Who Wants To Live Forever?

For the last few years one of my New Year's Resolutions was to do some Queen art. Now I have always wanted to do a Queen/art blog and I even developed a blog (which is now deactivated) called Sheer Art Attack. (a play on Queen's Sheer Heart Attack album) 

It was supposed to be a bi-weekly art celebration of the songs of Queen. Every two weeks a new song is chosen and posted on Mondays and then participants/followers are invited during the two week period to illustrate their own interpretation of the song chosen. I had this idea in high school and I did some basic doodles of Queen songs but that is about as far as I have got. This quote from Freddie is what motivates me to try this out.

"That's what the song is about, though I'd prefer people to put their interpretation upon it - to read into it what they like."
-Freddie Mercury

This is the picture that started it all. I drew this picture representing the beautiful song Who Wants To Live Forever?

It was based off the video and this picture in particular:

I got the effect that I wanted but I would love to do this all over again. I will have to post some of the doodles/rough sketched I did as well.

If I was a Rich man...

Now I have that song running through my mind. Apologies to everyone else that is humming it now too.

I am sure that we have all dreamed about what it would be like to be rich. What we would buy first, what we would do for our family and stuff like that. I hope that money would not change me and that I could still lead a simple life. I would like to think that I would donate a lot of money and that I would take care of my extended family as well as those that live around me. I don't spend a lot of money as it is now so I think I am safe to assume that I wouldn't spend so much if I did have a lot. Sure, I might pick up a few more comics but that would be about it.

But then I got thinking... ...I definitely know what I would spend money on that I don't now. And yes, it has to do with comics.

I would purchase original comic book art and I would ask my favorite artists to draw something for me that I can frame and hang in my home. My home (my comic book den; I do have to have a place for all my geeky stuff!) would have a ton of comic art hanging on the walls.

Of course I would get another drawing from my favorite artist Alan Davis.

The ClanDestine

I would love to have something like this from Alex Ross hanging on my wall. Bonus points to whoever can tell what this painting is all about.

I would also try to track down some original art from Marvel's old Star Wars comic.

Something like this would be so awesome!

Now I am just getting envious surfing the internet finding cool pieces of art. Like this one of Alpha Flight (a Canadian team) from Hellboy creator Mike Mignola.



Okay, I'll stop. So if I ever get rich, this is the vanity thing I would spend my money on!

Please Take Out a Pencil

Day 333

About a year ago I joined a cool website called Illustration Friday. Illustration Friday is a weekly illustration challenge. A topic is posted every Friday and then participants have all week to come up with their own interpretation and then upload a thumbnail to their website so everyone can see what everyone came up with.

I did it for a couple of weeks and then life just got too busy and soon I slacked off. I had to unsubscribe from their e-mail list since I felt so guilty that I was not participating. I would sketch during Lost and then fix it up and send it on through. It was a fun experience and I was surprised at what I created. Other submissions made mine look like something out of a landfill and were absolutely fantastic but all-in-all I was happy with what I was able to do.

Which got me thinking. One of my earlier goals was for me to do some art. I don't think I have really accomplished that goal (as of yet anyway) but it was not high on the list like some of my other goals. I am thinking of next year already and what I want to accomplish and I think I have an idea. I do want to continue my blog and now I have a perfect excuse. I will join Illustration Friday again and do a weekly drawing and I will blog about it. Blog about how it came to be, blog about how I did it and of course post the pic. Now I have something to blog about weekly and hopefully having the excuse to blog about it here will keep me going.

I probably won't start until the new year since I will be concentrating on my new NaNoWrMo novel all through November. And I invite my fellow bloggers to try out either (or both) contests. It is a huge time commitment but I think you will be surprised about your output and how creative you can be under the gun.

Here is what I did for Illustration Friday.

"Breezy"

This was my first attempt. I can tons of things that I would definitely do different. Oh well...

"Intricate"

I thought about how intricate nature is and went for one of the simplest things in nature, a drop of water.

"Legendary"

I am so disappointed in this scan. It looks so much better in person. Freddie is legendary in his own right and he was the first thing I thought of.

"Poise"

I thought of a young gymnast or dancer. I like the figure in general until her neck. Ugh, I definitely would want to redo this but I don't think it was that bad for a couple of hours work.

