A few weeks ago I cut together a reel of my best work from my time as a Cinematic Artist at Telltale Games…
During my nearly 4 years of employment there, I was fortunate enough to work on fanboy-dream projects like The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, Borderlands, Minecraft, and Batman. Despite my eclectic run of published titles, one truth immediately presented itself: my best work was on Batman. More specifically, my best work featured the WOMEN of Batman. Even MORE specifically, that woman was Selina Kyle.
Though I admit Catwoman is one of my childhood inspirations growing up as a closeted gay boy, I promise that my buxom bevy of work featuring the feline femme fatale had nothing to do with the fact that she’s a feminist and gay comic book icon. Or the fact that she’s probably my ONLY favorite character in all of the DC universe. Or even the fact that I explicitly pleaded asked to work on the scenes that featured her. NO. It was all just an honest coincidence.
That said, I quickly realized I had to find a way to not edit it into “The Bat & The Cat: An Abridged & Troubled Love Story”. Fortunately, I restrained myself to only using two scenes featuring Bruce and Selina, which is like, only half of my reel. Mission accomplished, I’d say!
I wanted to try out a new style that is simple, vibrant, and yet still atmospheric. With sketchy lines, washes of color, and pervasive light. Something that I can quickly produce for all the ephemeral images that pop into my head that is somewhere in between Yoshitaka Amano's delicate imagery and Disney's exuberant playfulness. Just, ya know... GAYER. Naturally, this took me longer than I expected, but I figure the more I draw in this style the faster I'll become. I really like the way it turned out so, keep following me for more to come!
Follow me at my new art Instagram @theartofkyleesie for more of my work!
I started a new Instagram art profile! Follow me at @theartofkyleesie to keep up to date with all my new work!
“As a gay gamer I'm rarely able to identify or connect with a character as much as I have with Symmetra. So, to launch my new Instagram art profile, I've envisioned and designed myself cosplaying my best gender-bent Symmetra fantasy! Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the main stage... Kyleesie: The Gaymer Artist!“
Also, just an FYI to all my followers - I’ve changed the username of my main account from kybral to @kyleesie. So no need to worry, if you don’t see “Kybral” posting anymore art. I’ve merely been reborn as Kyleesie!
Symmetra’s new Dragon skin is quite possibly one of her best skins to date, and hands down the best new legendary skin of the event. However, the redesign of her Sentry Turrets, Teleporter, and Shield Generator seem pretty basic in comparison to Sym’s drastic draconic makeover. I mean, even her weapon got mini Eyes of Sauron that frantically dart around in search of a new helpless victim to irradiate.
So, given how much I love Miss Satya Vaswani... I thought I’d take it upon myself to redesign her Sentry Turrets, Teleporter, and Shield Generator, implementing the draconic and demonic themes of her new Summoner persona.
I thought it’d be cool if the Sentries had scales, horns, and hide just like she does, or if they were molten rocks brought to life as eyeballs of fire. I also figured the base of the TP/SG could have dragon horns or wings for the arms that open up, and the projections could be represented as a demonic maw/gateway to hell or a floating Eye of Sauron.
It took me a while to get this together cause I wanted to do something a little extra special for my thots this time around, but, just like Dany returning to The Seven Kingdoms to snatch a bitch off her throne, GoT and my ridiculous ramblings have finally made their triumphant return!
As always, SPOILERS BELOW! (Although, episode 2 just aired yesterday, so if you haven't seen the premiere of Season 7 yet, well... that's on you, boo <3)
- ARYYYAAAAAAA! MY BABYYYYYY! SLAYYYYYYYY!
- Season 7 is already starting off in the best way possible: my baby girl committing mass murder with zero emotion and zero fucks given. As awesome as the scene was, it somehow doesn’t quite hold the equal yet opposite shock value that The Red Wedding originally had on both paper and screen. I mean, maybe it’s just because at this point, mass homicide is has become an expected party trick on the show? It’s like when a queen does a death drop or split during a lip sync for their life. Like, gurl, it’s great that you can do it, but you did that last time you had to save yourself in the bottom two.
