Puffy Pop (Plus Some Embarrassingly Belated Thank Yous)

First off, I feel so bad that I haven't had the chance to thank all those who came out to see me and Camille's table over at Akimatsuri so I'm doing it now! Thank you all so much for your support whether it was buying something, chatting, checking out my stuff or taking a business card. I appreciate it all so much and I'm already gearing up for the next convention in March. ;-)

Second, hope you all have had a very merry Christmas and the happiest of holidays. Also wanna take this time to wish you all a super duper happy new year! To say this was one of (if not) the biggest years of my life so far would be an understatement. I can't wait to see what 2015 holds! :-)

Now finally, onto the image itself! If your teeth aren't aching or rotting a little while looking at this, then I'll have failed miserably at my job. :-P

Akimatsuri 2014!

Hey everybody! So here's a big update for y'all! I'm gonna be doing another convention really soon! The convention in question? (Hey! That rhymes!)

Akimatsuri!

It's a one day anime convention that's gonna be held at UBC Robson Square in Vancouver, British Columbia on December 7 (which totally happens to be one week from today! *GASP!*) from 10:00 AM 'til 6:00 PM.

Admission is $15 per person buuuuut for an extra $5, you can take advantage of the venue being right next to an ice skating rink by getting some ice skate rentals and a hot chocolate from the rink's snack bar! Doesn't the idea of cosplay ice skating sound awesome? (COSPLAYERS ON ICE!! Coming to an arena near you!)

I'll be there with my usual wares but prints, mini comics, buttons and bookmarks but I'll also be debuting my new additions to my line of Lolita Christmas cards, magnets, the original "Madoka Magica" sketch cards in pretty, gorgeous frames plus a few new goodies like...

JOURNALS!

Yup, that's just one of the new pieces of merch I'm gonna be bringing with me to the con as well as another new and awesome product that you'll just have to go to the con and find out what it is. ;-D

Ooh, I'm such a tease. XD

Also, I'll be sharing a table with the awesomeriffic Camille of Dark Anachronisms Hats and Accessories  so be sure to check out her fantastic hats as well! :-D

For more info about Akimatsuri, check out the Facebook event page. 

Hope to see you guys there! ^_^

Christmas Lolita Collection Redux 2: Electric Boogaloo (UPDATED)

It's that glorious time of year again, people! My Christmas Lolita collection of cards has some brand new additions to the roster!

Now onto the commentary!

"Loliskate": The main change I made for this one was giving her a fluffy bunny hood. Other than that, the only real upgrade was a cohesive colour scheme of pinks, blues and white and better streaks of pink and blue amongst her blonde hair. Too bad her skating skills haven't improved since the first time I drew her back in 2008. :-P

"Gingerbread Lolita": Would you believe that this is the second time I've done a revamp of this particular lolita? I last drew her back in 2010 when I first wanted to update this series but I think this iteration feels a little more faithful to the fashion. Plus, I can finally draw classic old school lolita headdresses!

"Caroller Lolita": Another example in which I decided to change the skin tone and hair colour of the original design because hey, I love my diversity in my girls. I think the colours (especially in her outfit) came out a lot richer and vibrant and I love it all the more because of it. :-)

"Snowlita": This was originally the Snowman Lolita but I love my terrible puns too much. XD

Anyways, out of all my designs, this one was the most challenging (but fun!) to revamp into a more realistic lolita style. I know white face is considered a huge "no-no" in lolita but hey, I see shironuri fused with lolita fairly frequently so I figured, hey, this might work here as long as I don't get super literal with the snowman imagery. It's also safe to assume I had Mana (aka the Patron Saint of Gothic Lolita Fashion) on the brain for this design.

The Madoka Magica Madness Concludes!

And with the addition of Sayaka Miki, my series of "Madoka Magica" sketch cards is complete! I had such a fun time drawing them all and I can't wait to take on the magical girls again. ;-)

Yup, More Madoka Magica

Yup. I'm still workin' away at my "Madoka Magica" sketch cards and I bring to you Mami Tomoe! Fun Fact: this sketch card sent me out on a wild goose chase for all sorts of different yellow shaded markers. For that matter, I think I might've worked through some of my issues with the colour yellow through this card.

What? I just don't think I look good in yellow. :-P

Puella Magi Madoka Magica: The Sketch Card Obsession Begins

Well now...it's been a while since I last uploaded any artsy things around here. I guess you can attribute a lot of that to major life changes like, oh, let's say moving out. Trust me, the logistics pretty much dominate your life for a good while.