"Subtract"

I thought of absolute zero temperatures. I like the way this turned out but her eye has an odd shape. I really need to practice my faces.

Day 200!

Day 200

I am a little bummed. I should be celebrating my 200th Blog post but instead I am bummed out.

On the 14th and 28th day of each month I account for my goals and if you haven't noticed it is the 19th today and I still have not posted my Day(s) of Reckoning for May yet. And that is why I am bummed.

So now that it is close to the halfway point of this year I thought it would be good to see where I am at in relation to my goals. 

WRITING

1) Finish and publish my novel "The Vessel"

Not good. I have completed the novel but I am nowhere near being able to get it published. And to make matters even worse, that special code that NaNoWrMo provided to get my novel published has expired. So even if I was done I still failed at completing this goal and that is why I am feeling a little bummed.

But there is still a silver lining. I wrote a book. A complete book from start to finish and it was over 65,000 words. How many people have done that? It was still a great experience and I appreciate all those that helped me with this. I will still finish it up and get it ready to publish.

2) Plot my novel for next November's NaNoWrMo

I have not even started with this yet but I do have some story ideas. I think the one I would like to work on is tentatively called "Blood Mine" and it deals with vampires during the old west. And it is not nice or romantic. It plays more on themes of religion and horror. Nice mix right? Right now this takes priority for my writing goal.

3) Try ScriptFrenzy

CONQUERED! I participated in this and wrote a comic book script titled "Alpha Flight: Dark Reign" and I am pretty happy with it.

4) Update my Banshee Blog

I have updated it but not monthly. But I still have updated it. I do plan on doing some updates.

READING

1) Read a novel once a month

WINNER! So far at least. I should be finishing up my 5th novel this month and I am actually starting my 6th one instead. I have read "Beat the Reaper", "Crooked Little Vein", "Veeps", "Bret Hart: My Real Life in the Cartoon World of Wrestling" and "Comic Creators on Spider-Man" and I am starting "Shogun".

ART

1) Work on Queen art for blog

Nothing. I have done some art but nothing for my other blog. We'll see how the rest of the year goes.

EATING RIGHT/EXERCISE

1) Exercise daily except for weekends

2) Watch what I eat

I have been exercising a lot more than I did before I made this goal. And I think I look slimmer and a lot more tone. I have only missed a handful of days so success! Eating right I am still struggling with but I am a lot more careful with what I eat and how much I eat. So I still have some work but I think I am heading in the right direction.

OTHER GOALS

1) Practice my bass guitar

2) Learn Greek

I have not played my bass in awhile but last weekend I got the bug to do something musically creative. My cousin is in a band and I was on his Facebook page and listening to the music and it really motivated me to try my hand and do something musically. So I will practice my bass and maybe try to write some songs and I will probably join my church choir since I like to sing.

I still would like to learn Greek and I am proud to say that I know what "CTR" is in Greek. I wear a Greek CTR (Choose the Right) ring on my pinkie to remind me how I should live my life but I never knew what the Greek alphabet was. Now I know, it is Delta, Tau, Sigma. So I am learning Greek!

I guess I shouldn't be too bummed. I completed more than I thought I did and I still have 6 months to get the rest done.

School Daze: Grade 4

Day 198

Ah 4th grade... ...one of my favorite grades and that is because I had a guy teacher. Guy teachers were not the norm at Sifton and I was lucky that I got a guy teacher this time in Mr. Swan.

I (2nd guy from right to left on the 2nd row) made some real good friends in this class. I was happy that I was in the same class as my best friend Alvin Tam (fourth guy going left to right on the 2nd row). I remember he was a super good artist and was very creative and we hit it off. I used to go to his grandma's house after school and play. I originally was not supposed to be in this class but something happened to my other class and I was sent a few days into the school year into Mr. Swan's class.

They added a desk to the row near the door and I sat in front of Carrie Huber. I had a pretty big crush on her throughout the year and I made every effort to make her laugh. Sometimes it worked and sometimes I went a little too far.

Even Mr. Swan agreed. Sometimes I tried to hard to be funny.

Mr. Swan was awesome. His class was a lot of fun. Reading and writing was his biggest drive and would constantly hone us in reading and writing. I remember he used to make us take Dictation and would really try to trick us. He would also read to us after lunch almost every day. And I totally remember some of the books he read to us during the year. He read "Island of the Blue Dolphins" and "The Secret of Shark Reef" to us and they instantly made an impact on me. It was in his class that I learned to love to read and to write stories.

