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I recently needed to put together a double-page spread advertisement for a local film festival I volunteer for, the Sacramento Asian Pacific Film Festival. Since I was doing this for a group, and other people needed to approve the design, I did thumbnails. For myself, I only do thumbnails when I need to solve problems. Usually I know what I want. This time, I needed everyone who had a say in the final messaging to approve … Read More

What I thought I was going to write about for today’s post got pre-empted by another subject. Thanks to Twitter. I went to high school with a few guys that liked to draw. A couple of them, one or two years younger than me, were obviously very, very good. You could see they had talent, and these were the guys I “competed” with, making sure my stuff was better than theirs. Looking back with an objective … Read More

Just a short post today. For the past two years, I’ve been training in Wing Chun kung fu. I really love it because it fulfills different needs: I’m doing something that connects me to my Chinese heritage; it fulfills the analytical part of my brain; there are many lessons that can be applied to everyday life; I’m learning how to defend myself; I’m learning to relax and go with the flow – this last bit is … Read More

I was commissioned during the 2015 Christmas season to do a portrait of someone’s former dance troupe leader and his partner. After sending me photos of the couple, one of the first things I said was, “Damn, those dudes are dapper!” So, I knew right away the piece had to look stylish. But I didn’t want it to look too slick, like some other portraits I’ve done. I wanted something loose, a little “artsy” (whatever that … Read More

Happy New Year everyone. 2016 will see more regular blogging from me, with new art-related (probably) posts at least every Friday. And I’m kicking it off with a review about a new accessory I picked up late last year: Ralph Thomas’ Sketch Wallet. On July 7, 2015, Ralph Thomas launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund his Sketch Wallet – a wallet designed to carry your cash, cards, and a refillable sketchbook. Suitable for artists on the … Read More

…Much like how the Dark Side clouds the mind. So technically, this is a bit of a review, but also a bit of an examination. A couple people asked me what I thought of the new Star Wars movie, Ep. VII: The Force Awakens. So, this is me, letting them know. Oh, also: SPOILERS. I’ll let you know when they’re coming. Before I get into it, I should tell you that I have this uncanny ability … Read More

I originally left a version of this as a comment on one of my friend’s Facebook posts as a reply to some of the comments he received. I thought I would post it here, as a rare venture out of my socio-political cave (I’m about to go back in). Luckily, I have not seen too many hateful comments or opposition to the US accepting Syrian refugees in my Facebook timeline. Twitter, the news… sure. It’s everywhere. … Read More

It’s really easy to get distracted. I’m not talking about letting video games, girls, booze, and unwatched episodes of The West Wing lure you away from doing art (yes, I have yet to get through The West Wing Give me a break. I’ve been busy for the past 15+ years). Those things are all minor distractions that are essentially entertainment and a break away from work. No, I’m talking about the temptation to take an entirely … Read More

Now that DCI is over, I’ve seen the inevitable posts about how the scores should have been different, and I’ve seen the inevitable responses about how people should let the scores go and focus on the drive, passion, and dedication these young adults put in all summer to put on a great show. This is ridiculous. When I marched, I did it because I loved music and wanted to learn how to play drums. And once … Read More

Blade Of The Immortal is an extremely important comic to me. I finally got to watch the first couple episodes of the anime adaptation. It is not good. There are so many things wrong with it. The writing is bad. The music doesn’t fit. It’s trying to do too much and be too much while accomplishing little. The story of the original manga is there but the spirit and tone isn’t there at all.

The other day, Canadian artist and fellow Tumblr-ite Kimberly Parker posted some thoughts about artists comparing themselves to other artists and how to go about it positively and instead of being all doom-and-gloom about it (my words, not hers). It’s a quick read, so go ahead and read it. Without getting too personal, I, like so many others come with some emotional baggage. And I’m constantly battling them in order to get off my ass and … Read More

I’m issuing a challenge. To myself. It can be difficult for a busy person to draw everyday, but if one wants to get better, one should do it. I’m no exception. And there are many things I need to improve upon. Remembering standard architectural details of a building’s facade; a person’s posture during a certain mood; how a muscle flexes during a certain action. I could go on, but I won’t. I don’t need to divulge … Read More

I’ve had a slight shift in priorities in terms of what projects I’m working on. Maypole, the picture book, is still a priority. I need to redesign all the characters so that I can draw them quickly. Thea And The Crying Cloud King (working title) will probably be a prose novel instead of a picture book, so that will take longer to finish. I’ve got the plot, now I just need to write the words. So, … Read More

It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything percussion related. It’s not for lack of passion or interest – my focus has been elsewhere of late and I started an indefinite sabbatical from teaching a couple years ago for a few different reasons. But my knowledge, my skills, my desire to learn, and my need to take in and relay information are all still there. Last night (6-21-2015) was the Moonlight Classic drum corps show in … Read More

I take it by some of the reaction to the new Supergirl promo that females with the personality of the new show’s Supergirl character – bubbly and happy, living in the shadow of another, unsure of herself yet strong on the inside, trying to do something meaningful with her life and the gifts she has – just do not exist? I would beg to differ. Not every strong female character needs to be hard-edged. Do they? … Read More

I stopped publicly announcing projects before they were ready to go so that they didn’t turn into false announcements. But in the last 2 hours, I wrote the entire first draft of text for an all-ages picturebook/comic I came up with today. It’s ready to get drawn already. So here I go: I’m announcing a few things. This way, if any and all of you want to take me to task, you can. Maypole – the … Read More

This is a “warm-up” sketch I did on 1-13-2015: The goal was to limit the time spent doing the sketch. This time I chose to work on larger paper. My sketch from the previous day was done in a 5×7 sketchbook, which somehow made me want to work meticulously. It’s probably due to the page space being small enough to sketch fairly freely, but not so small that I was forced to go into “thumbnail mode”, … Read More

I have very rarely done warm-up sketches. I understand the value of warm-up sketches. I admit, when I was younger, I thought, “Why do I need to warm up my drawing muscles? Why can’t I just draw?” Of course it helps to loosen up the fingers, the hand, and the arm before doing any drawing that is meant to end up as a finished piece. But when you have a limited amount of time to spend … Read More

As I get back into the practice of drawing all the time, I am, of course, adding new stuff to my website’s portfolio. Some new stuff has been added to both the illustration and design sections. I will, of course, be adding and removing stuff as I see fit to represent the best of myself. However, my Tumblr site will be a more of a timeline, featuring concepts to sketches to finished works, so if I … Read More

I love traditional illustration. This is definitely not going to be my first post on this. Because, while I definitely prefer to do my finished artwork using “traditional”* methods, I have done some digital pre- and post-production work in Photoshop and I’ve been refining my opinions on the matter of traditional VS digital illustration (as if there were such a battle). Plus, I just purchased Manga Studio 5 EX**. In fact, it just arrived and, once … Read More