Ariyana Suvarnasuddhi

Happy Halloween: Ghost Story

2011-10-31T12:16:00.001-07:00

Ghost Story page 1, a photo by arisuvar on Flickr.

Check out flickr for the rest of the first 3 pages of my comic "Ghost Story" which actually ended up being more of a vignette of ghost related stories. This was part of my submission for the M.I.C.C competition, the full story is 14 pages, BUT I finished JUST IN TIME FOR HALLOWEEN (deadline was the 31st anyways)

2011 APA DC Film Festival Poster/Image

2011-09-20T18:15:00.000-07:00

Made the image for the 2011 12th Annual D.C APA Film Festival that's starting the beginning of October. Thanks to Minki Kim and Jenny Kim for the opportunity.
It was a fun, open, and flexible project to be a part of. I'm only posting the image, there's text that is going to be added, but I'm not in charge of that.

Speaking of film festivals, there's also a FREE virtual Asian Festival, DigiFest, which is open online until the end of this year. I recommend the documentaries "Macho Like Me" and "Finding Face", which I actually missed in the 2010 APA Film Fest.

Since I haven't been through my blogspot until now ( I know, shame shame shame) I didn't realize how fast all the other artists I've been following have changed and evolved. I had this feeling too after going to this year's SPX. It makes me feel simultaneously inspired and guilty, but that's good because that is what motivates work. At least my work. Creative shame.

I guess I'll end with a link to my 3 panel submission/Mangosteen mini comic.

Vend Send Mend and Ten Paces

2011-06-21T09:31:00.000-07:00

So far this month we have:
My submission for Vend Send Mend,
"Vend Send Mend is a fundraiser aimed at raising $8,000 for Doctors Without Borders in relief of Japan's March 11th earthquake disaster"
to see other peoples' works check out Vend Send Mend's tumblr.

And last week was another submission to Ten Paces and Draw.
The theme was patterns.
Here is the final I did for Kyle Fewell's delicious corgi cat-dog pattern:

Here's is Kyle's original sketch too:

AND FINALLY, my sketch submission below for Ten Paces. I was thinking of the time i had a GLORIOUS NAP while I was drawing it. The final was done by illustrator Lindsay Nohl, and it can be seen here. I like the added monkey :)

Month of May Wrap up

2011-05-30T09:17:00.000-07:00

This is a little late, but here is my final of fellow illustrator Rachel Dougherty's sketch for the Food Week on the illustration collaboration blog, Ten Paces and Draw.
Here's her original sketch here.

This is my sketch contribution below and Rachel brought it to final here.

Meanwhile here's a collection of work from my part time job:

Kraseu Lake finished drawing

2011-05-02T10:25:00.000-07:00

Finished drawing...still not sure about the color...:

Black and white final:

Process drawing & inking:

New Comic for MoCCA: LUM

2011-03-04T18:06:00.000-08:00

So I failed at blog posting for February, but I WAS working so here is the comic
I made for the Sundays Anthology: Forever Changes:

(ALSO the anthology will be released at MoCCA Festival this upcoming April 9.
And I will be there with my fellow members of
the Society of the OKAY, Emma Rochon and Annie Wu):

The theme of the anthology was constant change, cycles, progress, growth/decay...
so I took the opportunity to show some of the process of Thai Dancing.
I used to actually do Thai Dancing from 6th grade - Junior year of high school.
Here. Proof:

I always meant to make this comic, since Thai dancing/Lum pretty made up most of my Sundays when I was young(er) and other than eating Thai food, listening to my parents yelling at me in Thai, and the urge to bling everything in gold,
I pretty much failed at everything else Thai related (speaking/writing, musical instruments, current events, history, etiquette) except this.

I think it turned out alright...I couldn't make it as elaborate as I wanted to and I mismatched the costumes a bit. ALSO this is not really apparent, but the costume is actually for the male role in the comic. Since there were basically only girls learning Thai Dancing at my temple, half of us learned the male style/role of dancing and the other learned female.

So guess which side I was on.
(Male role was more fun anyways, the movements were bolder, and I didn't have to worry about keeping my legs together and I was never very good at acting demure or pretending to run away from the man (common Thai female dance move))

ALSO I'm working on another illustration for fun. Preview (lately I've been really into Krasue ever since I went to the TCDC Ghost Exhibition in Bangkok back in Dec.)

Blast from the Past...The Letter Project (freshman year)

2011-01-27T17:52:00.001-08:00

When I was a freshman in college, about a couple of years ago,
I did this one project where I found the addresses of people who were also named Ariyana and then I mailed them random drawings....

First Ariyana would get my envelope:

And then once Ariyana opened the envelope, the explanation:

In hindsight it does sound a bit creepy/crazy, but at least one person did not thing so.

That person is one of the Ariyana Randolph (of Ten20 Chicago) who recently found me out and sent an email:

"Hello Ariyana!
Great to finally solve a great mystery in life- long ago (as in 2 years) you sent me an incredible piece of mail that at the time was quite puzzling. Now that I finally have discovered that you are an artist... I am glad our paths cosmically crossed! The world needs for random acts of art! Thanks again."
**ari

It was so long ago, that I forgot I even did it, especially since a lot of the letters got returned.
So, rummaged around and found the photo copies of some drawings I did...which were quick 5 minute drawings of moments, scenes of something I was watching, how I was feeling at the time, what I was looking at....

Now that I think about it, I guess I was into inflicting my art on innocent bystanders at the time. I also did another project that year, Books Incognito, where I carved out the inside of books, put some found art sculptures inside and put them in the library. I put an email address in case other people found them, but then I forgot the password and then the email address
....so in the long run I kind of fail at these things....

BUT - I was someone's mystery for a little while! How COOL is that!?

Comic exercise

2011-01-21T23:49:00.000-08:00

...actually, these are from a while ago, but I finally got around to inking them...I'm really rusty....

2011!!!~~~ Thailand/Korea Sketches

2011-01-12T12:34:00.000-08:00

Opening 2011 blog posts with sketches from the tail end of 2010 :P
These sketches are from my trip to Thailand and Korea (when I went to volunteer for SIGGRAPH ASIA 2010 Conference in Seoul)

details of my favorites can be found on my flickr....which I forgot I had until now.

Oh and the stickers on the cover of my sketchbook were from the iberry in Chiang Mai owned by Thai comedian/artist Note Udom. He was actually there when I went, but I didn't know who he was at the time, but my aunt made me take a picture with him anyway.
He said to me, "You don't know who I am, but one day I'll be famous."

Meanwhile I'm so jealous because HE OWNS an ICE CREAM store with a boutique where he also sells art/design work with his face/disturbing cool stuff...that seems more fun than being famous, especially the ice cream part...

ANYWAY: My resolutions for 2011 are pretty simple:
1.Keep doing what I want to do, but in moderation....STEAK!

2. DANCERCISE!
3.I'm not sure how my desk and room got trashed before I left the country, but CLEAN IT UP AND GET BACK TO WORK!!!

Going to SIGGRAPH ASIA 2010

2010-11-23T20:24:00.000-08:00

Leaving for SIGGRAPH ASIA 2010 in Seoul. The conference is actually later, but I'll be doing....other stuff. Pit stop in Thailand!

When I was saying my goodbyes, my ol' manager from the days when I had a legit/sort of job asked me, " Which Korea are you going to?"
and I blithely answered, " The one that will let me come back."

...Now I'm not so sure...ooooh well, WELL FULL SPEED AHEAD.
So I'm leaving with this picture that was actually a birthday card/digital coloring experiment/practice/wave goodbye to America.

"Purging the Inferno" Comic in #12 Rabid Rabbit release Dec 4th at Comic and Graphic Arts Festival

2010-11-12T17:33:00.000-08:00

My "Purging the Inferno" comic will be in the 12th issue of Rabid Rabbit, " Rabid Rabbit Goes to Hell" on Dec. 4 at the Brooklyn Comic and Graphic Arts Festival (12-9:00 p.m.)

Support awesome comic artists/illustrators!

Free admission...so DO AS SEEN BELOW :

Also, forgot to post before, but got a nice mention by the Comic Alliance for the Monster Project last month.

Food Party's Thu Tran and Friends (and lovers ;p)

2010-11-11T12:35:00.000-08:00

Finished a new piece of Thu Tran and Friends from IFC's Food Party. This piece went by faster than the Supernatural one because it was full of subjects I am familiar with,
like....food, Asian lady, and crazy.

But to still be challenging I wanted to somehow incorporate the Bodhisattva Guanyin and vintage Chinese/Asian advertisements.
Success?... Maybe.
Disturbing...hope so.

Gilman International Scholarship Poster

2010-11-06T22:00:00.000-07:00

A friend commissioned me to design a poster for her project promoting the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship Program.

FIIIIIIILLLLLLLLER/ what I've been meaning to post back in the summer.

