TO BAG END - A PERSONAL REFLECTION ON A PIECE LONG IN THE MAKING

To Bag End completed, or at least until I find reason to continue to refine it!

 By: Russell R Cera

  Nearly a decade ago, I began to illustrate the works of J.R.R. Tolkien.  I had just seen Peter Jackson's The Fellowship of the Ring in theaters and was in the midst of reading the first book of The Lord of the Rings. I was hooked, and the subject was the first thing to intrigue me enough to dedicate my artistic endeavors exclusively to.  Up until then, my portfolio lacked examples of my interest or ability in fine art, with most of my work coming by way of employment or contracted pieces for commercial purposes.

  Something just clicked, and I recall on my lunch break at work one day, beginning to sketch a small drawing of Gollum, which later I turned into a full size graphite piece.  Looking back, the image wasn't one of my personal favorites, however it was the catalyst for several more concept sketches of scenes I imagined directly from the novel.

  It seemed in the following years, while completing the novels and witnessing two more masterpiece films my thirst for Tolkien's work kept getting stronger.  In that time I would go on to complete two major color art pieces, first Back To The Shadow, a depiction of Gandalf facing the Balrog and There and Back Again, a collage of the events from The Hobbit.  These pieces took immeasurable time and patience to complete, especially the latter of which I must have spent every free moment working on.

 Naturally, I couldn't help but try to market my ability in my new found obsession, so I contacted the Tolkien Estate in hopes I might be able to sell one time pieces to would be enthusiasts. All the while I hoped to garnish a name for myself with the online Tolkien community, most notably theonering.net, aspiring to bring my craft to calenders or future publications.

  I also had the distinct pleasure of confiding in John Howe, renowned Tolkien artist and co-conceptual illustrator for Peter Jackson's films.  His incomparable style, especially for concept pencil work was exactly what I aspired to, and after attempting direct contact he graciously accepted. His words of encouragement as well as compliments for my work was and still remains one of the highest points of taking on the subject matter as a whole.  In fact, a very nice moment came, when John complimented a concept piece I created of Smaug the Dragon, while in the very early moments of his involvement on the film adaptation of The Hobbit.

   What I was starting to realize though, is that I loved the method of conceptual art over finishing full color works.  I would get lost in imagining how a particular piece of the text would look, translating it to my own vision on paper. The process was intoxicating, with all the creative energy going to conceiving or translating ideas over the tedious effects of rendering. The ideas were coming fast and furious and before long I was surrounded by pieces of artwork that were unfinished or had no sense of direction.

   Still, I knew that a portfolio of unfinished concept art for a subject that already had it's fine art masters, had already been translated to three major motion pictures and who's hysteria was beginning to quell was not taking me anywhere.  So I began my third full color piece, of which I picked from a slew of other ideas, knowing that I would not find success in illustrating Tolkien unless I dedicated myself to finishing the works into fine art pieces.

   The sketch I chose was called "To Bag End" a depiction of the Dwarf brothers Fili and Kili arriving at Bag End early in The Hobbit.  I enjoyed the idea that this was a quiet moment that had never been depicted before, rather than some major set piece or battle and it also provided an opportunity to recreate a lavish landscape in color.

Image at top shows progress of To Bag End by 2005.
Below image shows entire progress up until Summer
of 2011. 

  The imagery provided at left shows "To Bag End" in progress, from it's earliest color stages beginning in 2002 with the giant tree and Bag End's indicative round green door.  My intent was to utilize very saturated colors and detail, but in doing so, progress was incredibly slow.

  Over the course of another year, I danced around from one section to another as I had very little patience over long periods of time, concentrating then on Kili, the first of my two dwarfs.

 All the while I was sadly beginning to loose interest in my original intent, with the piece growing so tedious to me that I was not enjoying myself like I should have been. I moved on to other images and subject matter, and so "To Bag End" began to sit idle.

   Life was taking different directions as well, with the birth of my two children during this time, a relocation and new job, my focus and interests were admittedly going to more important things than finishing "To Bag End!"

