Ever notice when you walk into a movie theater to see the latest blockbuster playing that there are movie posters all around informing everyone what's playing next week or next month? Sometimes it's a simple two-foot by three-foot poster framed on the lobby wall. Most of the time, however, it's a huge cardboard cut-out that takes up half the lobby. Whatever it is, it's something that catches your eye, and that's the artwork of movie posters.

For over a century, movies have been advertised by the method of displaying posters depicting a character or a scene from the movie. It was_and still is_the way to sell potential audiences to come to the theaters and pay to see these films. During most of this time, the posters were usually paintings or illustrations portraying a certain part_usually a pivotal scene_from the film or maybe showcase the star (or stars) of the film.

Most of the work could be called masterpieces, like the poster for Casablanca or Touch of Evil. Even some modern posters like Star Wars or Raiders of the Lost Ark are nice works as well (my favorite is the movie poster for John Carpenter's The Thing). The movie poster for E.T.: The Extraterrestrial (featured above) was a great piece of work that showed an alien and a child, worlds apart, connecting.

Knowing that filmmakers think well enough ahead to get an artist to paint or photogragh a scene_or a collage of scenes_on a movie poster "one sheet" is brilliant. When the collage-of-scenes approach is used, it gets the potential movie-goer's imagination going, making them wonder how exciting or dramatic the film will be. When I first saw the movie poster for Escape From New York (another exceptional film from John Carpenter), I was mesmerized by the look of Kurt Russell's character with the eye patch and the desolate look of the apocalyptic New York in the background_not to mention the Statue of Liberty's decapitated head lying in the street behind him (although that was kind of a cheat since that didn't happen in the film), so this poster really got me going. Unfortunately, I was too young to see this film when it was first released, but it was one of my first rentals when it was available in VHS some years later.

A trend, regretfully, started picking up a bit in the 90s when movie posters began to show off the actors in the film. Typically, the posters had the title in the middle with the faces of the actors surrounding it while they mugged for the camera. It seemed quite narcissistic and didn't appeal to me one bit. If anything, it made me want to stay away from the film. Most of the films that featured these movie posters, however, were very good films. Films like the Scream trilogy, Gangs of New York, even the new Wolfman film had its final poster feature the stars' heads toward the top hovering over the title character.

Not only do I consider myself an artist, I'm also a big movie buff and that's why I thought about this topic. I have quite a collection of films on DVD and Blu-Ray that I keep in faux leather binders, making it a point to keep every film cover to mark each film as I flip through the pages.

My wife recently became okay with me taking over one of our spare bedrooms to make into my own home theater, so I've started getting it ready by painting it and ripping out the carpet to put something to help soundproof the room. In addition to remodeling, I've been going through thrift shops and off-the-wall types of stores to see if I can find any type of movie-themed artwork or décor. So far, I've found a lamp that resembles a stage light, some signs that contain movie lingo, and most impressively, I had the chance to pick up two reproduced movie posters: Star Wars and Rocky. Both are great examples of how filmmakers went with an artistic approach to advertise their movie.

The Star Wars poster, created by Tom Jung, includes all the exciting aspects of the film, painted in a realistic, yet comic book-type, tone. It includes Darth Vader's head with the Death Star in the background and exaggerated depictions of Luke Skywalker with Princess Leia at his feet. But the artwork is outstanding and eye-catching.

The Rocky movie poster, however, is a photograph of the title character after running up the top of the steps to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. It's in black & white and Sylvester Stallone is standing at the top of the steps with his arms raised in triumph. But it's a shot of his back with the cityscape of Philadelphia before him. It's a great photo...or it could be a captured shot from the film.

I'm hoping to find more movie posters so that I can decorate the room when it's ready. But in the meantime, I hope Hollywood puts a stop to these movie posters where the actors look like they love themselves too much and put more thought into making more artistic creations. Don't you agree?

In the field of art I work on the most_comic book art_there are numerous artists I look up to and see as a bit of inspiration to help me go on as I work on a certain piece.

Whenever I see the artwork of these individuals, it either takes me back to when I was a child reading comic books for the first time or it just simply mesmerizes me, putting me in a zone as I view their works.

You'd be surprised to know that some of them aren't just simply pencilers or inkers of the trade, but go further with painting and even create a lucrative business with their established name.

So without further ado, let me list the artists I look up to.

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The artist that I think of when reminiscing about the bronze age of comic books (the years from 1970 to 1980) is, the one and only, John Romita Sr.

