I've always had a soft spot for Bowser ever since Super Mario RPG :B This was something I worked on during the semester that I managed to finish in time to sell as a print at Fanime. Unlike many of my past illustrations, this one incorporated heavy use of layers, now that I actually know how to use them more effectively thanks to my Digital Illustration class this past semester @w@

I sketch Azalea a lot when I'm bored :B These were some from last year.

Another sketch from last year for somebody who donated money to me *_*

And some sketches of Magnolia too :D

This was an illustration, or I guess a series of mini-illustrations, done for a class I had last spring taught by Dorte Christjansen, one of my very favorite professors I've had at Fullerton thus far. :D It was our first project and we were to choose two subjects and arrange them together in various ways based on certain criteria and illustration techniques she taught us, and being a fag for cats and plants of course I chose to do the flower and cat. :')

It was during this semester that I got Rupert. I think shortly after this project was due. Aheheh. >__> Even the little cat in the middle-left illustration looks like Rupert--I can't remember if it was just because I had already seen a photo of him, or if it was because I've just subconsciously always wanted a cat exactly like him. o_o

Anyway, mediums used in this project include pencils, color pencils, inks, watercolor, and gouache.

A long, long time ago I made the emblem for the Alatus Institute using just pen and rulers and stuff, and scanned that into the computer and somehow vectorized it using some shady freeware that I managed to find that automatically converted it for me. Of course, the nature of shady freeware that automatize tasks that require the intuition of a real live human being meant that the same vector file I've been using since 2002 or whatever has been fundamentally flawed, and me being a vector dummy did nothing about it.

Usually the logo was either small enough or obscured enough that I think most people probably didn't notice how crooked and crappily-made it was (or did they??), but it's always bothered me nonetheless. SO, one of the first things I did when I actually learned how to work with Illustrator (other than the Slime Mansion logo) was re-vectorize the Alatus emblem! Properly!

Woo new emblem woo silky smooth mmm!

...E-except when I showed my friend Tina, she commented on how the old emblem looked more organic while the new one felt a bit sterile. :< Ohwell. So now I've got some hand-drawn renditions of the emblem that I'm working on instead. 8D() I'm thinking that ultimately I'll probably end up with maybe three versions of the emblem: the current new one, a simplified one, and a hand-drawn organic-looking one. And I guess I'll just alternate between the three on a case-by-case basis?

ramblerambleramble I'm going to bed good night XO

The second Illustrator project in my digital illustration class this semester was to make a internet game background based on a theme he provides each of us. The theme I was given was "heaven." I had a tossed a few ideas around for it, but ultimately I ended up drawing cows again, + other livestock? aheheh. o_o

The week before the project was due my professor taught us how to use the gradient mesh tool, which I ended up abusing for the entire project. It was a bit of a masochistic endeavor in that it took forever to do, but I sorta liked it. >__> I had vowed to myself that I wouldn't stay up all night again for this project like I did the last, but alas! Better luck next time D:

Incidentally, I just got a job (!!) as a graphic artist in my school's Graphic Services department (hurray steady income!!) so I guess I'll be getting a lot more practice with vector stuff from now on. :X But normal pencils and digital paint illustrations will always be my true love!!!

Last semester in my business writing class, we had a group project where we had to come up with a business plan to present to class. The idea I came up with for my group was Cottontale Creations, an online t-shirt company that specializes in "Comic Tees"--t-shirts that tell stories. Basically, the plan was to set up this t-shirt company where we would release t-shirts in a series of three shirts or so, where each illustration on a shirt represents a "panel" within a comic, and all three shirts put together tell a complete story. The example we used for our presentation were these little doodles I made of Little Red Ridinghood:

I was actually pretty excited about our business plan at the time and thought that maybe I would actually go through with making it into a real business venture, but by the end of the semester I ran out of steam, aheheh. >_> Maybe one day!(?)

