Diary of a Manga-ka Wanna Be :P

~comic meme

Mon, 28 Dec 2009 22:12:16 GMT

Rip this from trecomics

PART ONE: COMICS PERSONALITY TYPE

Name:
Laurie times

Age:22

Sign:
bunny, Sagittarius ?

Introverted or extroverted?
Introverted that can be social

What are your top 5 procrastination tools?
sleep
Internet
Internet
Internet
Internet

What gets your juices flowing?
Deadlines and some music

PART TWO: COMICS CONSUMER

What kind of comics do you like to read?
depends on my mood, shoujo, comedy, violent, dark humor, magical ect...

What kind of comics do you dislike?
Shitty comics, stupid ones, horribly drawn, pondering to the lowest denominator

When were you first introduced to comics?
9th grade (actually when I was 7yrs old but didnt know at the time)

What were some of your first comics?
Fake, sailormoon, kodocha, fushigi yuugi, mars, lot of shoujo

When did you first get "The spark"?
Sailor moon fan art and when I got the internet so it was before I read a lot of comics.

What is your favorite animated movie?
hmm.. Millennium actrist?

What is your favorite anime series?
sailormoon, cowboy beebop, cutie honey, the good stuff

PART THREE: COMICS CREATOR

What kind of comics do you make?
for now, shoujo action

When did you first start making comics?
hmm... 11th grade?

What are your favorite comic artists right now?
Clamp, Kine Aqua, kazuya Minekura, those are who I take most of my influnces from, but I do like a lot of artists and cant list them all (and not all are japanese)

~ Summery of art meme~

Tue, 22 Dec 2009 05:27:10 GMT

How you guys end of the year stuff going?
me? doing better, seriously dont know where the emo-ness came about all of a sudden.

so this meme was easy and fun and plus it let me take a look at my work over all

I can tell mid summer to fall I just wasnt felling it. August I had nothing to really pic from and over all I didnt really make much art over all through the year. So this is something to think about. I know by the end of the year I did a lot more work, guess I felt the new year as a dead line?

Anyhow, I'm going to focus on BW work for next year, just to get me used to drawing a lot more. Sketching, pencial, inks, the works cause I feel my coloring is much better then my drawings. I'll be done with my current degree, depending on finaces I might move next year (any one want to be my room mate?)

Also, found an awesome qoute for a mini book to print for megacon, more on that in feb if I actually have time for it... lol

GD OC Meme

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 05:53:00 GMT

Got this from my friend Neilak

1) First list all your OCs by first name so we can see your list of all your wonderful OCs:
• 1. Era
• 2. Balis
• 3. Zier
• 4. Sro
• 5. Eskel
• 6. Tiane
• 7. Lynn
• 8. Queen

2) Who is your favourite OC?
Zier

3) Who is your least favourite?
(not that I dislike) Balis

4) Who is your most developed?
Tiane

5) How many girl OCs do you have? Boy OCs? It OCs?
4 each

6) If you were stuck in a burning building what do you think the third OC on your list would do?
Save me and we both run far from the place

7) Name one thing you regret about one of your OCs.
Originally Lynn is supposed to be around Era more but I quickly figured that she out shines Era because Era is a low key personality. I cant change Era, she's been like that for years

8) Which of your OCs do you think would make the best father/mother/it parent out of all your OCs and why??
Sro would make a good dad as he likes to play, hard worker and love kids (and ladies). Both Tiane and Zeir is pretty strict so they would instill solid foundations.

9) Which of your OCs do you think will most likely be put in jail?
Sro cause he likes mischiefs .

10) The eighth of your OCs was put into the future! What will their job be?!?
Since this is futuristic already, Era definitatly cant be a tech/ mechanic Lynn would be though. Eskel would be a tech developer or bio chemist, Balis would run a high scale exlusive club, Zier would be in inner galactic politics, Sro is a space pirate, Tiane would be a secrete CEO of a major coporation

11) Name the first OCs catch phrase!
"I just want to relax!"

