Ximena
May 26, 2010, filed under: Characters, El Cid, by LexAs far as epics go, El Cid is considered one of the more romantic ones. Rodrigo Diaz of Bivar and Ximena Gormaz are the prototypical, star-crossed lovers. The story goes that Rodrigo, defending his ailing father’s honor, must duel Ximena’s father, Count Gormaz. Rodrigo does so, but accidentally kills Gormaz in the duel. Ximena (pronounced: she-mane-ah) loves Rodrigo desperately, but she is sworn to the duty of her father. To preserve her father’s honor, Ximena must ask the king for satisfaction, who orders his best knight to duel Rodrigo to the death. Thankfully, Rodrigo wins and marries Ximena (but family get-togethers were strained).
Interestingly enough, this story is nowhere to be found in the original epic poem. It comes from an off-shoot written in 1360 called Mocedades de Rodrigo, which chronicled the exploits of a young El Cid. Las Mocedades was then used as the basis for Corneille’s 1636 play, Le Cid. Corneille’s play was exceedingly popular and the story was cemented into Cid folklore.
It was also a major plot point in Anthony Mann’s 1961 film El Cid. Ximena was played by Sophia Loren (opposite Charlton Heston) and she does a terrific job with the part; she really sells the idea of a woman torn between duty to her father and her passion for her lover (Heston doesn’t deserve her!).
The El Cid that we’ve come to know is a story about love and honor–two of the most powerful motivating forces known to man (and woman). And they are themes I will be carrying over into Kid Beowulf vs. El Cid. My own interpretation of Ximena isn’t quite as heart-stopping as Loren’s but she can stop Rodrigo’s heart so that’s all that matters. Below are the pencils, followed by the colored version of Ximena.
From the sketchbook and on the web…
May 19, 2010, filed under: News, Sketchbook, by Lex
In lieu of something to post I found this sketch in my sketchbook. I’m not really sure who she is but it’s been a while since I put any artwork on the blog so here you go. She’s not Kid Beowulf related, but these links are: read a review by Trevor Reece of the Four Colors blog and then follow it up with an interview I did with him. Thanks Trevor!
Sonoma County Library Talk Part Deux
May 13, 2010, filed under: News, by Lex
For those of you in Sonoma County and the surrounding areas, I’ll be giving another talk this Saturday at the northwest library branch in Santa Rosa at 11AM (near the Coddingtown Mall). It will be a slide-show presentation about Kid Beowulf and cartooning; I’ll be doing a drawing demonstration and will have books on hand to sell and sign. The event is free and open to the public so check it out!
Stumptown Comics For Young Readers Panel
May 10, 2010, filed under: News, Studio, by Lex
At Stumptown I was lucky enough to be on a panel and smart enough to record it! The panel, Comics for Young Readers, features myself, Matt (Baby Mouse) Holm, Raina (SMILE) Telgemeier, and Hope (Wrinkle in Time) Larson and the panel was moderated by Sara Ryan, an author in her own right. Big thanks to good friend of Kid Beowulf and epic podcaster himself, Tom Racine of Tall Tale Radio for giving this panel a home. Enjoy!
SMASH!
May 4, 2010, filed under: Sketchbook, by Lex
While at Stumptown I got to meet the dynamic duo, Chris and Kyle Bolton–brothers and the creators of the rock-solid webcomic SMASH! Smash is the story of young boy who in a freak accident gets the powers of his city’s most powerful hero, Defender. Written by Chris and drawn by Kyle, the strip is a lot of fun to read look at with great character designs and a breezy, episodic flow full of fun and adventure.
As fans of each others work we traded sketches: I did my version of SMASH (which you can see on their website here) and Kyle did his take on Beowulf and Grendel. click to enlarge…
