Animagic 2009

I promised an update about the convention in Bonn, so here we go :)
I already arrived on Thursday which was relaxing (kinda) and I still had time for an appointment.

Friday (shortly before the hall opened)

That´s Sabine ... and Vinc from Tokyopop. The last meal for hours o_o


outside... even more people...

one of the coolest cosplays ever .... a DOMO-KUN!!!

The coolest of all .... Kulla! She was so damn cute ;_; *loves the cosplay to pieces*

A mini Link! The girls and the photographers loved him... and his mother and aunt were so proud (understandable). Still so small and he already posed like a pro.

The japanese guests of honour .... on the very right side: Tanemura-san.

I can´t really recall everything what happened. The german mangaka were nice, some were really amusing.
Once scene -even if Roda will kill me for telling- was like that:
me: Roda, you have to eat vegetables and fruit or else you catch the con scurvy!
Roda: No ... really? What happens?
me: Your tongue turns black!
Roda: Nooooo!!
XD

It was nice and exhausting. I doddled more bunnies than ever before and met some people I see only at *that* con -like Andre. So some things never change.

One thing -the near-death-experience - what really scared me was the allocation of the limited Tanemura-Shikishis. I´ve never seen to many people getting hysteric, pushing, running and screaming. What a scene. Some girls were so close to purple after getting their Shikishi, some cried... most squealed.

I don´t know if I can say "I want that too" because... THIS was really freaky.

I bought just one Totoro key chain.... and coffee (bad taste)... and a Manju. That´s it. I would like to go shopping but I´m always too excited to remember the shopping-thing =_=;

The last day rushed by. I forgot some things in the hotel (pants and shoes ;_; ), the train had to stop in Bochum (" We don´t have an engine driver atm, please switch trains!" ... "What do they mean with that > we don´t have an engine driver?! Who drove the train?!!< ...") and I was tired from everything but i guess in 363 days I really want to go to Bonn again. Maybe ... :)

For Eric

... startin christmas presents already (while believing I won´t be late with those this year...)

prisma work good on Bristol... if you are patient...

This is A3... I wasn´t really creative but I guess it´s okay since Eric is 1 year old (my nephew) and might like it anyway. I know next time I´m going to do a lot more details because coloring such a huge thing smoothly drives me crazy O___o

I´ll switch back to watercolors for the 3 left presents... and gouache. Next week starts gouache time. I know I´m testing a lot at the moment but since I have the time it´s okay. No rush now.. :)
Christmas? Believe me or not I´m already late for Christmas illustrations and missed some deadlines @_@
I should start thinking of cute easter stuff already *ughn*

hmpf!

Detail of a dress.... the original size of the paper is A 3. Because I need "free space" around the main part the size kills my details. The characters face is like 2 cm high and I never had so many problems to get facial details into such a small space. Next time: Details prepared with ink... lets see if this works >_> Or work on A2 (ewww).
Colors do look crap. In real it´s awesome (but takes a lot of pressure to get a smooth colorshading)

surface macro... shiny!!!
I mixed around ten shades of red. I wish I could get better colors but... the cam sucks with artificial light.
Have to finish that one on Sunday... well... possible. I guess I´m mad with new techniques and material at the momemt.

prisma check

I got some "homework" with organic flower illustrations and tested my prismas... because NOW I really need those. Normally we as pro-digital generation think: Whoa cooolll... digital. When it comes to what "normal people" want it´s: Oh look, this looks nice.. so... hand-drawn. Either you DO draw everything by hand or fake it with Painter. I rather stick to option one (tried second and failed... to be honest).

this tiny piece of test-color is actually just 3 cm big and means nothing... of course my camera didn´t get the colors correct (and even more... wouldn´t be able to at 00:04 at night)... but I guess you can get a clue how those colors might work.

When I do a macro shot I get this... looks really organic and it "feels like" drawing organic because light colors can be literally carved into the darker surface. Quite interesting and I love the effect. The texture is morel like pastels (some pencils crumble a lot but well... nothing I can´t handle with a sponge I bought in Sweden :D ) and the colors are very thick and smooth.

I guess I wouldn´t work with Polychromos now... anymore. I have some old ones of Faber Castell and those don´t smear as much as the new ones.
The other problem with Polys is that some colors changed. The name is still the same but the actual color looks different (and the texture is different). I had that problem with dark sepia. Good for sketches but alas... why did they change the color?!

I hope I can show some final results when the first illustrations (boring but neat I guess) are done.

DA Graphic Artist Bag

First time I´m glad that I´m home this week. Mah bag arrived today :D
When Angelo and Heidi from Deviantart were in Berlin I saw the bag (Angelo has it) and I was like: "Oh, I want that one too! ;_;"
Yes... I know, community love and so on, expensive, why can´t you take a normal bag... I still think it´s worth the money. And I love it. I´m glad the metro flap wasn´t sold out because I really wanted that one. >_<


logo.... on the cover. Small but very nice.

most important: What fits in. I have the graphic artist version which has an additional inlay. I guess I won´t need it but nice to know I can use it if I want to.
First of all: Yes, it looks like you can´t put *anything* in.

I tried it out... :D My list of things I got in without squeezing:
Netbook
heavy hardcover graphic novel (in other words: a big book)
my purse (which is huge >_>; )
camera
hoodie
pencils
mobile
netbook additional battery

ok, you might not be able to lift it but it fits in.... >_<>

Insomnia

I haven´t been in the office since Monday. My stomach wanted revenge for two weeks with too much coffee, too nervous nights and -my own fault as well- stressful days. I was so excited because of a new project that I got sick.
I know it´s odd. I drink tea atm, eat my cereals and complain about unspiced food. It´s not that bad but I´m craving so much for spicy japanese food. Gaawwwd... Dragon Roll, I miss u so much.

I´m yawning along but the real sleep doesn´t come up. It´s a crux. I can´t sleep because I don´t have that much to do. Except reading... the comics and graphic novels I should read are piling up. I never thought it would be so hard to read stuff you normally wouldn´t buy. o_O

Good thing: I am nearly finished with my agency stuff. Oh my... just one piece left. I can´t believe it. It´s really hard to stick to a certain style while doing a complete set of illustrations. I started redoing some, added things here and there, corrected details but again: I´m glad when everything´s over. I really want to start a new project concept. Just bad that I cna´t work at home because I get tired every time I start Photoshop. XD

still unfinished....


finished... I love that one but the ivy killed my patience...

Prisma

they arrived :3


color overflow... I can´t wait to try them out >_<

The only problem was that those arrived unsharpened... 120 pencils and some odd hours later my thumb is numb and kinda red-bluish *ouch*