12) Do all your OCs live together or are they separated?
For most of the book yes, except Lynn

13) Are there any pairings that are in your OC list?
yes

14) Your seventh OC switched bodies with you for a day! How will they react at the end of the day?
Lynn would just be having fun ignoring all the work I have to pile up

15) Your fourth OC just became a fifteen year old. What do they do?
Going around having adventures (he still hasnt grown out of this mentality)

16) Now randomly select a person on your OC list. Who was it?
Queen

17) That OC you just chose? Yeah they think they are superman (even if they are a girl) and are on the roof about to jump off. Wow, that would really be out of character

18) Are any of your OCs bored of this meme?
they dont know of it yet.

19) Would your second OC prefer the beach or the mountains?
Beach, water and nice female bodies is a good mix for him

20) Would your 5th OC battle a shark?
No, he barely even goes out side

21) Which OCs hate each other?
Hate is strong, Tiane dislikes Balis the most, Zier and Eskel mutually have a dis like for each othe

r 22) Which OC did you create first? And last?
Era was first, Queen was last

23) If seven and three got into a fight, who would win?
Zier is a trained fighter but Lynn got more tech so Lynn

24) What are your first 2 OC's favourite foods?
Era - Old style big swirly lolipops
Balis- Spicy roost lamb

25) If your listed OCs were in a fight to the death, who would emerge victorious?
With out high tech? Zier and Sro is pretty hard match, but I would have Sro win

26) There's a zombie attack and your OCs are stranded. Who do they elect to be their leader?
Zeir is naturally the leader

27) During said zombie attack, who's the first to die?
Eskel, he's not fit to handle too much physical stress

28) Which one of these OCs do you think would have the most fangirls/boys?
I'd guess Tiane, Zier and Era since I draw them the most

29) Okay, so does OC number four have any last thoughts?
"now now, theres enough of me for everyone"

30) If possible, what's your characters' height? (These are all for human-shaped-forms)
• 1. 5'7"
• 2. 5' 9"
• 3. 5'8"
• 4. 6'4"
• 5. 5'8"
• 6. 5'3"
• 7. 5'7"
• 8. 6'

31) Can your characters dance? mostly

~Book Project Outline~

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:40:29 GMT

Comickers’ Essentials
Out line

Intro -
Cover Page
Outline and Credits
What this book is about

Ch.1 - Goal Setting
Purpose of project
Time Management
Budget
Materials
Web or Print
Long or Short
Fan or Original
*Bonus : Being part of a group then being solo? Interview with Indie, sass and Strawberry

Ch.2 - Drawing
Drawing Space
Reference Material
Page count, pacing and thumbnails
Page template
*Bonus: List of resources for materials, tutorials and references

Ch.3 - Traditional
Penciling
Word balloons
Inking
Tones
Coloring
*Bonus: Going traditional, Sesiro’s style and self published

Ch. 4 - Digital
Free or paid programs
Hard ware
Scanning in or Digital
Page set up and Lettering
Toning and Moire
Coloring
*Bonus: Creating original tones and patterns for color and BW

Ch.5 - Publish
Self Printing
Digital Printing
Web Comic
*Bonus: Made in UK, resources for the UK comiker

Ch. 6 - Promotion
Cover Art
Online and Contests
Conventions
*Bonus: A training Ground, what Sevtlana did before Dramacon

I am doing a marathon but I feel the only I can do it is if I mix it up a bit. Sorry for being late on this but I do hope to get a go on who does what and start on it after holidays.

Please take a look over and see what you'd like to contribute too even though I have a general idea. I still would like to know what you'd like to do.

~Livestream~

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 21:36:26 GMT

come check it out: http://www.livestream.com/cetriya

~Book outline update

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 06:56:09 GMT

ok, its really (3am) but I'm done with the rework and just need to type and recontact everyone.
No I didnt forget or just ignore this I just couldn't get to it just yet.
Hopefully you all are still on this =)

I tried to keep things separated for it to be easier for us all to work on at the same time.

~Tid bits from Interviews~

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 00:20:04 GMT

I really love Feng Zhu and Shatia Hamilton's work is just beautiful.
I've read a good bit of interviews before (and have notice that japanese interviews are ussually unhelpful/seem distant including Kim Hung-tae). This is just some things I pulled from them

Hamiltons:

"Try to avoid a lot of fan art"
"...you HAVE to submit to companies"

Zhu:

" If you know perspective well, you’ll always be a step ahead. Most artists, I say up to 95%, do character and creature design. Rarely can someone do hard-surface designs such as environments and vehicles. Studios are always looking for good ID (industrial design) guys. They are rare."