   In all, the piece lied dormant for nearly five full years, sitting inside of a folder with it's progression halting with only a third of it completed. I consigned myself to the fact that "To Bag End" would never be finished and so I started to use it in it's partial state as an example of a work in progress. Although, I wasn't making any progress.

  Fast forward to 2011. With RJA Creations well into it's third year, I began to take an interest in finishing "To Bag End" again.

  Quite simply the reason was this.  Myself and creative partner James had begun to formulate full stories that we intended to turn into treatments for hopeful publication.  We soon noticed that we had more ideas than time warranted to create, and once again I found myself involved in  unfinished works that had great potential if only we could figure out a way to finish them.  The pattern was repeating and so I needed to break myself of the habit for losing energy when something more intriguing came along.

This photo shows progress of To Bag End by mid September
2011. You can see just how much more work was necessary and
how little I had accomplished from where I left off.

  The both of us had taken on personal projects for the year, and that down time from collaboration provided a window for me to finally fish what I started with "To Bag End".  I made it my mandate, in other words that the piece would serve as an example to myself that I would apply the same dedication to all of my other creative endeavors going forward.

   In May of 2011, I began again to move on to uncharted territory and develop the untouched areas of "To Bag End".  I laid out the background landscape and re rendered the road using Prismacolor pencil and acrylic paint.  Progress continued at a steady pace now, with the Dwarfs taking shape and reaching the far right corner of the piece by September.  Soon after, the sky was nearly completed and I had laid out the final details of the landscape background.

  The deal was that I had to dedicate at least three days a week to doing at very least an hour a piece of intensive rendering, with a target finish date of end of 2011.  As of November 16th, I had placed the finishing touches on a piece long in the making.  I sat back and took a deep breath... it was finally over!  Completing "To Bage End" was truly the end of a long journey to who's destination I thought I would never reach.  Quite possibly with the coming of Peter Jackson's The Hobbit, I may find renewed interest in illustrating the subject and marketing the pieces for future publication.  Either way, I know now that all of my personal as well as RJA Creations works can and will be completed.  It only takes time, continued effort and a lot more patience than I am used to having!

  

BREAKING DAWN PART 1 REVIEW

by: Russell Cera

Synopsis: It's the wedding of the century!  Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart heat it up again as everyone's favorite vamp/human couple!  Oh but wait... this time baby makes three! 

Rating: 2 and 1/2 STARS

Bottom Line:  A shade above better than the original Twilight, but a disappointing step back from the fast paced action packed Eclipse.

  Breaking Dawn Part 1 (Rated PG13) hit theaters this week, and it's sure to rack in it's fair share at the box office, with most ticket sales going to teen girls on either side of a Team Edward vs. Jacob scrimmage line as well as the hoards of uber-fans for Stephanie Meyers' incredibly successful book series. Yet it also spawned the Saga's lowest Rotten Tomatoes Critic's rating of 27%, with most "experts" agreeing that this installment as a stand alone film is a big step down from last year's Eclipse.  So let's sink our teeth (even if none of the Vampires in these films have them), into Breaking Dawn Part 1 to see if it stacks up to expectations and heightens the anticipation for a climactic finale.

  To begin, this critique will be based solely upon the film and the ones that preceded it, since it is no mystery that readers of the series will tell you the quality of the books far outweigh the film adaptations in every department. In addition, I am personally not acquainted with Meyer's books, having only read a small portion of the original Twilight. However I certainly have a great respect for the writer, her success, as well as her technique in creating a phenomenon.  Meyers can most certainly, at least in part, be credited for the revival of the Vampire obsession in the last decade, and unlike countless other writers' efforts since Anne Rice, this one just seemed to stick more so than all the others.  Likewise, the Twilight Saga has opened the floodgates for those aforementioned writers' efforts to spawn wildly successful television series, more books, new movies and so much more.  In other words, everyone is getting in on the act and Meyers can certainly be thanked for ushering in this new age of the blood sucker.

