Miyazaki tribute show

Hi friends! It's a bit last minute but I have an exciting announcement!

Tonight is the opening night of the Miyazaki tribute show at Cookies & Creams.  As one of the participant, I'd like to invite you to this special show!

https://www.facebook.com/events/1560924777453656/

Cookies & Cream

1010 1/2 Fair Oaks Ave

South Pasadena, California

Here's my piece!

The opening night starts at 7 PM until midnight.  There are so many cool pieces displayed in the shop I hope you'll enjoy them.  

I'd also like to recommend their handcrafted ice cream, they are really delicious (my favorite is Taro flavor)!

Frank & Son Collectible Show - Holiday Season

How's it going! 

This week I'm back in Frank & Son collectible show in City of Industry, California for their holiday season.  I will be displaying my products there for 2 months, so if you are in the area please come check it out!

I'm in two glass cases inside booth #405

Business hours are Wednesdays 3 pm ~ 9 pm, Saturdays 9 am ~ 5 pm

http://www.frankandsonshow.net/

Holiday card progress

Every year around this time I am in process of making the holiday card.  It's always so difficult to pick a theme, sometimes I wish I can just reuse the design I had in the previous years :P

But then I always want to try out something new, like using a different paper stock, coating or whatnot.

Time to color! 

Late Halloween post

Hey! Hope you all enjoyed Halloween, I was able to list these on my shop last week, they are kind of Halloween themed, right?

Tehehe~ more info here

I've been so busy lately I haven't even started on the holiday cards! ahhh!

I need ideas, fast!

update

Ahh...I feel so bad that I haven't been posting, I don't have a lot of free time now due to work and travel, plus helping out with the family business, life currently is just so busy!

Few days ago I was working on another commission, and it's been a while since I drew human character in traditional medium :)

It's almost time to start preparing PMX, but first, what I should be this Halloween? 

Logo

I was asked to design a logo for a new toddler boutique store.  

The top one was the original design I came up with after receiving the description, after several revisions and changes, the client decided they like the one below better.

commission update

I was working on another set of commission this past weekend, it was a pattern design for a pouch, and a watercolor/pencil drawing.  The character was based on in-game trainer from Y, with her favorite pokemon Togetic.

panda

A friend is launching a new online store, I'm making this cute little mascot for his shop.

It's Panda in a suit! 

Recently I have been getting a few freelance/ commission work, hopefully I will be able to share them on here soon!

Vulpix

Working on another commission today, the cute and adorable Vulpix pouch design :)

I started out some ugly sketches, figuring out what kind of pose will work well for this piece.

Then moving on to illustrator to get clean and solid shapes.

It will be pattern style and with pastel bows, it's so cute I want to eat it! XD

Thank you Anime Expo!

Anime Expo was amazing, thank you all for stopping by!  It's another awesome year for me, and not only that I got to meet a couple of super talented artists.  It's definitely grew a lot bigger compare to last few years,  I know it's overwhelming for attendees, but even for us it was extremely difficult to see everyone's booth.  I can't wait to go back next year :))

I drew 3 commissions this weekend and I'd love to take more from now on, these are done in watercolor & colored pencils, my favorite traditional art mediums.

AX 2014 preview

Anime Expo is just a day away! Here is the preview of what I'll bring and of course there are much, much more ;)

Please come visit my table G38, hope to see you soon!

Another update

Another recent update! 

Anime Expo is only 12 days away, not only getting everything printed and ready, I am also adding a few new things to my line of products!

First of all, Attack on Titan! There will be notecards and sticker packs!

It's about time for me to make these, I know it's a popular series so I hope people will like them :) 

4 of most cosplayed characters, plus another version of Levi because he's just too adorable <3 p="">

And since it's officially summer, I wanted to throw in some Free! love~ 

Here's the sneak peek on the designs <3 nbsp="" p="">

More to come!  

Lastly, thank you all for the recent pin button orders! All the packages have been shipped so they should start arriving early next week ;)

Now back to work!

Note Card - The making part 2

So here's the making part 2; the printing and cutting stage.

I print them out on a inkjet printer, I use a HP Officejet, which does most of my in-house printing.

