Why we need art in this world- Handspring Puppet Co.: The genius puppetry behind War Horse | Video on TED.com

Handspring Puppet Co.: The genius puppetry behind War Horse | Video on TED.com

Witch King of Angmar Helmet tutorial

I had no choice but to create a Mouth of Sauron Helmet tutorial, but hadn't ever gotten around to a Witch King Tutorial.
I always felt that, well, it was my first helmet and somewhat , erm, rough...
But after so many requests, there is now a quick tutorial up for your use.
Enjoy.

http://inkibus.deviantart.com/art/Witch-King-Helmet-Tutorial-201164454

Costuming ambitions 2011

And first, NO, I am not plotting to do all these costumes in this entry this year (I'm only human), I'm just laying out ideas.

Firstly, I think I will try and give myself a breather (ha!) by taking a costuming shortcut.
Instead of tackling a new one, I will add to an existing one.
Or more succinctly, I'll FINISH the one I was doing last year.
Totally and Utterly finish a costume I have committed for life.

Some of my creations are like minor challenges for person reasons, others more professional choice to be done for the learning/ the obligation/ the whatever.
I hate to think I do anything without wearing it or having a use for it again one day.
Maybe it'll make only a rare appearances, but I can't put that much soul into something and NOT wear it again.

I'm going to finish my last-years ambition of my GhostBuster outfit, %100, and better yet, I'm going to try and invest in the Charcoal Blue jumpsuit from GB II.
I'll find a better shot eventually;

And no, I will NOT put on weight again for a costume. (I'm dedicated, but I did it already)

And somehow get the pack and trap finished.

Cheating, I know, but please, here me out;
For ye non-Ghosthead (Ghostbusters fans) you may not quite understand, a GhostBusters jump suit and Proton pack is NOT a costume.
It's a life accesory, it's a part of you.
So, I need to complete that for the rest of my life.
GB has been my life (literally, I came out a few months before it did!) and I can't see it going away.
I set sail early and was hellbent on doing the whole outfit, but the Mouth of Sauron helmet commission from heaven/hell ate up my Summer.
It's not that I felt like a failure come Halloween (my due date, not for trick or treating mind you) but it was incomplete. It had been the costume I was doing for myself, and I was actually going to finish. But the commission, which ironically helped fund my suit/pack, also took all my time up. Enough boo-hoo from me, on with the dirty work.
Still so much work to do, must finish.
And I have no funds right now, so I'm mostly musing aloud.

Here's my to do list, which I need to pick another project to peck away at so I don't kill myself next year as well;
Anakin, because everyone says that's who I look like
with shaggy hair

Eddie from Rocky Horror.
One of my dear loves, RHPS. Easy costume?
Of course not, RH fans are not called Anal Retentive for nuttin'.






























KROEN from Hellboy.
Kicks freaking ass, this will be a real dream to do.


The Trainman from Matrix 3


I have a love/hate with the Matrix movies. But I always Love Bruce Spence.
The facial hair would be a problem, but I've done that before.
I mean, I look nothing like him, but hey, I don't look like the Mouth of Sauron either. ;-)





















Louis (or even Lestat) from the Jordan film version of 'Interview with the Vampire'.
Great costumes, worth my effort.


Angel of Death from Hellboy 2
IN MY DREAMS! :D One day.......

There are several others, I want to do something Mad Maxian inspired, something Brom inspired, some more armour.
Suggestions welcomed too.

Anyhow, I have enough to focus on right at the moment, I suppose.

What a long year that ended so aburptly

Hi all.
Sort of absent, I know.

I spent an understandingly creative but demanding year last year.

My artwork did not improve, as it got pushed (sadly) aside to my
costuming. I started with a personal goal, which swept whatever projects and sanity I had left to re-create my Mouth of Sauron helmet reproduction for a private client.
On the professional, I was asked to re-create my Mouth of Sauron reproduction
helmet

Can you see that the one on the right is my first one?

My personal costuming ambition was a GhostBusters jump suit, SCREEN ACCURATE.
A lifelong GhostHead, this isn't a costume, it's an outfit that I hope to wear for years. Alas, I only got it 80% done.