2010-11-04T00:49:00.000-07:00

I AM ARTING, but it's going really slow.
BUT here is some stuff I've been meaning to post for a while:

1. I had a lot of good times from when I was still working at the MICA store during the summer after recently graduating, like sitting in the display window with a "Recent Graduate" for sale sign or putting up advertisements of ourselves as prom dates for the Pre-college students:
Profiles drawn and written by Tim Yingling:

2. I did this to my mom's cell phone a while ago. She's really religious so I just went with that.

3. This is my dad's computer keyboard. Looks like something I would do to it, but I actually think my dad did this himself....
Clearly....WE ARE RELATED.

So now everyone knows some of the stuff I do when I'm taking a break from arting.

Heads up for those in L.A : Theo Ellsworth's Art show "Visitors" at GR2

2010-10-25T12:03:00.000-07:00

I recently heard about this and it makes me sad that I'm so far away on the East Coast that I'm missing out on Theo Ellsworth's show next month.

But anyone lucky enough to be in L.A shouldn't miss it and anyone that knows anyone else in L.A should tell them to get in on it! :) :

MORE INFO AND PICS IN THIS LINK

Theo's work is amazing, and on top of that he's a really nice person. Even though he was probably really busy, he was gracious enough to let me interview him along with illustrator/comic artists Sonny Liew and Jungyeon Roh for a school paper.

Here's his interview for fellow fans/illustrators/comic artists:
Theo Ellsworth’s Interview (april 2010):

Theo Ellsworth is more a part of the indie comic scene with the semi-autobiographical and imaginative short stories compiled into a book called Capacity. I stumbled across Ellsworth’s work when a friend pointed me out to his booth saying “this guy’s work is crazy awesome.” And it was true. Ellsworth is a self –taught artist living in Oregon. He used to also manage the Pony Club Gallery, but now he primarily makes his living from his comics:

(ME) How did you get started with comics, especially since I’ve read that you’ve been self taught? Or art in general? How did you first integrate yourself into the art community? Mainly through conventions/ online? Do you feel like you’ve created a niche for yourself in the comic community?

(THEO) Drawing has been part of my own personal vocabulary since I was a kid. Especially in High school when it really started feeling like a vital outlet and life line for me. It took me awhile to actually start making comics. I was always drawing different characters and making things up about them, but drawing the same character more than once, or getting them to move and speak for me was a big challenge. I still feel like I’m figuring it out. Soon after I finally started making comics, I was exposed to some of the zine/DIY culture and realized I could start making my own publications. I got a table at the Alternative Press Expo in San Francisco and was blown away by the kinds of work I saw there. Just by focusing on my work and trying to get it out into the world, I feel like I’ve come in contact with a pretty amazing community. I don’t know if I’ve really created a niche for myself or not. I do feel lucky that I’ve been getting by for awhile now, doing my own thing.

What did you do in school? What did you do after school? How did you support yourself in the beginning of your career? What do you consider to be the turning point of your career/work/life?

I thought about going to school for art, then architecture, but ultimately decided to travel for awhile instead. I wanted to develop my own style and way of thinking about my work and the world. I lived out of my car for quite awhile until a felt I needed a space to work. I went back to my home town and sold my car, using the money to kick-start my comics career. When I ran out of that money (which didn’t take long) I worked all kinds of crappy jobs to make rent, while working as much as I could on comics. Moving from Montana to Portland, OR a few years ago was actually a pretty big turning point because I was actually able to start making my rent by selling art by selling my comics and prints at an outdoor art market. The next huge breakthrough was getting approached by the small press, Secret Acres, who published my first book.

How do you find the time to work on your comics and manage your art gallery and read other comics/keep up with the comic scene? Does everything you do relate to comics? Do you also illustrate on the side? How do you feel about comics as fine art?
___
When I first moved to Portland I took up every art related opportunity that came my way. One of them was starting an art gallery with a fellow cartoonist I’d met. It was a great experience, but I had to let it go after 2 years because it ultimately took too much time away from comics. The gallery still exists and is run by some great people. Trying to make a living on comics alone is a huge challenge, but it’s definitely my goal. I do illustration work sometimes. I teach art workshops once or twice a year. It’s a big mix of things that keeps me afloat. Comics are at the core of it all. Comics are also the most challenging and time consuming, so I’m always fighting to make sure the stuff I do to make my rent doesn’t take over.

How did you come up with the idea for Capacity? Did you have an original plan or was Capacity just a compilation of your work over the years?

Originally I started making the Capacity series as practice. I just wanted to launch into making comics and see what kinds of things I could do. It was basically just a way to explore the medium and try to find my voice.
Your work seems very impulsive, do you still revise/edit? Do you write the script first or draw and write as you go? How do you start composing? Or how do you start in general? What is your process?
I get a lot of ideas when I’m walking. I’ve never really written out a full script. I never do thumb nails. It’s been interesting meeting other cartoonists and learning about all these other methods. I usually picture a scene in my head and start sketching it out right on the page. Sometimes I’ll simply draw a panel without knowing what’s going to happen next. It’s always changing. It always seems to take on a life of its’ own. I have half finished pages everywhere right now, and I’m trying to piece it together now and figure out how it all connects. It usually feels like a pretty subconscious process, and I don’t always quite know what’s really going on.

Your work reminds me of a fusion of folk art, Asian monsters, and ancient Latin American/Mayan art, because it is so distinct is it natural or inspired? What art do you look at? What contemporary artist/comic artists inspire you? What things in life inspire you?

I feel like inspiration comes from anywhere and everywhere. I feel a strong connection to a lot of outsider artists like Adolf Wolfli. I also love native art of all kinds. North Western Indian art has really been catching my eye, living in the North West. I love a lot of the old newspaper comic artists like Windsor McCay and Tove Jansson. I love Jack Kirby. There’s plenty or recent work that I find wonderful too. I feel a strong kinship with David B’s work. I read a lot of novels too. I’ve been currently really in to David Michell and Italo Calvino. I’m inspired by nature documentaries. Pretty much everything that interests me gets filtered into my art in some way or another.

What are your plans for your next comic or is it a secret? Are you where you want to be career wise/life? Is there anything you haven’t done that you want to do now?

I’m working on a longer story now. It feels like a leap ahead in many ways and a much bigger challenge too. I’m working more with color and having to work out a lot more about characters and the worlds they exist in. Right now it’s called The Quiet Family. The name might change by the time it sees print. At some point I’d like to do a bit of animation too, but comics will always be my main focus I think.

Project Supernatural

2010-10-20T12:01:00.000-07:00

Yes. I did it. SUPERNATURAL fan art.
This took longer than it should have, but it was a nice challenge and experiment.

The goal was to combine this:

WITH THIS:

The idea came from one of my London Sketches (back in March that I forgot to post):

of Crivelli's painting of St. Michael vs. the Devil,
where I also took those awesome knee armor from!

Also I just wanted to do fan art. :P

THE MONSTER PROJECT

2010-09-23T19:38:00.000-07:00

My submission for THE MONSTER PROJECT organized by the Comic Alliance and the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.
The original will be donated to raise money for CBLDF.

It's nice to be used for the force of good :)

Busy Working...meanwhile Commissioned Lelouch Sketch

2010-09-21T22:55:00.000-07:00

Working on some stuff...but here's a filler post---
A friend commissioned me to do a sketch of her favorite character Lelouch
from one of her favorite shows Code Geass.

This was an interesting challenge for me because---
A. I don't draw pretty things, so I wasn't sure how to approach this (especially when I saw the reference pictures)
B.Lately I've been only drawing ugly pictures of myself either eating or barfing...which is a hard mode to get out of.
C. I'm getting paid either in Korean beef or future dinner

I think it came out all right. Took 2 days, which I blame netflix for. Once you get an account, your eyes are no longer yours.

SPX WEEKEND

2010-09-13T17:09:00.000-07:00

SPX was tiring BUT FUN! It was nice seeing people I know again (especially after moving home) and thanks to people that bought my work!

My side of the table. Look things are propped and organized.....sort of.

The rest of "The Society of the Okay" Annie Wu and Emma Rochon.
Dressed up in V-necks for the gentlemen.

Hard at work. Oh by the way that's the look Annie gives when she catches you secretly taking photos of her. She gives me that look all the time.

Hard at work...on that Mcgriddle!!!

Other SPX 2010 Weekend Highlights:

1. Couples walking by my Castration comic poster. The lady always laughs pointing out the comic to her boyfriend. He shakes his head and smiles, but it's a stiff smile that says, "No. we are not doing that." as he coaxes her away from the table.

2. I temporarily suffer from Facial Blindess at these things. I find that I'm not registering facial details for future interactions when I talk to people because I'm busing trying to pass inherent behaviors, like "awkward" into "possibly-charmingly-eccentric". Either way I feel guilty if I do blow someone off by accident, and then I end up chasing them down to apologize...which might actually be more embarrassing...