"Start painting with big shapes; don’t worry about details or refinement. Get used to working with values and light, instead of line work."

"It’s never too late to get into anything. Here’s a little story that might inspire you. If you have the Art of Episode 3 book, look for an artist named Sang Jun Lee. Believe it or not, he didn’t do any drawings (and I mean none), before attending college in the U.S. After he got an internship at ILM, he drew like crazy. Within only 2-3 years, he has reached the level he’s at now….which is pretty amazing! He draws like a seasoned pro."

"the ability to sketch straight lines was crucial in industrial design"

"The truth is, great drawings always win over great designs (if presented in front of non-artists…which is most of the time)"

"sketch A LOT! You will get better with mileage."

"you can get pigeon-holed easily. The best way to avoid this is to diversify your portfolio."

"The best way to get into the door is to send your portfolio to every company you want to work for. You are right, concept jobs are rarely posted. However, send your portfolio anyways. Companies won’t turn down talents. Even if they are not hiring, they might either 1. keep your portfolio on file, or 2. forward your info to their contacts. Bigger companies tend to have “freelance” pools – basically, a list of artists they keep on file for contract work. So send your stuff in, and you might end up on that list (they never advertise these jobs)."

"putting projects off until it was the last minute. Then the pressure equals to stress, and you start believing that you are always stressed and working hard. NO! Just relax, manage your time, and things will flow along nicely"

". Lighting is everything in a painting. Without light, you won't be able to see anything. =) So put it on your high priority list of things to learn"

"the most important factor is – does it look cool?"

"work in this mode. You have to learn to keep this relaxed mental state when working on “real” projects. Drawing to me, is 50% mental, 50% physical. The more relaxed you are, the better your work will be."

*this one was a long one

~Coming back again~

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 01:19:38 GMT

I know I’ve kind of been ‘aloof’ with my work, coming off and no and just not doing what I’m supposed to :P well its not to say I wasn’t working, rather I wanted this PT so much only to find out that I didn’t want it and it was a bad thing for me. I’ve done a bit of commissions and planning. Since I’ve quite about a week ago, I’ve been playing catch up with the work.

Hopefully, I’ll get GD running soon (though the attack on my PC left me with out the files. I can rescan them again, but I think it would be good to start over. I’m not to good ad trading space scenes though) and the other project, the free how to book going. Once I’m done with this one rather large commission I can get on to it asap.

On another note, I’m running an October contest! so please take a look here:
http://cetriya.deviantart.com/journal/27534778/

Old tutorial book outline

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 14:40:27 GMT

Heres the old outline to the book before I change it up, if you have comments just reply here and I'll keep it in mind

~Comikers’ essentials: Collab Request~

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 17:44:19 GMT

Alright, I’ve been meaning to post this idea but haven’t. I know I haven’t been able to post more GD pages, but that’s cause before I continue I would like to have the last 2 chapters make sense. I think I’ll try doing the ending first and then edit the beginning to make it easier for me.

“Small press how too” aka “Comikers’ essentials”

I would like to make a collaboration book for how to make simple print comic projects to sell online and at cons. I want to focus this on the beginner/novice and really have those little bits of info that we wished some one would talk about it. I want this book to be a bit more bias, really into how we felt/ why we did a certain thing and have some 3-4 sentence art rants from time to time. I want this book to be more personal (not to personal) and relate more to how we felt trying to make our first book

This book will be kind of like a workbook on making a 1 shot short story.

I would like a collaboration because its something that I think it would be fun and I know that many people think anthologies are bad because of variety but if it’s a help book I think it would be a selling point. I love the half pixel guys with their web comic book, but I think the manga/anime self publish scene is a different perception on the same thing (and this will be more on printing then web publishing).

I want this to be a free PDF download (with all credits) because the more it spreads, hopefully we’ll start to see more variety at cons and more exposure to the creators. It being a collaboration will make the work load a lot easier on all of us.

I’m thinking of start working on this just after new years (or earlier if we can start) just before the summer con season starts.

The book collaboration is by invite but if you’re interested, drop me a line.
I will have a rough outline posted at the end of the month

~ Absent for a while~

Sat, 05 Sep 2009 21:49:23 GMT

Yeah, I know I haven’t been on much, stuff happens, so here’s the update

Galactic Divine is put on hold. Its such a happy series to write and right now, I’m not feeling that giddy so its hard to write it through.