With that out of the way, as you can tell from the title, I've fallen pretty hard for the anime series "Puella Magi Madoka Magica"...or just simply "Madoka Magica" if you don't want your tongue to get all tied up. :-P

It's funny, I've kinda avoided this series because I absolutely DESPISE "moe" style anime art (their eyes always just looked so dead, vacant and soulless to me). Then I started hearing really good things about it in that it's "not what it seems". It finally took me watching JesuOtaku's review on the series at That Guy With the Glasses to really get into it. To make a long story short, I've already watched this series twice and I'm planning for a third viewing.

Yup. It's that damn good. 

So damn good that I just had to draw all the girls (with my own personal stamp of course! No moeblobs permitted here!) complete with the excellent soundtrack to push me through...

First up, we (naturally) have our heroine Madoka Kaname. So much hope and pink sparkliness.

Next up we have Homura Akemi. One of the things I really wanted to get across was the personality of the characters. I hope I managed to get her stoic nature with a hint of fighting back despair.

And now I have Kyoko Sakura. Along with individual personalities, I also wanted to give the girls unique facial features and body types (something that was pretty absent in the show's character designs. Can you tell I'm not a fan of "moe" style?). God I love how her hair turned out here. ;-D

Of course, I have Mami and Sayaka on deck. I just have to finish inking and colouring them and then they'll be posted...along with a collage of all five sketch cards put together because I'm a completionist like that. :-P

Is completionist even a word?

MiniComi 2014!

And now here's the second convention this month: MiniComi!
It's a one day artists market (inspired by the comic markets in Japan) that's gonna be happening this Saturday (July 19) in Olympic Village in Vancouver, British Columbia. The event runs from 10:00 am 'til 5:00 pm and it's totally free to attend (yaaaay, free shows!). There's gonna be quite a few workshops from bead crafts to origami, cosplay walks and even some live music performances which should be pretty cool.

I'll be there with all my artsy wares (mini-comics, prints, buttons, bookmarks, greeting cards, sketch cards etc.) so come on down, don't be shy and give me a shout! :-)

For more information about MiniComi, check out the link here.

Hope to see you there! :-D

The Summer Festival!

Well, look at that! I've got not one but two cons happening this month! First one is (well, like the title states) The Summer Festival! It's happening this Saturday (holy crap, that's tomorrow!) at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia from 2:00 PM 'til late. Did I mention that this is a totally FREE event? Yeah, that's pretty freakin' awesome!

There's a really cool vibe to this one that I'm really looking forward to experiencing. It's like an anime convention meets a summer fair complete with carnival games, watermelon smashing and raffle prizes to be won...including a brand spanking new Wii U with "Mario Kart 8" because hey, everyone should feel the full impact of Luigi's Death Stare. ;-D

I'll be sharing a table with the totally awesomeriffic Camille of Dark Anachronisms Hats and Accessories and no doubt, we will be impossible to miss with our spectacularly gothic lolita aesthetic. As per usual, I'll be selling my wares of mini comics, sketch cards, greeting cards, buttons, bookmarks and more! So don't be shy, come on down and give me a shout. I could even help you on your quest to win a raffle prize. ;-)

For more info about the Summer Festival, check out the official site here. 

Hope to see you all there! :-D

Does This Look Alternative?

"Ugh...stretch pants. Everywhere, stretch pants."
"Hey, these are stretch pants! I'M WEARING STRETCH PANTS!!"
*hyperventilating*
"They're LEGGINGS! It's alright..."

Hey, remember when I used to draw copious amounts of "Daria" fan art? Well, a major "Daria" bender led me to drawing this. It took me a stupidly long time to complete this but god how I love it.

Baby Loves Her Bubble Tea

Okay, show of hands, who here remembers my character of yore Baby?

Well, I was kinda hit with the urge to draw her again recently. If you came to the Vancouver Comicon a few weeks back, you might've seen me coloring away at something. This sketch card was that something.

You can definitely say I was inspired by old school lolita and street snapshots from those "Fruits" magazines from Japan. I even tried to channel the blase expressions from those old shots. Hope I hit the mark!

Royalty of Oooo

Incoming belated art dump!

Hey look! It's old fan art that's been sitting at my desk since this past summer begging to be uploaded!

Man, the "Adventure Time" ladies sure were fun to translate into my own style but I still wanted to stay true to their original designs by keeping it relatively simple and flatly colored.

Uberweekend! My Sister's Closet and Fan Expo Vancouver

Hoo boy, do I have quite the weekend lineup!