So, a write up shall come, and the tutorials.
And, the Jump Suit is only 80% done........ ^^
You'll never guess what I am doing next Halloween.
Cheers and beers, inki

RIP Frank Frazetta

RIP Frank Frazetta. :(

Open for prop-work type comissions

http://inkibus.deviantart.com/journal/31818457/#comments
Cross Promoting what has been posted on my Deviant Page.

'Alice in Wonderland' review, no huge spoilers

Got to see Alice in Wonderland. I will not go on about how many time I read both 'Wonderland' books as a kid and all the usual blah-blah.
I couldn't stop reading them, and have a segment in my soul for those wacky writings.
Short verdict;
All around nicely done, well worth seeing, but a bit short on some of the surreal kookiness .
Plus sort of saddled with a linear ending that killed some of the insane joy the film otherwise brings.

The most pain for me was the 3-D. It didn't benefit from it, except for the most digital scenes that clearly weren't suffering from this enhancement.
I kept looking over my glasses during half the film.

The digital looked well, but often it seemed a bit lazy for as spectacular as it generally should have been.
For as good as the forced perspectives and digital creatures/people interacted, the Knights were too video-game like. And man, those horses looked purty digital, which always irks me. We can create life-like dragons, but not horses?

Costumes were actually a bit disappointing. They looked, gasp, too Disney and simple for much of the time to me. Sure, the Hatter had the best one, and the Red Queen had some great ones..... but it still reminded me of old princess gowns and such. Alice's armour and sword had a nice appearance, but looked cheap up close.
The first 'Narnia' film suffered the same way to me; nice design, executed with an air of 'it's a kids film, so what if it looks like plastic, kids don't notice'?
Trust me, we kids do notice.

Alice was fine for the part, and looked well. I wish she was more certain of herself and almost obstinate, like in the original stories, but I reckon that character change reflects the overall feel of the movie atmosphere vs. the original material.

The voice work was top notch, and the toppest of top notch. The weakest point;
some of the voices only had a few lines! Micheal Gough AND CHRIS LEE only had a sentence or two?!
C'mon the heck on, that's unfair!!!

Otherwise, Stephen Fry is a Cheshire Cat in real life, and he could read a phone book and make it funny.
Totally CGI looking, but the surreal fluidity worked for that feline.

Alan Rickman as the Blue Caterpillar? Say no more. ;-) Same with Sheen as the White Rabbit.

Oh, yes, digital bunnies have come a long way, the White Rabbit looks and acts like a white bunny I own, LOL!
The Hare was great.

I thought I would hate Tweedledee and Tweedledum, but honestly, they were funny and endearing enough.

I adored Baynard the Hound, and though the kind of anthropomorphic Disney-look for him was suitable .

Helen Bonham Carter works so much harder than people give her credit for, she's a gem.

Crispin Glover was eerily Brad Dourif-esq/Grima like, and I loved to loath his character.
He had a nice costume, btw....... (adds to list)

Anne Hathway was a nice surprise, she's a mix of ethereal purity and her own kooky daffiness.

Oh yes, Johnny Depp? Futterwacking excellent. I think too much time was devoted to him, but maybe that is not a bad thing.
I didn't expect sparks between him and Alice, but I suppose every movie needs a love story now. Whateva.

I also liked Marton Csokas' at the beginning as her father, and kind of sad he wasn't in the rest of the film.

Biggest letdown was, there was not ENOUGH TIM BURTON.
I am not begging for full-out severed heads and evil naughtiness, but 'Nightmare Before Christmas' had more kooky spooky moments. I suppose there is too much Disney control to make that happen.
The elements many people are having qualms with is it's not following the original story, and it shouldn't; it's set after the prior books and liberally moving around the prior events.
But in that sense, the film feels constrained; it doesn't want to deviate and recreate things from the original source, but it's a rehash of the events.
I would have rather seen a totally new vision of the original story with Burton's spin on it.


All in all, fantastic for the small fry and young, great for anyone with a sense of imagination and lunacy, but a watered down version of what could have been a futterwacking good film.
And I do plan on seeing it again.
It still does not answer why a raven is like a writing desk..........