As you can see he really drove us to read. A lot of my love for reading came from this man.

Mr. Swan was always proud of my creative writing abilities even though my hand writing was not that great. He told me that he looked forward to my stories since they were always so exciting and creative. That meant a lot to me. I wrote an Indiana Jones story called "Indiana Jones and the Lost Caverns" and even though it pretty much ripped off Raiders of the Lost Ark, Mr. Swan was impressed by my writing. I got my paper back and this was all that was on it was the word "Wow!!"

As you can see not only did Mr. Swan love my story but I had some kissing in it.

I loved learning about new things but I did struggle in one subject more than others. Surprisingly it was Art. I love Art and would take A.P. Art later on in high school but I was not a fan of construction paper-type of art. I wanted to draw, I wanted to paint, I didn't want to make cut-out snowflakes. I didn't mind doing the clay projects but everything else didn't interest me at all. I didn't know that my teacher picked up on this.

I wonder if I just sat at my desk looking blankly at the wall.

This year I also was awarded a Gold Fitness Award. The year before I got the Silver and I was so happy that I improved.

I later found out when I joined the Ukulele club that Mr. Swan could play the bass. He would bring in his huge bass and plunk along with us. He would twirl it and get fancy too. He was such a cool teacher and I remember wanting to be like him and teach also. I used to have a school desk and I would play school and I would pretend to be him.

Mr. Swan will always be one of my favorite teachers and I am thankful that he motivated me to try my hardest and get me to read.

Snake-Man!

Day 158

Some days I know exactly what I want to blog about and other days it is a struggle. Today was going to be a struggle since I am still feeling kinda ill and I have no idea what I am going to blog.

But then I checked my e-mail today and I got a nice e-mail along with a cool picture and I knew exactly what I could blog about. I have a great family and a great extended family too that has always been very supportive of me.

Snake-Man!

My mom's sister Margo sent me a picture of a superhero that she drew awhile ago. When I was younger I always looked up to my Aunt Margo for her artistic abilities and I still look up to her for that. She has a real gift that she likes to share with her family and friends. One of my favorite things she did was she took a piece of wood and painted a pheasant on it and then stained it. It hung in my grandparent's home and I absolutely loved it. I must have gotten my love and knack for drawing and art from her.

I am glad that she is following my blog. There have been many wonderful things to come out of doing this blog and by reading my fellow blogger's blog. I feel that I have learned a lot and that I am closer to these people and that they know me better.

Thanks to all my readers! I appreciate your comments and e-mails. And thanks for the drawing Margo. It is awesome.

I Just Doodled

Day 138
I totally forgot to post this yesterday. Who is this guy you ask? He is my favorite comic book character. He is the Irish X-Man named Banshee. He doesn't really wear that hat, I Photoshopped that on him. I don't really know why I like him. I think he has interesting powers and I like the glider things under his arms. Perhaps the reason why I like him is because I don't see him enough. He is definitely not the most popular X-Men member and doesn't appear very often. He is one of the few members of the X-Men that has not had his own series or one-shot. But I like him and have liked him since an early age.

This is a drawing I did back in 1985-86. I was just getting into reading comics and getting into drawing them. I still like to draw even though I do not spend enough time doing so. One of my New Year's Resolutions was to draw more and I plan on spending an hour a week (while watching Lost) drawing.

Here is what I did last Tuesday night. In the top corner in the left side is a rough attempt at the cover for my novel. And the rest are just doodles. I tried to draw a newer version of Banshee (lower left; the guy with no head) but got bored of it and didn't finish it.

I'll post some more stuff next week.

Pic of the Week: Domingo, Art and I

Day 112

One of my dreams when I get wealthy (ha!) would be to collect art. I would of course get art submissions of my favorite comic book artists but I also would nicely frame some high quality replica paintings.


A man that I met while serving my LDS mission in New York name Domingo gave me a gift that I absolutely treasure. He was an artist and when I mentioned that I loved art he gave me this book called A Basic History of Art and it meant a lot to me. I kept this book throughout my mission and would refer to it many times. Sadly, and this is definitely my fault, I lost contact with Domingo and I regret that I was not a better friend to him. He did make an impact in my life. He made me appreciate art in all its forms and every time I read this textbook, I think of his friendship and I value the little time that I was able to spend with him.