3. Selling work. Promoting. Buying stuff/ supporting my favorite/new artists (and staying on a budget whoo!)

4. Interacting with people and artists. For me, it's stressful on both ends (being the artist and reg. Joe), but it's important and good exercise for those social skills I picked up in college.
In relation, Annie and I went up to R. Sikoryak. We showed him Magenta Placenta. I don't remember what I said...but I'm pretty sure it wasn't exceptionally stupid. So success!!!!

5. Signed up to participate in the D.C Counter Culture Festival this October 24th and considering a table at the MOCCA Festival this April 2011.

6. Dinner at Joyce's afterwards.

SPX, QUIMBY BOOKSTORE.....maybe ATOMIC BOOKS?

2010-09-10T09:34:00.000-07:00

SPX IS TOMORROW!!!!!!!
also Tales of Tiger Balm is available at Quimby Bookstore for anyone in Chicago.....and possibly at Atomic Books in Baltimore. (gotta check on that)

MAGENTA PLACENTA

2010-09-04T15:33:00.000-07:00

Instead of interacting with people at this year's Baltimore Comicon, I decided to hide under our (The Society of the Okay/me, Emma Rochon and Annie Wu) table and catch up on my periodicals.
After reading Cynthia Mitchell's "The After Life of After Birth Notes on Eating Human Placenta"
from my issue of Meatpaper, I looked up and asked Annie if she would eat placenta.
Undistracted from her drawings she replied, "Would you eat a placenta if it were magenta?"

And then I left to get a hamburger from Five Guys.....

...with the idea unconsciously brooding in my mind, waiting to surface the day I decide to procrastinate editing resume and cover letters.

SPX 2010!!!!!!!!

2010-08-31T19:26:00.000-07:00

"The Society of the Okay" (Annie Wu, Emma Rochon, and me)
will be sharing a table at this year's SPX.

My "Tales of Tiger Balm" newsprint comics and other stuffs will be FOR SALE!
(sample pages preview here)
The best thing about these newsprint comics is that you can be using them for so many things afterwards: lining pet cages, washing windows, cheap gift wrap...AND you'll sleep well knowing that your money went to my well-being and/or student loans.

Unable to make the trip to Bethesda Sept 11 and 12th?
Comics are also available on my online shop here.
IT WILL BE OK. (as long as you buy my stuff)

Behind the Scenes: Tales of Tiger Balm (comic form)

2010-08-20T13:56:00.000-07:00

This comic of my process while making Tales of Tiger Balm will be included with the copies of the comic.

Other News....

So I went to the bank with my sister today holding a fake golden alm bowl and a Hello Kitty piggy bank full of my life's worth in change.
Originally I asked my sister to exchange my coins to cash for me, but she was too embarrased to be seen with the piggy bank.
I find that to be silly because she had no problem standing next to me while I periodically fingered Hello Kitty from behind to get the money rattling out onto the
platform.

Inside of a very quiet, very stoic bank.

$43.03. Score!

Also glass stuffed animal eyes equal 5 cents.

FINISHED TALES OF TIGER BALM!

2010-08-13T17:15:00.001-07:00

First page of the recently finished Tales of Tiger Balm.

The process: After inking I do colors studies and then I do each color and the text in separate layers of tracing paper to assemble later digitally. If there were a longer more tedious way to do this, I would probably do it..

I had to go to a chiropractor because of this project and get stretching charts.
I try to remember to get up every hour to stretch, but then 2-3 hours go by...and then it's next week.

I haven't been outside for a long time.

Also, side note to self--am easily startled, so NOT a good idea to watch Supernatural while inking.

Meatpaper 12 Cover and Feature and Boing Boing

2010-08-13T11:47:00.001-07:00

My burger prints are the cover of the 12th issue of Meatpaper
Also I ended up having two of my paintings from my Holy Hamburger Series
featured inside because they had a number of stories about cheeseburgers

This actually happened a month ago, but I was sidetracked by the Tiger Balm project, which is the reason why I haven't breathed outdoor air for many days.

Also, thanks to Mary Roach, I was able to have my Castration Comic featured on Boing Boing.

Tales of Tiger Balm Inking

2010-08-01T21:22:00.000-07:00

First page inked in the Tales of Tiger Balm progress
Text hand lettered on tracing paper.
I have re-inked the same lines and rewrote the words in this comic over and over, like a crazy person.......or the man that created the Devil's Bible.

Is it weird that despite the neurotic compulsions, that the act of inking may be the happiest moments of my life?
Or sad?
At least it is productive.

BOOB BOMB! (new pagus)

2010-07-25T09:17:00.001-07:00

another one hour comic colored. also first posted for pagus.

BANGS!

2010-07-22T17:36:00.001-07:00

One of my comic-an-hour comic strips. Ink and color added after the hour. I only lasted for 4 hours, so more comic posts later.

I'm a fan of weird/gag manga, like Shunji Enomoto's Golden Lucky or Gyagu Manga Biyori.

NEW COMICS!!!!! TALES OF TIGER BALM Process

2010-07-06T21:21:00.001-07:00

The first page of my new comic story "Tales of Tiger Balm" based off of when I decided to cover the hives on my stomach with tiger balm because I didn't have anything else around the house....

This is the longest story yet.....5 whole pages! But I'll only show the process of the first one because I'm lazy. ALSO I want the others to be a SURPRISE if I ever can get the whole thing done and printed with my other comic work.

BUT here is a picture of other pages:

Funny how my comics now look similar to my paintings now...I tend to approach each page like it's the cover. THE COVER OF THE LAST IMPORTANT THING I WILL EVER ACCOMPLISH IN LIFE! Which is why it is taking a long time.

Illustrophilia Resurrection

2010-07-01T09:16:00.001-07:00

Now that school is out I suppose it's time to bring back Illustrophillia,
so for more drawings from Monday night visit the blog!
One of the sketches I liked from Dr. Sketchy's last Monday.

ALL SEEING HAMBURGER!

2010-06-20T08:09:00.001-07:00

Close up of the small sculptures I made for my exhibition.

Senior Graduation Exhibition Show and Holy Hamburger Goddess

2010-06-16T13:22:00.000-07:00

I guess this month is going to be mostly me posting work I didn't have time to post from the last couple of months. I finally finished the fourth painting in The Holy Hamburger series
I think because I did this painting after my comic stories, the style is slightly different from the other three. I'd like to do about 4 more in the future and then be done for the rest of my life....but we'll see. (for early sketches for this painting go here. And to see image in better detail, go here.)

Here is my exhibition for my senior graduation show. The frames and bowls were spray painted gold because I couldn't get gold looking ones in time. The wall alter was provided by my family and I sculpted and painted the hamburgers with acrylic, clear gesso, and sculpey .

My exhibition process is like my art making process, a series of mistakes and problems I had to either solve or hide. What works better than smoke and mirrors?

Gold and Food.

Part of the gallery space, my mother and my sister.

Also, here was my proposal/plans for my exhibition. It's interesting to see how things change according to what is feasible. Good practice for the future. I wasn't even done with the last painting when I had to plan this!

Cover page that's missing a title....HELP

2010-06-03T12:12:00.000-07:00

the Cover Design for my comics that I actually finished a while ago but forgot to post, also here's the initial thumbnail, it's sumi ink on bristol.
See that person in that hamburger cage, it's me! See that blank space----
That's where the title that I still can't think of is going to go,

So if anyone has any suggestions please leave a comment.

If I use your title, then you get a free copy once it's finished....sometime...next year....
and if I can't find anyone to publish it, I'll just make it myself and sent it to you!
Or any other options of gratitute can be discussed by email.

My Last Finals

2010-05-20T07:47:00.000-07:00

These are the last finals I will ever do (unless I live long enough to ever make it/decide to do grad school).
Finally finished the painting for Youngmi's class. Maybe it'll go faster when I figure out the perfect consistency for the white pigment, it's difficult because it goes on translucent, so I can't tell what it looks like until it dries....When I figure it out I'll paint a series, or maybe I'll give up and just snort the rest of that white powder/pigment.

Also I took life drawing with Mary J. Arthur and this is my final and some work that I liked. It's a sophomore level class, but I still learned a LOT. A LOT. And it was nice approaching work in the complete opposite way. (no contour, shading, pencil/charcoal)

My final is a simple self-portrait of my buried in a bed/coffin of books and food. Also I think I went full circle on this one, because this is the way I used to work when I was a freshman, not sure of my materials, lots of layering to make up for lack of skill, making a mess all over the place, hoping that the hours of effort would somehow be absorbed into the fibers of the paper...now I only work this way maybe 20% of the time.
It looks depressing, but that would be the ideal way I'd like to go. That or exploding into flames on a neon star studded rhinestone motocycle.My roomate says that I would enjoy a heart attack, apparently it's akin to the warm fiery feeling I get after some tequila.

