Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Here's a little sneak peek at what I've been working on lately. The garden where I made this drawing is closed for the next couple of months, so I might have to finish the other drawings in March or April. Guess I'll find something else to work on meanwhile. Anyways, Happy Holidays, everybody!

Another Cartoon Update!

The young boy is NOT smoking a pipe!

To Flick or Not to Flick - Part 2

The flick is a metaphor. The questions is - what for?

You tell me.

To Flick or Not to Flick

That, is the question.

Haiku Comics 3

the end of a branch

a petal departs, dancing -

through patches of light

Hmmm the print didn't come out the way I thought it would... back to the lab!

Last Week

This was my last week. Now I'm about to do it all over again. Yay!

Stop and Smell the Flowers

I'm trying to make this strip a weekly thing. Before I make a proper website for it I'll be putting them on the Urban Fairy Tale blog. Enjoy, and don't forget to stop and smell the flowers!

Haiku Comics 2

A petal departs,

Through patches of light, dancing -

the autumn wind cuts.

Haiku Comics

Leafs mostly green

Reflected in the pond -

and orange fish!

As I was drawing at the Nitobe Japanese Garden, a Mom strolled by with her two boys. The boys looked into the pond and were very amused by the fish. While they watched the fish swim, they enthusiastically shouted out the colour of the fish. I thought that was quite neat.

A Day at the Park

Just this past Saturday, July 9th, I went to Stanley Park, Vancouver, to check out the Summer Live event which celebrates the city's 125th birthday. Here are some drawings I did throughout the day:

The Gamelan group that my sister belongs to - Gamelan Gita Asmara - performed at around noon. They were followed by some also excellent musicians, including a jazz band, a blues band, Hannah Georgas, Neko Case, and The New Pornographers. I loved the diversity of musical programs they had throughout the three days.

The Gamelan musicians having conversations with each other 

The graceful dancer that accompanied Gamelan Gita Asmara

 This jazz band started off with All The Things You Are and had me right away

 Here's their bassist

 The event took place next too a bunch of totem poles - how cool is that?

 The day definitely had a very relaxing atmosphere to it

 Here's a drawing of Hannah Georgas on stage

 Here's a drawing of Hannah Georgas with her autograph and lovely comment. When I showed this drawing to her, she asked me if this was a picture of her. That made me feel like a creepy stalker for some reason. The truth is, I am a creepy stalker, but the person I stalk is not Hannah Georgas.

 She looks too cool for school, I look ridiculously tanned

The wonderful Neko Case. There is power in that woman's voice.

It felt like a mild version of Woodstock.

After working my butt off for seemingly an eternity, finally I have some free time to get to projects that I want to do for myself. Stay tuned!

Remembering the Fun

One of the earliest memories of my life that I can recall was of me receiving a box of old crayons that my older sister didn't want anymore. I think anyone with a sibling knows what I'm talking about. If you're a little brother or sister, you received second-hand stuff that your older sibling outgrew. With that box of crayon, I drew a bird out of geometric shapes - quite a Boccioni-esque picture, if my memory serves me right.

While I grew a little bit older, I think at around the ages of five or six, I started drawing my favourite cartoon characters. At that time there was no internet, so I had to wait once a week for the 30 precious minutes of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to come on, and then immediately after the show I'd grab a pencil and and try to recreate Donatello and Leo on paper while the memory is still fresh.

At around seven, I started owning paperback issues and collector's cards of my most favouritest thing in the world - Dragonball! If my math is correct, 99.99999% of currently active comic book artists will tell you that they taught themselves how to draw when they grew up by copying their favourite panels of their favourite comic books obsessively and repeatedly. For me, those comic books were all the issues of Dragonball I owned. As a kid, all I needed to stay quiet and content for a couple of hours was a piece of paper and a pencil, seriously!

And lately, at the age of 26, after a long day at work, as I sit at my desk and watch TV - 'cause I'm too tired to do anything else - it occurred to me to grab a piece of paper and a pencil and try to relive those childhood memories. Picasso once said that it takes a long time to grow young - well, I'm gettin' there!