When people find out that I like art they usually will ask me what my favorite painting is. I have a few that I would love to have a good copy of but there is one that definitely sticks out in my mind. Maybe sometime this week I will do a List-Mania column about my top favorite paintings but I will reveal the one that I would love to have the most.

The Third of May, 1808 by Francisco Goya.

The painting commemorates the execution of a group of Madrid citizens. So much symbolism can be found in this painting. I find the man in yellow and white to be the most poignant. Having this figure painted so brightly almost convenes a sense that he is an innocent only wanting what is right for him and his countrymen. The look of loss on his face and with his arms stretched out portrays a feeling of helplessness and a willing to be a witness. With his arms and with what could be a stigma on his hand also could symbolize Christ. The faceless and dark soldiers have their own symbolism that to me resembles automatons only doing what they have been asked, no matter to what they may truly believe inside.

I could go on and on about this painting. The colors and figures certainly make me think and contemplate about my existence and how I contribute to society.

That is what I love about art. You take your own meaning out of it.

Day(s) of Reckoning

Day 75

We love the Simpsons here at the Platis household. We have a ton of Simpsons games and one of them is the Simpsons Game of Life. It is not the same Game of Life that I remember playing as a child. Now instead of the Day of Reckoning they call it retirement. That certainly takes the edge off of it. I prefer Day of Reckoning which is why I have named this column that.

It has been two weeks since I have unveiled my New Year's Resolutions. So now it is time for some accountability. On the 14th and 28th of every month I plan on blogging about how I am doing. The good thing about doing this is that I don't have to come up with 2 blogs a month. The bad thing is that not only will it bore some to tears but it will also show how lazy I am. Hopefully that will not be the case.

So without further ado...

WRITING:

I have worked on my novel these last two weeks and I think I have made a nice bit of progress. I have a brand new beginning all written out which I am pretty satisfied with. This will introduce the main character in a much better way and also makes the impact of the first cliffhanger all more important. I have also started to edit my novel and I have got a good chunk of it started. It has been pretty interesting considering this is the first time I have read it. I am pretty happy with the progress of this goal. My other writing goals I have not started but that was to be expected. I only have a few months to knock this one out of the park.

READING:

I actually accomplished a goal by reading a new novel this month and I finished it way ahead of schedule. I read 'Beat the Reaper' by Josh Bazell. It was a fairly quick read, it was very easy to get through and flowed very well. And the more you read, the more interesting and hard to put down it got.

THE GOOD: Very quick and highly interesting. I thought it had two things that made it an excellent read. The footnotes were highly interesting with some neat facts, stuff I never knew. The book also peeled back the main character's past in an interesting way. One chapter dealt with the now and the author would reveal some tidbits and then the next chapter was in the past. So you can learn how events actually came to be.
THE BAD: I was not a huge fan of the ending. It was definitely exciting but it seemed to quick and some of the actions of the main character were almost too unbelievable. But that didn't take away from my enjoyment.

For those that like a step on the wild side, you should read this book. It does have quite a bit of colorful language and had some disturbing things so be forewarned.

The next book that has been recommended by my friend Steve is 'Then We Came to the End' by Joshua Ferris. I might pick up this book at the library and get a head start.

ART:
Nothing down with art although I did do some doodling of potential cover art for my novel. When I get a collection of them I will try to scan them in and post them.

EXERCISE AND EATING RIGHT
I have exercised for two weeks straight and I do feel like my body is responding. Sadly, I am not eating so great yet. I have loads of Christmas candy that needs to go. So the plan is to eat it all up so I don't have anymore left. Yeah, I know, doesn't totally feel like a solid plan. I was happy the first day I started, I was on the Wii Fit Plus and weighed myself. I was only a pound more than I thought, which was good considering I was eating like a pig over the holidays. I do the Wii Fit every other day and when the next time came, I was up three pounds! D'OH! So now instead of 7 pounds, I have to lose 10 now. But I have lost some since then so at least I am heading in the right direction.

As far as my other goals have gone, I have not had any time yet. The novel is my focus for now. We'll see how I am in another 14 days.

