Go, Chilean Students!

Oh crap, I´m sorry. I hate political cartoons, as I love funny cartoons and despise anything that tarnish that fun, from nasty network executives to politics.

But this is a big deal. At least in my country.

In Chile most people have to take a loan if they want to study. That's because college here is really expensive when you relate it to our salaries-- around 300-600 USD monthly in a country were the minimum wage is like 250 USD and most complete families make around 1200 USD.

I mean, what if you have two kids going to college? What if your family is too poor to support you, but not poor enough to get you a good scholarship? You go to the bank. And if you take a loan for college, you can forget about buying a house in the next +15 years.

So now both highschool and college students are in the middle of a nationwide strike. They're asking for free, quality education -- promises that every single president seems to make and no one has fulfilled yet. Kinda sad considering we're the only nation in Latin America that has to pay in order to get into a State University.

I go to a private university? I don't know if that term exists in english. It's not as prestigious as regular college (by a long shot, we used to be a Professional Institute but officialy became a univesity just a few years ago), but at least I don't get ripped off, I get a Professional Title and the facilities are great. So we didn't join the strike, which was cool for me, but it sucked big time for the kids that waned to study other career in some University, like our future doctors and lawyers. This drawing is sort of a tribute to those guys, as they really showed some serious guts risking their school year for their convictions.

Luckily the pressure forced the goverment to lower the... lending rate? (stupid hard to translate phrases!) for student loans, so now things are a little bit easier. But meh, that's just one measure IMHO-- I'm happy for it but we all know that's not why you go into strike!

(And also-- I learned how to use halftone dots on my digital art! That's a handy tool)

Sorry for the boring rant! By the way, I'm thinking about doing commisions, as I would like to buy a domain name (face it, sketches-and-other-stuff.blogspot.com doesn't really roll of your tongue!). Those are about 10 USD a year-- do you know anyone who would be interested in getting a drawing? And how much do you think I could charge for my kind of drawings? I'm open to suggestions!

Green Lantern

Have you seen the movie? I haven't yet, but it's something I'll get to eventually.

I've always loved superheroes, since I was a kid. But I've gotta admit, nowadays superhero comics tend to be really boring, most of the time. Starting from the 80's, there was a lot of emphasis on "gritty" and "realism" and all that crap. Let's take a moment to remember these are stories about people beating other people senseless while wearing pijamas.

Anyway, Green Lantern! Like many superheroes in the 90's, he was up for a rehaul. Hal Jordan died (he got better), and the new Green Lantern was Kyle Rayner, a twenty-something comic book artist.

I loved the concept! The Green Lantern Ring basically can create any structure you're thinking of at the minute, so in the hands of an artist it was a great tool. Kyle was young, he looked up to other superheroes and while a little scared by the situation he quickly became a valuabe part of the Green Lantern Corps.

I always tought it was hilarious that he looked so fit. Believe me, I've known a lot of comic book artists and none were as ripped as this guy. Perhaps the moment you wear tight clothing in the superhero universe you grow up muscles like crazy!

And also: Thanks for all the visits and comments! This whole thing started as an experiment and a test to myself, but having you guys following me makes me feel even more motivated to draw every day.

Take care, everyone! See you tomorrow!

Chile 2, Spain 3

I'm guessing that, since most of my visitors come from the USA, not many of you knew that today Chile (my country) played a friendly soccer match against Spain, current world champions.
We took the lead, and before you knew it we were winning 2x0. Amazing! No one expected that. A little southamerican country beating the footballing elite.

And then, on the second half...

We were winning. 2x0. And they catched up. And then, at the last minute, they won.

WHY.

HOW COULD WE CHOKE LIKE THAT.

We're like the England of South America. Great team, lots of potential, always a strong contender, but we flop at the worst of times.

Oh well. At least I could draw something out of it.

(By the way, someone asked me on the comments what software I use--most of the time I do the lines on Mangastudio EX4, and color either in Photoshop or Paint Tool SAI. Today I inked by hand, and it doesn't look that bad, but my scanner is pretty lousy, so...)

EDIT: For some reason the drawing looks horribly pixelated on full size. However, when you download the full size to your computer, and open it, it looks normal. What gives?

Link - The Hero of Blogging

Haha, I almost didn't do my daily entry on time.
I'm not satisfied at all with this one, sadly. I've still got a lot of learning to do. it looks halfway decent, I guess.

The colors always look a little bit too saturated when I look at my pictures on the browser. It doesn't bother me with cartoons, but this time it did, so I had to upload a new slightly desaturated file. Probably it has something to do with CMYK/RGB conversion or whatever.

And I still can't draw in this style! I'm too cartoony, I guess.

Waiting anxiously for the new Zelda, it looks really good! I like the cartoony art style! what a surprise!