Monday, March 6, 2017

The One Sock Milestone & Morphin Onto the Comic Panel


With knitting pairs of socks sometimes us knitters run into a term we call Second Sock Syndrome. Have you ever felt, once working hard to finish your first sock, that you have little to no motivation or just can't finish the second sock of the pair? This is second Sock Syndrome. I've had something similar to this syndrome lately but I think it would more appropriately be called First Sock Syndrome. Yeah I'm still working on my Afterthought Heel sock project using self striping yarn and I've dropped off my stride a few times over the past few weeks. Despite this I've actually finished my first sock!


I've finally conquered this first sock and I'm going to get the other one casted on as soon as possible. I started this sock pair back on January the 28th using size 2.75 MM needles and some self striping sock yarn.

You might be thinking, where is the heel, Zach?! Don't worry! The Heel will be added in! This sock pair are going to be afterthought heel socks, I've never attempted this before and I love new challenges so I just had to make a pair. Mum has done these quite a few times and they always leave nice looking heels. For now I'm leaving the heel out until I finish the second sock so I can tackle both heels at the same time.

Other then the afterthought heels these socks actually have a bit of cable knitting in them. Yes I've been crazy about cable knitting ever since attempting my first cable project back in December of last year, aka Mum's Waffle Owl Washcloth


I decided to add a cable to the knit portion of ridge every so many rows giving a nice twist to your average ridge.

This is my second sock project (Check out my first pair here.) and I can say I really like how it's coming out so stay tuned! I'm going to try my hardest not to take as long on the second sock.

I've been wanting to discuss comic books for the longest time here on the blog, I've been a big fan of comics ever since I was a kid, I mean great storylines mixed with awesome artwork? Sign me up! Well today I'm talking about a comic that takes a long time TV franchise from my childhood and reimagines it with a modern twist. 

It's Morphing Time! (Always wanted to say that.)

March 24th is looming closer, this marks the theatrical release of the brand new Power Rangers movie. I talked about this movie a month back and despite first impressions being iffy I'm really looking forward to this movie. It seems to have brought me back into the Power Rangers mood again, which I sorta stopped watching a few years ago. Despite not being as interested in the new seasons as I used to be (Though I want to give Ninja Steel a go, maybe I'll get back into the show again.) I've always loved the old seasons and Power Rangers as a whole. Another interest of mine has always been comic books so what happens when Power Rangers and comic books collide? It goes BOOM of course! By that I mean BOOM! Studios, a comic book studio who back on January of last year launched their Mighty Morphin Power Rangers comic book series.


This series is based on the original 1990s TV series of the same name with the same characters and same setting, though there's a twist, it's actually set in a separate canon from the show and is actually a modern day 2015-2017 version of Angel Grove and the characters we grew up watching on the show. Basically this means the characters have Smart Phones, which is CRAZY. MMPR the comic also ads a bit more of a mature tone while still holding the same tones from the original show.

Even before it was released my interest was piqued and my inner power ranger fan hyped itself up at the fact that MMPR was getting it's own Comic Book series. This wouldn't be the first comic series Power Rangers has released over the years, some from Hamilton and Marvel have existed (Which to my surprise I didn't actually know these existed! I need to check these out at some point.) but this new series from BOOM! might be the best yet and I finally got the chance to dive into this series recently.


Taking place after Tommy, the Green Ranger is released from Rita Repulsa's evil grip our Green Ranger joins the team to fight against the evil he was controlled by. Things aren't always so smooth as Tommy goes through tough times dealing with the after effects of the evil witch's control and the struggle of fitting in with his new friends, the other 5 Rangers Zack, Kimberly, Trini, Billy and Jason. (Zordon and Alpha 5 are along for the ride too.) It may sound similar to the plot of the show but this story is completely original to the Power Ranger series leading up into whats looking to be an incredible story arc. I've only read up to issue 8 so far but I absolutely love this series. BOOM! Studios and writer Kyle Higgings have completely fleshed out our favorite Rangers and the incredible art style, made possible by Inker Hendry Prasety and Colorist Matt Herms only adds to the life of our the Angel Grove residents.


Rita Repulsa isn't the only villain hanging around this series brings to the table a brand new villain who I will try my hardest to keep my mouth shut on it's pretty crazy. I totally recommend you pick up this comic book from your local bookstore or online digital if you're a Power Ranger fan, especially of the original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Kimberly, the Pink Ranger currently has her own spinoff series running from BOOM! as well and I'll talk more about that in the upcoming weeks.

Oh yeah! Bulk and Skull, the hilarious duo of MMPR have their own short comic story at the end of each issue featuring many of their hijinks, things like this are like the cherry on top making this comic series a love letter to fans of the series and even new fans just getting into Power Rangers.

Before we wrap I've still been working on my sketch of Aeris Eclipse, my OC from a story I've been brewing in my head for years. I announced Wednesday that I've been diving into art in the sense of vector art, drawing and sketching. I'm not trying to be a professional or anything but I'm tired of having all these things I want to draw and not doing anything about it. I'm not just slapping pencils to paper though I am researching how to actually draw and with the help of my way more artistic Sister and Mum I think I'm doing pretty good so far.


Actually the sketch is done, I'm not adding anymore to it. Of course I have a lot of room for improvement but I don't want to mess with this sketch any longer. With this sketch completed I decided to take it further and use Mum's brand new light box, which is super light and thin to my surprise, to make lineart of this sketch and then color it in using colored pencils. I don't think I'll show you guys the lightbox just yet but here's what I've done.


I think Aeris used double team. When marking out the lines using the lightbox I slipped slightly on the first one, you won't be able to tell because it's such a small slip up but regardless I traced her out again on the other side of the paper. Taking this opportunity into hand I decided to color one in marker and one in colored pencil. I really love how the colored pencil one came out (The marker one well it was fun to do but I didn't have many color options so Aeris is kind of pinky, ignore that one.) Colored Pencil is definitely a favorite coloring method of mine that I want to continue to use. What is bugging me though... The smudges! Ugh! I guess I was a bit fast when doing my lineart and I must of had my hand on some of the pen lines. Ohh well, live and learn, right? 

I want to do a digital lineart/coloring of this sketch as well so in the end I'll have four versions of this drawing, the sketch, marker, colored pencil and digital version. Don't forget to read Wednesday's Blog to read more about Aeris as well as my sister's blog LadyAnnaVintage.blogspot.com she has a brand new blog up and some awesome art as well. Don't forget to flip back to Friday's blog if you're seeking a brand new Mario Maker level to play! I'll keep you guys posted on all my art stuff so until then...

That's a wrap folks!

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