Jon Pinto

This year marks the 40th anniversary of my all time favorite movie: Superman! I can hardly believe it's been that long. And while some of the special effects may look dated by today's standards, they still look impressive and the movie itself is still the benchmark of not just a good superhero movie, but how good a movie can be. I can still remember going to see the movie in December of '78 at the old Oritani Theatre in Hackensack, New Jersey! If you are familiar with the movie, you know why that was relevant. I had home-made pajamas with the S shield sewn on by my grandmother. I threw icicles into snow banks as if the Fortress of Solitude would emerge. For a nine year old, I also managed to save newspaper clippings that I have to this day relating to the movie. I have worn out two copies on VHS and still have it on DVD, Blu-Ray and digitally. It's almost always loaded on my iPhone too.

As for this picture? Well, I actually started it two years ago. That's when I b…

You may have seen him recently on America's Got Talent, but we first learned about Bello several years ago when we first brought my son to the Circus. We were all impressed and enjoyed ourselves but I was especially taken by Bello Nock. Wasn't hard to do a little research to find out more about him and I became even more impressed with him. Over the holidays I usually like to wind down and take a break from "work" so I only dabbled a little here and there on a picture that I had long planned on doing. As usual, with no deadline, I was free to work when I wanted to and at a much slower pace. I was pretty pleased with the result. With the added time I did a few things that I would normally not do in a digital painting like added some depth by dropping shadows behind the figures and shapes giving a slight impression of a cut-out.

I also sent him a small copy of the picture via instant message and he responded with great affection. He may even share it on his social medi…

By now the whole world knows who the new Doctor Who is and what she will be wearing when the show returns this fall. Yes, she. It's been a very polarizing decision to cast a woman in a role that has only been played by men since the show started way back in 1963. Even in my own household! Yes, I will admit that I was not keen on the idea. Not because of any political or social stance but one of selfishness. Let me try to explain. I lost my father when I was very young and immediatley turned my attention to comic book and television heroes to fill the void of a positive male role model in my life. The Doctor was one of them. I wasn't yearning for a female role model because I was (and still not) a female and I already had the best role model for that in my mother. I am not opposed to strong female characters either. I always loved Wonder Woman, Princess Leia and such as well. My other problem with the gender change was that it may change the character too much. I am really hopi…