First off, if you happen to be in downtown Vancouver from 4:00 'til 8:00, head on down to My Sister's Closet where I'll be making my buttons on site as part of their Prevention of Violence Against Women Week events. It's a really great cause and it's absolutely worth checking out. For more information, check out this link.

Secondly, I'm coming back to Fan Expo Vancouver!

No, I won't be selling my art but I'll most definitely be roaming the convention crowds geeking out with the best of them...in (some varying degree of) COSPLAY!! Here's what I'll be donning each day...

Friday: Nurse Lolita. (Not really a costume but just elaborately dressed. )
Saturday: Rule 63!Ash Williams. ("The Evil Dead"/"Army of Darkness")
Sunday: Lumpy Space Princess. ("Adventure Time")

So if you spot me in the mass nerd frenzy, don't be afraid to say "hi" or give me a wave. Whatever works best. 

Of course, there will be photos of said outfits to be posted. You just gotta be patient is all. 

No matter which event you make it to, I hope to see you there! :-D

Vancouver Comicon and a Belated J-Fest Thank You

Hey everyone! I just want to give a(n embarrassingly) belated thank you to everyone who came to J-Fest! It felt so awesome being back behind the table after such a long time and I had a great time checking out all the amazing cosplayers, taking in all the performers from my table (the artist alley/vendor hall shared the same room with the main events stage so I got to check out the taiko drummers, kabuki dancers and the cosplay contest. Hooray convenience!) and just being in that whole environment. :-D

If you missed me at J-Fest, then I've got good news for you...

I'll be returning to the Vancouver Comicon this weekend!

That's right, I'll be back in my old stomping grounds at the Heritage Hall in Vancouver, British Columbia this Sunday (March 23). The con runs from 11:00 am 'til 5:00 pm and admission is $4 per person but kids under 14 get in for free. Of course, you can also get in for free if you donate a new or gently used school-appropriate graphic novel that'll go towards local schools. 

For more information, check out the website or just scroll down and check out the flyer.

As per usual, I'll be there with my prints, bookmarks, buttons, greeting cards, original sketch cards and mini comics (including *gasp* a brand spanking new one if I play my cards right! ) whipping up a sketch card or two on site. So come on down, indulge your inner comic geek and have a good ol' time. 

Hope to see you there! :-D

J-Fest 2014!

*gasp!*

Could that be the name of a convention in the title of this entry?

Why YES IT IS! :-D

That's right, folks! I'm going to be stepping back behind the artist alley table for J-Fest! It's a one day anime and Japanese culture convention taking place March 8 (that's this Saturday) at the Nikkei National Museum and Japanese Cultural Centre in Burnaby, British Columbia from 10:00 am until 6:00 pm. Admission is $15 per person and there's plenty of awesome stuff to go around. Not only do we have your artist alley and vendors but there's panels, gaming rooms, viewing rooms, the maid cafe, the cosplay contest and even a few traditional Japanese musical and dance performances that look super cool!

For more information, check out the Facebook event page here.

Like I said, I'll be in the artist alley selling my mini comics, buttons, prints, bookmarks, original sketch cards and greeting cards (and yes, my recent pieces "Bloodwork" and "Shibuya Sweethearts" will be in the mix). So come on down and check it out! If you see me, don't be afraid to give me a shout or a wave and flip through my portfolio...despite my potentially vampiric appearance. 

It's been quite a long time since I last did a convention (that would be Word on the Street all the way back in 2011...damn, that was ages ago) but I'm super pumped for this and can't wait for Saturday!

Hope to see you there. :-D

Bloodwork

God, I wish I could scrape up a better title for this one. :-P

Oh man, this is like a culmination of all the things I love to draw: bunnies, lolita fashion, medical themes and copious amounts of blood. Hooray!  I'd be a horrible liar if I said my new nurse lolita dress wasn't a driving influence behind this piece.

I highly doubt this will be the last time I draw anything containing bunnies, lolita fashion, medical themes and/or copious amounts of blood.

Shibuya Sweethearts

ERMAHGERD!! My first completed image of 2014!  (Oh man, that will never stop being a weird year to type and read out loud.)

As you can see, my love of Japanese street fashions/subcultures is eternal and I just had to take a crack at drawing them all. From left to right, we have Fairy Kei (aka 80's cartoons as envisioned by Japan dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century), Mori (which kinda went into a Dark Mori direction. Think Stevie Nicks with a touch of innocent whimsy) and Shironuri (white porcelain to the max or go home!).

In case you were wondering about the black vertical lines, these will be turned into bookmarks very, very soon.