After both sides are printed, it's time to cut them individually.  I use paper trimmer to cut straight and clean lines on the sides, sometimes I use X-acto knife and a ruler too, whichever is convenient.

Then this is the most difficult part of the whole production - Cutting.

Complicated designs will be very difficult to cut, so in the design stage (Part 1) I have to plan it well.

I use small scissors and x-acto knife to cut them, this can take up to 5 to 10 minutes.  

To finishing, use a scoring knife and gently score the middle line for folding.

Note Card - The making part 1

I'm going to show you the steps on how I create my Kawaii Note Cards, separating them into 2 parts.

First is the design stage.

Since the note cards are rectangle-ish shape, the face and body will have to be in one block.  That leaves the creativity for ears and tails.  I draw quick sketches with pen and paper, nothing fancy. 

Then moving on to illustrator.  Open a new horizontal letter size canvas.  I use illustrator mainly because it's a great vector program to create sharp lines and shapes, I like to tweak around using the lasso, pen and selection tool, be warned...this part can be hideous sometime.

Just keep building the shape and adding couple more details.

After the front side is finished, I made two other copies placing next to each other.  

The back side is much simpler, depending on how complicated I want the "writing" side to be, usually couple of lines will do just fine.  The back side will be a separate file, but because we don't want any design on the back to be cut off, have a front side design on top of it as guide.

And now we are ready to print and cut!

Update

I was up in Victoria, BC over the weekend.  Weather was nice, scenery was beautiful, it was a small little weekend getaway and I really enjoyed it :)  

Right now Orange County is over 90°F and how much do I wish I can stay up in Victoria until this crazy weather dies down... 

I'm making these cute buttons as novelty gifts for the upcoming product, they will be out early next week so please just wait a little longer! :) 

Pink

Work has been super busy ever since WonderCon, I went on a business trip for a few days, and we are currently working on another out of country trip that needed to have all the materials ready, so I did not have much time to do convention / store related art...until last night!  I started  do several Sylveon faces in Illustrator, so stay tuned for finished look! I think it's gonna look really cute :)

Thank you

WonderCon and Anime Conji are over, now I need to prepare for summer conventions!

Thank you all for stopping by this weekend, I received some good feedback and suggestions, I'll be working on them and hopefully will be ready for Anime Expo.

Totoro is now going back into the Tardis, see you soon! :)

Hustle

I'm getting ready for 2 conventions in the same weekend, ahhh so many things to do so little time!

These rounded corners sure take time to cut! I think I should call these "hand-made" book mark from now on.

sailor...moon!

I wanted to do something Sailor Moon related for up coming conventions, but I'm not sure what yet...I started doing sketches because I want to know which style might work the best.  I come from a generation where every girl's dream is to become Sailor Moon, I collected a bunch of cards and stickers it was crazy.  

Anyways, I like the manga style because it's just so pretty and soft, but I also like the anime style because it's vibrant and cute.   Hmm...time to think!

sticker

 

Another sticker design :) 

Hello

I went on a vacation in Japan recently, and it was great!

It was exactly what I needed and I hope to go back again next year~ hehe :)

 

Now I know I haven't been updating this blog... Well that's about to change! I got tables for upcoming conventions so that means I'll be preparing for the con! it's never too early to start right?

Is it February already?

Right before the end of January I finished another set of commission, this one was especially challenging because it was supposed to be at night time.  In my original sketch I wanted to do lanterns instead of the glowing "fire fly" lights.  It was right after I put down the watercolors and realized it's going to be difficult to even show the lantern light with the trees in the background.  So I used gouache in the end to get what I wanted, which I think turned out nicely overall!   

Commission update

Oh hi there, I almost forgot about this little blog! 

We were at Anime Los Angeles (for the first time!) few weeks ago, it was very last minute notice so I was in a rush trying to prepare enough stuff for the con.  It was a great convention and everyone was so nice and friendly, I think we are likely to return next year :)  

These past few days I was working on two ACEO commission pieces, these were done in watercolor and colored pencils (fun!) and because the clients gave me a good description on what kind of illustration they want, the composition and design just came to me naturally.  

I have another commission I gotta work on, so I will update again when it's finished!

Happy New Year

Happy 2014! 

Over the break I finally got these done, the new calendars are now in my shop