0BradyM0Bondfanatic7's Art and Writing Thread

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  • Mendes4LyfeMendes4Lyfe The long road ahead
    edited March 2017 Posts: 7,968
    A very traditional style, great.
  • ClarkDevlinClarkDevlin Martinis, Girls and Guns
    Posts: 15,423
    Love the first one a lot, Brady.

    It reminds me of the first appearance of John Stone, Agent of S.T.O.R.M. in Warren Ellis' Planetary comic book series.

    latest?cb=20091201093953

    Love them all a lot! And the second black and white Bond poster concept really has a massively creative ring to it. Can't wait to see the final product!
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    Love the first as well. That third one looks like Marv?
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    Many thanks for the comments, lads. I try to grow with every drawing I do. This week I'll be submitting some recent art and writing to a publication that's printed my work before, so I'm hopeful.

    This morning I published my Goldfinger review to my blog with accompanying pictures, so I thought I'd bump the thread and post the link while I was at it:

    https://fortressoffleming.wordpress.com/2017/03/27/a-fortress-of-fleming-review-goldfinger-1964/
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    Great news. Will read later.
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    Just finished. Good job once again, and I approve of the way your blog is constructed. Very easy on the eyes.
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    Just finished. Good job once again, and I approve of the way your blog is constructed. Very easy on the eyes.

    Many thanks, @Thunderfinger. I switched up the website template I used to have for the new one, which gave the text more room to fill the screen. I think it not only looks better, but makes it far easier to actually read the content posted. It's not perfect, but on a free Wordpress plan I can't be a beggar and a chooser. I am glad to see it's readable for some, though, as that was the main goal.
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    edited April 2017 Posts: 28,694
    of_mages_and_portals_by_bradymajor-db4f5wx.jpg
  • BondJasonBond006BondJasonBond006 on fb and ajb
    Posts: 9,020
    https://fortressoffleming.wordpress.com/2017/03/27/a-fortress-of-fleming-review-goldfinger-1964/

    Enjoying your reviews immensely, especially on Fortress Of Fleming.

    It's the next best thing to actually watch the films.

    GOLDFINGER

    I couldn't agree more on everything you write. Your undying love for Mr Connery and his films is evident and naturally it's all well deserved.

    I happen to have watched Goldfinger just recently with a number of young guys, all 20/21 year old, who have never seen a Bond film before.
    Goldfinger wasn't the first we watched, it was the ninth. We watched only Moore and Connery films to that point with the first two of each actor yet to be viewed.

    It was Goldfinger that made them realise that the franchise has certain distinguishing marks that are seen throughout the series. It is also the film that is responsible to definitely make all five of them into James Bond fans, a fact that makes me really happy.

    Reading your review I realised that certain things were introduced in Goldfinger that stayed on.
    The unlucky Bond girl's demise due to actions of Bond.
    The DB5, the typical scene with Q, M as part of the comic relief, Bond being a connoisseur in savoir vivre.
    Of course those things are evident when watching DN to GF but I never really thought about it.

    I agree on Pussy Galore. You can view her as two things and I also choose not to see her as a lesbian turned by Bond. To be honest, it never once occurred to me she could be a lesbian until I had read that somewhere (possibly this forum) about her.
    Even then, while I can see, that it may be a possibility, I don't believe it.

    The impact Jill Masterson made is huge to the legacy of the series. No doubt about that.
    First of all, she might be the sexiest of all the Bond girls. But unlike some of the sexy ones that followed her, she also has class.
    That scene with her in Miami on the hotel balcony is enough to make her immortal in the series, even if she died shortly after.

    Not having seen her die and at first glimpse not being sure what had happened to her when we see her in her golden "dress" on that bed, is a haunting image.

    Maybe this is the most iconic, if that's the word, death scene ever in a film besides the shower scene in Psycho. They are for sure very different, but both stay in one's mind forever and a day.
    As a single image, the golden laced woman on the bed may be the single most memorable movie still of all time.

    Until I read your review I honestly did not know that Gert Fröbe was dubbed.
    His English voice sounds so alike to his real voice, at least I feel that way.
    It also makes me realise that a great many actors have been overdubbed in Bond films.
    That Jill also is overdubbed I too only learned by reading your review.

    Goldfinger has too many iconic, defining moments to count. In that regard it is by far the most important of all Bond films in my opinion.
    Some of its scenes are worth watching it alone. Like when Bond awakes on the plane and seeing Pussy for the first time.
    That even may be my most favourite Sean Connery moment in the series.

    Goldfinger is so easy to rewatch. I even could watch it again, now. Maybe as a Swiss I'm slightly prejudiced because Switzerland is one of the supporting characters in the film.

    I have my Bond ranking and GF always was in the Top 10 but never higher than No 6.
    If I try to be as objective as possible I would only rank one film higher than Goldfinger, and that is On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

    GF-OHMSS-TSWLM-GE-CR....always saying that these are the definite five Bond films.
    And I'm saying that as a (in)famous Timothy Dalton fanboy, because quite frankly DALTON RULEZ™.
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    @BondJasonBond006, I can often be more critical of GF than most on here, as it has that kind of nostalgic power to deflect criticism, but it ultimately earns my respect. My issues are noted, but as you describe there's a lot of undeniably powerful or iconic stuff in it. I agree that for movie deaths, Jill's is unforgettable. The way the scene is scored and shot like a horror film is so unbelievably unsettling, and unlike Psycho, we never see what happens. We share the mystery and fear with Bond as we question what has happened to her and how. Even more meaning is given to it when you consider why Goldfinger and Oddjob decided to paint her and give her that trademark. Is Goldfinger giving death a beauty to desensitize it? By painting a misbehaving girl with gold, is she redeemed and given value? Does he just like the idea of its shimmer with all the hotel lights casting on her naked body? The film is genius for never telling us why he did this, and what we think in our heads is always better than the reality.

