So I Have Tried To Avoid Spoilers On The Spider-Man Reboot, But I Can't Stay Quiet About This One...

So as someone who blogs excellsively & reads the Internet as much as I do, I have become sompletely uninterested in spoilers & set stories that come from movies that are not coming out for 12-18 months. First off, who the fuck cares? Chances are the shit that people are "reporting" is made up and twisted up facts anyway... how many times have spoilers actually been 100% right? Almost never... Secondly, why do I want to know key plot points and elements if we truly want to see an interesting movie? I am pumped that I do not know who The Avengers are fighting in the upcoming mega movie, I'm glad I will be surprised when I find out who Joseph Gordon Levitt is playing in The Dark Knight Rises, and I don't want some geeky blogger taking 100's of shots at guessing on something until he ends up being right about SOMETHING... take enough guess and something is bound to be similar to ONE of your theories. Anyway, the point is that I have been avoiding all spoilers and I have become a much happier person for it. But now that these films are right on the horizon, lets talk a bit about some of the deatils... specifically, why the fuck does The Lizard look like a combination between a creature from C.H.U.D. & a Sleesak from land of the Lost?

Click after the jump for more...

Meet Your New Friendly Neighborhood Spiderman

Yup... thats right. This young buck right here, Andrew Garfield, is the new wall crawler in Marc Webb's Spiderman reboot film. Now, I'm not so sure about this guy. He has only been in a few movies ( Boy A, The Imaganarium of Dr. Parnassus) both of which I have not seen. With that being said... thank god they chose him over some of the other clowns they considered. Justin Beiber... really? Really??? I would have killed myself and Stan Lee would have probably committed a double homicide on the first day of shooting to prevent that kind of travesty from happening. Both Anton Yelchin (Charlie Bartlett) & Aaron Johnson (Kick-Ass) had been considered, but its gonna be the Brit in the end. Now that we got that out of the way, lets focus on something much more important:

Which one of these guys (if not all of them) will be in the movie as the villian???

"Artin it Up" with Tommy Lombardozzi - Venom: Step by Step

Hello, hello! This week, I had it planned that I’d do some artwork based on photos I’ve collected. Photos of chicks. When I am perusing the internet, or magazines, I always save or clip out photos that make me think “Hmmm, maybe I’ll draw that.” And I keep ‘em for when I need inspiration, or a subject, whatever. So, this week I was going to draw some pictures of ladies. Some I know, some total strangers or models or actresses, whatever. But, then I changed my mind. It seemed too close to what I did last week; drawings based on photographs. Instead, I’ve decided to show you a little step-by-step in the process of making a digitally-enhanced piece of art. I thought it might be cool for ya’ll to see how things evolve from a paper and ink drawing to a finished, multi-media piece. So, here we go. I present to you…

“VENOM: STEP-BY-STEP”

This drawing was done in Summer of 2006, I believe. As some of you may know, I used to be obsessed with drawing comicbook characters. At one point that’s what I wanted to do for a living. But, then I discovered music… and the comicbook industry started to suck, mid-‘90s… so my interest waned. But, every once in awhile I like to revisit those characters that I grew up drawing and enjoying. And now, with all the movies coming out, these characters have become even more well-known by the general public.

I decided to draw Venom, one of Spider-Man’s most vile foes!

First, I did a pencil sketch, which I inked with a professional inking pen. I misjudged the space on the page, so Venom’s left foot was cut off for lack of space. Then I scanned this in.

Once scanned, the next step was to color this bastard. I opened the scan in Adobe Photoshop and “painted” it digitally. As you can see, the colors at this point were grey and black. Flat and simple.

Now what I did for step three was to fancy things up a bit. I used an artistic application in Photoshop called “Plastic Wrap”. I thought it was a good effect to show off what would be Venom’s alien skin; black and organic. It also helped to accentuate his musculature. This gives the creature an ethereal sheen.

Somewhere between step three and this next one, I did a search on the internet for some photographs that I wanted to incorporate into the illustration. My goal was to make this drawing as photo-realistic as possible. That’s the cool thing about using Photoshop to enhance drawings! I got a photo of a New York City street, and one of a spider’s web. I manipulated them so they’d fit into the drawing as seamlessly as possible. Once I felt everything was pretty even, I flattened the file (you work in layers in Photoshop), and painted in some street steam and atmosphere. Oh, I also tinted Venom’s color to nudge him into the blue, as I felt his alien symbiotic flesh would not be as black as his surroundings. Or at least not appear so flat. This is the geeky thinking that goes into comicbook stuff!

Lastly, I fucked with the darkness of the completed piece, adding even more atmosphere and creepiness. Would you wanna see this fucker on a dark street?! I wouldn’t! I added my signature, and there ya go! A completed illustration, from drawing board to motherboard!

It’s really cool what you can do with these computer art programs. The possibilities are only as limited as your skills (and unfortunately, my skills just touch the tip of the iceberg!) I enjoy this kinda work… it’s more like problem solving at times; “Hmmm, how could I make that happen… ?” Sometimes I can figure it out, sometimes not, and sometimes a mistake can lead to something cool and open up the ideas.

Recently, as you can see from my previous weeks’ C.C.D. articles, I have been relying less on the computer enhancements and more on good ol’ fashioned handiworks. But I don’t see myself completely abandoning the digital enhancements to my art that I have used in the last few years. It definitely becomes another medium to work with. Good fun!

And that’s it for now, kids. I hope you’re spreading the word of this blog! (It don’t take too much for you to repost this blog’s URL onto your Facebook page, you lazy bastard! Get to it! Support, support!) Until next time, C.C.Degenerates…

…Smile up!
~TL

Like! Like? Volume #5

 In the 'Legend of Zelda' game for the original Nintendo Entertainment

System, there were these little evil-doers which resembled a delicious

stack of buttery pancakes and whose sole mission were to suck you dry of a hard earned weapon you had just paid mucho rupees for. These fortunate little bottom-feeders were called Like-Likes. That is why I decided to name a new feature article I will be preparing for 'Cultural Compulsive Disorder' after them. Like the fortunate bottom-feeder that I am, I will be scouring the blogosphere for loose related images, video clips, and articles that I found interesting, exciting, or maddening on other blogsites. Things that someone else has, no doubt, painstakingly worked on for weeks, even months, yet I will show no remorse borrowing from them and regurgitating on C-C-D, for you guys to appreciate as well, with all due credit given to it's origins, of course. Things that they liked...and I like...so I'd like to see if you like. So without further ado, I give you "Like!-Like?"

Director Gus Van Sant did an article with Madonna for a recent 'Interview' Magazine spread. The article delves mostly into Madonna's recent movie making and philanthropic efforts but the photos are delicious and Madonna is looking a lot like the Madonna I was first introduced to in the '80s in them. maybe it's just the religious undertones

....Like! Like?

Artist EdComics posted an original piece of artwork at Deviant Art combining Spiderman Villain 'Venom' with God of War video game character Kratos. The result, of course is 'Kratos Venom'

....Like! Like?

Walt Disney has released a lot of great teaser photos for the upcoming Tron sequel, 'Tron Legacy'.

...Like! Like?

Actress Christina Hendrick's from AMC's 'MADMEN' recently did a spread for 'Esquire' Magazine. I gotta be honest. I haven't read the article yet. I will though I promise.

....Like! Like?

Some fun morsels NOT just designed for gelatinous creatures to ingest. Like! Like?