Traditional Asian Painting

2010-04-22T00:15:00.000-07:00

Painting this way is like a painting a fresco on rice paper. grinding pigments and rabbit skin glue (which looks like clear jelly in the photo)....also I realize how white pigment powder can look like cocaine.... I swear I'm not making drugs in my studio
The sketch is transferred by painting the pigment and water onto the back of the sketch and then re-drawing the lines on top of paper/canvas.

.

Diet

2010-04-21T23:07:00.001-07:00

Remembered my intro to 2D final....never thought how this would lead into my senior year.

Interview with Comic Artists: Sonny Liew, Theo Ellsworth, and Jungyeon Roh

2010-04-15T01:02:00.000-07:00

Since my thesis project this semester is a series of short story comics I decided to take this chance to interview some of my favorite comic artists, Sonny Liew, Theo Ellsworth, and Jungyeon Roh. I was really wanted to learn their experiences and views about such a demanding, obscure, yet amazing profession. I tried to interview comic artists from different genres/scenes, from mainstream, to indie, to another student such as myself who is starting off in comics and illustration. And I’m happy to say that no matter what anyone was doing, everyone took the time to give me thorough and interesting answers to my questions.
Sonny Liew’s Interview:

I first saw Sonny Liew’s work in the comic anthology, Flight 2 when I was in high school. Out of all the comics I most admired the sketchy, loose but well structured style of the story, Malinky Robot. Actually Malinky Robot won the Xeric Award. Since then Liew has been nominated for an Eisner and has worked with mainstream companies such as Marvel and Disney on projects like Wonderland and covers for Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility. Liew has also been involved with projects outside of mainstream US comics, such as Liquid City, an anthology of Southeast Asian comics. What is amazing is the Sonny Liew has done all of this while living in Singapore and still somehow had time to promptly answer my questions:

How did you get started with comics? Or art in general/ How do you feel about comics as fine art? Do you have time to do fine art since your Lucky Plazas show? What art do you look at? What contemporary artist/comic artists/graphic novels inspire you right now?
- Hmm when I started art in general is tricky, goes back to childhood doodling right? For comics, grew up reading stuff like Beano and Dandy , Spiderman, Doraemon…but in money-making terms my first paid work in comics was a daily strip I did for a Singaporean paper, called “Frankie and Poo”, something I thought up whilst on summer holidays, inspired both by Calvin and Hobbes and teenage angst :p The trend to creating art comics… I think is as legit as any fine art form, though just as baffling sometimes; freed from the tethers of traditional rules its sometimes hard to tell if there really is something there or just a lot of hot air. But it’s definitely fun trying to bend your head round some of them, and there are times when it’s just pure genius.
Haven’t had much time to paint since Lucky Plazas, caught up with comic book projects ….
- Well a few face artists off the top my head would be… Phil Hale, Antonio Lopez, Tetsuya Ishida; mostly realism grounded at some level….
- Comics wise…recent stuff I’ve liked include: Manu Larcenet, Nicolas Decrecy, just read Jiro Tanaguchi’s A Distant Neighbourhood which was excellent… and Dave Mckean’s work on cages is always inspirational….

You won the Xeric Award for Stinky fish Blues, how did you come up with the idea for Malinky Robot and how long did it take for you to promote it and for people to start responding to it? What does Malinky mean?
- It started as a school project at RISD, a class taught by David Mazzuchelli. A combination of influences from Bladerunner, anime, manga I guess… I’m still promoting it! :p the title itself just popped up – I thought it was a nonsense term but found out later it meant something in Russian/Hungarian, ‘malinky robot’ translating into something like ‘little work’ or odd jobs, which was a nice coincidence :)
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What do you think the elements are to a good comic/story are? What types of stories are you drawn too or what themes do you incorporate in your work? How do you start composing? What is your process for the day?
- Hmm good elements is very subjective… I do like anything with good/interesting draftsmanship, the loose style that guys like McKean or Kent Williams have, but also more alternative styles like Gary Panter or Yoshiharu Tsuge… story telling wise maybe just things that avoid being too dark or violent, a gentler sort of approach with quiet moments; not that there’s anything wrong with darkness/violence, but too many times it just feels like they’re trying to push the envelope and appear edgy/adult/nihilistic rather than having anything substantial to say. - Coming up with new stories I guess is partly a matter of sitting down with paper and doing thumbnails, but also looking for inspiration in books and other media, and sometimes just going for long walks to figure out any storytelling knots :p

I heard from a graduated student that it is important to maintain a connection with some type of art community. How did you continue to be a part of the art community after leaving school, was it through conventions or online? Do you feel like you’ve created a niche for yourself in the comic community? Do you prefer working on your own projects or collaborating with others and why.
- I do think you have to stay connected at some level; for inspiration, support and maybe collaborations. Whenever I go to SDCC I always feel re-energized and get a sense of how closely knitted the comic community is in the US. It’s a slightly different scenario in Singapore, where the industry is much less developed ; in some ways I think I’ve been part of a smallish group of people here trying to build a comics community. Its getting year by year though :) - Collaborations and solo projects both have their place I think; with the former you get a meeting of minds and hopefully something more than the sum of parts; the latter tends to feel more personal and closer to your heart – though in a sense also more risky, since you probably invest more of yourself in it, whether it turns out good or bad… for me I think a balance between the two is ideal, though its tough juggling act at times :p

How did you support yourself in the beginning of your career? What would you consider was the turning point in your career/work/life? Does every aspect of your career connect, do you feel burnt out sometimes? And if you do what to you do to re-motivate your self.
- Hmm…. Well once I started freelancing, aside from a dry spell after “my faith in Frankie’, there’s always been work to do, even if the money wasn’t great. With time though rates get better, more projects come in, so I think for me its been a gradual process rather than one big turning point. Of course if I hadn’t turned down The Surrogates years ago that might have been it :p - I would like to be able to find more time for paintings, but it’s tricky with deadlines and all… I guess it would be nice if the two markets (comics and fine arts) was more closely connected, at least here in Singapore – right now pursuing one can sometimes feel exclusive to the other. - There are periods when you feel less enthusiastic about it all, but when I stop to think what I’d rather be doing, I do get reminded how privileged I am to be able to draw and paint for a living. But as mentioned, attending conventions, meeting fellow comics creators and other creatives also helps :)
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Since you live in Singapore, does where you live have an impact (creatively, career wise) on your work, do you get to travel a lot? Why did you choose to stay there rather than live in lets say NY or CA? How is the comic scene in Singapore or Southeast Asia? Can you briefly describe your opinion about comics from America, France, and Japan, such as differences, similarities or certain preferences and qualities you’ve noticed.

- Well with the internet and FedEx I think it’s much easier these days to be able to work from anywhere. Maybe being in the states would have made going to conventions and events a lot easier – as it is I get to go to SDCC maybe once every 2 years, and have never got to go to nycc or APE. - The choice to come back was kinda forced on me I guess – at the time I was still in the states with a post-college 1-year visa when I got offered “my faith in Frankie’, and found out how difficult (near-impossible) it was to get a long term visa as a freelancer. So I had to pack up and head for home :p - Well been to France a couple of times to promote French translations of some of my comics, probably heading for Angouleme next year  - Southeast Asia comics industries generally are very nascent, still full of bad practices like publishers paying low rates and demanding copyright ownership. It’s hard to compete with stuff coming from the US and Japan as well. But there are exceptions (Malaysia’s Lat for example) and things do seem to be getting better with time… -
Are you where you want to be career wise? Is there anything you haven’t done that you want to do now?

Heh well it would be nice to have a megaseller that generates endless royalty revenues but I guess I’m pretty ok with where things are :) Maybe a chance to try out some sculpting/modelling/casting or making toys :p

What are your opinions about the new Doctor? (had to ask since the new Doctor Who episode is coming out soon!! : D)
- Just caught the first new episode :) looks promising, though it always takes getting used to I guess… when David Tennant first popped up I thought there was no way he’d replace Chris Eccelstone, but there you go :)

Theo Ellsworth’s Interview:

Theo Ellsworth is more a part of the indie comic scene with the semi-autobiographical and imaginative short stories compiled into a book called Capacity. I stumbled across Ellsworth’s work when a friend pointed me out to his booth saying “this guy’s work is crazy awesome.” And it was true. Ellsworth is a self –taught artist living in Oregon. He used to also manage the Pony Club Gallery, but now he primarily makes his living from his comics:

How did you get started with comics, especially since I’ve read that you’ve been self taught? Or art in general? How did you first integrate yourself into the art community? Mainly through conventions/ online? Do you feel like you’ve created a niche for yourself in the comic community?
Drawing has been part of my own personal vocabulary since I was a kid. Especially in High school when it really started feeling like a vital outlet and life line for me. It took me awhile to actually start making comics. I was always drawing different characters and making things up about them, but drawing the same character more than once, or getting them to move and speak for me was a big challenge. I still feel like I’m figuring it out. Soon after I finally started making comics, I was exposed to some of the zine/DIY culture and realized I could start making my own publications. I got a table at the Alternative Press Expo in San Francisco and was blown away by the kinds of work I saw there. Just by focusing on my work and trying to get it out into the world, I feel like I’ve come in contact with a pretty amazing community. I don’t know if I’ve really created a niche for myself or not. I do feel lucky that I’ve been getting by for awhile now, doing my own thing.