Spider-Man and Wolverine copyright belongs to Marvel, I believe. That, or the fantastic Mr. Stan Lee. Dragonball stuff copyright belongs to by personal favourite Mr. Toriyama Akira.

Chinese New Year at Chinatown!

Okay, this entry is way overdue.

Back in February I designed a logo for a friend Spencer Village, and in return he agreed to shoot a promotional video for me. So, as Chinese New Year approached, I suggested that we hit the Chinese New Year Parade in Chinatown, and he can shoot footages of me drawing the event.

I do hope you enjoy some of these belated drawings, as well as the video.

As I sat there drawing, an old man approached to talk to me. At first I thought he was just a random creepy guy, but it turned out he was a famous sculptor in China, he even has his own Wikipedia page in Chinese. He said he liked my drawings and showed me a booklet of his gigantic sculpture of Bruce Lee. We exchanged contact information and Spencer took a picture of us together.

All in all it was quite a wonderful day!

Boston Bruins Vs. Vancouver Canucks Game 7

After the success of the winter Olympics last year (click here for past blog entry), once again the excitement generated by the game of hockey returns to Vancouver with the Canucks reaching the Stanley Cup Finals. The series went into a deciding Game 7, which took place at the Rogers Arena in Vancouver on June 15th, 2011.
After a long day at work, I decided to drag my feet to downtown Vancouver for a stroll to get a dose of the hype, and made some drawings while doing so.

Just pulling out my pad and pencil and getting warmed up here.

This guy made a 7 feet tall Stanley Cup out of tin foil so he could stick his head and arms out of the holes and take pictures with people. I caught him on his cigarette break.

People watching live broadcast at the corner of Georgia and Hamilton in front of the CBC Radio building. The big dome you see in this drawing is the central branch of the Vancouver Public Library - my favouritest building in Vancouver.

Here's a slightly different view one block over.

From where they were standing the big TV screen was the size of a dot, so it was understandable that they mistook a Bruins goal for a Canucks goal.

 Yup, this guy showed up, too.

Feeling the vibe on Robson Street.

Before I headed downtown, a wise friend warned me of the possibility of a riot, so I took off at the second intermission. That, plus I was tired as a dog. I guess now that I found out there actually was a riot I sort of regret not staying a bit longer to get to see / draw it, but at the same time I feel fortunate that I got out of there early. Do you think I should've stayed for the riot?




*Edit: After finding out more about that riot, damn I'm glad I got out of there early. It is a shame that the actions of a relatively few douchebags have tainted the reputation of a beautiful city full of nice people.

Ending and Beginning

Finally, the comic book that I've been working on is in its last stages. I'm doing some final adjustments - mastering colors and levels, changing some of the wordings and proofreading, etc.

As if the universe could sense the I'm ready for new projects, I've already gotten some new interesting freelance gigs this year!

This first one is a storyboarding job for a short film that takes place in Vancouver's Chinatown. I got to spend a day walking around and drawing in Canada's biggest Chinatown to do some research. It turns out this place has a very intriguing history.

This second gig is done on a voluntary basis since my sister is my client. Her Gamelan group, which is an ensemble that performs traditional Indian (Balinese / Javanese) music and dances, needs a new logo and t-shirt design, so I got to spend an afternoon at their rehearsal to draw and observe them.

Alrighty, I'm going back to the drawing board. See you soon!

Bring sunshine back to Canada

First of all, happy belated holidays! I hope everyone enjoyed themselves during the break. My lovely parents came to visit during Christmas and New Year's, but I was quite concerned about finishing my comic book, and was kind of in "Bah!Humbug!" mode throughout the holidays. They were very understanding, though, and gave me some time to do my thing, and all in all we did get to spend some quality time together.

And now, to the meaty entree. After the New Year I went down to Florida for an 8-day drawing session at Disney World with my friends. We'd leave from the hotel at 9:30 in the morning and return at 7 or 8-ish, and drew all day long. The idea is kind of similar to a Buddhist monk going into seclusion to meditate.

This is my fourth time going on this annual "drawing bootcamp", and each time it has been a humbling and fruitful experience. Here are some drawings from this year (and a photo):

On the last day I found out that it was snowing in 49 out of the 50 states in America. The one state that wasn't snowing? Florida!