I have some things which have been on mind lately that I'd like to bitch about for a moment. All art related. These are just little mental-whimsies of mine, if you will...actually, they are more like irritations.

So, I really enjoy comic books and have for many years. I guess I'm more of Marvel chick...not because Marvel is any cooler than D.C. or anything of that sort, mainly cause I got on the X-Men bus and just haven't gotten off since.;D

I was just discussing this issue of mine with my fiance recently and we both agreed on these 'et peeves':

What the hell is up with the artwork!? There are so many great stories out there with shitty artwork and it's ridiculous!! I used to pay anywhere from $1.99 to $2.50/$2.99 for a comic. Now I'm paying $3.99 for a freaking X-Men comic with staples in the middle of it! Further, I used to pay $4.99 for "Wizard" Magazines and they had hard spines...LOTS of pages. Now they want $5.99 for the same magazine, but with less pages and now instead of the hard spines, you get staples in the center. -What??! Oh, and to add injury to insult, the content isn't as good as it used to be, either. I use to really enjoy the costume contests around Halloween every year and the section on people who've created their own Action Figures, and even the pen-pal part where you could write to 'other' Comic-Fans was great...except for that one guy who was in prison.....didn't write him back. o_O

Yes, There was a gap in the middle of my comic-book craze where I lost interest for a couple of years. Story-lines weren't attractive to me, the art was sucking BAD, and I just didn't care to drop money on that shit, anymore.

So, now I'm back into comics. I come back to the X-Men and there are these new characters, Beast is a CAT, I don't know where my some of my favorite characters have gone, Cyclops is doin' the White Queen....Mass hysteria and confusion, I'm tellin' ya!!

Ok, going off track here...Art:
-Some of it 'really' blows. No, I can't name any particular issues or artists right now. But yeah...little more than stick figures here. The colors aren't even always in the lines and some characters have their mouths open when they aren't speaking, some have them closed when they 'ARE' speaking...some look like they are angry and shouting when they are just talking normal-like.
-In one comic I recently recall seeing, the anatomy was really badly drawn.
What's that? Anatomy is 'never' realistic in comics? Well, yeah....but this wasn't like that. It was HORRIBLE!!! People's legs looked like they were made out of rubber, their heads were too small, they all had the same 'exact' faces, etc.

What I'm trying to get at is the artwork sucks and what absolutely kills me is all the amazing art and skill and talent I see here on DA that's not always being realized. I want to see some of 'this' artwork in the comics!!!
-If I don't like the artwork in a comic, I'm not going to blow my money on it. Especially at $3.99 a frickin' comic!! What's the deal? Get rid of the shitty quality these other "artist's" are putting out and hire some new blood that actually knows what the hell they doing with a frickin' pencil!!!

Same goes for the figurines. Now-a-days, I pretty much only buy Todd McFarlane's figurines...yeah, from "Spawn". They are GORGEOUS!!!! No, you can't play with them...but I'm 26, anyways. I like to collect them and display them.
The new Batman/Spiderman/IronMan/X-Men, etc. figures I'm seeing at Toys'R'Us and in WalMart/Target...BLOW!! I HATE ball-joined action figures. They look like shit and their paint jobs...my cat does better than that in her litter box, seriously! *laughing*
-And they want up to $11.00 for some of these figurines...it's a joke! There's no imagination there anymore, no creativity, or even quality. Maybe if they start putting effort back into these things they'd be worth the high prices, again.

-That was ONE rant.


My next rant....Mermaids. Yep, Mermaids.

I adore looking at hand sculpted OOAK dolls on here, across the internet, and in doll collector's magazines. They are gorgeous and I really admire the work, imagination, and time that went into each one. I don't believe that I could do it as well as even a quarter of these artists can.

So what's wrong, you ask?
-The tails. That's what's wrong. I'm seeing so many people sculpting these mermaid's tails like they have knees!! Seriously!! They bend right where knees would and you even see a slight line between the hips and knees where thighs would separate...IF they had thighs. o.O
But here's the deal. Mermaids are part Human and part fish. Last I checked, the upper part is human, generally female, and the lower part is completely fish. And fish DO NOT HAVE KNEES!!!! Seriously, I've checked. I have some fish here in my home and they have NO knees. Their tails curl at any and every part of their spine....not just in one place, like knees. Also, their tails are completely smooth without a divide in the center...like thighs.

SO what's up? Why do so many artist's keep including knee-joints and thigh-partitions in their mer-folk's tails? 'Cause Disney did it with "The Little Mermaid"? It's not like this is what's been going on for years and years and it's just 'how it's done'. Many, many artists of OLD (history here, folks...not necessarily age), have portrayed their Mermaids...both in illustration and sculpture, with very fish-y tails. They don't bend at the 'knee', but just where ever they damn well please.

I just don't get it. Really....*shakes head in idle wonder and mistification*

P.S. -This isn't about any artist(s) in particular. I've seen several here on DA as well as on Ebay and just around the 'net and in magazines period, doing this same thing. So, please....don't take this personally or as an insult aimed at you specifically, anyone.


This is my first DA journal, I think, where I've ever allowed myself to go off on tangents like this. Enjoy it!

~Sphinx

P.s. -Mask Commissions are still closed 'till further notice. But please keep an eye out for masks that are for sale in my gallery in the future.
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