John Romita Sr. drew a lot of the Marvel Comics titles, especially Spider-Man. The style of his artwork was very simple, yet it was original. To many comic book fans, such as myself, I could always tell what comic books he'd worked on.

Romita's comic book artwork was, and still is, the template of what a good comic book should feature. Many artists emulated him (including me) during the 70s and 80s, but no one could come close. His son, John Romita Jr., is also an artist featured in Marvel Comics titles and has done well in the field. But Romita Sr. is what Marvel Comics was all about.

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Another artist in the comic book genre of art is Todd McFarlane.

Drawing for Marvel for a number of years, he was an innovator in making comics look cool again. When he started drawing one of the Spider-Man titles, The Amazing Spider-Man, it created such a big fan base that Marvel gave him his own title, simply titled Spider-Man, to draw and write as he pleased. Being such a success, McFarlane, along with a number of other comic book artists, founded the comic book company, Image. It helped to produce his biggest character to date: Spawn.

Spawn was different because the character wasn't an alien from a different planet or an innocent human who'd acquired powers and decided to fight crime. No, Al Simmons, an assassin for a secret military operation, somehow made a deal with the devil and after being taken out by his own people, he comes back from the dead as a demon with unimaginable powers_Spawn. His motivation, at first, is to get revenge and to try and get back the life he'd once had, but along the way, he does start to fight crime.

Todd McFarlane didn't stop at comic books, however. He went on to the toy production business, which turned out to be a very lucrative move. McFarlane Toys recreates figures like sports athletes, famous movie characters, and even Elvis.

Yes, Todd McFarlane used his artwork as a ladder to move on up and go on to bigger and better things.

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Another artist, and the final one that I'll mention in this blog is one of my favorites. He primarily does work for DC Comics, but every once in a while he'll do stuff for Marvel.

The man I'm speaking of is Alex Ross.

Alex Ross is different because of a few things. The first thing you'll notice about his work is that he mainly paints his creations rather than draw. The second thing you may notice is that every one of his characters, whether it's Superman or Spider-Man, looks so realistic. I've got to admit that the artists working in comics make some pretty cool creations, making the characters incredibly muscular or unrealistically lanky, but Alex Ross stays with a real life look in his artwork.

In case you don't recognize the name, his artwork was featured in the opening credits of the Spider-Man 2 film. He painted some very life-like portraits of the stars of the film and it's very impressive.

But those three artists are the ones I look up to and mimic at times. I admire them all and especially hope to one day be as good as Alex Ross, but I doubt it. There was actually a web site dedicated to him that featured artwork he created while in grammar school. I think it was a picture of Superman and it looked pretty darned good for a kid in grade school.

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Anyway...

What artists do you all look up to?

Is creating your self portrait narcissistic? That's a question that I never really asked myself until I drew a portrait of myself and my wife told me I was narcissistic for doing so.

So, is it?

At first, after my wife made her comment, I started believing it. I thought, yes, I must be. I mean, why would I choose to draw a picture of myself rather than picking a celebrity or some random person out of a book or magazine? Why would I want a drawing of myself in my portfolio? It did seem a little vain and self-absorbed, I must say. But then I really started thinking about it because it bothered me for quite a while. If there's anything that I am, it certainly isn't narcissistic. I'm such an introvert and just a person who wants to remain anonymous, keeping myself out of the spotlight and loathing any blatant attention that may be bestowed upon me. I've mentioned in a different blog about a time that I took a drawing course in community college and how the instructor made an example of me many times. Each and every time, I turned beet-red and became very embarrassed. So...really...all-in-all...I am not narcissistic.

But the question still remains: Is drawing, painting or sculpting a likeness of yourself narcissistic? After thinking about it for quite some time, I don't think it is.

In my opinion, an artist views every person or thing they look at as a subject. Whether it's a man or woman, a house or road, a dog or cat...they're all subjects that we, as artists, are trying to recreate on a medium to the best of our ability. If I'm looking at a dog, for instance, I'm looking at the curvature of its hind quarters, the circles of its eyes, the many shades and lines that will finally produce the likeness of the canine onto the page in my sketchbook.

The same thing goes for the drawing I made of myself that you see at the top right corner of this piece. I drew that one a few years ago to use as my picture for a MySpace page. I'm not big on using actual pictures of myself due to the shyness I had mentioned earlier, so I decided to sketch a drawing of myself.