  That being said, a meager budget was granted to the first film, while studio execs hoped for high turnouts to dictate continuing the series.  Their projections were correct.  Despite poor critical acclaim, Twilight was a hit and it's stars Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner were suddenly household names.  This opened the way for the entire Saga to follow.  New Moon came with the debut of Jacobs' rippling abs and some fair CGI wolf transformations contributing once again to growing ticket sales.  Eclipse, the third installment raised the bar with much more action, better special effects and interesting back stories.  Still, neither teeth nor blood were anywhere to be found.

  Therein lies the irony of Breaking Dawn Part 1, split into two parts, marketed of course for a PG-13 audience, translating to, you guessed it - higher returns at the box office.  A disconnect that serves to disassociate this film from it's predecessors is the decision to go with a different director on each.  This time we have award winning Bill Condon, who certainly has a flair for the extravagant, yet is asked to tone it down to appeal to a wider, younger audience. Also, the book series is quite graphic throughout with no lack for the violent nature of the very creatures that inspired it.  It is that aspect which finds the movies searching for an identity of their own while being somewhat of a sad contradiction to it's source material.

  Breaking Dawn Part 1 is no exception to this rule.  While most readers would agree, the first part of the two part book should most certainly garnish an R rating.  There's plenty of sex, violence, gore and torturous effects of a demon spawn child growing far too rapidly inside of Bella to go around for an eternity. Yet once again we get a watered down ultra close up series of cut scenes to tame what inherently should not be tamed. It's a prime example of a saga that keeps making excuses for itself to make more money.

  The movie begins with a preparation for a wedding and continues with a nightmare about a wedding, goes forth from there with a wedding and on with a wedding reception.  The sequence is undeniably lavish and beautifully filmed as well as reflective for Bella who contemplates her decision to cast away her humanity for a vampiric existance.  For a moment as she strides toward the alter, she exhibits a sense of "get me the hell out of here", until she looks into the eyes of the dreamy Edward, the one thing she continually finds her strength in.  A few sniffles in the audience may come at the vows and the kiss, after all, this is the most highly anticipated wedding since Prince William and Princess Kate.

  The entire sequence is well over a half hour before we pepper in some conflict, with the sarcastic over-male Jacob showing up at the last moment like a wedding crasher.  Yet Bella couldn't be happier that the intrusive, brutish ass hat of a jealous wanna be boyfriend shows up and Edward is trusting enough that his sworn enemy is left alone with her. Seems odd doesn't it?  Everything is fine until Jacob can't control his machismo, spurts slurs and ill omens, then storms off in a fit of uncontrollable wolf rage with the knowledge that Bella is going to risk her life while getting some from another supernatural violent creature.

  With Jake out of the picture at the moment, we are whisked away courtesy of  our "are they really" happy couple on a honeymoon that exhibits no financial bounds.  I get it, the Cullens have been living well beyond normal human years, and Carlisle's practice has garnished plenty of dough to go around, but it's somewhat sickening to see expensive cars, boats, a private island, a personal jet and so on all at the immediate disposal of our snobbish rich heroes.

  What is well played amongst the decadence is of course Kristen Stewart's natural propensity for awkwardness.  We get the sense that no matter how much she is in love with Edward that the repercussions of her decision do not pass idly.  She is in fact as unsure of herself as any girl blessed with her beauty could be and that makes her endearing to some extent.

  Then comes the sex scene, which is by the way, kid in the room approved. Both members of our married couple fear for how Edward will perform, for we know just how wild and crazy he can get in the bedroom around Bella.  At one point he even tears apart the headrest to pieces while remaining tender enough not to destroy our heroine down below.  It is once again a strange contradiction to this relationship.  All throughout the movie series, both characters exhibit so much apprehension, it is nearly impossible to really convince anyone about how these are two people that are destined for one another.

  Uneasy feelings continue the morning after, when Bella uncovers some rather tame bruising on her arms and shoulders form her rabid vampire lover.  Edward shows his self loathing, apologetic and ashamed nature when he cannot forgive himself for denting his wife's fragile skin.  We look to be creeping up on our married couple's first argument, but neither can imagine what they are in for.

Bella senses there is a rapidly cooking
bun in her oven. Edward stands ready
to react like most men do.