What did you do in school? What did you do after school? How did you support yourself in the beginning of your career? What do you consider to be the turning point of your career/work/life?

I thought about going to school for art, then architecture, but ultimately decided to travel for awhile instead. I wanted to develop my own style and way of thinking about my work and the world. I lived out of my car for quite awhile until a felt I needed a space to work. I went back to my home town and sold my car, using the money to kick-start my comics career. When I ran out of that money (which didn’t take long) I worked all kinds of crappy jobs to make rent, while working as much as I could on comics. Moving from Montana to Portland, OR a few years ago was actually a pretty big turning point because I was actually able to start making my rent by selling art by selling my comics and prints at an outdoor art market. The next huge breakthrough was getting approached by the small press, Secret Acres, who published my first book.

How do you find the time to work on your comics and manage your art gallery and read other comics/keep up with the comic scene? Does everything you do relate to comics? Do you also illustrate on the side? How do you feel about comics as fine art?
___
When I first moved to Portland I took up every art related opportunity that came my way. One of them was starting an art gallery with a fellow cartoonist I’d met. It was a great experience, but I had to let it go after 2 years because it ultimately took too much time away from comics. The gallery still exists and is run by some great people. Trying to make a living on comics alone is a huge challenge, but it’s definitely my goal. I do illustration work sometimes. I teach art workshops once or twice a year. It’s a big mix of things that keeps me afloat. Comics are at the core of it all. Comics are also the most challenging and time consuming, so I’m always fighting to make sure the stuff I do to make my rent doesn’t take over.

How did you come up with the idea for Capacity? Did you have an original plan or was Capacity just a compilation of your work over the years?

Originally I started making the Capacity series as practice. I just wanted to launch into making comics and see what kinds of things I could do. It was basically just a way to explore the medium and try to find my voice.
Your work seems very impulsive, do you still revise/edit? Do you write the script first or draw and write as you go? How do you start composing? Or how do you start in general? What is your process?
I get a lot of ideas when I’m walking. I’ve never really written out a full script. I never do thumb nails. It’s been interesting meeting other cartoonists and learning about all these other methods. I usually picture a scene in my head and start sketching it out right on the page. Sometimes I’ll simply draw a panel without knowing what’s going to happen next. It’s always changing. It always seems to take on a life of its’ own. I have half finished pages everywhere right now, and I’m trying to piece it together now and figure out how it all connects. It usually feels like a pretty subconscious process, and I don’t always quite know what’s really going on.

Your work reminds me of a fusion of folk art, Asian monsters, and ancient Latin American/Mayan art, because it is so distinct is it natural or inspired? What art do you look at? What contemporary artist/comic artists inspire you? What things in life inspire you?

I feel like inspiration comes from anywhere and everywhere. I feel a strong connection to a lot of outsider artists like Adolf Wolfli. I also love native art of all kinds. North Western Indian art has really been catching my eye, living in the North West. I love a lot of the old newspaper comic artists like Windsor McCay and Tove Jansson. I love Jack Kirby. There’s plenty or recent work that I find wonderful too. I feel a strong kinship with David B’s work. I read a lot of novels too. I’ve been currently really in to David Michell and Italo Calvino. I’m inspired by nature documentaries. Pretty much everything that interests me gets filtered into my art in some way or another.

What are your plans for your next comic or is it a secret? Are you where you want to be career wise/life? Is there anything you haven’t done that you want to do now?

I’m working on a longer story now. It feels like a leap ahead in many ways and a much bigger challenge too. I’m working more with color and having to work out a lot more about characters and the worlds they exist in. Right now it’s called The Quiet Family. The name might change by the time it sees print. At some point I’d like to do a bit of animation too, but comics will always be my main focus I think.

Jungyeon Roh’s Interview:

Three people have sent me to Jungyeon Roh’s website this year telling me I have a very similar style and aesthetic to this current SVA grad student. So I went on her site and promptly became an avid follower of her work. Roh is an amazing illustrator whose works revolve around food, personal life, and religion. She as already won a number of awards as a student, such as the silver medal in the Creative Quarterly 18 and the Student Show for Society of Illustrators. She currently working on a project comic series called Eggplant Girl. I was really excited about this interview because I was actually learning from someone who is a student like me, but has seemed to have accomplished so much more.
It reminds me to work harder!
I wish her support as another fellow illustrator/comic artist.
Actually I wish everyone I have interviewed support and success!

What’s your idea of the perfect meal? You have so many lovely drawings of food, what’s your favorite food to draw (mine is hamburgers, they’re so colorful, iconic in American culture and I have many good memories of eating hamburgers with friends.)?

I used to draw fast food including hamburgers when I was a fine art student in Korea. As you said, it was the icon of the culture and I was interested in. Since I moved to New York, I found that New Yorkers are in love with Asian food, which motivated me to make a Sushi book. Now, I became vegan starting a half year ago, and enjoy drawing my favorite vegetables that have character. The perfect meal for me is all vegan food.

How did you get started with art in general? Or comics? What will you do after school? I heard from a graduated student that it is important to maintain a connection with some type of art community how will you stay involved with an art community once you’ve graduated from SVA?

Since I was twelve, I have preferred drawing to studying. When I was in sophomore year at SVA, I chose storytelling class instead of painting. The teacher let me do whatever I wanted, so it was really helpful to find my own style of comics. After I graduate, I want work as a freelance illustrator for years, then want to be a teacher at SVA. New York has lots of opportunities to maintain connections in illustration field such as Society of Illustrators and Art Director’s Club.

What did you study in Korea? And how has that influenced your work. Did coming to America change the way you work and if so how? Why did you choose to be an illustrator based in America rather than Korea?

For being an artist, New York is the best city to live. My major was fine art in Korea, and I didn’t really enjoy it. I found my talent in illustration after I decided to study abroad in America, and it was the best choice I’ve ever made in my life. It takes time for someone to find his/her own style of art, but my background in fine art definitely helped me to find my style fast.

Do you consider the fact that you had to learn American culture in order to work in American illustration as an advantage, disadvantage or double-edged sword for your work?

For about two years, I had a hard time adapting to American culture with regards to my work and personal life. I saw everything in my narrow view that I had had for 23 years in Korea, and struggled with using the second language. However, after a while, I realized that my Asian base could be used an advantage of my work. Many Americans are interested in Asian culture, but I have a totally different view. Even though I have great painting and drawing skills in art, if I didn’t really understand cultures, they are useless. Illustration is a language, so it’s more important for artists to absorb different cultures in their life.

How did you come up with the idea for Eggplant girl? Most of your themes revolved around food, religion, and self-image/memoirs. Do you wonder where these themes stem from?

I decided to become vegan when I started Grad school. Since then, my major dishes changed to vegetables, and I was compelled to study about vegan life. When my mom visited me last summer, she said “ American eggplants are huge~!!” because Korean eggplants are less substantial. What my mom said inspired me. The shape of American eggplants reminded me of a chubby body, and I was attracted by its name. How come Egg+Plant could be a name of a vegetable, and it was funny enough for me. Then I put my character into Miss Eggplant.
Most of my works are from my personal life experiences. Sometimes I’m producing the drawings to my work using symbols. Most of the characters are people who are around me during the time.

Since your current work is a series of comics, do you see yourself as fine art or comic oriented? There are some stories that are very personal, like your ex-boyfriend series, did you feel embarrassed about showing them at first?

Yes, I did. My fine art base is the strongest thing I have. It helps me think more out of the box using shifting approaches and a variety of styles in all kinds of my work, and made my eyes open wide. I didn’t really have so many ex- boyfriends, but I thought as long as I made them funny stories even though it will be my fake autobiography, it was going to be a cool project. But I was embarrassed when people believed I had seven- ex boyfriends. For now, I have no plan to continue the project. (I’m truly conservative about this matter.)

How do you feel about comics as fine art? What art do you look at? What artist/illustrators/comic artists/graphic novels inspired you in the past and right now? What do you think the components to a good comic/story/illustration are?

David Sandlin, Esther Pearl Watson, and Adrian Tomine are three of my favorite. I like independent comic books. For me, the visuals are more important than the story for comic books. Some favorite comic books I have I didn’t really read the story because looking at the drawings in the books made them worth having. If the drawings do not attract my eyes, I didn’t even look through a comic. The reason why I respect Adrian is he is amazing at both engaging text and images.

