Contest complete, part 2

The deadline to turn in all entries for the contest was today at 11:59:59 PM PDT, and I managed to finish and submit everything by 9:55 PM PDT. The mascot winner will not be announced until the end of Kumoricon 2010, so I won’t know anything until after the convention is over in September. Regardless, I’m hopeful that my hard work, effort and design will win.

Here is a sneak peak of part of the mascot design:

I feel a huge weight lifted off of my shoulders now.

On a side note, there was a third contest going on to design Anime News Network’s new icons. I teamed up with Zack Corcoran to form: Feathered Robot Productions studio and swiftly created a set of icons for their contest. Supposedly the contest ends tomorrow, and DVD sets are the prize for each icon. They haven’t announced which series they’re offering as rewards, but I’m still hopeful it will go well. Wish us luck!

Contest complete, part 1

After a major overhaul of a design, I’ve finished the program book cover entry for Kumoricon 2010.

Here is a sneak peak of a piece of the cover design:

I had to create and revamp several assets to insert onto the cover, and I hope it is a cohesive enough design that it will win. Once the contest is over and the winners announced, I’ll place the whole image into the Design section of my site.

Now I must rush to get the mascot design going before the deadline hits. My fingers are crossed it all goes well!

Contest cramming

Happy July 4th!

I’m currently rushing to complete artwork for two contests: designing a mascot and creating a program book cover. The deadline for both is July 18th, so please wish me luck as I finalize the designs and color everything in. Once the deadline has passed, and my entries submitted, I’ll post them.

A sign of Summer

Summers are often full of warm weather and sunshine, but this year has been oddly cool and cloudy for the Pacific Northwest. Despite the tepid temperatures, one sign of Summer still sprung forth: Spiders.

One spider created this magnificent web on our deck:

I’m not sure what species of spider this was, but it created a very stunning web. I hope this sign of summer summons warmer temperatures soon.

Summer in the Lan Su Chinese Garden

Over the rainy weekend, I spent a day wandering downtown Portland. Towards the end of the outing, I managed to slip into the Lan Su Chinese Garden, twenty minutes before closing. Due to the weather and the late hour, the garden was wonderfully empty, and I wandered through the passageways and soaked in the rare serenity. Luckily, in the last ten minutes the rain tapered off, and I managed a few photos of the tranquility.

A duck found the perfect resting spot in the lake:

The exhibit of penjing, or landscapes in miniature, was taking place by the Four-Sided Hall:

This was my favorite penjing:

Here’s a view of the Mid-lake Pavilion through the leaves of the penjing:

With warmer weather in the forecast, I hope to visit the garden again soon.

Characters and costumes

I have several art projects in the works, and luckily my comic is amongst them. Here are some compiled snapshots of character and costume designs for the comic:

A minion, the main anti-hero, and the main character:

The heroes:

I am constantly reminded of how much skill and knowledge I need to accumulate just so I can create a believable world and unique characters. Comic artists will often need to gain skills in graphic design, fashion design, architecture, and typography, and we also have to dabble in several other professions like biology, geography, and astronomy. For now, I just need to design three more characters and a building, and then I can start drawing the actual comic.

Bubble Tea for the busy artist

While in college, I developed a taste for bubble tea, and would get one with my college work-study coworker. Over time, the local store closed, and I moved away to Oregon. Luckily for me, bubble tea exists and thrives in Oregon, and with the warm weather fast approaching, I find myself purchasing more of these tasty concoctions. My favorite place to get them is the nearby Bubble Bubble Tea store.

Here is a view of the inside of the uniquely designed store:

My favorite Bubble Bubble Tea concoction is the Mocha Coffee Slushy:

It’s a great snack and a cool drink combined into one. Not only is it delicious, it also improves my creativity and productivity. One of these giant drinks will give me enough buzz to keep me drawing well into the night. I’ll be drinking a lot of these when I get to drawing my comic’s pages.

Food is love

I grew up in Massachusetts, and was always able to get great Chinese food either by my Gramma’s cooking or from Chinatown. When I left for college in Minnesota, I found a distinct lack of my favorite dishes, but I managed to survive by finding replacements for Chinese food. I developed a taste for Vietnamese and Japanese foods. Sadly, those favorite foods and restaurants were also left behind when I moved further west to Oregon.

Luckily, Portland, Oregon, has a Chinatown, and while it’s sparse and seemingly abandoned when compared to Boston or San Francisco, a few great restaurants remain to tide tourists and Lan Su Chinese Garden visitors over. I found a hole-in-the-wall restaurant that mimics some of my favorite dishes from Boston.

This is the House Special Pan-Seared Noodle dish:

And this dish, Soy Sauce Chicken and Rice Combination Plate, is only available on the weekends:

It all definitely hits the spot and is a nice taste of my childhood. Visit Portland’s Chinatown, and be sure to stop by Chen’s Good Taste Restaurant for some great food.

“W” is for Workshop

On Friday I presented a comics workshop to the students of the Whitford Middle School, and I had a ton of fun seeing the students flex their creative muscles.

Here are some pictures of the presentation:

Here is a picture of a comic page I created specifically to display at the workshop:

The students were a pleasure to work with, and they created some interesting stories. One disheartening aspect of these workshops is how often the students will say to me: “I don’t know how to draw that”, and due to time limitations, I can only advise them to try their best. In reality, most students are drawing very well for their age group, and I tell them that they have plenty of time ahead of them to practice and improve their craft.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: “There are no shortcuts or secret formulas to creating art; I can offer ideas and guidance, and show how I draw and how I compose an image, but in the end, the path to being an artist is like the path to enlightenment: you must find your own way.”

Go back to the source

When I was younger, I would spend some summer days in my grandma’s apartment watching TV while my parents worked. One of my favorite memories is of seeing a strange cartoon, very unlike the standard Looney Tunes, Tom & Jerry, or any other mindless children’s show of the time. I was only able to catch a glimpse of the second half of the episode, and I wouldn’t see the entire series until I was in high school, but it captured my imagination.

The show was an anime called Ronin Warriors, and I blame it for turning me into a comic artist.

High school and college have come and gone, and Ronin Warriors has vanished from most anime radars, but its influence on me remains. Now that I have the time and creative freedom, I’ve gone back to Ronin Warriors, found my inspiration, and drafted up twenty-seven chapters of my current, and most ambitious, comic project.

At twenty-seven chapters half of the story has been written and sits at a major turning point. While the second “season” stews in my mind, I’m again, reworking costume designs and getting to know my characters. I hope to have material to share soon, as this project is consuming most of my creative output.

Creating a comic is no small feat, and while this project is time-consuming and creatively intensive, I’m feeling artistically fulfilled for the first time. Wish me luck in avoiding writer’s and artist’s block.