  A couple weeks pass and so does another half hour of the movie, before we learn that Bella is late on her period.  Things progress rather quickly and we find that Bella is with child, or demon child, feeling effects almost immediately from a fetus that is growing far too many times the rate of a normal baby.

  In typical fashion for men and women, Bella takes the impossible news in stride, dealing with the irrational rationally while Edward goes into a catatonic state, then broods, then asks his superstitious maid to make a diagnosis. "DEATH" she claims, and so we know things don't look good for our new mom from here on in.

  We return back to Forks now where Jacob is still selfishly frustrated over Bella's decision, and his instincts tell him that something awful has happened.  A motorcycle trip to the Cullen's home reveals Bella and Edward have returned, but Jacob's dream girl is terribly sick and now showing like a woman in her second trimester. 

  This sends Jake into a fury and we finally get to see what we paid eight dollars for - a good wolf transformation and gathering of the entire Clan.  Once all together the pack of CGI wolves are at their best during the entire film series. The special effect work is much improved while still a bit less than realistic, but the close ups look simply amazing.  Here, we get to travel into their heads for the first time to hear them speaking "in human English" to one another.  Plans are set forth that the coming of the child, which will inherently kill Bella during birth only to wreak havoc on the human world, will break the Vampire and Wolf treaty that keeps the Cullens and Black Clan from killing each other.  The wolves must either kill Bella themselves before this occurs or even take the baby out if necessary. Jacob vows not to agree with his brethren and sets off on his own mission to protect Bella from the coming doom or do what must be done to the child himself before the others do. What a guy.

   What is most disturbing itself, is how throughout the film (and book) all the characters short of one - Alice, refers to the child as "IT" of "The Fetus" placing Bella's welfare and safety paramount over an unborn child. There is so much disdain to go around, no one knows who to blame first, and throughout it all Edward sulks about the coming loss of the love of his life.  Yet Bella comes to terms with the idea that this blessing, as unnatural as it is - the thing that is chewing through her insides, is worthy of being treated as a child and not some object of evil.

   By this time our heroine is falling apart and looking quite horrifying.  I am glad to say that Kristen Stewart did not have to lose 80 pounds of her 110 pound frame, because if she did it would be almost criminal of the filmmakers to ask of her.  The slimming effects are uncomfortably real looking and quite possibly the only thing to make this viewer squeamish throughout the movie is a disrobing shower sequence.

   Ah but there has to be an answer to Bella's deteriorating physical condition. Quite possibly the baby is hungry for what no one has thought to feed it!  Break out the blood and suddenly our girl is slurping the potion through a straw and liking it!  Premonitions of things to come perhaps?  With little demon baby satisfied momentarily, Bella recovers just enough to parlay her father's concern for her over the phone, who still thinks she is overcoming a bug in some far off land.

   Then comes a very strange scene, that regardless of the text that inspires it, feels completely off.  Edward begins to "see the light" when he communicates telepathically with an unborn, who can apparently speak well enough to inform him that it is happy.  Smiles and good feelings are exchanged while baby continues to claw it's way out from the inside.

   Over in wolf world, Jacob guards the Cullen home with Leah (Julia Jones) and Seth (Booboo Stewart) from the oncoming slaughter the rest of the pack is planning.  While there, the subject of imprinting comes up between Jake and Leah, casting a foreboding sense that Jake has to move on from Bella and find someone else to dedicate his life to.

   As blood packs run short in the home things amp up as Carlisle, Esme and Emmett are off to get more.  Meanwhile, it's baby time and Edward, Rosalie, Alice, Jasper and guest doctor Jacob are left to tend to the ailing Bella, who settles on names for boy or girl only to have her spine cracked in two by our coming little joy.  She is laid out in the makeshift birthing office surrounded by windows for wolves to break through and prepared for a quick expulsion of the baby.

   While the book gets horrifyingly graphic, the movie does it's best to skirt the violence.  There is however plenty of blood here, more than anywhere else in any of the previous movies.  Of course, it is as it should be.  The scene is quite harsh otherwise, and soon a C-Section delivery is performed without the doctor of the house present.