Now, I wanted it to appear how people see me rather than just drawing my mirror image, so I took a picture of myself on a digital camera and displayed the result on my computer screen. I took my time, making sure I had the shape of my head right, the eyes aligned, the mouth and ears, just making sure it looked like the photo I had on the screen. Of course, I probably went through three or four attempts, erasing some or just throwing away the whole page on others, before getting it right. But as I drew the picture, it wasn't as if I was in love with the image I was drawing. No, in fact, as I drew the image, I made myself be honest and not omit any detail I saw. It was the first time I did such a thing when drawing myself because I had, in the past, drawn myself for one reason or another. But when I had done so, I took the liberty of excluding such attributes as wrinkles or unflattering lines on my face. This time, however, I made sure to include everything I saw in the photo, pleasing or not.

As I had said before, I didn't look at the photo in front of me as an image of adoration. Instead, like everything I attempt to draw, I saw it as a task. Yet the task I was working on was something that, when finished, would be something I was proud of. And when I say "proud of," I'm merely referring to the pride of being able to draw something that will impress myself as well as others.

I hope that explains things well enough. Besides, just about every artist creates a self portrait every once in a while. DaVinci created quite a few. Van Gogh as well. Rembrandt seemed to make them to document how he ages because he made them from his younger years until he was an old man.

So I guess that's my opinion on it. What do you think?

All my life, ever since I started picking up a pencil and paper to draw whatever my heart had contented, I have been attracted to the tools of the trade. The basic tool I'd always stopped to look at whenever I'd visit a Michael's or any other arts and crafts store were the pencils. Yes, to this day I love to stop and look at the different brands of pencils_the different shades, from the dark and heavy to the light and fine_and I always get a sense of awe from it.

Most people, especially my wife, don't understand why I need to look at these simple writing utensils. But that's what they see_writing utensils. What I see are magical instruments that help me put the images I have in my head to the paper sitting in front of me. To them, pencils are just some little pieces of wood with graphite within it to use as a simple implement to jot down some notes or phone numbers. For me, it's a conduit between my mind and the sketchbook in my lap.

I don't know how or when this fascination took over me. Remembering in school, when students_basically, boys_would pit themselves against each other for "pencil fighting," I would never take part. The thought of taking perfectly good pencils to use as weapons against other pencils offended me in some trivial way. Thinking to myself back then, as I admired the pencils I owned in my school desk, I just couldn't believe why other boys would find that a means of amusement. Even years later in middle school, I recall getting into a fight with another student because he deliberately broke my pencil as a joke to his pals that watched. I actually started the fight with this kid and he wasn't some wimpy little kid. Oh, no. He was a taller boy who was obviously stronger than me because all my friends went to hold him back and didn't worry about what I would do.

So, I'm sure you get an idea of how much I love pencils.

And not only do I love pencils, but I love paper as well.

The smooth and empty void of space on every page of a sketchbook or pad, just waiting for some creation to fill its emptiness, fills me with a sense of wonderment. It might sound dumb, but that's the best way I can explain how I feel about it. Even though I have quite a few sketchbooks at home, some half-filled and some that I haven't started on yet, I still like to glance at all the different ones they have on display at stationary shops I frequent. The way I leaf through them, you'd think I was shuffling through a new novel that was just released.

If you glanced through my little biography I'd written for my blog, you'd see that I sort of owe a little to my dad for being proud of my interest in drawing. He really paid a lot of attention to it and my love for drawing was probably the only thing he really tried to push me into pursuing in life. With the sad truth of my brother being his favorite, it really made me happy when he did brag to other people of how he felt about my artistic ability. He'd tell people in front of me, sometimes embarrassing me with his fixation of it, that I could draw anything. Although I felt that he exaggerated a little, it made me feel loved and appreciated_not ignored and looked over when my brother brought home his good grades or took up saxophone at school or went to college or brought home a new girlfriend. The moments when he bragged about me, although few and far between, made up for the times when I was disregarded.

When my father supported my hobby, however, he really went full throttle.

As a child, and as my drawing talent caught my father's eye, he really went to great lengths to support it in any way he could. He'd constantly bring home unneeded copy papers that had work orders or other inscriptions on one side and told me to just use the other side where it was blank. Also, he'd bring home perfect #2 pencils for me to use on the paper. So maybe that's where I get my affinity for pencils and paper. Who knows?

As much as my dad wanted me to have these two valuable items to use, he also didn't want me to waste them. Being that as it may, he'd keep the pencils and paper locked up in a cabinet located in our garage. So maybe that's why I keep looking at pencils and paper whenever I visit craft shops or book stores; subconsciously, I probably see the material in the stores as the items locked away in a cabinet.