How do you start composing? Or what is your routine for the day? What is your process? Do you write the script first or draw and write as you go along?

I don’t really write a script, and sketch my ideas out really roughly from my head very quickly.
Finding good references and detailing in the pencil drawings are the most critical things and take most of the time in my work. Then inking and coloring.
My routine for the day is so simple. Trying to go sleep at 10 pm, and wake up at 6am. Three cups of coffee in the morning, and go to school or work at the studio or home. Drawing, eating, and sleeping are my routine. (haha)

So far, what do you consider is the turning point in your work/life? Do you feel burnt out sometimes? And if you do what to you do to re-motivate your self.

My turning point was attending Marcos Chin’s class in 2007. He changed my life and made me find the right way to go for my future as an illustrator.
When I was doing my projects with silkscreen, I almost died every time. Not only silkscreen, but also doing any labor-intensive projects made me worn out. But the imagery of the finished the project and people’s expectations of my work made me work really hard. Also looking at other awesome artists’ work gave me lots of motivation. (Such as David Sandlin, Jon Vermilyea, and Jen Tong. Jon and Jen are my peer artists around my age, and they are creating amazing jobs at the same print shop. Also Esther Pearl Watson is my idol and role model.)

Comics Process for Thesis

2010-03-31T19:53:00.001-07:00

Finished colored pages of the first 3 short stories of my still unnamed comic collection. These six pages took roughly two and a half months. Fail, but at least they're at the quality I want. I wanted them to be made in the lithograph process, only assembled digitally. This took layers of transparency paper, late nights, and coffee. Hopefully I can do another 4-6 pages along with a cover and assemble a mini book by the end of the semester.

Also, side note. Saw amazing exhibits of Islamic Art, Indian Illuminated Manuscripts, and my favorite exhibits which features a Tibetan Shrine and Religious Paintings at the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery in D.C.

I think altogether it was called "In the Realm of the Buddha" I love Tibetan Buddhist Art because of the colors, the crazy detail, the macabre. It fascinates and slightly frightens me. Being in the shrine kind of felt like being in the Fatal Frame game. AAANNND there's this really cool video of a Buddhist making an elaborate Tibetan sand mandala. AND THEN WIPES IT AWAY. It's supposed to signify "The impermanence of existence". For me this mindset is from mars....BUT THAT IS WHAT MAKES IT AWESOME.

Studio, New Thesis, LAST SEMESTER PROGRESS

2010-03-03T12:15:00.000-08:00

Updating because Rose told me to.
So here's my new studio...I'm still working on the painting to the left for my hamburger series. This is where I live roughly between 11 a.m. - 2 a.m. almost everyday.

This is what happens to my butterscotch pudding if I don't get any sleep.

And here's my thesis in progress. It's a collection of comic shorts that will hopefully become a small book by the end of the semester....i hope.

Only three stories so far. Two are about castration and human decomposition from the books Bonk and Stiff, both by Mary Roach. and one story is about my fear of Goliath Bird Eating spiders. So the themes of my stories are awkwardness, random info, and fears.
Ironically, these are also the three factors that govern most of my life.

OFFICIAL business cards.

2010-01-12T21:39:00.000-08:00

My official business card designs.
I feel a little bit more legit!
Two designs for two types of styles I think I have...which are neurotically complicated with lots of colors and the other being more mature...as mature as you can get with a naked man with a hamburger on his junks. :P
They came out pretty well. the hamburger background on the back is a little hard to see. I used gotprint.net.

Holy Hamburger PROCESS

2010-01-11T21:10:00.000-08:00

The last painting I was working on for my Holy Hamburger Thesis.

Also here's the sketches and planning behind the other two pieces.
I'll be staying with my thesis professor Rachel Salomon next semester. But as for my next thesis project.....Pizza????? ;P

Thesis: Holy Hamburger Part 2 and 3

2009-12-27T16:27:00.000-08:00

Two more paintings for my 4 Part Holy Hamburger series. See Part one here.
Part two:
Was less trouble, but had a whole new set of problems since I decided to work inversely, white on black, which I haven't done before.

Part 3: Came out the best. better planned. Worked on it on the same time as Part 4 which I then abandoned in order to have this finished by finals. Condensed 3 weeks-1 month work in 1.5 week. But not without consequence. This was Nyquil/Motrin/Sick/chronique nosebleeds because of the excessive Nyquil/no sleep week.

Lessons Learned: Time management fail. Gained ability to feel nothing until 6-7 a.m., Possible irrevocable liver damage.

Locking zine that never was.

2009-12-26T21:51:00.000-08:00

Two sketches for a zine about locking and a pin design for breakdance club at art market, which I ended up not being much help at since I was hopped up on Nyquil and Motrin to supress my germs and stress in order to finish my finals.
I liked how these pages turned out, and maybe I'll continue it for fun one day....but probably not since dancing is for fun and art is for work and I don't like to mix the two. At least not for now.

Also, one of my favorite locking videos:

Massively Late Update: Comicon and Sketches of 2009

2009-12-26T01:28:00.000-08:00

Extremely late post on The Society of the Okay's (just Annie Wu, Emma Rochon, and Me) debut in 2009 Baltimore Comicon.

Basic recap of events and life lessons learned: Annie forced children to take lollipops, Emma got herself a patron, ate burger behind the booth, was glad I saw Idiot Books there and amused myself with Ten Thousand Stories I bought from them, and I am terrible at self promotion because I either hide or repel people. For instance, I use the booth as a fort, I have no facial recognition for people once I'm behind the booth, so I become rude aaaand I dress like this:

And the ever popular mini cards from moo.com
Also sketchbook stuff from this year. AND my prethesis/holy hamburger sketches.

Thesis: Holy Hamburger Part 1

2009-10-11T21:50:00.000-07:00

Finished the first of the 4 posters in my Holy Hamburger series.
used acrylic ink, gouache, watercolor pencils, watercolor pastels, india ink, some other type of ink....
took 3 weeks. a couple of sleepless nights, and a lot of tylenol/advil.The original is 18x24 in.
Here's a picture for a sense of the scale.

Tried to sell some 11x17 and 8.5x11 prints at the Baltimore Comicon, but I think i need to sell poster size prints because it didn't seem to appeal to people in smaller form.
oh will update on lessons learned and pictures of Comicon later. Also here's a detail from one of my favorite parts before I painted the color in:

THESIS, Part I The Holy Hamburger sketches

2009-09-28T15:12:00.001-07:00

My thesis: people worshipping hamburgers.
Tibetan inspired mural paintings of people worshiping hamburgers.
There will be 4 18 x 24 posters in a series called The Holy Hamburger.
also I will do small side projects of specific characters/objects/scenes....
I can't believe they're letting me do this...
So far, sketches and a finished mini piece. Still inking the final.

Extras/Stuff for other people/Random

2009-09-16T18:37:00.000-07:00

Some extra stuff I've done. Sometimes I think my best work is when I do work for other people. or are life drawings. The first is a birthday card for a friend in Japan. The next one is some lifedrawing with sumi ink.The ones after that are goodbye cards I made for my print department. I tried to combine hamburgers with each person's style/subject matter/favorite thing/hobby. I just wanted them to know that I appreciated everyone. The last one was a text design for the Church I went to while I was in Japan. They didn't use it, but it's okay, they were so nice to me even though I'm Buddhist. And they fed me, which was awesome.

Printmaking Work in Osaka

2009-08-30T21:40:00.000-07:00

So I'm procrastinating doing my work for thesis by uploading pictures of my printmaking work that I did in Japan at Osaka University of Art. It felt so good to do my own thing, which mostly involved life drawing and hamburgers, often together.
I have this thing for hamburgers.
Also I got to work at my own pace, which meant I was still working all the time more or less, but with no deadline.
I love lithography, I'll miss it.
I'll miss a lot of things...
but I guess I'll still have the hamburgers.

goodbye japan...

Book cover for a three part series I did based off of sketches I did of people sleeping on the train.
I wish i could have done more. the thing was, the people had to be directly in front of me. also, I had to wait for them to fall asleep/stay asleep/people to get out of my way/not enough time in japan. but it would have been awesome if i could do like....20 more.

Part one-host and party girl- this one i liked because I was on the train at like...5 a.m in the morning when the only people going home are trashed hosts, party girls, and seedy foreigners that couldn't pick up a girl from the night before. also there are business people going to the city for work. it's beautiful.

Part two-old lady young lady

Part three-old men

hamburger band. brought back the character from a previous comic I did over the break. I wish gold hamburger coins existed. did two versions of it.

portrait, combination of two litho plates and monotype

another portrait

phinetoscope-phinecto-whatever for animation. i'll put it in flash oneday...
hamburger buddha...based off a life drawing. three plates.

series of prints with drawings from nude models and hamburgers somewhere in there.

hamburger print design

GOLDEN WEEK UPDATE

2009-05-06T10:06:00.000-07:00

Here's some work I've been working on here.
My first lithoprint, YAY! colored with watercolors....