   Guess what though... baby looks normal!  It is not a demon, nor does it have wings or giant fangs like the ones Edward researches earlier in his 27 inch I Mac. Oh it's bloodied of course but looking quite healthy and happy... after all it told Edward it was.  Here however is where our Bella expires, finally succumbing to the damage the incredibly strong child has done to her.  Edward does what he can, injecting his venom into Bella's heart, biting her body, hoping that a last moment revival is possible short of Carlisle's prediction that it will not work.  It does not, Bella is dead, or is she?

Jacob stands poised to go wolf while the Cullens look on.

  News gets out quickly, the wolf pack moves in, having knowledge that a "vampire" has killed a human and all bets are off.  Jacob decides it is time to take the baby's life himself (does anyone find anything wrong with all of this fundamentally?)  However he looks into the beautiful child's strangely mature eyes and  foresees Renesmee as an adult, deciding right there in an instant to "imprint" on the baby to protect and eventually fall in love with.

  While one immediately draws a conclusion that Jacob has feelings he should not for a child, which is a creepy thing no doubt regardless of Indian folklore, it should be noted that his intentions are to protect the child for as long as he shall live.  The one law among the wolf clan we soon learn after an insignificant wolf vs. vampire battle is that anyone, no matter who or what they are can never be harmed if imprinted upon by a fellow member.

  With disaster averted, all attention now turns to the dead Bella, who still lies unresponsive to Edward's efforts.  Her meager body is prepared to be put to rest and the entire Cullen family as well as Jacob try to come terms with their beautiful human Bella being gone.

  Cue another weird CGI sequence, in which we witness Edward's venom taking control on the inside of Bella's body, repairing the damage done by the child. Then miraculously, we witness her beautify again.  Sure we know what is coming, but one last scene straight out of James Cameron's Avatar, an extreme close up of our heroine's opening eyes reveal them to be red!  Bella is revived, now a vampire and ready to take on Breaking Dawn Part 2!

  Overall, while I wasn't terribly disappointed by Breaking Dawn Part 1, I found it to be a huge let down from the rather quick paced, surprisingly entertaining Eclipse of the previous year.  The film takes forever to get going and gets so stuck on recreating a wedding experience that it feels just about as long as attending a real wedding experience!  If you're interested in the pomp and circumstance of Edward and Bella's matrimony, a good portion of the beginning will more than likely satisfy.  Performances are good, obviously awkward when they need to be, but effective nonetheless.  I found Jacob's character this time around to be much less convincing and far more selfish, looking for any opportunity, even inside of his head, to get his digs in.  Meanwhile, I still can't help but find Edward to be wishy washy and far too lenient on Jake, who swears to kill him if Bella dies, only to tell Edward he wont so the vamp can live forever with the pain of doing "this" to her.

  "This" to her?

  In our world, many a woman has sacrificed her life for a child to live.  It is a terrible thing to contemplate, but most of us agree that if given the choice of ourselves or our children to live through a terrible ordeal, we wouldn't need to even think for a moment what choice we would make. All the characters, including father Edward, treat the coming of Renesmee as a curse, an aspersion, the "thing" that kills their beloved Bella.  Sure everyone expects a monster to come out, but does anyone show any care short of Rosalie for that adorable little baby?

  Well in the end, all answers will finally be revealed next year when the climax, Breaking Dawn Part 2 finally arrives. While it may be a little too late to vindicate the film series overall, let's hope the final installment follows Stephanie Meyer's intentions as well as satisfies our thirst for more vampires, werewolves, R Pat and K Stew!

   

ENTIRE SUPERMAN:REQUIEM POSTER SERIES BY JAMES LINCKE RELEASED

James Lincke's portrait of director Gene Fallaize,
presented at the premiere in London!

  RJA Creations co-founder and illustrator James Lincke has outdone himself once again, this time lending his incredible artistic talents to Superman:Requiem A fan film by Gene Fallaize.  The five poster series he created over a five month period features characters from the feature that was released worldwide online 11/11/11.  This is the first time the entire collection of James' art is presented as a cohesive set,  adorned by a lavish background, title and his signature.

