Art, mostly

FAREWELL, INTERNET-AS-ACCESSED-IN-THE-UNITED-STATES-OF-AMERICA.

I'LL BE SEEING YOU IN NIHON

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No-but-seriously, I'm headed to Japan until the 15th. I'm going to be out of the loop except for occasional sporadic e-mail. I left Ananth with as many J*W comics as my little hands could turn out between Other Very Important Things.

I have to wake up in about three hours, so I'll be off now.

( I'll leave you with some art to remind me by )

I have not been diligent about LiveJournal. I should probably update on some current events, so here are some things that have happened/will happen soon!

• The Library of Congress thing went well! Thank you again to the people who showed up to show support, you are all wonderful. I hear there is going to be a webcast of the thing going online some time, but I haven't heard any news of it. Maybe that is for the best!

• I am going to be in Japan from June 4th to June 15th! I'm probably going to have sporadic internet access, so apologies in advance if I'm super slow to reply during that time. There will be Johnny Wander updates as usual. I'm sorry, but this is going to be an extremely tightly-scheduled trip (I'm mostly visiting family), and I won't be able to go out of my way to meet up with anyone.

• We're moving right after I come back from Japan. This summer is going to be so hectic... I've realized, I haven't lived any place for longer than a year since high school. And my book collection is now significantly larger than it was while I was in high school. =_=

• I keep on forgetting, so I'll do it now. My pal (and yours) sheepyrai is doing an excellent recap blog of the Twilight series. As a person who has been trying to keep the series at an arm's length, it is both hilarious and mystifying.

I do not have so much art scanned, but I'll share a bit! I'll try to scan in more things before I leave!

( Pictures and variations of a girl and cats. Stupid Star Trek fanart. What have I become. )

Hello I am back from TCAF which was wonderful and everyone who was there should pat themselves on the back for being such great people. The shindig at the Library of Congress happens today. @_@ L-look, there's my name on this government website. What's with that.

If you're planning on going, this is what the website is telling me about how to find myself:

12:00 PM - 1:00 PM Lecture — Asian Pacific Month West Dining Room C, 6th floor James Madison building.
James Miho, Bauhaus illustrator, and Yuko Ota, Japanese comic illustrator and creator of Johnny Wander, present "Japanese Illustrators Then and Now." Contact: (202) 707-0698

I am told that there will be a webcast of the event, so if you miss it you can see a video of me stuttering into a microphone in front of a room full of people on the internet as well.

Oh goodness, let me post some art. I've been sitting on most of this for somewhere between months and weeks. 8O

( a few artist trading cards, some gift art, beasts, nerdity, tegaki things. There is one half-naked lady. )

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SO, RECAP:
Draw a girl for harveyjames.

Read rufftoon's Water Tribe.

Oh gosh, there's so much more art that I left out. I need to share this stuff more often, I just have a bad tendency of getting all nervous and jittery about posting. :/

One final thing: It looks like I'm going to be following Ananth to do a Free Comicbook Day shindig at J&M Comics in Eldersburg, MD this upcoming weekend. (I'm 100% not important, I'm just going as moral support. If you stop by, we can hang out or whatever.) Also, I'll be at TCAF the weekend after that-- I don't have a table, but I hear I'm halfway recognizable in a crowd! If you see me, say hello!

I'm alive! And I'm doin' some stuff!

( a few photos and things, mostly sellin' stuff )

( and one other thing )

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One last thing, it looks like I'm going to be doing a panel at the Library of Congress on different generations of Asian-American Illustrators. It's kinda terrifying, but the people seem to be very nice and not mistaken over how completely not important I am. I guess if you're in the DC area on May 12 from 12 to 1, you can see me fidget in front of a crowd of librarians. >_@

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I promise, I'll have real-er, better art in the near future! I just hate using my scanner, it barely communicates with the scan drivers these days. =_=

Hey fellas! If you read Johnny Wander at all, you might've noticed the news posts mentioning that my computer is dead. We're pretty certain the motherboard is fried, it's hanging out with Applecare until (hopefully) some time next week. I've been listening to CD's on the walkman I still have from middle school. It's a strange experience.

In the meantime, I'm probably going to be mostly silent on e-mail, livejournal, twitter, replying to J*W comments. I've basically only been commandeering Ananth's computer when I need to scan and color a comic.

There will be some cool stuff when I get back, I promise.

I'd forgotten, I posted that useless robot design over at Threadless! Feel free to vote on it if you are compelled, it's only up for two more days.