Sketch for a multi-plate print i'll be trying for the first time later this week.

Second piece of my final project....still have to finish that little corner...

As for what I've been up to during golden week, check it out here.

I'll try to keep in better contact, so my parents will stop thinking that I've died. ( which could be likely since I have this bike I don't really know how to ride....I need to remember to bring a tea offering to the little god shrine on the side of the school bike parking lot.....)

Side note...

2009-04-03T18:27:00.000-07:00

Aside from my project (ugh), I did manage to finish my sister's commission for birthday cards.*
The first one is for her boyfriend, so it matches an earlier card I made for her. here.
And the other one is for her other friend, and I really like drawing afros.

*not really, it's more like pay back for driving me around.

WHAT WAS I THINKING!?!?!?!

2009-04-03T12:00:00.000-07:00

SO this is the first piece in a series (there's going to be 3 more.... 4 is the minimum requirement).

I know it's only 8.5 x 11, but I felt carpel tunnel spreading through my hand and my eye sight slipping away as I slaved over this this piece with a .005 and .01 micron pen.
I'm really regretting this as my final project, but there's no going back. Even after I was done, everything looked like the scribbles of a crazy person. I put basic colors to help organize sections but I'll have to worry about coloring it later.

I have to do 3 more. oh-my-GOD!

I also still have to pack for Japan. I give up. I'm going back to reading The Man who Mistook His Wife for a Hat. Then I can think things like...oh well at least I don't have a phantom limb or Tourettes.

Lost and Found Part II

2009-03-18T10:57:00.001-07:00

Continuation of the Lost and Found series project. It's fun just experimenting......ugh the final. I still have to come up with a plan for my final. On the bright side, the tardis will be back...somehow. I don't know why hiding a tardis in my illustration assignments is what keeps me going. Oh well.

Stephen Colbert and the Barrel Eye Fish

2009-03-15T16:27:00.000-07:00

Stephen Colbert's report on the barrel eye fish. This is related to my earlier post about the "fish with the transparent head".
If only I had one...I would poke it's head all the time!

The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Craziest F#?king Thing I've Ever Heard - Barreleye Fish

Colbert Report Full Episodes
Political Humor

Rap Battle
NASA Name Contest

Khanita, it is your birthday.

2009-03-12T23:04:00.000-07:00

It is your birthday. Here is your card. (Do i sound like Dwight!?!?!)
Uh, it's bigger when you click on it.

Lost and Found Sketches/Works In Progress

2009-03-04T10:16:00.001-08:00

I'm designing a series of postcards/ envelopes for my new illustration project.
As you can see I'm a huge fan of Nick Bantock.
There's no tardis in these, but that's ok, for now. This is a mix of collage, painting, and drawings of some really awesome statues my mom brought back from India.

Happy Birthday Julia

2009-03-02T14:23:00.001-08:00

Here's a birthday card for you. It's kinda late, but that's ok because your birthday technically didn't come around this year so actually I'm early. This is also on the Scrabble Singles' Society Blog.

oh and I still haven't started my homework....

Not doing my homework....but look at that fish with the transparent head!

2009-03-02T11:00:00.000-08:00

So instead of starting on my next project, I subscribed to the 60 Second Science podcast and found out about the dissection of the Colossal squid.

AND THEN, I wandered off to watch the video of the fish with the transparent head. It's so beautiful!!!

Keynesian Economics Final(s)

2009-02-24T15:41:00.000-08:00

So I did a final for one of my sketches and because I wasn't so sure of the message got across (the fact that it's about Keynesian Economics) I decided to make a second, slightly more literal illustration about the matter. There IS a tardis in both, but the in second illustration it got almost completely darkened out...oh well. I kinda like both in their own way, and I got to try out digital painting again. YAY....?

Happy Birthday Ruchi!!

2009-02-24T08:35:00.000-08:00

Here's you're birthday card. sorry it's a bit belated.

This has also been uploaded to a new blog, "The Scrabbles Singles Society", I share with Meg. It's all about cards, Doctor Who, Lost, and Scrabble.

Flight of the Conchords Poster Contest.....FAIL

2009-02-20T21:39:00.000-08:00

SO, this is my FOTC poster fail:

I finished fixing my FOTC poster, that I created a long time ago for Hand Letters Class,
and then I decided to make another FOTC poster. Both would've been submitted to their contest which ended today.

Unfortunately, though it's probably my fault for procrastinating (but I find I make better work when I have less time for a project, or at least my motivation's higher) I missed the deadline.
I went on there at 11:55 p.m. only to find out that I couldn't upload it.
The deadline was 11:59 a.m. not 11:59 p.m.

Actually, I'm not sure if it's entirely my fault because I'm pretty sure I'd read p.m. in the rules, and other people actually posted the same issues.

I thought about submitting my posters to the ineligible art poster section, but then I'm thinking, I'll just save them for next time around. I'm not terribly disappointed since at least it got me working on things today, and my second poster is my favorite since I whipped it out around 6:00 p.m....so total amount of time is 6 hours...which is not so bad.

Some of the patterns and images were provided by the FOTC contest, like the squiggly starts and clouds, FOTC logo, and blue,yellow circle designs. Apart from textures, the rest are my drawings.

All in all, a good day's work.

Happy Belated Valentines Day.

2009-02-17T23:34:00.000-08:00

This is has been a very productive day for posting.
The comic is for illustrophilia and the other picture is for parapagus.

sketches about Keynesian Economics

2009-02-17T16:31:00.000-08:00

New sketches for an illustration project about Keynesian Economics. I'm trying to not be literal, but maybe I'm not literal enough....I'll just have to wait and see what my teacher thinks. The idea I'm addressing is the use of this theory that was outdated for a certain period of time, but is now being used to solve this economic crisis because.....it's all anyone can come up with right now.
The last 20 minutes of This American Life's "The New Boss" explains Keynesian Economics very clearly and I found it very helpful.
Oh, and there....might/might not be a Tardis in my sketches. lol.

Final for the Far far Away assignment

2009-02-12T10:05:00.000-08:00

So I decided to paint this on canvas....and halfway through I realized....I can't paint. I have this problem with creating forms without lines. Or if I have lines I avoid painting them out, or if I do paint them out, I unconciously paint them back in.
it's a mix of traditional and digital. I miss the lines, but I think the lighting is better....maybe...?
I just know I'm done. ugh.
but my favorite part. The Tardis.
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Colored Sketch for Far Far Away assignment

2009-02-05T23:14:00.000-08:00

So I colored the sketch for Chana. Maybe one day I'll do the Alifbay comic. Anyways, tried to limit my palette and be as clear as possible since I know my drawings have a tendency of merging into itself.....So, can anyone find the TARDIS inside?????

Sketches for Far Far Away assignment for Concepts Class

2009-01-29T00:07:00.000-08:00

Sketches for Concepts. The assignment is "Far Far Away" Illustrating from a list of imaginary places. the first sketch is for Chana, a place where people worship various things that change daily. The second and last sketches is for Alifbay, the saddest city that is divided betweent he rich, middle class, and poor.

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Drink Reviews/Sketches/ Yes I'm that bored

2009-01-26T22:08:00.000-08:00

Lately I've been going to the korean market with my sister and buying a bunch of
different drinks that I normally would be afraid of. This is partially for the Edible class that I'm not officially in, the need to feed my obsession with collecting food packages, and because I'm .....bored. La. Oh yeah, and it was a bad idea to drink them all at once. blaaargh. Also I forgot to mention the green drink in "Yes! The Best!" is Green plum.

New Comic: Mouth Vortex and Comic Influeces (Taiyo Matsumoto, Junji Ito, Datuk Lat)

2009-01-25T23:35:00.000-08:00

New comic for illustrophilia. I like how my shared blogs force me to update this blog. One thing, this was influenced not only by my need to draw a mouth vortex, burger suckers, and a nose hair guitar ...but also by my love of Taiyo Matsumoto's work. Ex Tekkon Kinkreet, which was made into an awesome movie:

I want to get EVERYTHING!!!! I have Blue Springs, Tekkon kinkreet, No. 5 vol 1 and 2, and I even got this anthology of french and japanese comic artists because he was included. I had Ping Pong and Hana Otoko, but now they are tragically lost. I want THIS. Definitely in Japan I will get as much as I can---even if I have to throw away my clothes to make it all fit. I don't care if I can't read any of it. It's all just so beautiful.

ALSO, I love the linework and grotesqueness of Junji Ito. Unfortunately I lost my collection of his stuff too....Gyo, Tomie, Uzumaki, shorts.....ugh...I can't think about it, it makes me sad.
Anyways, here's an example of his work; this is from Uzumaki (stories about a town haunted by spirals):

AND FINALLY (for now) I've recently gotten into Datuk Lat's work.