I don't know, maybe I'm reading too much into how I feel about pencils and paper. But I do remember one dream I had as a child. It was a normal day as I walked home from school that I was walking down the street and I stumbled upon a stashed box in the bushes across the street from my house. What was in the box? Packages of paper and cartons of pencils.

Although there are many tools to use in drawing_like erasers, straight edges, erasing shields, stencils, inks, and of course pencil sharpeners_the two main items you're always going to need, in my opinion, are pencils and paper

Is tattooing an art? I might face a lot of tension with that question. But the answer that I've concluded is that in some cases it definitely is and in others I don't think it is. I, myself, have a few tattoos and in the years since I'd gotten them, I went through laser treatments to get them removed. The reason being is that I had gotten them for the wrong reasons, which, I believe, is why most people decide to ink themselves in the first place. And I'll get to that a little later.

One thing I've regretted since the day I started "sleeving" myself_besides the regret of doing just that_is that I hadn't thought of designing my own tattoo. You'd think that since I consider myself somewhat of an artist that I'd definitely draw up my own conception or illustration for my tattoo. No, actually, what I did was leaf through the various generic designs that they had in many assorted binders and picked one that I thought would fit my arm nicely and that looked cool, not bothering to think that maybe somebody else had picked the same one which would make mine not so much a one-of-a-kind. However, for some of my tattoos, I did ask the artist to make some alterations to the design to at least make it somewhat of an original.

At one point, I had a total of five tattoos on my left arm and one (my last name in Old English font) on my right. I felt it was a novel idea...for about a week. But after that, I really was tired of it and embarrassed at times to have them standing out on my arms. The reason that I felt that way was because of how I went about getting them; it consisted of going to the tattoo shop, flip through their binders, pick a design and have them ink me up. I mean, I actually drove to the shops each and every time without a forethought of what exactly I was going to get.

Of course a great big reason for regretting the tattoos were the comments certain people made. One time I was stopped for a minor traffic violation (although I felt I was wrongly stopped as I was going 35 MPH in a 40 MPH zone, but that's a whole other story that I won't get into) and the officer quickly noticed the Old English tattoo of my last name, asking me bluntly if I was in a gang. Never being in a gang, I was taken aback and offended by that question. Even though I told the cop that I wasn't in a gang, I was further angered when the officer ignored me and responded with, "What gang are you affiliated with?" I'll just say that the whole experience that day left me very pissed off, yet I understood when I put myself in the officer's shoes.

The last straw that strengthened my decision to get rid of the tattoos was when a gentleman that I met for the first time asked me, after noticing my tattoos, "Gee, when did you get out of prison?"

Again, putting myself in the man's place, thinking about how it would be to see me for the first time, looking at the Smile now, cry later (comedy and tragedy) masks, the Old English lettering, a scorpion, the huge cross on my forearm, and the dragon wrapped around all of that...I could see why he would make such a comment. Because all those tattoos were just a bunch of meaningless pictures that I picked out of a stupid book without so much of a thought or reason behind my choices.

And that's exactly where I feel tattoos are not artwork, that they're merely permanent pictures inked into you without any symbolic purpose. It's just a trend that started about the early 1990s and that's when I started noticing people frequenting the local tattoo parlor more and more. You'd have guys going in and getting tribal bands or Chinese lettering, not knowing what they mean. Carlos Mencia had a little skit one time where he talked about tattoos and picked people out from the audience, making fun of the white guy who had a tribal band as he asked the guy what tribe he was in or commenting on the Hispanic gentleman who had Chinese lettering and didn't know what it stood for. I can see if a Native-American had the tribal band or a Chinese-American had the lettering, but it's obvious when someone gets the tattoo just to get the tattoo. It's especially apparent when you ask the individual point blank what the meaning is and they answer that they don't know or that they think it's cool.

All this is the biggest reason why I decided to go forth with laser treatments to get rid of my tats, which is more painful and definitely a lot more expensive.

Now, when the tattoos have meaning and a purpose, that's where I think it's artwork.

If someone gets a deceased family member's picture tattooed on their body, that has meaning because it shows that the individual doesn't want some insignificant badge of honor to try and be something they're not. Instead, it shows that he or she had a love for that person and wants to display that. It also illustrates how they'd go through quite a bit for them because a portrait of a person would require so much time and pain because of the details involved, such as shading and different coloring.

Another form of artwork I believe is meaningful to get inked into your body is something that shows how dedicated you are to the image. For instance, if you're a big Spider-Man buff, such as myself, it would clearly show who you are by getting Spider-Man's likeness tattooed onto your shoulder or arm. Or, as a person who's a diehard fan of a sports team, that's another ideal type of tattoo. See, illustrations such as those are pretty simple to draw up and ink into yourself, but it exhibits your character and lets people know who you are.

