About Me
Archive for November 2012
I've been watching and catching up with Kamen Rider and eventually became an instant fan! Of course I was aware with the franchise since I was a kid but as I get older, I assumed that it was just another silly kid's show that my adult-self cannot tolerate or like. During my semester break, after finishing my list of thing to do, I was bored and so I decided to watch Kamen Rider Fourze. It was the latest at the time and I was really curious about the silly rocket shaped helmet design. Surprisingly, the show was really good. It wasn't the kiddish action that Power Rangers (Current ones) or Super Sentai had to offer. It was a balanced between decent kid-friendly theme and superb creativity! But it wasn't enough for me, I heard that past Rider shows were more matured and so I decided to watch Kamen Rider Kabuto! A Rider that I've always loved the design when I was a kid; the horns and bright red armor were just a major win to me.
Sadly, during its run in 2006, I wasn't able to bear the slow paced show; being a kid and all. Of course I only expected action =P I was a kid.
But after watching the series now, I loved it more and more with each episode watched; telling myself "I used to hate this?!". Now let's not get all to geeky over it. I have to admit, it's not all that awesome. I dislike the very constant convenient arrivals or run ins of characters; arriving in the scene just in time to save the day or for the sake of the plot. That bugged me a bit.
Besides the superb design, mature theme, awesome action and gimmick, it has to be the idea of the show itself; of what it means to me as an adult watching my childhood show. The idea of me watching Kamen Rider Kabuto now is like what most comic book fans felt when they watched The Avengers live action film. It's a dream come true. Why? It's because I assumed that shows like Pokemon, Power Rangers, Digimon and so on would never be rebooted in a more mature way. Sure, we all like to love Pokemon again but as we get older, some of us might grown to be annoyed by it due to it's kiddish plot....but hey, it's for kids! It was always meant for kids which is why seeing these shows in a more mature manner would be unlikely to happen. It was almost like watching The Dark Knight; finally seeing a better or more mature Batman that previous incarnations like Batman and Robin failed to do.
And since this is a post to highlight my quick sketches, here's a practice sketch for an assignment of mine:
Salam and have a good day, everybody!
The other day, I went to a talk by various ex-students of my university. They gave us students some tips on how to survive in our studies and in the industry. One of the tips was that we have to make an online portfolio. It made me think to myself; I already had a blog but I don't post a lot of my own artworks. So, this is a birth of the 'Artworks' label! Just in case if you just wanna see more of my own sketches. I am also deciding to now draw for every post I make, even if it's a review. I'll try to do so if I have the time, Insya Allah. At the very least, I'll post un-inked sketches for reviews.
This is also an update for the 'Experimental Characters ' posts. The point of this is just to share the expanding ideas that I have.
I often write characters who are righteous and underdogs. So, this time, inspired by Kamen Rider Decade and Ben 10, I would like to explore the idea of having the most powerful weapon in the world!
The Decade Driver (Belt) enables the user to turn into past Kamen Riders; each with their own powers like time traveling and monster tamers. In the Kamen Rider story/universe, it's obviously a freaking powerful weapon. It seems like nobody can defeat this guy. Be that as it may, Riders after Decade has had a similar multiple combo-themed weapons which would match up well with Decade.
The infinity gems of the Marvel Universe is one of the powerful weapons but I chose to include this one because it seemed more interesting. Each gems has their own powers that involves time travelling and even alters reality! The user above is Thanos, a villain and perhaps the next villain for second Avengers movie!
I remember a time where I loved this character but after awhile, I realized that this kid is just a brat. The omnitrix has a similar function to Kamen Rider Decade but gimmick-wise, Decade wins for a long shot! But I admire the effort of this show's writers where they try to make each alien has a quick back story such as meeting the same species of certain aliens that Ben transforms into.
Now, here's my idea! I decided to go with an armor.
Like powerful beings (Superman and Dr. Manhattan), characters with powerful weapons tend to get stale easily because there's not much to write about. Due to their enormous capability, it's hard to add some drama; considering that it would only take minutes to defeat villains. And even if a villain who's as powerful as the hero is added, it would create a one dimensional rivalry of who's the strongest; this story gets old quickly if not written wisely. But hey, that's the fun of it! To see how your ideas go even if it's considered boring. Sadly, I haven't sketched a full body concept but I did had the time to draw a basic helmet design; a so called 'trademark' look of the helmet.
I went to a gallery and as I was still brainstorming a look for the helmet, I saw this painting. I hope you noticed that with each face, there's an outer line and so I figured, maybe I could design a helmet out of it. I wanted to somehow portray the Malay essence presented within the painting in the helmet design. Obviously, I still have a long way to go.
POWERS
In the story, mutants exist...bla bla bla (The old super powered beings plot). A professor found a stone that could amplify the mutation of mankind but at a dangerous rate when in physical contact. So, using his wits, he created an armor that could harness the stone's power. How high could it amplify human mutation is not known but with the armor, only 10 % of it is used. Now in this universe of mine, I prefer for the characters to not have God-like powers. So, weather controls and reality manipulation is a no, no. And even if there is a mutant with Magnetism powers, he can't actually levitate 5 tanks at the same time without decent training. But with the armor, it is possible. The armor is not actually a very powerful weapon in general but a powerful weapon in the universe.
And for the sake of making this post longer, here's a Malaysian tokusatsu show!
Not sure if it's still airing though.
So, if you have any ideas...please, do share!