These were sketches done of Rupert last year before I started drawing the actual comic. I guess it's sort of like pre-production, except my thought process when it comes to comics is not nearly as refined and polished enough to really label it as such. 8D() A bit of experimentation with different outfits and minor changes to his hair going on, with a bit of extreme winter sports thrown in there. o_o

As always my thumbnails are a complete mess and indecipherable to anybody but myself. And yes, a lot of the panel boxes are empty too--usually if I just place the box where it's supposed to go in the thumbnail, it gives me enough of a reminder as to what's gonna go in there. If you can even tell what's going on, the final layout ended up a tad bit different, but for the most part it's all there? ah ha ha why am I even posting this _-_

Not actually a real book cover though; this was a project done back in Spring '08 in my Illustration class. The assignment was to pick a book and create a new book cover for it using illustration techniques and mediums we learned in the class. I asked my professor if I could use my own book (so that way it's more relevant to the rest of my gallery 8D()) and she OK'd it, so this was what came out of it!

The whole thing was done in gouache on a big 18"x24" piece of I think watercolor paper that my professor gave to me, and one of the most distressing aspects about the project was finding a scanner for this thing! XO Originally it was scanned in pieces and put together on the computer, except the colors were totally crappy when I did that. Eventually we found a Kinko's with a large-scale scanner which I had to pay like $10 to use, but at least it gave me an image that was actually presentable! @_@

Incidentally, I did some more work on my Art Archives from Wednesday and now I have an automated script set up to thumbnail anything I upload and display onto the server on the fly. ;D This'll give me more motivation to upload my sketches cause I won't have to worry about thumbnailing them all the time now!! Woooo @_@

(yeah sry, I'm not witty enough to come up with some elaborate April Fool's hoax. ...or more like I'm just too lazy to. >_>)

This was pretty much my first serious attempt at doing stuff in Illustrator outside of the Slime Mansion logo I did before, so a lot of time was spent fudging around, but basically I became very familiar with the Blend Tool while working with this project @_@ Although I haven't really used it again; it's good for black-and-white stuff, but the next project we did was in color, so I became best friends with a different tool for that one, which I'll post here eeeveentuaallyyyy!

That being said, one of the first things I did when I learned the basics of Illustrator was a vectorized version of the Slime Mansion logo. 8D

Go ahead. Keep zooming in. 8) And just for reference, here's the old raster version of the logo:

...It's not such a HUUGE difference really, but at the time I felt really proud of myself? :D() I've since gotten a better grip of Illustrator, and while I'm not QUITE dying to vectorize everything in my life just yet, I AM pretty excited by the possibility of blowing images up to dimensions of several feet and relishing the razor-smooth edges of my lovely lovely vectors. :B We've had two projects so far using Illustrator with a third due in a couple of weeks, so I'll post those up in the near future!

Anyway, once again the comic is about my cat Rupert, this time setting off into the outside world on an adventure! More than anything I wanted to play around with actually using color in comics and seeing how that's like. It definitely adds a different dimension to the work process compared to working in black and white, and I'd definitely like to do more! :B ONTO THE COMIC!

H-he actually didn't used to do this kind of stuff, but lately he takes every opportunity he can to slip by us into the backyard to play. XO He hasn't figured out how to jump the walls yet, but aahhhh I'll die if he ever does. @__@

Oh, and there's a new Comics box on the front page now which contains some of my old short comic work, including "The Little Match Girl" which was published in TokyoPop's first Rising Stars of Manga anthology, and "Raven" which was published in an independent anthology of comics about robots! Check them out if you'd like, even though I'm severely embarrassed by them now. >_>

This was a picture done back in July 2008 which I finally got around to putting up on the site. :B It's the Star Fox gang as seen in Smash Bros. Brawl. I was always a fan of playing as Falco in Melee (even though I'm kind of terrible at it), but I'm finding that I like playing Wolf a lot better this time around??

In hindsight there's maybe a little too much purple going on in this picture. owell :X