you're really making big steps on the drawing, especially with angles!
Nicely done :)
February 13, 2011 at 7:18 PM
Thanks L-plate. I think the drawing class I took up as a new years resolution was a disaster, but drawing on postcards for mailart365 has improved my drawing drastically
February 13, 2011 at 9:21 PM
Yeah, sounds like it was a bit too "classical" for you. By that I probably mean too stuffy/snooty... It's nice you're doing it your own way.
February 14, 2011 at 12:48 AM
Comics are the best. Have you read "Little Nemo" comics by Winsor McCay? The colors and images are to die for.
February 14, 2011 at 9:02 PM
Yeah I agree L-plate - Drawing flippin' bottles in a row!? Puh-lease!
I'm not sure if you read the next frustrated post about the next art class, but I ended up going to the craft knife drawer and slashing the hell out of my canvas because it annoyed me. Definitely not cut out for that sort of drawing.
Gabby, I have not yet read Little Nemo, but have seen pics of it around. It's often held up as a shining example of storytelling, but is devilishly difficult to get hold of here, especially in the libraries. At the moment, I can'[t really afford to buy them you see, so I get all of my reading material from libraries, hence the Little Big Stories mailart call. I wanted to give something back (and have a bit of mailart fun at the same time...)
February 14, 2011 at 11:10 PM
wow, nope didn't see this about the art class - how strange that something which is meant to be therapeutic made you so enraged!
February 14, 2011 at 11:23 PM
yeah I was pretty surprised too. Thing is, that with all this mailart, I feel like I can create just fine, but when asked to draw a scrunched up piece of black paper I just couldn't see much point in the whole exercise. 3 hours of drawing junk just wound me up and all the time I was thinking "I could be making something pretty to send to someone"
Not sure that that sort of art is for me
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