I love Kampung Boy.
I wish I could read the other work he's done, the stuff that hasn't been brought to America.(like a lot of the other stuff above) Also I wish I could find that Discovery Channel Documentary about him. I did find this T.V show based off of Kampung Boy:

New Pagus Sketch: Hair

2009-01-23T20:23:00.000-08:00

New post for the Pagus blog.

New Work from Joint Blogs

2009-01-19T02:21:00.000-08:00

Since I worked on these, I might as well post it here too. Especially since now it's 5:22 a.m.
This is a new comic for the illustrophilia blog. This is basically what I've become over the break:

Comic for the assignment last week.

Badge sketches for The Society of the Okay blog.

Final Intro to 3D Animation Project

2009-01-08T22:36:00.001-08:00

This is the LAST of my work this semester. I did not realize how long all of that would take. Anyways this project was a team project with Julia Kim, who ended up fixing a lot of my mistakes. We both almost died during this three week project. A lot of sleepless nights and soup went into this. Below is the animation, screenshots, and some of the work from my part.

Final animation (better to watch it in high quality on youtube):

Screenshots of the scene and masks:

The model:

Main Mask design:

Concept sketches for masks (unused):

Storyboard

Intro to 3D

2009-01-07T22:17:00.000-08:00

This is work from my intro to 3D class taught by Greg Foertsch, who works here. This class was difficult, but definitely worth taking. 3D max is a good tool to know, or at least experiment with as an art tool. I found out that I like texturing a lot. My models weren't that great, but lighting, color, and texture can improve a lot of things. I'd definitely love to learn other programs, or continue exploring 3D. I miss 2D animation though. I'd like to continue with either, but I'll have to see what I can do in my schedule. Again, starting with the most recent work. I'll post the final later. (the progressing is very obvious because I'd never used the program before ^_^):

Creating an environment, first animation (moving the camera and object in the scene) I never figured out why the oyster edges don't connect....anyways, the video looks better in higher quality...if you feel like going through the link to youtube.

Midterm. YUM.

More organic materials, playing with the terrain.

More detailed objects, addition of textures, pelting.
Basic shapes, lighting, color.

Character Developement Final: TV Pitch

2009-01-06T20:33:00.000-08:00

Here's my character development final, the TV Pitch packet. This was a fun and exhausting project. One note, my teacher suggested that “Gastronauts” (the show) was--instead of Kid's Next Door meets food channel, more like children's Indiana Jones, which actually makes more sense. It would be awesome to be able to work on an animated tv show, but I know I'll never come up with anything as awesome as Tek Jansen. I did watch some clips of Chowder, since my classmates said my show was similar to it, or at least it deals with food. Now I wish I had cable so I could watch more.

The Pitch/Plot:

Characters in an Environment:

The Characters:

Extras:

Concepts Class

2009-01-05T19:04:00.000-08:00

Work from my Concepts class, taught by Rebecca Bradley. It was pretty difficult working more...commercially(?), but I know it has to be done. I think I learned this year that I prefer 1 week assignments over anything longer—otherwise I end up overworking/thinking things.
Also, I think my problem is that I don't have a particular style and I like changing up my materials depending on the subject and/or aesthetic I'm aiming for. I'm not sure how that will work for me when I graduate...but here’s the work, again starting from the most recent pieces:

My final illustration assignment. Each of us had to write an assignment for the whole class and then we randomly were assigned what other people had written for us. My assignment was "Sinister Aladdin". It was one week, and one of my favorite assignments. Especially since I got a chance to work in layers traditionally like back in sophomore year. Used charcoal, ink, acrylic inks, gouache, shimmery paint, gloss medium.
Movie spot illustration for Burn After Reading. Had some trouble with George Clooney and Tilda Swinton. Actually I have trouble with portraits in general, but this was a fun assignment, I liked the sketches I did in the theatre too, so maybe I'll post them later.
Map assignment. My idea was "Miss Ann Thrope's Maps", maps for other misanthropes, ways to avoid people, places to go, etc. The idea may have been too complicated for a two week assignment. I liked my line work (almost died drawing it all) but not so much the coloring. Maybe one day I'll revisit this........one....day..........
Gift wrap assignment. My theme was spring. I missed doing brush painting with sumi ink and rice paper.

Poster design assignment that was actually used for these bands at the 8x10 club in Baltimore. Didn't get at chance to attend the concert though, got caught up with work. It was a difficult illustration to come up with, each band was so different (Higher Hands, The Grilled Lincolns, Sara and the Help).

This assignment was to make an illustration based off of a statement from "Overheard in NY". Then we had to turn it into some type of product. I thought this would be a fun billboard. This was cut paper, sort of a continuation of a design I did for the HHF, right here. I admit, it's a little hard to read, my quote was "Chicken is the enemy of man."
First assignment, which was an op ed piece for the New Yorker. Requirements were black and white. My piece is based off of an article on how the pop memorabilia of today is equal to the value of religious relics in the past. Also, I am apologizing in advance for the guitar not being left-handed.

Character Development Class

2009-01-04T18:19:00.000-08:00

Here's some work from my Character Development class, which was also taught by Brian Ralph. I also had trouble with color in this class, actually maybe it was just during this semester in general, but I tried really hard, so I hope it shows. Again, starting with the most recent work before the final assignment, the TV Pitch, which i will post eventually:

Toy Design Project. The Advertisement and the Product. I think kids would love to play with a dead body containing alien parasites.
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Character Design for Charm City Roller girl. Her hands came out too small. I like my sketches better, I might post them later, but here's the character in her environment. Not as successful, maybe because I need to stop coloring at night.

Character redesign assignment. I did two designs for the Pillsbury dough boy, but I went too far in both extremes, but it was fun. People said they liked it, but maybe not for the right reasons. Just like how I like this video.

The assignment was to do more than 10 characters.
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3 characters in an environment. No more religious warfare, just DDR. like Rain and Stephen Colbert.

Designing a single character in an environment. This isn't so much a character as an illustration of Takeru Kobayashi. The perspective is funny at the bottom, but it's still one of my favorite things I've done this semester, subject wise at least. I should do one for Sonya Thomas too, she's AWESOME! I love the commercial they're in together:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oz57jWsiNDk

In class sketch, morphing a character, "cute to brute".
In class sketch, making a character based around a shape.
Silhouette assignment, designing a character while carefully considering their shape, the silhouette ended up being more interesting than the actual design, but that's okay.

Sequential Art Class

2009-01-03T13:14:00.000-08:00

Some early work from this semester's Sequential Art class taught by Brian Ralph. It's not all perfect, but I tried to play with panel layouts, onomatopoeia, overall narrative.
Had some trouble with color this semester. I can't help it, I am drawn to neon urine yellow. The most recent ones before the final come first:

This was the last assignment before the final, it's a comic for kids illustrating the Bean Song.
An in class assignment where one classmate did the sound effects and then we traded them around and other people would make up a story around the sound effects. So someone else in my class, Erik Schmalz, did the lettering for this. It's just a sketch, but I really liked it.
Two page narrative about an ordinary object. Actually, now that I think about it one page is similar to my flour bag assignment from Intro to 2D:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZZULnEaFd4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNVCaN78H8U

One page narrative about roomates/two characters.

One page narrative.

Assignment on a doing a sequence on falling.

Final Sketchbook Page Concepts

2009-01-01T21:15:00.000-08:00

My favorite sketchbook pages (see last post) were for this story about the Death of a Cactus and his mysterious briefcase.

Sketchbook Pages for Concepts Class

2009-01-01T20:51:00.000-08:00

These are the sketchbook pages I did for the Sketchbook project in my concepts class. Each person was supposed to come up with a story for their sketchbook and each week we would trade off sketchbooks and illustrate a different story. Even though it got a little difficult each week to do this side project along with the main projects, I found it fun and refreshing playing with different mediums. Anyways, here they are, although I don't remember whose story was whose:

A mouse in search of berries in a grocery store.

A man in search of his face in his dreams.

A girl in search of exotic foods (my story.)
An old lady in search of an invisible bird.
Astronaut bird exploring the universe and fighting aliens.
A man who lost his memory and wants to find home.
A hedgehog searching for his umbrella.

Cover for a story about an albino hamster (?) vs. his shadow.

Story about an astronaut cat going against NASA.

Final for Sequential : Passing Through

2008-12-29T23:06:00.000-08:00

This was my five page full color comic for my final in Sequential Art.
I was going to name it "Passing Through", but then I forgot.
then I forgot my name too.
I can't really show it to anyone at home though...
I tried and now they think I'm weird.
Anyways, here are some details too. Used: ink, acrylic ink, gouache, charcoal, gloss medium.