Of course, the person's background is another great thing to incorporate into a tattoo, like their country's flag. See, I myself never even thought of to put the Portuguese or Azores flag anywhere on my body and that's one thing about me that I'm proud of. One of the coolest tattoos I've seen, and it took quite a bit of artistry to pull this off, was a tattoo that looked like skin torn off with the Portuguese flag's colors showing underneath. Now that's artwork!

And, yet, the tattoos don't have to be huge and enormous to present your individuality. A small, yet simple, little picture can say it all without having to mar your body in order to make a statement and it's still artwork.

So, I guess what it all boils down to is that if you tattoo your body just to mark yourself up to look cool and make everybody think you're some badass, then that's not art. If you illustrate your body to show what's deep down in your heart, then that's true art.

Where do you like to draw? It might sound like a simple question, and it certainly is when it comes right down to it, but I have a peculiar area that I use as an art studio and it needs some explaining.

As an artist who enjoys drawing as a hobby, I sometimes have trouble finding a good place to draw. What I mean is, I don't really have an art studio or a nice quiet place within my household to sit down and draw. It's not like my place is small or doesn't have the room necessary to get away from everyone else in the house, it's just that something always comes up to take the much needed attention away from what I'm trying to work on.

For instance, something just happened to break my concentration for a few seconds. As I'm sitting here in my quiet bedroom and my two dogs are curled up at my side, I'm typing a little bit at a time as I think of what to write next. With autumn setting in and the outside breeze beginning to be a lot cooler than it has been, I leave my windows open at night to bring in that chill. It's refreshing and feels good since the summer was so long and hot here in Hanford. Unfortunately, we're less than a mile away from much-used train tracks and every so often, a train comes by with its horn blaring away to interrupt the silence from outside. Of course, those seconds of disturbance can last quite a while when you've been in the zone as you're creating your masterpiece and can take you out of that zone permanently sometimes.

So, picking the perfect spot to sit down and draw for me doesn't always come easy. Usually, when I feel like picking up a pencil to draw, I take my sketchbook and sit down where I was when I thought about drawing. If it was while I was watching television, occasionally it will work if the program I was watching was a little boring. But if the show had some interesting significance, I'll pay little attention to my sketchbook.

Other distractions while I'm at home is the people (and pets) that I live with. I can't just sit at the dinner table with a pencil and paper, doodling away, because it's rude and I wouldn't want anybody doing that to me. If I'm laying down on the couch, drawing in my book, and my dog drops his ball or toy in front of me, wanting to play, I'm not going to ignore him. My neighbors are very friendly and we constantly talk over the fence to each other, so taking my art supplies out in the backyard is another no-no for me.

As vast a place I live in, it seems that there's only one place where I can get some peace and do the best work I can do (actually the work I'm most proud of) and that's the bathroom.

Yes, I confess. As embarrassing as it is to admit, the bathroom is where I do most of my drawing and I'm not ashamed of that fact. Just as most people take reading materials into the bathroom with them, I take my sketchbook and pencils. In fact, I keep a separate drawing book in my john so as to never forget to bring one with me.

In my abode, I get the most peace in my commode.

It seems that whenever I'm being called upon by my wife or she's telling me that there's someone on the phone for me, I'm left alone as long as I shout "I'm in the bathroom!" I keep turning out drawings that I'm proud of and rarely tear up or scribble over any that I do when I use the restroom as my sketching hideaway.

My other place of drawing is a place where you may think that I wouldn't get any concentration to get any artwork done and that's my place of employment.

It's weird because as I read over my reasons for why I choose the bathroom at home, it doesn't seem honest since I do a lot of drawing at work. At my job, it's hectic with people talking all the time, I'm called to co-workers' desks constantly, my phone is ringing, there are printers and other computer-driven machines making noise, but yet I feel at ease there to sit and draw something on a whim.

I don't know, maybe it's a way to take a break from the monotony, as loud as it sometimes can be, and just scoot to the side and draw. Of course, it's not like I sit for hours at a time and ignore my job. It's usually a break of about three to five minutes, just giving my brain a recess from the hectic day I'm experiencing.

So, I guess what it comes down to is this: at home, I like to draw in the bathroom; at my job, I like to draw as a mini-break from work.

Hmmm, maybe one day I'll try drawing in the bathroom at work and see what happens.