    One thing I also love about the film from a story perspective is its use of theme, and how it is essentially just a film about women being oppressed. The film is an unending collection of images depicting the death of innocent women who are killed for being independent and acting out, the images of beauty Oddjob kills (Jill and Tilly in flesh, and that golf club statue in stone). So many feminine images are defaced or brutalized, and the movie goes a long way towards making it an obvious theme, almost as much as it does Bond failing and stumbling over himself again and again. I always appreciate Bond films that are able to use themes and motifs to say something or convey a particular mood. GF goes a long way toward doing this, and it helps make up for the lapses the script has in other areas for me.

    Not a perfect film, but as Bond fans still enjoying these movies over fifty years since its release, we have to all tip our razor-brimmed hats to GF for being a large part of why that is. I also claim the image of Sean Connery prowling around the Swiss factory as the first time I saw the cinematic Bond in action and was called to attention by it. Everything after that was a chaotic ride to see what else the series had to hold, sparked by a love for Sean that has only burned on. Without GF, I may not have ever come here to this very forum, and that would've been a damn shame.
  • BondJasonBond006BondJasonBond006 on fb and ajb
    Posts: 9,020
    Goldfinger has enough iconic images and scenes, characters and sets and music to last as the classic from the 60s in the public's mind for all eternity.

    FRWL and DN are probably better films overall, maybe even TB. But as in the current era, the one with the greatest impact doesn't have to be the best of the lot.

    It's actually quite funny how you could make the connections between DN-CR, FRWL-QOS, GF-SF and TB-SP.
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    Goldfinger has enough iconic images and scenes, characters and sets and music to last as the classic from the 60s in the public's mind for all eternity.

    FRWL and DN are probably better films overall, maybe even TB. But as in the current era, the one with the greatest impact doesn't have to be the best of the lot.

    It's actually quite funny how you could make the connections between DN-CR, FRWL-QOS, GF-SF and TB-SP.

    @BondJasonBond006, wow. I think you've just inspired a future Bond blog article in me. I've added it to an ever-growing list of ideas.
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    I recently bought a new traveling sketchbook (with recycled paper) to replace one that's just about filled itself up, so I chose to break it in by doing some more Bond related art. These ones are for you, @ClarkDevlin:

    O9RwsYo.jpg

    FHZFErS.jpg
  • ClarkDevlinClarkDevlin Martinis, Girls and Guns
    Posts: 15,423
    Astonishingly wonderful! An absolute work of art, sir!

    In fact, I'm lost for words...
  • Mendes4LyfeMendes4Lyfe The long road ahead
    Posts: 7,968
    Yes, very good Brady.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 17,727
    Brilliant stuff, Brady!
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    I felt the urge to do more practice at composition and figure this morning, so I drew in full scale an idea for a Bond panel I had sketched down for weeks now. I don't know how he ended up in the situation he's in here, but Bond finds himself battered just outside the proximity of an explosion and has to survive a toe-to-toe with a giant brute:

    Qr8Vlfw.jpg
  • ClarkDevlinClarkDevlin Martinis, Girls and Guns
    Posts: 15,423
    Quite the masterpiece!

    In fact, it reminds me of Shattered Helix, where Bond has to fight a nearly unbeatable giant henchman (whose skin is bulletproof).
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    Reminds me of Sin City. Good job.
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    Today I did one last drawing to get it out of my system before I go on to more steady writing for my Bond reviews. It's a bit of a spiritual sequel to a drawing I recently did above, where I depicted a rain scene with a black background and used white-out for the rain effect:

    CVCaVQs.jpg
  • PropertyOfALadyPropertyOfALady Colders Federation CEO
    Posts: 3,675
    Lots of White Out there. I love it.
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    I just published my full love letter review of Thunderball on my blog:

    https://fortressoffleming.wordpress.com/2017/05/18/a-fortress-of-fleming-review-thunderball-1965/

    I meant to have it done a lot sooner, but it was quite a big task to design some of the graphics from the ground up. Happy to have it squared away.
  • PropertyOfALadyPropertyOfALady Colders Federation CEO
    Posts: 3,675
    Projects take time. M's office is my experience in that field.
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    Will check it out.
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    edited May 2017 Posts: 28,694
    Coming off the back of my review, a minimalist Thunderball poster:

    64Ak5dN.jpg
  • Agent_99Agent_99 enjoys a spirited ride as much as the next girl
    Posts: 3,099
    Nice. I love posters that use this simple, bold approach.
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    Many thanks, @Agent_99. I'll be doing a lot more minimalist Bond art, so be sure to watch this space. I find that very simple and colorful pieces are a nice refresher from the heavy photoshopping you see in posters these days.
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    A minimalist poster for From Russia with Love, in the vein of my last poster for Thunderball:

    AOQ9NM6.jpg
  • Mendes4LyfeMendes4Lyfe The long road ahead
    Posts: 7,968
    That's a very inventive way of incorporating the logo into the design!
  • jake24jake24 Sitting at your desk, kissing your lover, eating supper with your familyModerator
    Posts: 10,586
    Marvelous stuff.
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