- Also, I think it’s rather obvious that the show runners are using Arya’s doppelgänger device to quickly eliminate all the insignificant players in the story. Especially when you consider that in the books it is Lady Stoneheart who goes on a personal crusade of vengeance, hanging any and every Frey she can find. I’m still VERY butt hurt about the exclusion of Lady Stoneheart, by the way.
- Fucking Lyanna Mormont is a Westerosi treasure and I will never EVER get tired of her shutting down and throwing shade at a group of grown ass men. Like, Lyanna Mormont for Queen of The North Season 7 2017 plz and thx.
- OKAY CERSEI IS JUST FUCKING CRAZY. I’d say she’s gonna be an easy challenge for Dany, but if there’s anything I’ve learned about Cersei, it’s that her pettiness and utter disregard for politics make her an unpredictable wild card. Like, I love her, but I also hater her, and someone needs to kill her soon please. Still, I’d be very interested to see what happens if she ever came face to face with The Night King.
- Wow, Sansa really has ZERO chill anymore. Winter may have come, but this ginger is burning hotter than Dany’s hooha when she birthed them baby dragons. Understandably so though, this girl has been through ENOUGH. Get your life back, gurl! Also, Petyr Baelish is hella annoying, and I honestly wish he would just go away. You’ll never hear me complain when Sansa spills all that piping hot tea all over his shriveled little finger.
- I’m guessing Eurotrash Greyjoy thinks he might be able to net Cersei one of Dany’s dragons. In the books, Euron has a horn called “Dragonbinder” that supposedly allows you to command any dragon that hears it. I’m REALLY hoping that this is not the case. Dany’s babies should never be touched by anyone else other than herself (and Jon Snow and Tyrion of course because they’re part Targaryen as well, obvi).
- Okay, as soon as I heard that voice and saw that ginger mane, I knew it was Ed Sheeran. Yay, Ed Sheeran! Also, the fuck is Ed Sheehan doing in this show!? I’ll admit, he does serve Westerosi peasant realness really well though… Still, ED SHEERAN!? Honestly though, I don’t’ care. It’s not a big deal that he’s in the show. Sure, it took me out for a second, but he’s only an itty-bitty ginger baby Lannister guard, and Arya is probably gonna shank him before the end of the season anyway. So like, why is the biggest controversy of the first episode his cameo?! Y’all need to calm down.
- MOTHER HAS ARRIVED! But why the fuck she still gotta climb all those damn stairs tho!? As if crossing The Narrow Sea wasn’t enough!? Like, I would’ve requested a dragon lyft straight to the throne room and sat my ass down because I would have been so over wasting time on travel and transport.
- Still, I do appreciate the time and attention they spent on Dany’s triumphant return to The Seven Kingdoms and her first steps on shore. This is literally one of the biggest moments we’ve been waiting for since season 1 - and for a lot of us, since the first book came out - and my heart was pounding the whole time. I mean, she really only walked around some rocks for a bit and said three words before the episode ended, but I was DYING through all of it.
- It’s also interesting, but cool, that we really haven’t seen the outside of Dragonstone, or its many rooms and halls, until now. It almost feels completely new in a way, and I can’t decide if the show runners were purposefully hiding its magnificence until Dany came back, or if it simply wasn’t in their budget in earlier seasons to fully design it all.
- Finally, can we all agree that none of us like Euron Greyjoy, his guy-liner, or his Iron Island eurotrash aesthetic?? Like, in the books I imagined him to be so much hotter because he was described as this imposing tall, dark, and handsome man with an eye patch and a penchant for walking around with his tentacle monster hanging out, but I see him in the show and I’m like, “Okay, crunchy moist Ewan McGregor… nobody likes you. Go drown yourself in The Narrow Sea. What is dead should stay the fuck dead.”
Other random thoughts:
- I’m so happy TorBrienne is still a ship that is sailing.
- That was quite possibly the most artful montage of literal shit I’ve ever seen. Well done. Also, please don’t do it ever again. EVER.
