Stumptown Reminder

Still painting "Food From The Sea" and still having a blast with it.

Kazu and I will be at Stumptown Comics Fest 2006, Friday and Saturday Oct. 28-29th, table #57. Hope to see some of you there! I'll have copies of Sorcerers & Secretaries 1 with me, and maybe some prints. Maybe... We're not planning on moving to Portland like last time we visited, but it'll still be fun to see everyone and visit the rustic city that it is. Looking forward to seeing some nice foliage!

In my effort to have a "balanced" life, I'm going to turn off the computer and stop working for the day. Instead, I'll be rewatching Peter Pan. We'll see if I still like it. =P

Working on Flight, June's 12 Days

Been working on painting Food From The Sea for the past couple days. For the longest time I had this gripping fear of painting. Granted, painting on Photoshop is really different from real paint, but I mean I just had a fear of color in general. I was so down on my own coloring skills, I even pretended to think that black and white comics are superior to color back in college! I don't want my feelings of self-doubt to get in the way of broadening the tools at my disposal for comics, like coloring. And I discovered it really doesn't take me that much longer to paint a page than it does to tone a page at the level of detail that RM is. Lesson? Put doubt to the side and just dive into whatever artistic realm you think you have no skill for! If you don't try, you'll never learn. Of course, it does help to have someone like Kazu and Chris watching me over the shoulder too... still. It was my doubt that kept me from even trying in the first place.

Also, everyone should read this interview with friend and fellow SVA cartooning grad, June Kim! Her first graphic novel ever, 12 Days, finally comes out November 7th. Even though she's a friend, I'm a huge fan of her work simply as a fellow artist admiring another professional. Her linework is impeccable, and her panel layouts, pacing, and mood are excecuted with care and purpose. You can pre-order the book on Amazon to show her your support.

Chapter 2 done

I've finally finished chapter 2 of book 2. I loved drawing it because as you can see above, the romance really lights up and keeps building until the tumultuous end (that's the plan, anyway!). At the Comics Factory I asked a girl working there for a shojo recommendation. Of all the ones she mentioned, Mars seemed to be what I was most looking for so I could study more emotive panel layouts. It was just what the doctor ordered so I can't wait to read the rest of the series. Thank you Comics Factory girl!

In general I've been trying to lead a more balanced life. My usual day consists of a variation of walking, cooking, playing Zelda: Minish Cap, watching movies, and going to the gym. Not sitting down to work until 3-5pm, I still managed to draw two pages a day on average. The hard part is keeping it consistant, but taking lots of breaks and keeping the stress level down keeps me floating. Also, it helps a lot that the script is really fun to work on. I look forward to it every day.

Today Nucleus employee Victor, Aya Kondo, and I visited the best museum so far in LA (I have yet to go to the Getty). The Norton Simon Museum feels like a mini version of The Met, with an impressive collection for such a cozy building including Rubens, Goya, a gorgeous Degas collection, and Picasso. Not to mention the Southeast Asian section, filled with beautiful sculptures of Hindu and Buddhist mythological figures.

The best part was actually discovering Hokusai's work in the museum's gift store. I snatched up one of the many books they had about his illustrations. I've already devoured the book two times now and each image still feels fresh. It really makes me want to paint more! I have a feeling the book will be feeding my inspiration for a while.

I also have been going through the Little Mermaid dvd, which is still an awesome movie. The extras are great, I especially love the gallery of the 1940s storyboards and I loved "The Little Matchstick Girl" short. But all the making-of documentaries and tidbits about Hans Christian Andersen's life were awesome. If you haven't gotten the dvd yet, you really should.

By the way, as if you didn't get enough of me from the broken frontier interview, there's another interview with me over at animeboredom.co.uk for those who are interested.

Well... tonight was a long night. It's 5am now... time to go to sleep and start fresh in the morning. Hopefully these past two days of finishing touches will allow me to get back into my effort of being more balanced! Oh wait... there's still Food From The Sea to paint before the end of the month. Ah well... it'll be fun! I really love spending time in that world. =)