Among all the new things I am doing and learning, one of those is learning how to play the guitar. I’m learning through an app called Simply Guitar and it’s not only quite intuitive but it’s a lot of fun. I’ve progressed enough where I’m now being forced to play songs that require a lot of chord switching. Though it’s tough at first, every time I practice I can tell that I’m getting better and better, and that is nice.
Playing the guitar brings back quite a lot of memories. There was a time when I was moving around a lot and when I would settle in a city, for some reason I would buy a guitar and try to play it. This happened in Saarbrücken Germany, Vienna Austria, and Hong Kong. And now Rotterdam. When I bought the guitar and started playing it for the first time, those memories really came rushing back. Luckily I think I’m a bit better than I was during those last three attempts and it’s quite interesting how muscle memory works because I do remember switching between some tough chords. Interesting.
On the art front I posted, yet again, two pieces: Red Skull and Ms. Tree.
First up is a piece that I call Red Skull triumphant. As I was saying last week, for some reason I really got into Captain America. And of course when you read his stories, especially from the beginning, you will come across the Red Skull. Probably his most famous villain (or perhaps infamous in this case?).
By far my favorite depiction of Red Skull is from one of his creator’s, Jack Kirby. He always depicted him as an ugly, ruthless fascist who had the gestures and mannerisms of a ‘gentleman.’ Kirby contrasted that truly ugly side with his own perception of civilization. Thus, when I looked back at my sketchbook I noticed that I was really trying to replicate that look (to varying successes), and produced the below, which I call Red Skull Triumphant.
Not only has Red Skull successfully achieved his goal of killing, what we can presume to be, Captain America but this is also one of my attempts of three-point perspective to mixed results. Though it may be off, I am quite happy with the objects I put on Skull’s desk.
Next up is Ms. Tree. I basically jumped down the rabbit hole which is 80’s Indy comics from the likes of Eclipse, First Comics, and others. And one of those is Ms. Tree from Max Collins and Terry Beatty. And it’s an absolute gem. I love this series and it really got me into the detective genre. The series follows a heroine by the name of Michael Tree, whose husband was killed, also a Private Investigator. She goes on the hunt for the real killer and it just keeps moving from one fantastical situation to another. The series ran for quite a while and some of you my age might be familiar with those Ms. Tree Quarterly in-house adds that ran across the DC Comics line. If you are curious about it, do yourself a favor and pick it up. I do want to write an essay on this so will restrain it for now, but needless to say I’m a big fan of the character.
And you guessed it. I drew it in the expatNERD house-style, in the guise of Franka, who talked about Ms. Tree and gave it her hearty recommendation.
It’s one-point perspective this time and it’s definitely off. But hey, I’m learning and it’s still fun to see what I can come up with, even if it’s not 100% correct.
And that’s it for this week folks! I hope you are staying safe and optimistic wherever you are. Perhaps the latter is harder than ever before but as Winston Churchill once said:
“When going through hell…keep going.”
-Chris
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