- How the fuck did Jorah Mormont end up in Oldtown? He better put some aloe on that rash or something.
- More importantly, why must Samwise Gamgee get more screen time than my beloved Dany?! He was LITERALLY doing shit half the time.
- Can we just get a Stark Children reunion already!? Like, Arya, please go the fuck home. Meera, drag Bran’s telepathic ass back to Winterfell. And, I honestly almost just forgot that Rickon died already. Nobody cared about him anyways. Oh well.
- Great to see The Hound actually caring about people he’s already fucked over, but I honestly can’t watch The Brotherhood Without Banners without shedding a tear for Lady Stoneheart.
I always imagined Symmetra’s turrets to have individual personalities and emotions. Or maybe she imagines that they have personalities and emotions... Either way, I get very sad when my turret children are destroyed, so I couldn’t resist drawing them. They’re hella cute, if I do say so myself.
Those of you who know me well know that I watch A LOT of movies. As a kid, going to the theatre was a family past-time, and my parents were my number one movie-watching buddies. To this day, it remains one of my favorite ways to escape reality and share time, experiences, and thoughts with those I care about most.
I started collecting ticket stubs when I was young, but it was an inconsistent endeavor and I’m pretty sure I’ve thrown all of them out by now. Only in the past couple of years have I become more strict about collecting. Now that I buy most of my tickets online, I still make sure to get them printed at the theatre when I arrive. For me, each ticket, each movie, was a memory of what I saw, who I was with, what I felt, what I thought, and what I did all throughout that day. It became a diary of sorts - that centered my life around the stories and worlds that I wanted to live in or tell myself.
It only recently occurred to me to keep an actual list of all the movies I’ve seen in one full year. I started doing so back in 2015, but like my ticket collecting, it was a half-hearted hobby, and I logged only the titles of the films I saw. So, in 2016, I set out to create a more detailed account and began tracking the theatres I attended, the date, the time, and who I saw it with. I later tacked on my own critic and enjoyment ratings, because, ya know, everyone has an opinion and I wanted to remember mine.
Anyway, pardon the self-indulgent writing, but without further ado, here’s the list, in chronological order, of all the new films I’ve watched in theatres from January to December in 2016:
The Hateful Eight: 70 mm Roadshow
The Revenant
The Danish Girl
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
Deadpool
Zootopia
10 Cloverfield Lane
The Witch
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
The Jungle Book
Captain America: Civil War
X-Men: Apocalypse
WarCraft
Finding Dory
The Purge: Election Year
Ghostbusters
Start Trek Beyond
Suicide Squad
The Secret Life of Pets
Jason Bourne
Kubo and The Two Strings
Don't Breathe
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
Boo! A Madea Halloween
Pokémon: The First Movie - Mewtwo Strikes Back
Doctor Strange
Arrival
Moana
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
La La Land
Collateral Beauty
Assassin's Creed
And here’s a breakdown of all the films, prioritized in order from best to worst in their respective categories:
BEST 5 MOVIES (must watch, they were awe-inspiring and revelational)
La La Land
Moana
Arrival
Don’t Breathe
Kubo and The Two Strings
WORST 5 MOVIES (don’t bother, my brain was either shut off or died at some point)
Suicide Squad
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
Ghostbusters
Assassin’s Creed
X-Men: Apocalypse
HONORABLE MENTIONS (perfect or not, I kinda just really like them, so...)
The Revenant
Captain America: Civil War
Zootopia
Collateral Beauty
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
The Hateful Eight: 70 mm Roadshow
10 Cloverfield Lane
Deadpool
BEST MOVIE OF 2016: La La Land
WORST MOVIE OF 2016: X-Men: Apocalypse
MISSED MOVIES (I really wanted to watch them, but didn’t get to)
Nocturnal Animals
Moonlight
The Handmaiden
Fences
The Huntsman: Winter’s War
Looking back on the year, I’ve come to realize that although I’ve become decidedly disillusioned by superhero movies and most animated films (namely Pixar’s films - sorrynotsorry), they will, most of the time, be well-produced and well-told stories, with enjoyable characters, and overall satisfying experiences. Regardless, that alone does not make them outstanding pieces of cinema.