To buffer the post: ( have a finished picture and a totally stupid meme )

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It is strange that I am freaked out about posting too much on LiveJournal and having people hate me, but do not have that problem so much on twitter. Sometimes I post WIPs over there, but it is mostly my roommates and I yelling at each other.

GOD THIS IS SUCH A MISTAKE. I promise I will never put a twitter feed on LJ, that's just irritating I know.

Something like ten people have friended this journal in the past two or three days! Where are all you guys coming from! Did someone link me or do I just have a permeating presence? I am curious!

I am boring, so I will get on to the art.

( Art x6, OCs and dicking around with brushes. One thing is kinda NSFW. )

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I've been trying to teach myself how to use ink with a brush. I used a brush to do the latest J*W and I think it came out pretty okay? +1 TO INDIE CRED!

[EDIT:]

FRONT PAGE OF TODAY'S NEW YORK TIMES

( [EDIT 2] )

Hi everyone! Sorry it's been a while. Ananth and I are headed down to Katsucon soon, so I'll post this as quickly as I can.



( assorted dumb art, some finished, all original characters. One NSFW nude lady )

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So hey, if you're at Katsucon today, I'll be hanging at the Applegeeks table flirting with Jess folding t-shirts or whatever. We will have Phoenix Down shirts if you want them.

I should mention, at NYCC last weekend (o-oh yeah, I was there too), Ananth and George and I wound up chilling with the Oni Press dudes for a bit. Charlie (who is a fantastic photographer with a KILLER CAMERA) took some great photos of the weekend. Check out his flickr! i-it is like we are in a movie

OH, so the lot of us went to inauguration on Tuesday! It took me a good two days for my body to get over standing in the cold for so long, and I spent all yesterday doing the final filler comic for Applegeeks, apologies that I didn't get these up sooner.

( A JILLION PHOTOS OF CROWDS OF PEOPLE )

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I was at Setsucon this past weekend and drew a lot of things! I will scan them in later.

Me: Hello?
My Dad: I NEED YOUR FAVOR.
Me: You need a favor from me?
My Dad: I NEED YOU TO DRAW A PICTURE.
Me: Okay, I can do that.
My Dad: OF A MONKEY.
Me: Okay.
My Dad: RIDING A DEER.
Me: Sure.
My Dad: CARRYING A JAPANESE FLAG.
Me: Okay..
My Dad: ... BEING CHASED BY A BAD MONKEY -- YOU HAVE TO MAKE IT REALLY BAD
Me: Uh-- okay
My Dad: AND IT HAS TO BE CARRYING A BASEBALL BAT
Me: A monkey carrying a Japanese flag, riding a deer, being chased by a bad monkey, carrying a baseball bat.
My Dad: YES.

( There's actually an explanation for it, but it's not nearly as funny as the initial phone conversation. )

I should preface this by saying that today in the New York Times Dining section, there's a lengthy article about eating squirrels. *THUMBS UP*

I started writing this entry last night when I heard a huge crack and suddenly all the power went down in the building-- a large branch had dropped on the power line. Haha, if it's not the water going out in this place, it's the electricity.

Goodness, it's been a while. Sorry, I'm still doing that if-it-doesn't-have-pictures-don't-post-it-publicly thing. Hope your respective New Years went well! My family did its usual traditional feast shindig, and it was wonderful. I feel odd, it seems like I'm doing art constantly but don't have anything to publicly show for it. There's J*W, I did some stuff for the Applegeeks DarkHorse book that I can't show, there's other comic work stuff that I can't show, O-OH I didn't mention that I'm subbing for Hawk at AG for the month... I, ah, I'm not really all that familiar with the characters so I'm going off Ananth's original descriptions of his characters which isn't really how Hawk draws them. A few fans are complaining that they can't recognize people. What can I do, I guess. ._. no-but-seriously it's not a big thing.

( OH RIGHT A BIT OF ART-- if it can be called that. )

BEFORE I GO ON, THIS NEEDS TO BE SHARED. The lot of us went to the mall yesterday primarily so we could go into Hot Topic and look for it so I could give it to Megan for Christmas and ensure she never speaks to me again. (thank you iatro XD )

( art, tegaki crap, ace attorney stuff I'd forgotten about )

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CLOSING REMARKS: While we were at the mall, I had to leave the Under Armour store because I was laughing so hard I started crying.

[EDIT] Today's Johnny Wander is super Yotsuba. I can't say I'm not proud.

