Flight 3 is out!

Guess what? If you haven't heard...... Flight 3 is in stores now! Well, technically it's trickling into stores now, but should arrive at stores within the week. There's also a sweet preview of all the work for those curious. I'm not in this volume but it is my personal favorite so far (although I get the feeling that every volume will be my fav as they are released!), it just feels really solid and everyone did amazing work. The printing job Ballantine did is fantastic with nice thick paper, bold colors, and a smooth matte finish. The stories within are consistantly stellar and inspiring, so if you see it in a store give it a look and support this wonderful group project.

Or if you prefer online ordering, you can do so at Amazon. =)

Chances are you've probably already read about the Flight release but I couldn't help it! The book looks so great, and it's a project definitely worth supporting. Flight makes the perfect book to introduce people into the wonderful versatility and beauty of comics.

I'm back working on S&S2 (finally). The release date will probably be pushed back, although the Jan07 date was never an official one. When an official date is set, I'll let you all know... for now though I'm gonna keep chippin' away at that block.

Josh and Nicole in costume

To continue my watercolor experiments I did the above utilizing a wonderful collection of costumes my friend Cynthea had given me for my birthday. I'd been itching to do this illustration for a while, and it was one of those pictures that could either come out awesome or come out really crappy. I'm pleased with the results, it looks better than what I'd expected before starting it. It's Josh and Nicole... again. Still have a thing or two to learn about controlling the blotches of water on the brush. I've been using a water-pen, but maybe it's time to graduate to regular watercolor brushes.

Work on Goosebumps, Deep Trouble is done now. The script to S&S2 will be given a quick read-over, and then it's on to the thumbnails. Something I learned from the Goosebumps assignment, toning more than five pages in a row can get extremely tedious. I'll try to draw, ink, and tone five pages at a time in S&S 2 and see how it'll go. As long as the script is laid out, the story should (hopefully) be consistant throughout. We'll see how it goes...

By the way everyone... I dunno how much longer they'll be available, but take advantage of the free Charlie Rose videos offered on Google video. I looooove listening to him while drawing. I remember drawing the picture above while listening to Rose interview the Dalai Lama and thinking how much he sounded like Yoda... I wonder if Lucas was thinking of him when designing that character.

Zed #7

I've been meaning to draw a picture of Zed, he's such an adorable character and reading Michel Gagne's comic with all its energy and spunk is always a treat. He recently sent us the latest issue, #7, and man... Zed's badass! He can fly and shoot lightning out of his hands! I was so inspired, I drew this for Michel. Hope he likes it! And I hope he makes some Zed plushies someday because I just want to cuddle the poor little guy... =P

Nicole looking teachery

Today was pretty productive. I managed to tone five pages of "Deep Trouble" with this watercolor that I've been itching to do as my end-of-day reward. Tomorrow I'll be trekking to downtown LA's public library to help Tokyopop out with talking to some students. Should be fun!

Kazu and I also invested in a couple DS Lites, along with a slew of games. It's nice to be able to play MarioKart DS and Fire Emblem on the same system! I was worried at first that it would distract from my creative time, but we purchased these things yesterday and so far so good... =P

I rediscovered Aurore's beautiful work today, visiting her site was very inspiring so go look at it again if you haven't in a while. I didn't know, but she has a BD out by Delcourt! You go girl!!!! Somehow, I'll get my hands on Pixie...

Josh with his new hair

This is a picture of Josh with his new hairdo in book 2. I had it wrong, it wasn't cut he just stopped spiking it up. I'm feeling a little more confident about the watercolors after studying some Clamp and Won Su Yon illustrations for inspiration. Looking forward to doing some more.

Kazu and I also went to X-Men 3 today. It was a pretty mindless movie but I enjoyed it for pure entertainment reasons, it was like watching an episode of a WB show or something. I still miss the awesome strength of Rogue and the proud feminine aura of Storm in the comics, though. Still miffed about that.

Power In Numbers

Three pieces for the Power In Numbers Show, based on my made-up assignment of mirrors:

It was fun to do some illustrations and play with watercolors for a day.

4 tones today...

Gallery Nucleus. June 17 - June 24, 2006. Opening reception: Saturday, June 17, 2006 (7pm-11pm), will feature work from myself and a bunch of Flight artists, and many many more! All proceeds from my pieces will go to the Red Cross with large percentages of the purchases of other pieces going there as well. Each piece will be 4" x 6" and priced at $100 each. Pretty sweet, huh? I'll post my pieces here when they're ready! In the mean time, mark your calanders. =)

By the way, if you haven't seen them yet, check out the early copies of Flight 3 we got in the mail from the fine folks at Ballantine! Boy, do those puppies look amazing! I wish I could hug the book into my heart~ Well, when I read it I guess I do! I'm so glad something like Flight exists. =)

Panel from one of today's toned pages. Things are running pretty smoothly~ I'll have to finish the 4 page quota tomorrow before seeing Les Miserables in LA. It'll be the first time I ever seen the musical despite being obsessed with the book and music for so long.

Kazu ordered the filet of sole with chocolate ice cream and a coffee, and I had the yankee pot roast with carrot cake. Mmm.

Josh looks a little young there... I've been trying to come up with his haircut for book 2 (spoiler!!!) but every time I draw him with different hair he looks like a completely different person! So I just gave up and drew him as usual. Just goes to show how limited my character designs really are.

Still toning

I've been scrambling to finish my freelance work for the past couple weeks, and the sad part is it'll be a week late (even after I had it pushed back a week already!). Someday I'll get this scheduling thing right...! Kazu and I are both struggling actually, but I decided not to skimp on quality anymore for the sake of being "on time" with my work. What's the point of publishing something if you can't be proud of it, right? But I hope someday I'll be able to do both quality and timeliness. I'm so glad I have someone to grow with on this journey of life and comics!

I had an uplifting visit also by Jen, Vera, Neil, and Kunal. Thanks for being such lovely houseguests, I had fun talking about stories and getting to know you all a little better. I hope someday we all can live in one city so we can chill more. I need more comics girls around (and guy)! =)

Also reading Derek's comics and looking at Jen Q's deviantart site have really inspired me, so I drew the little doodle before I head off for bed. In the doodle, the music I'm listening to is traditional Okinawan island music, and the tee shirt is from the Monterey Bay Aquarium and has a sea anemone on it. It's my favorite tee shirt. Sigh... I need to draw more stuff outside of my work. I guess I'm still learning how to balance the comics-for-money and comics-for-soul ratio. Until then I will probably continue to abuse my poor website... it's getting so dusty in here!

Goosebumps Graphix

See the octopus creature on the left? That's mine. Yes, the project I've been working on is Goosebumps for Scholastic! I really loved R.L. Stine books in elementary and middle school, so I couldn't resist saying yes when they asked if I'd like to participate. This series from Graphix features three Goosebumps stories in each volume done by different artists. The story I worked on is called "Deep Trouble", it's about mermaids, sea monsters, and thugs:

Publisher's Weekly just posted a nice write up on the series, so check that out. If you'd like to pre-order the first volume of the series, "Creepy Creatures" featuring stories by Gabriel Hernandez, Scott Morse, and Greg Ruth, you can do so at amazon. The book comes out September 1st, and Terror Trips comes out March, 2007. It'll be a while til they come out but it feels good to announce it anyway. Maybe I'll even post panels here and there as I finish toning the beast...

This project's been helping me a lot with getting better at comics in general, especially in editing since it's an adaptation. I'm looking forward to seeing how the skills carry over to S&S2!