New Year's Resolutions Part III

Day 65

This will be the last of my New Year's Resolutions, I really don't want to bite off more than I can chew.

Speaking of chewing, I am proud to report that instead of eating my usual handful of Mint Truffle and Cherry Cordial Hershey Kisses, I ate oatmeal and a banana. And that was after my first day on the Wii Fit Plus. I will not share my weight here but I was happy that I was only a couple of ounces from what I was months ago. I didn't gain as much weight as I thought I did during the holiday stuff-your-face season.

And now as I writing my blog, I am not drinking my usual soda, I am drinking some Crystal Light instead.

Speaking of keeping New Year's Resolutions, I have written a new beginning to my novel that is over 11,000 words.

Anyway, I will quit tooting my own horn. The plan is to list my status of these goals at least every two weeks. So I will wait to brag until then.

These last few resolutions are really just stuff that I would like to attempt and not necessarily complete. Meaning I want to get a start on these sometime this year.


Learn Greek. I think it would be fun to know and learn another language and with my Greek heritage I think this should be the one. Not sure how I will accomplish this one but an attempt will be made.

Practice my bass. Kristy got me a bass guitar a couple of years ago for Christmas (it actually was my bro-in-law Steve's guitar) and I have played with it but I have not made an actual attempt to learn the bass. That will change sometime this year.

Design the cover to my novel. For fun, I would like to design the logo and the art for my novel. I would eventually like to complete this but as long as I get a start on it this year, I will be satisfied.

I have some other goals but they are too boring and mundane to share here.

New Year's Resolutions Part II

Day 63

I have a couple more New Year's Resolutions that I want to share. Unfortunately these are nowhere near as fun as the ones I listed earlier. I am only talking of one in particular that I am not looking forward to starting at all.

So let's start with the fun one first.

ART
I rarely pick up a pen to draw anymore and that depresses me. Last year I had a stretch of time where I participated in completing a drawing a week but unfortunately I lost interest and time and I stopped doing it. What I liked about doing it was I felt challenged and it made me think creatively which is something I want to do more of. So I am going to try to complete an art project, at least once a month. I have the tools, I just have to get off my butt (this will be a recurring theme) and do it.


Last year I developed a blog (which is deactivated) called Sheer Art Attack. (a play on Queen's Sheer Heart Attack album) It was a bi-weekly art celebration of the songs of Queen! Every two weeks a new song is chosen and posted every Monday and then participants/followers are invited during the 2 week period to illustrate their own interpretation of the song chosen. I had this idea in high school and I did some basic doodles of Queen songs but that is about as far as I have got. This quote really got me wanting to do it.

"That's what the song is about, though I'd prefer people to put their interpretation upon it - to read into it what they like."
-Freddie Mercury

So instead of doing that blog (which I may reactivate when I get some art projects stocked up) I am going to work on a monthly project based on a Queen song of my choice and post it to this blog. I may wait until my novel is completed before I start that project.

So now it comes to the least favorite part of my New Year's Resolutions but one that I am looking forward to having completed. I am now at that age where I have to be more careful with my body. I cannot just eat whatever I want. Yes, my doctor has told me to eat more fiber and to watch my cholesterol. Last summer I took part of a Nutrition study (which I will blog about sometime) which is to lower my high cholesterol. So it has come to this...

EATING RIGHT AND EXERCISING

I love sweets. I love chocolate. I love soda. But there is no freaking way I am giving those up. But from now on, I am going to watch how much I consume of this stuff. I am going to be more disciplined. I'm going to eat more healthy and eat more fruits and veggies. That part is the easiest part.


I didn't believe that this could actually work me out but it does get you pretty sore and does tone your muscles pretty good. I just have to get it out and use it.

I also need to get off my duff and exercise. When the weather gets nicer, walking and running will be something I will try to do daily. While it is cold, I will work on my Total Gym and the Wii Fit Plus I got for Christmas. I will alternate what I do daily and take the weekends off. My goal is to lose 7 total pounds and hopefully by my birthday in June. It will be hard work but worth it.

I have some other goals/resolutions that I will share next time on the blog. The biggest reason why I am going public with these is because I want to actually do them this time. And by using this blog, I can be held accountable for my actions. I plan on updating the blog at least weekly about how I am doing on these goals. Some are more important than others and some I might not start for months but I want to see how I am doing.