Tutorials and Downloads I will get to them when I have the time

School is started but I cant get my books yet, but test is due for the first 3 chapters this Monday. Why do they do this when books cost 130$ each? I guess I’ll be reading a summery at the school store and get a C for now until my books come in the mail.

Work is … why is retail the only place that will take me with no work reference? I hate Orlando and its tourist based economy. I cant even find an internship let a lot try and get one. This place is dead and I fell it more now that 1 friend moved to Chicago and the other is moving to NY. Obviously I’m not the only one who feels the same way.

Decisive Origin may go under a revamp to make it easier on people to figure out where stuff is and for me to quickly make
updates/re skins. There’s things I want to take off and put on

Art, I haven’t done much though I have been sketching on and off lately. Trying for different things, trying to make my self more patient and plan out compositions/illustrations more. I do to many simple anime/manga art, I want to try something more dynamic and get better with use of color and BW.

I also want to work on my concept work more. I feel a bit to bland when creating things, like I have a library in my head that hasn’t been updated. I understand when an artist is know for some thing, but it’s a pet peeve of mines when I notice an artist I like keeps putting out the ‘same old’.

Here’s a WIP

And here’s a lovely commission trade for hand tones:

~Need help, broken PC

Sun, 16 Aug 2009 16:48:05 GMT

About 3 days ago, my other pc just stopped functioning. I'm typing on a old, half broken notebook connected to another crappy screen.

I dont have a job this summer (waiting for winter break, still in school so I cant get a decent job yet) so no monies for the bill and with out it, I cant update GD with tones (I"m going to start updating just the inks).

So to raise up money, I"m offering my Traditional Marker/watercolor Commissions at convention prices.

Untill I make up the money, the PC sites in my room unusable.

Here are the prices
______________ Half body________Full body
Pencils________ $6_________________$10
Inks___________$10________________$13
Markers________$15________________$20
Water color_____$15________________$20

*shipping
__$3 US
__$4 Canada/ Hawaii
__$6 World wide

You can see my gallery of traditional art so you know what you're getting: [link]

Original Art for Sale
*and also prints*
[link]

Please spread the word if you can, I need all the help i can get!

~WIP~

Thu, 06 Aug 2009 23:05:18 GMT

I was playing with photoshop but I set the video to fast (and it was the part that I wanted too...)

~Distructive Creative Process~

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 16:22:29 GMT

Found the vid on Webcomics.com

a cool speed painting

~Maybe the Internet is not so Great?

Tue, 04 Aug 2009 23:42:52 GMT

I don't know, this is a really touchy feely subject. So many things are moving onto the internet and with the down economy (and general belief that all things on the internet should be free…) Its harder for goods and valuable things to continue to make money.

A recent post I found by Uminomamori, about plagiarism in Facebooks’ games Castle Age Game

Its kind of funny timing, my mother recently told me that I shouldn't put my stuff on the internet all the time. She’s not so worried about it being stolen (well she is but) but more on trying to get people to ‘value’ my work, that you cant just ‘click’ and find something else. I kind of get what she’s saying but I didnt want to because the current business model is to put stuff on the net but…

The internet came with so much more issues. I kind of glad that it leveled out the playing field (or did it really? cause money is the all important factor in the entertainment business) and let people share more of their passions.

Why did sharing become stealing? Or rather, vast under appreciation of creation in any forum.

I was more disgusted by the players reactions and hostility in that artists where out to close down the game or force it to use crappy art. Yep, the Majority, want everything for free even though noting is truly for free in this world. Everything has a price/consequence and just because its not immediate doesn't mean its not forthcoming.

Same thing with the excessive cheaping on things from stock art (not stock images), cheaper downloads (I rather buy 6$ book then pay 6$ for a download though), download incentives (really now? you’re all ready doing the comic, why do more work?) ect.

I know we dont live in a picture perfect world but I’d be damned if I’ll let a bunch of strangers abuse me.

