Pads & Panels

Title: Digital Artists Master Class: Character Design

Publisher: Ballistic Publishing

Edited by: Daniel P. Wade

Artists: Anne Pogoda, Kekai Kotaki, Gonzalo Ordonez

Review by: Archie Easter

Ballistic Publishing is beginning to become a household name when it comes to digital art publications. After creating a number of wonderfully received art books for games such as God of War III and Uncharted 2, Ballistic has now followed up on its impressive array of books in its Digital Artists Master Class series with a book focused squarely on character design. Three artists headline this particular volume: Anne Pogoda, Kekai Kotaki and Gonzalo Ordonez; each of which displaying different approaches in terms of character design and art style. Each artist’s section features an interview with the artist, a gallery that includes commentary on each piece, a selection of focused tutorials, and finally an invited artist gallery that includes numerous works from many other talented artists. (more…)

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So we’ve been talking here at Pads & Panels, and we’ve come to a decision. You guys really need to start reading a bit more. We’re reasonable people, though. We’re not going to send you off to buy summer reading from the Victorian Era that doesn’t even include zombies. No, we accept comics as reading, and we’re prepared to give you some fun books.

From the people over at Pantheon, we’ve got a really nice hardcover copy of Dash Shaw’s latest, BodyWorld, to give away. If you’re not familiar with Dash Shaw, trust us when we say he puts a Chris Ware level of genius and insanity into the production of his books. And for the crafters out there, Penguin brought to our attention and then provided for giveaway two copies of a book by Diana Schoenbrun called Beasties. It’s a cool crafting book that shows readers how to make 22 monsters out of crafting supplies. So we’re going to do our usual contest, which involves commenting on stories throughout the week. At the end of the week, we’re going to randomly pick one first-place winner to receive a copy of each book, and a runner-up will receive only a copy of Beasties. Read more for the official rules. (more…)

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A month before the release of Zack Snyder’s film adaptation of Alan Moore’s famed Watchmen, Titan Books released three Watchmen movie companions, providing a deeper look into the the filming of the unfilmable comic. All three offer a different perspective on the Watchmen universe. Pads & Panels has the breakdown, including Dave Gibbons’ Watching the Watchmen.

Title: Watchmen: The Art of the Film

Author: Peter Aperlo

Whether fans of Watchmen felt the film successfully condensed Alan Moore’s weighty text or not, it is hard to give Zack Snyder anything but an A for effort, especially when it comes to Watchmen’s visual translation. (more…)

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