Superhero movies have become the blockbuster, tent-pole films of our generation, and while I’m glad Marvel has figured out a way to make them popular and profitable (with the exception of Fox’s X-Men franchise and DC, who both REALLY still need to get their shit together - still holding out hope fro Wonder Woman tho...), they’ve also now raised the bar for themselves. Nothing short of a genre-breaking/redefining superhero movie will stand out in the massive and masterfully crafted cinematic universe that they’ve created. Video game movies though, apparently, still have a lot to learn (PLEASE don’t fuck up the Tomb Raider reboot!)
As far as animation goes, Pixar, for me at least, seems to be suffering the same stigma - all their movies are amazing and super well-made, but not really memorable. With that in mind, it’s ironic to me that the villain in my favorite film of theirs, The Incredibles, foreshadowed their current fate when he said: “When everyone’s super... NO ONE will be...” In contrast, although Disney’s movies aren’t exactly perfectly produced, it at least appears that they’re taking risks in the messages and themes of the stories they’re telling. They’re pushing and poking boundaries with cultural representation and social subject matter. Granted, their handling of such topics is still somewhat clunky and controversial, but I appreciate that their voice is evolving and adjusting to the modern world and diversity of people around it.
Now that I think about it, it is that clarity, freshness, and uniqueness of voice that is probably the greatest common factor shared among my top 5 moves of the year. Whether it’s through style, themes, message, character, or literal language and vocals (or lack there of), each film expresses its story with a voice so clear that it rings out, distinct above the din of drama, and echoes still, strong as ever, inside my heart and mind.
Also, as I mentioend before, movies are one of my favorite ways to spend time with those I love while enjoying something I'm passionate about. So here's a short list of my friends and loved ones who've accompanied me the most on these cinematic adventures:
TOP 5 MOVIE BUDDIES
Sean (33 times)
Raad (11 times)
David (7 times)
Stacey (7 times)
Daniel (6 times)
I don't know if I could ever thank Sean enough for basically watching every single movie with me this past year! The one film we didn't see together he still showed up to the theatre afterwards to wish me a happy birthday. THANK YOU, my Sean and stars! XOXO
My favorite assignment during the Visual Storytelling class I took at The Animation Collaborative was boarding out a short story conveying the meaning of a single word. To prevent from explicitly mentioning the word, we weren’t allowed to use any dialog. We simply had to communicate it through action and emotion. Our classmates would then have to guess what our word was after we pitched our boards in order to evaluate how effective our story was at visually communicating our word.
For my word, I drew upon my own personal experiences as a gay man looking for love in a big city while hopping around bars with my friends. I’m sure everyone’s had those moments when they see someone special from across the room. They catch you staring, and suddenly your immobilized by fear and anxiety, even though they return your gaze with the warmest smile you’d ever seen. You attempt to build the courage to approach, and you might share a few more charged yet ephemeral glances, but before that frozen moment has time to thaw, it’s quickly sublimed and that person and all of your hopes float away into the air.
The rest of the night you’re standing still, locked in time inside your head, wishing you had smiled back, or simply said... “Hi.”
The story is called “Blue” for obvious reasons, but also because I feel it perfectly describes the mood of a night when serendipitous opportunities were missed. I chose to draw simple figures with simple line work because I wanted the focus to be on the atmosphere, emotion, and action of the scene - but I also think it makes the narrative more accessible since it is devoid of gender and identity.
Blue and Red could be anyone. They could be everyone. I know who they are to me, but who are they to you? Can you guess what my word for this story was?
I have half a mind to turn this into a full-fledged animatic one of these days...
One of my assignments at The Animation Collaborative was to reimagine one of Aesop’s fables. I was given The Boy Who Cried Wolf, so naturally, I decided to put my own little spin on it and turn the wolf into a giant, feral direwolf that ate the boy by the end of it.