  James also had the esteemed honor to attend the film's premiere in London, presenting a custom portrait of  the director as a gift from cast and crew!  The RJA Creations website will soon feature a special section dedicated to projects like this, and you can preview all of James' work for the film including concept iamges and art in progression!  

  Meanwhile stop by www.themanofsteelisback.com (the officail website for Superman:Requiem to watch the film!  Congratulations and best wishes from the RJA Creations team to Gene Fallaize and the cast and crew including James for a job well done, carrying on the legend of Superman while dedicating the film to the legacy of the late Christopher Reeve!

RJA CREATIONS AND LOUIS A. PUCCI TEAM UP TO CREATE FUTURE GRAPHIC NOVEL

  RJA Creations is proud to officially announce the collaboration of an exciting graphic novel currently in production, written and produced by writer/musician Louis A. Pucci!  

  Russell R Cera was a previous colleague of Lou's when the two laid groundwork for a partnership in creating the graphic novel but time and other obligations temporarily put them out of touch.  Recently however, the two reconnected, with Russell proposing that himself and James Lincke of RJA create concept art as well as the actual illustration to marry the text into the finished graphic novel.  

  What occurred was a fortuitous rebirth in this project as well as a commitment from all parties to see current and ongoing freelance projects through to completion as a collaborative effort.  "I'm very excited to reestablish this relationship." Says Russell R. Cera.  "Lou is an incredible writer with the same creative goals as James and I.  As a whole I think we are all hopeful that through combining our efforts on certain properties, it may very well lead to making our stories better and putting them in the right hands.  The process to create a treatment like this is an incredible challenge as well, with all parties sacrificing  personal time, talents and profit to come out with something greater in the end."

  Lou is a screenwriter and writer of short stories, having previously collaborated with artists David Baird of Sydney, Australia as well as the highly acclaimed World's greatest Beatles artist Shannon.  He is also a guitarist and singer, playing with various New York area bands from the age of 15.  At 24 he joined the tri-state area's number one highest paid party and original band "The Watch" and toured with them for almost 10 years.

  Lou's name might also be familiar by way of his namesake, Award winning actor, Lou Taylor Pucci.  Lou Sr. managed his son's career, which started in the principle role of "Friedrich" in the Broadway Revival of The Sound of Music with Richard Chamberlain and Rebecca Luker.

  Lou Jr. has gone on to a very successful film career, which spans an impressive array of works from his debut in Personal Velocity Three Portraits (2002) to The Go Getters and Horsemen (2008) to Carriers (2009) as well as All Together Now and The Story of Luke (both in post production). These of course are just to name a few. You can check in on Lou Tayor Pucci at www.loutaylorpucci.com.

  The team hopes to complete a fully rendered cover and proposal chapter as well as a treatment for publication consideration sometime in 2012.  As more information develops we hope to bring you news on this as well as other future projects in the works!

RJA CREATIONS JAMES LINCKE ATTENDS SUPERMAN REQUIEM PREMIERE

Jimmy Lincke presents Director Gene Fallaize with a
special piece of art created by Jim and dedicated from
cast and crew!

  On Monday November 7th, 2011 my good friend and colleague Jim Lincke (co-founder of RJA Creations), attended the premiere of Superman Requiem, a fan film by director Gene Fallaize in London, England!  Over the last six months, James created promotional posters as well as costume concept artwork that actually appears in the film!  His tireless efforts have paid off in a very big way, and Jim was asked to create a special portrait gift for the director himself, to whom he presented the piece last night at the premiere.  Afterward, cast and crew partied on the Thames to celebrate their incredible efforts!

  I personally want to extend a heartfelt congratulations to Jimmy as well as the rest of the cast and crew, for a job well done!  The film will be released world wide via the Superman Requiem website on Friday November 11.

  Jimmy... great work!  I know how much time and effort, sweat and sleepless nights you put in to complete this intense project!  You deserve much praise! Please take a deep breath, have an incredible time across the pond and return home safe!

                                                                           Your friend, Russ