~Kuroshitsuji

Sun, 02 Aug 2009 23:40:05 GMT

Once in a while, when ever I hear a new hot license (though this seeries was popular before the license) I try to read it up to see whats all the hub bub…

I should stop doing that as I’ll never gonna get. It happened the same with vampire knight and now this series. I’m reading it now, I’m going to give it 4 chapters, lets see…

(there’s a fat Hitler)

ok, after so many food shots, silly house help shots and Sebastian being ‘awesome’, I’m sure later on that series might pick up (it didn’t with VK or Alichino or any shojo/dark/epic/pretty manga) and hopefully there's a better summery of the story arcs cause I’m so tempted to skip so much of it.

Wait, just read a bit of the last chapter…

ok, now we have some one going around stamping off people and circus with performers having physical disabilities….

I mean, I get whats going on, but its just not for me. I’m not an Anglophile (or a Japanophile), I dont think Sebastian is cool (just yet I guess) and I dont care about anything

or anyone of this series.

Some one needs to spoil me to the good stuff if i’m ever to pick this series up. Even running in Yen+ (I’m glad it is cause I’m happy the pub makes money and saves Yotsuba) i”m not reading it.

LiveJournal Tags: rants

~Comic Making~

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 18:16:19 GMT

Yesterday while inking, I don’t know what was up with my nibs or if I need to buy new ones cause it was seriously acting up. I may not be ‘awesome’ with the nib but it just didnt want to glide or come to a point. It might have been me being tired or out of practice but it was seriously bad that I had to switch to digital

….

I hate digital. My tablet is already scratched up on the surface for so much use. I’m going to buy more nibs and see if thats a problem and try drawing bigger (though thats so expensive).

On another news, my paneling needs a refresher. I worry so much of keeping the reading clear that I end up with boring panels for a shoujo. By the way, its ridiculously hard to panel slow scenes, I think i’ll just speed up a lot more on this story.

LiveJournal Tags: comics

~Fed up~

Sun, 26 Jul 2009 19:52:20 GMT

I really cute vid (and series of vids if you check em up all)

~The blank Page~

Fri, 24 Jul 2009 03:50:57 GMT

The most feared thing to an artist is the ‘blank canvas’. Even though people always say ‘draw everyday’ it can get boring to just draw a bunch of still life so you wonder ‘what the heck am I sup

posed to draw?’

I dont really believe in the method of overly planning out a piece for every singe art you do. A lot of my art is mostly what ever I thought of in that moment. Overly planned out illustrations lose my interest really fast as it feels more like homework then expression.

tumbnailing for a comic is really maddening. I feel so many negative emotions and feel so depressed when I know I have to plan 150 ‘canvas’ with the added difficulty that is has to all make sense with each other. I become so emo thinking about it. I didnt know this is how it would feel, like you’re in a corner trying to escape creeping shadows.

I have an outline, the character bios and motives, the back setting and yet, the fact that I have to make a final decision makes me stiff.

If only had others to help me out in the initial tumbing/name of the comic. Then my fears wouldn’t cripple me so much

Mangaka Urasawa Interview

Sat, 18 Jul 2009 22:57:38 GMT

This is such an inspiring and human interview (and for a middle age guy, he looks pretty good :P )

~7 reasons why Oel is not successful~

Sat, 18 Jul 2009 18:37:04 GMT

I’m sure most of you guys have heard of this write up on the panel and there has been plenty of comments on it here, here, here and all over twitter.
The only reason why I havent commented it yet is because I’ve recently had a ‘revelation’ of sorts so now such things dont bother me much. So this wont be a rant about the article, most people already put up good points and its still gathering comments.
the part that I wanted to address was what C.B Cebulski, talent scout for Marvel said
“Hopefully they’ll go to art school, learn more about the comic form, & give it another go, w/ a company/editor who can guide them this time.”

I whole heartedly disagree with ‘going to art school’ and makes sense that it would be from some in the traditional top 2 super hero companies. I do follow his tweets and read up on his advice, he is some one to listen too but this part does not make sense at all. Here’s why:

1. Art school is too expensive
For the return of investment, oel can not support anyone who has to pay back their loans. I’ve only been there 1 year and thats with me starving and/or borrowing others tools and yet I rack up 70k in loans and many more money in interest and transportation. It makes sense that those seeking to work with Marvel or DC go to schools because eventually the good ones have page rates to pay off. Same with the gaming industry, Those industries have money circulating enough to pay the artists the money to live and pay off loans
2. Art school doesnt mean good
Anyone will tell you it doesnt matter where you go, its what you put into it. When its not a requirement to do what you need to do but hard work, you’ll notice that a majority dont have an ‘art degree’. All art school can do is good guidance and even then, you get some bad apples. I do much better to have a select group of people that have high standards in work to give me guidance then pay 30k a year to huff out ‘school/crap work’ and then be told that I should work on my own stuff to put in portfolio.
3.Art school doesn’t help ‘OEL’ let a lone comic art
I’m sure we’ve all ment art teachers that just didnt like cartoons and didnt consider them art. Now we have a few that do and most all hate manga. I have yet to met a teacher that is unbiased (they dont need to like it) towards manga and that is in all parts of commercial art industry. So how can I expect these same people to teach/support me to do it?
And why bother learn from those that dont work in that style and is not the original source for that money? I have plenty of non-Japanese artist that I admire and can walk up to and ask for help but if i’m going to pay that much money, I wish the schools would request Japanese schools that teach this for guidance or regularly fish info from the original. Japan has plenty of source material like Deleter’s site, the Comikers Magazine, Style school magazine, school professors and editors they can interview but no, they just do exactly the same thing that any artist can do for a lot cheaper.
Also, its too derivative. They (the teachers) learned on their own, they’ve already filtered the art style through their own eyes. They are teaching a filtered version of the art to you, who will then filter it down again, ending up with a 4th gen style of the original source. This again is fine, but not fine when you end up having to pay so much for it.
And there is a major difference in storytelling between the 2 ‘styles’. It may take 30 mins to read a 22 page comic, it takes about 45mins to read a 160 page manga.
4. There is no OEL industry
we need to make it . Why go to an expensive school for 4 years when there is no market for it? it’s like learning to be a realtor for housing on the moon. It just might happen but for the right now it doesn't exist. Judgment has been passed just too early with very inexperienced people from artists to the publisher to even the book stores.
Lets go even lower on the poll, there is a huge doujin convention and many small ones in not just japan but other parts of asia. There is indie cons in western countries and many small press groups at comic conventions. How many manga style comics do you see in those? do you even see much comics at anime conventions? Why should some one stop making 15$ posters to sell 5$ 20 page books? especially since there is no support for it? why should some one stop taking 100$ per character commissions and go for $100 per page (if you can get that that is) for a comic that is a hard sell? Why invest so much money on top of investment of so much time in school and paying off that dept when there is nothing to invest in just yet? You cant have one before the other.
Few wants the burden of building a new industry (one that shouldn't have such a distinction to begin with because if the word ‘manga’ was never imported I doubted we’d be so worked up) against so many odds. We are much better off spending the 4yrs out of school building foundations then going for lofty goals, having to pay back large student loans and self teach all that was not taught. Svet of nightschool spend years building, thats why she is good not because she went to art school to learn comics (I believe she was an animation major).

-
I didn't go to SCAD because I believe they could teach me what I could (and doing right now) do on my own. I only went because all resources are close in proximity, including the community (that is just now being warmed up to manga style artists). I left because early on, I notice the doom and gloom about everyone. I also notice the insincerity of this school (manga classes that are basically expensive study hall) and many others with teachers that don't even have 1 year work in any art field.
Again, this is just my post on that comment. I do wish a lot of would be manga-ka be open to other things for their learning. I’ve watched more film, read up on biographies, study other art styles , ect. As such, separating such widely varied things like comic art is useless because its influences are from all things, more so then just illustrations or just literature. There’s no reason for separation of Oel, manga, superhero, and indie since more often then not, it crosses over many times.
I’m budgeting about 1200$ a year to learning my art, a hell lot cheaper then going to art school. Cons for portfolio review, buying teaching material (genome and massive black is really good), reference material, promotion and inspirational material.

*After all , I know very few successful pros that actually went to school for their art. You most likely don't know many either. Art germ, Gina, artist of megatokyo didnt go to school, and yet…

~Pat Myself on the Back~

Sat, 27 Jun 2009 07:50:36 GMT

Some Times, having a big of frustration to get you to work is helpful. The past 2 days i’ve been poring over tutorials and closely studying examples from a fav artists. Its hard sometimes cause you’re tempted to blame that you dont have the right tools (my fav artists all seem to use painter, I hate that program) or that you’re not luck to live where they live (wacom has an active asian community with a lot more contests that i want to enter) or that you just dont have ‘time’.

Well, I've figured how to do black hair this way, I might want to try the more flat colored version that you find in a lot of Chinese style illustrations.

(not really following anatomy but comment if you like)

Art trade peak:

I’ve also changed up the front page of my site (total rip from Murata’s site, was kind of hellish to take a flash site into a css base). I plane to change the rest of the site to be more coherent and such but that will be little by little as I clean up and reorganize the code.

I promise to be more serious with my webcomics. I’ve kept up with my update of 1 page a week for a month now (except for metrocon) while also updating new art and other things.

hmm… I need monies, any suggestions? I need to put up my store soon

Death

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 01:59:38 GMT

Its strange this month. A few weeks ago I hear of SCAD professor Jeremy Mullins die, then my cousin Ester died 3 days ago and today Michael Jackson dies. All of them had ill fates, though I know that Mullins had a good life. I dont know what to say about this other then that I feel weird as thought its all just a big joke. May they all rest peacefully.

~Critiques

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 20:41:59 GMT

*Disclaimer, this is not a post directed to you Mayshing, its related to my most recent deviation ^^*

I use to believe that I'm good at taking critiques, but lately I've been shy with my work. For those of you who follow my DA, i’ve disable comments on some of my pieces. In truth, I just have a delayed reaction with critiques, which is why I do the same mistakes over and over again. I’m really bad at take them, I'm polite but it takes quiet a few mental slaps to get me to correct my self on something thats been pointed out to me.

Its worst when I'm practicing. I can take critiques better on works I’m more comfortable with because I know how to make changes when people tell me too. Taking Mayshing’s comment for example, she said basically that a cleaner inking style would match the story more. It may sound like a simple general critique but its something that I know how to go about it. steady hands, quicker and cleaner strokes and practice with hand movement control.

Middle ground critiques are kind of frustrating for me cause I just dont want to do it that way. for example, I can do black hair cell style but have yet to figure it out soft style. I can do dark grey in both but white hair only looks good to me in soft style not cell. I want to do all in both, and as trivial it might be to just ‘pick’ a style, I'm sure we can all agree that versatility is an artist’s best arsenal (and keeping to deadlines).

Now when I'm venturing into new territory, I get nervous and would rather work/practice quietly then have others comment. While working on a picture, my mom came over me and started commenting politely, I covered my screen and said ‘wait till I'm finish to comment’ even giving excuses like ‘I’ll fix it when I’m done’. I’ve never done that before, I’ve given demos, and done commissions with people watching me. Its cause I was trying to find something new to try but had no idea if I was on a right path or a train weak.

But you know, I think its better to get out of your comfort zone once in a while and challenge one self. With this new self discovery of how I really handle critiques will help. I’m not really attached to my art, just attached to my ideas so its frustrating when you don't recreate your thoughts accurately to share with others (feels misrepresenting).

~Metrocon Review~

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 02:54:21 GMT

Ah, the con went by, it was a bust. It wasn't just me though, I already knew it was a bust since early friday. Thats when I make most of my money and I heard many made about 12 - 40$ a day. This is the 3rd time I’ve gone to metro and it be a bust so obviously this is not a con to go to in my case. same with AWA though momo does well for me.

I did gain some more knowledge and made a new Friend. however, it does get kind of irritating when people stop at my table to give me excuses 2+ mins long. I dont mind if you dont buy, I do mind when you try to excuse your self as if i’m condemning you. For the first 2 or 3 people, fine but when its that many (and I was not sleeping enough so I was cranky) I”m this close to just state my thoughts unfiltered. I mean, do they have to come to me and tell me they spent 52$ on 3 (crappy cause i’ve bought better) doujin and then tell me how you look for size and quality. Trust me, any really good doujin is hard to find in such a ‘small’ out of ways cons like metrocon, let a lone in the US. The good doujins are soild out in its originating county, you’d have to know some one that has family/friends/connections over there to get the good ones. plus… I doubt she could read japanese and its not like you can open the package at most dealers to see if its actually art pages or just a bunch of text.

On another note, I’m trying to clear out some of my older stuff, been sketching a bit but right now I’m working on an art trade. After, I’m going to do some planning since AFO is right around the corner and I have 2 panels for it. Laters

LiveJournal Tags: cons,business