This year, I was asked to join in with a Webcomic Holiday Card Fundraiser for Child's Play, so I drew a thing. You can buy these guys bundled with cards done by people more popular than I am. XD



( The full card and some drawings from the zoo )

OH MAN GOTS TO GET COOKIN' FOR HAMSGIVING 8D

We have this totally awesome paper monster face taped on our front door from Halloween. We put it there just before Halloween as a hopeful invitation to trick-or-treaters to knock on our door. Unfortunately, there is a Real Neighborhood with Real Houses right next to our shoddy apartment complex, and all of the kids went over there.

Perfect transcription of neighbor's comments directly outside our door from Just Now:

"And like, check out our neighbor's door. It's like, what's the point."

Whatever, ladies. Just wait until we have our construction paper hand-turkeys out there, then you'll see.

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In any case.

I had this silly idea for an easy artistic/writing meme today. Character Post Secret. Write/draw out secrets from your characters in a Post Secret style. It doesn't really matter if it entirely touches the heart at whatever they're feeling, you can't get the whole story with a real Post Secret message, either. Just, y'know, make it as though they'd made it.

( and you don't have to feel bad because they're not real secrets! )

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( also, I drew a thing today. )

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And to further implicate me of SHAMING NERDLYNESS, Ananth recently picked up the first volume of Tezuka's Black Jack and I'm hooked. The guy was House before House was House and probably a good majority of the inspiration for Ginko from Mushishi. I've been spending my evenings trying to find episodes of the many animes that were based on the books. If you like really silly medical dramas about badass dudes who can't dress themselves properly, this may be the series for you.

Due to a mix of popular demand and peer pressure, the etsy store has been restocked and updated! 8D Now with international shipping!



There are pin/magnet sets again, new prints and bookmarks, and another thing Ananth and I are giving a shot at: We are now taking preorders for the Phoenix Down shirt. A lot of people have been asking about them and we're going ahead and doing a small, limited run. The preorder window is probably going to last about a week to a week and a half? We're going to try to get the orders out before Christmas.

(you might remember, this design.)

In other news, I did a pinup for Applegeeks on Thursday or so? I think it came out pretty rad!

( SCREENTOOOOOONES )

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I got an etsy note the other day from a woman whose husband was named after the original Adama from the 1978 Battlestar Galactica series. SO ADORABLE. ♥_♥

Thank you to everyone who bought stuff from the Etsy store! :D I sent out all of the pin sets yesterday except for one, whose payment hadn't gone through yet. I'll be replenishing the stock some time at the beginning of the week. Since I have the store set up, is there anything you would be interested in seeing from me? I mean, there isn't much I can do in bulk -- I don't have amazing screen-printing skills nor can I make cool things with yarn, and I don't have the time to put together things like small paintings at the moment. I have some leftover oversized postcard prints on hand, and the bookmarks, but that's really about it. I'd like to do small t-shirt runs in the future, but that's a bit off in the distance. Thoughts?

Since I seem to be plugging other things, I should mention that there's a livejournal RSS feed set up for that comic I'm doing these days. (thank you again, Mal. :D )

I don't have much impressive art to share, I'm sorry. All of my effort has been going into work-related stuff these days. Or that aforementioned online comic. I'll work harder in the future!

( Mostly ink tests and stupid doodles - NSFW for a tastefully nude lady! )

I do not think I can properly explain in words how much I want to own this shirt.

I had all these buttons left over from con season, so finally Ananth got on my case to make an Etsy store. If you fellas want some buttons and/or magnets, I might be a person to buy them from!

http://aidosaur.etsy.com

including but not limited to those dang BSG buttons

I'll eventually put some other designs and maybe prints or eventually maybe paintings up? But that day is not today. We'll see how this works out! :D

So hey, one of the many private projects I have going went live today! Essentially, Ananth and I are doing eclectic journal comics. For the time being. Super super thanks to Conrad, who practically pulled an all-nighter making our terrible website a reality.

>> JOHNNY WANDER <<
tuesdays and thursdays

(check out the archives, there's a few comics in there)

This is all coming just in time for Anime USA this upcoming weekend, which for some reason I am a guest at. I'll be selling nearly the same stuff I was selling at Otakon, and I'll be just as timid about it.

I, ah, should've mentioned: SPX is this weekend. The shindig's right down the road from our apartment and we all have weekend passes. Anyone also attending/selling? I would like to see you guys!

I did some small paintings to give to a few of my Favorite Artists From the Internet. I scanned them in before I handed them off.

( some small wood paintings. I am no good at real media. )

Painting is hard! D: