Rich Lee Illustration and Design

Tohoku 2011 2/3

2011-09-23T01:04:00.000-07:00

From the site at Yuriage, we traveled about 15 minutes to the proposed Tohoku Roku Project site. I think the idea of a self-sustaining communal type of living was cool but I couldn't wrap my head around it completely. I think maybe there was something lost in translation ... then again, I'm not the best of listeners.

The NPOs that the Japanese American delegation met with not only wanted to rebuild their communities, but also rebuild it in a way where it was not necessarily retracing their previous generation's steps. They knew how things had been done, and now it was an opportunity for them to try something different. Idealistic or ambitious or whatever people may like to call it, it is exciting to see young folks want to take control of the situation where their elders (local governments) had balked on.

Tohoku Roku Project proposed site.

Site rendition. If I remember right, they were about a month or two away from purchasing the land and getting things rolling. Hope to see this up and fully functional in no time!

Like clockwork, before long, we were back in the caravan heading towards our next stop which included lunch at one of the newer restaurants in the area and our last meeting in the Sendai area.
The restaurant we were heading to was called Rokuchonome Farm ... I believe. This place was significant because the owner is also part of the Tohoku Roku Project. I think it's more than a mere coincidence that the word 'roku' keeps popping up. Roku means 'six' - as in the six partners/entrepreneurs working on rebuilding this area. The restaurant also partly acts as a social welfare program since the owner chooses to employ a significant percentage of people with physical and/or mental disabilities. The fact that this is one of the more popular restaurants in the area speaks to the owner's point that people with disabilities can contribute to society.

Lunch buffet style at Rokuchonome Farm - yes that shit was goooood!

Anyhow, the lunch was great - loved the Japanese curry. From the restaurant on the ground level, the U.S. and Japanese NPOs moved upstairs for the final meeting in Sendai. It was a good meeting where the NPOs were informing everyone what they did and all that. But, I think having a long meeting after lunch on a warm day wasn't such a good idea. There were a few heavy eyelids.
The meeting should have ended by 2pm but towards the end, the interactions and good-byes extended it a bit longer. No complaints since we were about to go on a 2.5hrs drive northeast towards Onagawa, a small town heavily damaged.

During the 2.5hrs drive, we got to know our driver Yoshi, a bit more. Real interesting guy - at 27 years of age, he has attended school in remote Alaska, worked in a factory in Tennessee, hiked up some Nepalese mountain, has a peculiar fascination with making soup, and has a taste for hot dogs. He was also one of the representatives from the NPO ETIC. At the start of the trip, it was unclear as to what ETIC did exactly and what their structure was like. With so many organizations popping up after disasters, it's always wise to be cautious as to the true intent of some NPOs.

On our way to Onagawa - passing through Ishinomaki. After our visit to Onagawa, we came back and spent the night in Ishinomaki, which also sustained significant damage.

Driving into Onagawa, towards the hospital.

Our local guide, Noriko, who was very straight forward and helpful, explained that when the tsunami started coming in, a bunch of people fled toward the roof of the old brown and white building, which used to be a bank. Unfortunately the waters rose higher than anticipated and washed away everyone on that rooftop.

In some of these devastated seaside areas, I noticed that there were a lot of large puddles, but I didn't remember it raining while we were there. We'd later come to find out that the force of the incoming and outgoing water and debris was so strong that it dug up and relocated a decent chunk of the foundation and sea floor. I think there were areas where the ground level had sunk about 6 feet. With the ground level now lowered, the areas are constantly flooded every high tide.

Noriko (left) explains the extent of the damages to the Japanese American delegates.

Found a video clip of someone who was filming from the brown building on the left during the incoming waters.

Yoshi (far right) our driver and soup/hotdog enthusiast.

This shot gives an idea of how high the waters came. We're standing by the parking lot of the Onagawa hospital (to our right) and the cars in this lot got washed away.

The mountains of debris are still everywhere. In some parts, items are being separated and organized (tires and plastic).

Noriko was kind enough to offer to show us her temporary housing. This was not it. She explained that these were some of the more expensive/better units. I worked on some projects before involving the Japanese interment during World War II and a lot of these temporary units reminded of me of those internment barracks.

Check the buoy lodged high in the trees.

This area was where Noriko (guide) lived. She said that when the waters started coming in, her and a friend fled straight back towards higher ground. Unfortunately, she said that her friend didn't make it.

Kaz and Yoshi checking out Noriko's temporary housing.

Washer's on the left, fridge and freezer in the middle, and microwave on the right. Going to guess her place, which had a kitchen, small (even by Asia standards) bathroom, and two adjoining rooms, was approximately 400 to about 600 sq ft. I didn't want to look around too much as it was her personal space and her mother in-law was in one of the adjoining rooms.


One of Noriko's neighbors with as much creature comfort as one can have.

Loved the silhouette from this shot - check the next photo of how this area used to look like.

Green circle is of the same statue/structure as the previous photo, just from a different angle. This shot was taken from Google street view showing what the neighborhood used to look like. The hospital can be seen right above the green building on the left.

Noriko leading us into a local night school led by one of the entrepreneurs living/operating in Onagawa. Noriko was someone I wish we had more time to talk to. She was real open and spoke in a direct manner. Seems like she had every right to be dramatic but she was very well-composed and informative.

Kumi Imamura, a young entrepreneur in Tohoku, established the Katariba project to provide free career education classes/night school (juku) to support high school students in the affected areas. This school in Onagawa is the first of what she hopes will be many similar programs across Tohoku.

Patty Kinaga and the Japan Earthquake & Tsunami Aid Project (JETAP) coordinated relief efforts in Southern California to aid the people of Tohoku. As part of the "Thousand Hearts" project, young students in the U.S. prepared one thousand paper hearts to share with people in the Tohoku area, and we presented them to the students of Onagawa.

Susan Eichor and Mark Yamakawa of the Japanese American delegation look over a briefing on the events of March 11, 2011. Behind them are a few blocks of temporary housing. Portions of the school grounds has been allocated for housing - I can't remember if a lot of the students are in those housing.

Night school.

After our visit to Onagawa, we headed back to Ishinomaki for the evening. Needless to say it was a very long and eye-opening day. The next morning, we'd make our way to our final destination: Kesennuma, a fishing town approximately 2 hours northeast. Kesennuma, which was also hit hard, hasn't had the support as places like Onagawa has had in terms of clean up mainly due to accessibility.

Final installment of Tohoku trip coming up soon.

Tohoku 2011 1/3

2011-09-19T11:50:00.000-07:00

Earlier half of September, I was able to see a part of Japan that was devastated by the earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011. I accompanied a delegation from the Japanese American community here in the U.S. and was tasked to photograph their three day journey from Tokyo to the Tohoku region. While I'm more of an illustrator than a photographer, I do enjoy taking photos here and there.

I think one of the goals of this delegation was to get in touch with some of the NPOs (nonprofit organizations) and NGOs (non-governmental organizations) working in the tsunami affected areas. One of the recurring themes seemed to be some delay on the government's part in how to help each village/town/city since the needs varied from location to location. That's where some of these NPOs stepped in - providing direct help to their immediate communities.

Masayuki Shimada (center) one of the first NPOs we met with in Sendai. Real impressive guy - a day or so after the earthquake, he and his friends were already distributing meals to those in need. He's currently working on the Tohoku Roku Project - seems like a real ambitious idea/project. Hope it works!

Koji Yamauchi (right), a founding member of ETIC, explaining through our interpreter the social dynamics of the folks affected by the tsunami versus the folks who've moved on with their lives. On our way towards Butai Farm.

One of our first stops was at a farm outside the Sendai city center. Butai Farm has been in operation and family owned for 15 generations - wow. We met with the president, Nobuo Haryu who explained how they were fortunate enough to escape major damages to their infrastructure and crops. And for a while, after the waters subsided, Butai Farm was one of the folks capable of distributing food to the locals. If I remember correctly, this was around 10a and it felt like it was at least 80˚ with about the same humidity.

Nobuo Haryu (right)

From Butai Farm, we traveled approximately 10 minutes west to our first 'disaster' stop. Along the way, I looked toward the horizon and thought I recognized the tree lines in the distance. Wasn't sure, but it looked like the area where the initial waves hit:

photo from: http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/03/11/article-0-0D924D9F000005DC-785_964x591.jpg

Tree lines look similar to the ones from the photo above doesn't it?

Along the way, Shimada described scenes of flood victims strung up on the electric poles.

I think this was Yuriage - a small town along the coast. Pretty much everything was wiped out and anything left standing had to be demolished. There seemed to be more cranes than there were structures.

This was a neighborhood.

This used to be an old shrine but was completely washed away.

This was shot from about the same vantage point as the previous two photos. The sixth month anniversary of the earthquake and tsunami was a day or two away when we were here. I found a photo online (below) of the same shot but was taken a few days after the event in March.

photo from: http://www.sed.tohoku.ac.jp/lab/taniguchi/image/shinsai13.jpg

Kaz Maniwa - one of the delegates from the U.S. Over the next 48 hours, the view from our car would pretty much look like this as we made our way from Sendai to Kesennuma.

Our time here was very structured and every site and travel time was planned in advance. Our next stop was the proposed site of the Tohoku Roku Project - I think it was only 10am at this point and it had already felt like we had done and seen a lot already ...

Dumbass

2011-09-15T12:28:00.001-07:00

So apparently my dumbass accidentally deleted the majority of my previous posts' images - thought about trying to re-upload those images but ... fuck it ... onwards >>>>

Tokyo Moto

2011-04-04T00:05:00.000-07:00

Wow whatta weekend! Aunt's burial services on Friday, Tokyo Moto grand opening on Saturday, and WonderCon on Sunday! To top it all off weather was great - definitely looking forward to warmer weather.

On Saturday one of my good buddy finally had his grand opening for his own independent motorcycle repair shop in San Francisco, Tokyo Moto on 50 Otis St. He's talked about opening up a shop for awhile and I suppose a blessing in disguise from all this economic down turn finally kicked his ass into gear and opened up the shop. He asked me to help him out with all the graphics like logos/business cards/etc. as well as a few wall pieces. Aside from hanging up my drawings of Rossi, Haga, and company, he wanted a large wall mural. He said I was free to do whatever ... of course keeping in mind that it is a business.

I can't remember if it took too long to have an image in my head of what I wanted, but basically I sketched out a scene that had a Tokyo/Japanese feel to it. I wanted to have it over the top, kinda weird, and just in your face. I've seen photos of Bōsōzoku and stuff like Tank Girl and thought it'd be cool to mash em together. Yeah, I definitely wanted a 'fuck you' attitude. Since I didn't want it to completely surprise my friend, I told him that it'll ok for the business, but there'll be a pink rubber fist and a gerbil involved in the drawing. He probably knew what he was getting into when he told me that I'm free to do whatever for the mural. Fun Fun.

I like having 'easter eggs' in large detailed pieces. I have things like my wife's family crest, TOOL logo, wing chun stuff, and so on and so on ... even a stripper on a pole!

In the final version I have some Japanese text - I wanted it to read link a panel from a manga, sort of like if you just caught this panel in mid story (thanks Kenji).

Anyhow, here's a few shots of the piece in different stages:

rough sketch

line art of 'Tomo'

line art

flats completed for Tomo - work in progress

interior of shop photo by Jesse Fletcher

final wall piece 145"x102"

2010 Giants Parade!!!

2010-11-03T23:18:00.000-07:00

Nov 3, 2010 - wife and I got up around 5:30a and made our way to downtown SF. Can't remember the last time I woke up before 7am, but I suppose this was a special occasion. Giants finally won a World Series title since moving to San Francisco after a little over half a century - holy fuck. I usually don't do too well in crowds but today was definitely worth it. Here's a few pics from the parade - we were on a ledge McAllister side of the Asian Art Museum.

Congrats SF Giants!! FUCK YEAH!!!!

Andres Torres Twitter background!

2010-09-11T12:11:00.000-07:00

So I've done a few of those Giants players drawings and have been posting it around the internet. Been getting some real positive feedback so that's always good - thanks!

I'm fairly active on Twitter especially with the Giants fan base and during games - it's fun to cheer and jeer with like minded folks from all around. Anyhow, I've been posting up the Giants drawings there as well and have caught the attention of the person who runs the SF_Giants twitter account and have started a small collaboration with him. Below is the first, of hopefully a few other, Giants players twitter backgrounds. Here's a link for a free download: http://ow.ly/2CtWT

Buster Posey

2010-08-04T12:30:00.000-07:00

A quick breakdown on my process with the Buster Posey illustration.

rough sketch

lineart with shades of colors

flat colors with a bit of flesh tones on face as well as logos

shadows added

highlights added

background added, along with the 'ROY2010" on the bat

background number added

final final

Andres Torres #56

2010-07-18T00:27:00.000-07:00

So, aside from motorcycle racing, art/illustration, and wing chun, my other interest is in baseball. More specifically, the San Francisco Giants. While I wish I can choke the fuck outta a baby seal with frustration with the way this team plays, this will always be my home team.

As of late, newcomer Buster Posey has been a godsend to the team. It remains to be seen how well he'll do once the scouts catch up to him. But I'm definitely digging what he's doing now. There's a bunch of different unique and well known characters on this team like Lincecum and Sandoval. Andres Torres' name is, however, probably not as well known unless you follow the team. It's too bad cuz this team definitely wouldn't be where they are without him. He's not necessarily a power hitter, but with his speed and just balls out effort, he's just plain fun to watch. In general, I think he is most known for his speed. With that in mind, I wanted to do something along the lines of the Lincecum and Ichiro pieces I did earlier (below).

Since the Giants uniform doesn't sport the player's numbers in front, I wanted to do something where it would be easier to recognize Torres. I think watching him run, it's easy to notice that what he does with his hands is pretty unique. While he runs with a more upright posture, I wanted to exaggerate it a bit to emphasize a bit of aggression ... I think it looks cooler like this too. I also wanted to play with a bit of symbolism and added the wings to his shoes and lighting bolts coming off his hands. The wings on his shoes is a nod to Hermes of Greek mythology and the bolts of lightening is a nod to the DC Comics' Flash. Below is a breakdown of my tribute to Torres. Thanks for checking in!

lineart with some orange tints on the wings and bolts

flat colors and logos added - I think at this point, it would be good for shirt design just cuz of the flat/simple colors

shadows added - form starting to take shape

highlights added - at this stage I think the figure starts to look more dimensional

with the darker background added, it makes the figure with the highlights 'pop' that much more

and finally, to package it all nice and neat, I added the orange and black borders

next Giants related piece will most likely be Buster Posey ... I think ... or maybe Brian Wilson

Posey

2010-05-30T21:23:00.000-07:00

Been about a month - nothing really special since. Although I did get a chance to make it out to NYC and DC with the wife. Definitely like New York a lot. Seems like less hipsters and douchebags in NY than here in SF. DC was ok, very official and all that. But I really dig how a lot of those major museums are free - I think all museums should be free.

Went to my final spring show for the Academy of Art - to my surprise I got top honors (or something like that) in the graphic novel category! Fuckin blew my mind!! There were a couple of other entries that I thought was better, but hey, I'm not arguing! WoooHOOOO Since I didn't walk for graduation, I think this was a good way to finish off my time at the Academy.

Can't do much this Memorial Day weekend, been struck with a minor case of the flu - but wife and I did manage to go to the Giants game on Friday to watch the 2010 debut of Buster Posey. After two games, he went 6 for 9 with 4 RBIs WTF! In the flavor of the Obama campaign posters from Shepard Fairey and from hearing about how a teammate jokingly refers to him as 'Jesus', I had to do this image:

ROSSI

2010-04-21T15:42:00.000-07:00

Finally had some time to do a bit more than just post sketches here :)

I like motorcycles. I like watching motorcycle races, especially road racing. So, for me it's only natural that I draw motorcycles and motorcycle racers. While I appreciate photo realistic art of motorcycle racers, I feel that it doesn't necessarily capture the action and feel of a race. Not that I ever raced or been on a race bike at speeds, but it's pretty cool to see when a rider's braking hard into a turn or cranking it way the fuck over or even giving it a handful of gas - it's not hard to see movement and action from both the rider and machine. I think that's one of the more unique aspects of motorcycle racing in comparison with other motorsports - you can see the interaction between man and machine.

Anyways, I did a drawing of Noriyuki Haga last year and liked the way it came out so I decided to do a series of past and present moto racers. Naturally, I have to do one on Rossi, multi world champ.

I was looking for a good reference photo to work off from and this was the one I chose.

I first started with a rough sketch - trying to get down the general shapes and which parts to exaggerate and which parts to leave out - I think this is the more enjoyable stage cuz I can keep it loose and just doodle.

After the sketching is done, I go over it with clean lines.

Next, I colored the whole thing in one flat color. This way I can easily select which parts I want to work on in photoshop.

Add a bit more detail in the flatting stage. The most pain in the ass part here was Rossi's helmet. Goddamn details and shit.

Adding in more details with the logos. This was probably the most time consuming part. Used adobe illustrator and photoshop here.

Determined where the light source was and started filling in the shadows.

After the shadows are in, I add in the highlights.

And, here's the final - I think by the time this was completed, I had about 6 layers in photoshop. I try to keep the layer count as low as possible. Going to have prints of this and Haga and the others for sale soon - check back in if you're interested!

Next up: Mick Doohan, Joey Dunlop, and not sure but maybe Daijiro Katoh.

WonderCon 2010

2010-04-16T00:07:00.000-07:00

So my priority for this year's Wondercon, as in the years past, was to hopefully make new contacts and find some kinda freelance work. While I did make some contacts with IDW and Dark Horse Comics, I think the highlights of that weekend were some of the random conversations I had with established/old school artists.

On Thursday I attend a comic panel put on by the Academy of Art University. I was originally planning on attending the portfolio review with Marvel's CB Cebulski. But unfortunately the time was moved up about 6 hours and I didn't get wind of it. I was close to leaving but decided on staying for the panel. Good thing too because I ended up chatting with William Stout for a good half hour while waiting for the panel to start! Real cool and down to earth kinda guy. I don't remember how we got on the subject, but we were talking about Moebius (Jean Giraud) and I come to find that he knows Moebius on a personal level. I asked William if Jean Giraud was still working and he said that Moebius was still doing comics, but he's been in a kinda of self doubt funk lately. I was blown away ~ Moebius, self doubt??!! It's almost like hearing Michelangelo doubting his David sculpture ... well, maybe not to that extent, but you know what I mean. Either way, it was kinda refreshing to know that Moebius is human after all!

On Saturday morning I waited in line for a portfolio review from IDW's Bob Schreck. The review went well, but unfortunately they weren't looking for anyone at the moment. At least I walked away with his email and a positive review/feedback!

Sunday was a good day. Since I met and spoke with whomever I could on Friday and Saturday, Sunday was my day to poke around and see what's cool and new. I also went with intentions on getting some stuff signed by Dave Johnson, Geof Darrow, and Joe Kubert. Got all signatures fairly quickly since it was Easter Sunday and it was pretty dead in the morning. I ended up talking to Geoff Darrow for some time about baseball to politics. Real real cool guy.

Later on in the day, I went back to Joe Kubert's booth and asked him for some feedback on my portfolio. I didn't expect him to say 'yes' but figured I'd ask anyways. And damn, I'm very glad I did. Overall, I think he liked my stuff, but also said that there was a lot of improvement needed as well, especially in the story telling department. I believe that his feedback was one of the best critiques I've ever received. Seriously, that was the highlight of Wondercon 2010 for me!

as usual there was a huge line for Jim Lee at the DC booth

Wondercon 2010

shot of 501st Legion doing their group photos

who doesn't love a convention with stormtroopers!??!

Joe Kubert looking through my stuff ~ highlight of the whole weekend!

sketch of the con floor on Saturday late afternoon - took awhile, but it felt good to be off my feet!

Sketching

2010-04-07T22:29:00.000-07:00

Damn, so it's been awhile since I updated this blog. That's probably a good thing cuz I've been pretty busy with work ... paying work. Unfortunately, the payments been taking a bit longer to get to me than I'd like, but at least I know I have income! Getting paid to draw is seriously one of the better 'jobs' to have ... I can't complain cuz at least I'm not mining for shit 18 hours a day!

Since completing my masters program in Dec 2009, I've been freelancing full time. I actually haven't had a 'regular' job since 2005 (about when I started my masters program.) My commute now is roughly 10 feet from bed to work space. Not bad. But, I have to admit I get stir crazy sometimes. I'm not holed up in my house getting all fat and pasty since I still run with my dogs and practice kung fu on Fridays, but I rarely see friends and have down time like I used to. Spending so much time at home isn't healthy, especially since my two co-workers are two dogs and I feel my tenuous grip on social interactions is rapidly slipping away. This month I've been trying a bit more to get out and get away from my table a bit more. I've rediscovered the joys of sketching as well. Sketching people, dogs, buildings or whatever has become relaxing for me. Drawing with no purpose is a nice outlet. The following are a few sketches from the past couple of months.

WonderCon, this past weekend, was a blast! I'll post some more of this next time.

4-1-2010 head study workshop with Craig Marshall, 20 minute pose

3-21-2010 moto sketch session at Tosca's in San Francisco's North Beach area

3-28-2010 sketch after a 4 mile run to fort mason, san francisco

3-20-2010 early evening on a Saturday, nice lighting made some silhouettes out of the power/telephone(?) lines and it looked pretty cool to sketch ... oh yeah i was doing this in the car with my two dogs when i was backed into ... nothing happened ... but really wtf

random doodle - was thinking of Moebius

paul pope at the cartoon art museum (san francisco, 3/18/2010) did a quick sketch of the artist and he later signed it too!

3-19-2010 fridays are my one day i know for sure every week i will be able to leave the house/work - wing chun is a good relaxing/rewarding way to spend an evening ... i've been doing this for only 3 years, and the more i learn, the more i understand why things like this is called martial arts; - the principles are a lot like those of the visual arts

anyhow, here's a few gesture sketches of one of the guys working on the wooden dummy

quick doodle during the premiere of The Pacific - i like war movies, not sure why but i like the silhouettes of soldiers

Moto Sketch

2010-02-22T20:54:00.000-08:00

Went out last night (2/21/10) to Tosca Cafe for their first ever 'Moto Sketch' night and had a blast sketching and catching up with some folks. I think, despite the rain and a very wet ride to the bar, the turn out was pretty good. From what I was hearing they're going to put this on about once a month, but I don't think they have a set day planned out yet. Either way, Sundays is 'Moto Sundays' at Tosca and they host something motorcycle related - way cool.

Heads and stuff ...

2010-01-28T18:11:00.000-08:00

12.19.09 - san francisco > ino sushi in japantown, wife and i went out out to celebrate my completion of grad school ... this place is by far one of the best sushi places we've ever eaten at, in the states at least. Anyhow the sushi chef (sketch) is pretty old school and a lively character, hopefully we'll be going back soon

1.3.10 - honolulu > starbucks on kalakaua and kapahulu ... people watching and getting some a/c

1.3.10 - honolulu >　tokkuri-tei izakaya とっくり亭　one of the chefs on the left and a tonkatsu ginza bairin chef on the left. the izakaya was ok, i think i liked the atmosphere more than the food. the tonkatsu place was pricey but very good ... basically fatty pork, how can u go wrong there!?

1.6.10 - honolulu > ono hawaiian foods, i think this is one of our (wife and i) favorite spots, low key, unpretentious, and just plain good ... i think the guy (sketch) was the owner with his wife ... the sketch of the girl has nothing to do with anything ... just a brain fart

1.6.10 - honolulu > starbucks and hilton kuhio, the guy on the right side in dark ink was trying fairly hard to get the starbucks barista to give him her number ... kinda sad but entertaining

Urban Sketches 3

2010-01-21T00:55:00.000-08:00

Recently finished grad school (MFA illustration) in Dec 09. Overall, I think it was a real good experience and that there's no way I would have been able to improve as much as I have in the same amount of time without formal instruction. Anyhow, here's a few sketches from class when I should have been paying attention ...

12.2.09 - san francisco > portrait painting class, the face on the left side was a profile of a classmate from another class

12.9.09 - san francisco > portrait painting class, one of the better painters in the class

12.18.09 - san francisco > last day of class/school - decided to sketch the view from the classroom

Urban Sketches 2

2010-01-19T18:38:00.000-08:00

In September 2009, my wife and I was in San Antonio, Texas for one of her work trips. I think if it weren't for these trips, San Antonio would have been one of those places that we would not have actively planned on visiting. But in the end, I'm glad we went. At least for the touristy Riverwalk area, it was very scenic and fun.

9.25.09 - san antonio, tx > riverwalk area

9.26.09 - san antonio, tx > buckhorn saloon - this bar/museum was pretty cool, it had wall to wall mounted heads of all sorts of animals ~ it was the first time i have ever had a beer and sketched animals from "life"

9.25.09 - san antonio, tx > the alamo was pretty cool especially with all the historical models, photos, etc

Urban Sketches 1

2010-01-18T21:26:00.000-08:00

Now that I've completed school (Dec 09), I finally have some time to scan in and post up some images from my sketch book. Usually, when I'm traveling, I'll most likely have a camera with me (for reference photos), but if time permits, I like to sit and sketch on the spot. I think there's a certain attitude/vibe that can come across a sketch that a photograph cannot capture ~

Some of these sketches are old. I'll eventually upload to the most recent doodles.

12.28.07 - over the course of a couple of days from the view of our hotel room in tokyo ... i think we were in the aoyama area ... naomi and i were there for a friend's wedding, and whenever we got back to the hotel to rest up, i just added bits and pieces to it ... i think it also helped ease some nerves as this was also during the time i asked naomi's father for permission - as well as propose to her new years eve!

3.11.08 - new york > east 47th and lexington

5.30.08 - chicago > wabash and randolf

11.30.08 and 12.1.08 - both sketches done in siena, italy > agriturisimo marciano

12.24.08 - mazatlan, mexico > sketched from cruise ship

12.28.08 - rough seas off the coast of baja mexico, i think > not sure if this was a real good idea in the end since i ended up getting sea sick sketching this

8.22.09 - oahu > diamond head and waikiki beach

BMW Motorcycles of San Francisco

2009-10-06T22:32:00.000-07:00

So I went by BMW Motorcycles of San Francisco today to check out the shirts I designed for them.

In preparation for next year's release of the BMW S1000RR street bike, I was contracted to do a shirt design celebrating the new bike as well as incorporating San Francisco in the design. The San Francisco part is just to separate the BMW dealership from the other BMW shops. After all, why not pimp out the fact that this is just a fucking awesome city?!!

Anyhow I'm very happy about the way it turned out - swing by their shop and check em out!

I think they're also considering putting the drawing into a poster kinda thing too - :D

front and back of shirt

design for shirt

wow time flies ...

2009-08-31T21:18:00.000-07:00

So it appears that the last time I checked in here was about 4 1/2 months ago ... it's been a real busy summer for school and work. That's a good thing for sure since if it wasn't busy, I'd just be wasting away! Anyways lets see ... a quick recap from May to now:

One of my dogs (Franco), was sniffing around my desk area and I assume that he somehow got caught up in the ac adapter wire leading to my external hard drive, and accidentally pulled the hard drive off the table and fell 3 feet to the hard wood floor - basically destroying the internals (I've tried to send it out for a data recovery with no luck. Of course, losing approximately 400 gbs of data hurts, but luckily I was able to find alot of my work that I've sent over emails or files that I've left on flash drives. But, a lot of my source files from the past year is gone. That's not even the worst part - a lot of my files that I've been building up for my final project for graduation was also lost and some of them were 100% digital which of course means that if I did not email it or save it anywhere else, then I'm fucked. Luckily, some of my work is still done with ink on bristol board, which I can scan back in. That was a major blow to start off the summer. I don't believe in omens and all that, but if I did, that woulda been a real bad omen!

Aside from that speed bump, the summer went by well and quick. For school, I worked with two great artists with two completely different styles. Unfortunately one of the them was diagnosed with cancer at the start of the summer semester so we had to adjust our schedules around his chemotherapy and appointments ~ some real eye opening shit ... kinda makes one think twice on how much stuff one should accomplish before moving on.

Anyways, work-wise I've been fairly busy these past few months. I think one of the more unique projects I was involved in was for Versus.com (http://www.versus.com/graphicnovel#) with Walden Wong, and Norman Lee. I did the pencils, Walden inked, and Norman colored - similar to a comic book production team. Deadlines were a pain, but overall it was fun and different (we worked on episodes 3,4,6,7, and 8)!

I'll post up some detailed processes of some of my recent works soon - but for now here's some images I did these past few months:

digital painting of Marco Polo for SPICE (Stanford Program on International and Cross Cultural Education)

digital painting of Vasco de Gama's ship for SPICE (Stanford Program on International and Cross Cultural Education)

digital painting of a seated buddha for SPICE (Stanford Program on International and Cross Cultural Education)

this was actually completed last year, but this plaque was finally produced and installed in Osaka, Japan in July 09 - client: San Francisco Osaka Sister City Association

unveiling of plaque in Osaka ~ wish I coulda been there!

pencil work for "Epic Cycle" on versus.com (http://www.versus.com/graphicnovel) - this segment was for episode 7pencil work for "Epic Cycle" on versus.com (http://www.versus.com/graphicnovel) - this segment was for episode 7

this segment was for episode 6

establishing shot of Monaco - this segment was for episode 6

- this segment was for episode 8

pencil work for "Epic Cycle" on versus.com (http://www.versus.com/graphicnovel)

establishing shot of an accident scene in episode 6

lance armstrong in the lead

pencil work for "Epic Cycle" on versus.com (http://www.versus.com/graphicnovel)

a canceled project ~ brown ink on toned paper

gouache on illustration board for Kazu Sano's narrative illustration class

digital illustration for Kazu Sano's narrative illustration class

ink on bristol board for Kazu Sano's narrative illustration class

ink on bristol board for Kazu Sano's narrative illustration class - concept was based on Hemingway's "A Movable Feast" - photo reference from Eugène Atget

ink on bristol board for Kazu Sano's narrative illustration class - concept was based on the song "Ohio" by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young

digital illustration for garment design for BMW Motorcycles of San Francisco

Nice, France

2009-05-13T21:54:00.000-07:00

I was browsing through some of my art books about a month ago and I came across some traditional pen and ink artists around the turn of the century. I am sure I favor the black and white ink drawings much more than any other style. Not sure what it is about the ink drawings I like, but there's just something amazing about turning black or white lines into something that has depth, atmosphere, and all that. Painting with black lines ~

After getting a healthy dose of inspiration from those books, I decided that I wanted to do a personal side project and do a straight pen & ink drawing. So much of the stuff I do for work is computer based, and while it is practical for me to work on the computer, I do miss that 'old' feel of the pen nib scratching the surface of paper.

Anyhow, I went through some pics of my honeymoon in France and Italy with the wife and found something from Nice, France. One morning I went out for a run in Nice. From where we were staying, it was a quick jog to the beach area. But, as soon as I turned onto the street where the beach was, I was blown away at the beauty of that sunrise and region. The next morning I took a camera with me to take a few snapshots. One of the snapshots was this scene of a fisherman on the beach silhouetted by the glare of the waters. Really really cool. So, I used that photo as a reference for the drawing below. Since it was one of our favorite spots of our honeymoon, I gave the drawing to my wife. I hope I can go back there one day ... not a bad way to spend some time!

one of the shots I was considering using

did I mention the view wasn't half bad?

and finally the photo I settled on using ...

work in progress ~ I tried to keep taking pics of the stages I was going through, but I kept forgetting ...
maybe on the next one ...

and the final drawing ~ 12.125"x16.125" on Arches watercolor block - hot press

Works in Progress ...

2009-04-13T18:18:00.000-07:00

Here's 5 out of a planned 37 pages of a short story I'm currently working on for class ... Initially I wasn't sure if it would remain in black and white or use a limited palette, but I'm leaning towards the black and white. There's something about black and white ink works that I dig.

At 37 pages, this'll be the longest single story I've worked on ... I hope I can pull it off!

page 1

page 2

page 3

page 4

page 5

Sketches ...

2009-03-31T23:59:00.001-07:00

Usually when I'm taking my online course and when we have to watch a video on whatever topic, I usually try to make the most of my time and sketch. I have two screens so on one screen, I'll have the video playing and the other, I'll have Corel Painter on, full screen and just doodle - It's relaxing and refreshing just to draw and not have to worry about how it'll turn out. Drawing for the sake of drawing is fun ...

Whenever I feel like the work for clients may be a bit dry, I'll usually try to do something for myself ... sort of like a "one for them, one for me ..." kinda thing. Most of these will stay as sketches, but I think there are some that I want to take and polish it up a bit.

Sketching on the computer can be a bit more refreshing in that since you can erase anything with a couple of clicks, I feel less restricted. But I also sketch in my sketch books when possible ... I still like the feel of paper and pen!

World SuperBike!!!

2009-03-16T21:32:00.000-07:00

So a couple of weeks ago was the first round of World Superbikes in Melbourne, Australia - Phillip Island. I'd much prefer to see Noriyuki Haga on the Yamaha, but he was pretty fucking awesome on the Duc. I'm happy that it's motorcycle racing season again! So happy in fact, it inspired the following drawing! I posted the step by step process - Enjoy :D
started off with a blueline sketch to get the overall angle and feel cleaned up with some black line work in Corel Painterflat colors placed in Photoshop
sponsor logos added (most time consuming part)shadows added

highlights added (satisfying part)

And here's the final - HAGA 09!!!

Page 1 of 37! damn ...

2009-03-09T20:13:00.000-07:00

Here's a three step process for page 1 of my graphic novel project. Doesn't look like it yet, but it's another moto related story. Haven't quite figured out yet if it'll be in full color, limited palette, or black and white.

Anyways, it's thumbed out to 37 pages at the moment - maybe I'll cut down as I go, but I already took out about 4 pages off the original script.

Thumbnail was originally about 3"x5"

Blueline drawn onto 11"x17" 2-ply bristol board

Ink on bristol board 11"x17"

Add some final touches in Photoshop and lettering in Illustrator, and 36 more pages, this story should be a wrap!

2009-02-19T20:59:00.000-08:00

I was going through some old drawings to revive and I found a bunch of sketches for the Muay Thai drawing I did a year or so ago. I think these sketches of the fighters show how much I wanted to make sure that the drawing worked well overall. I borrowed a Muay Thai book from a friend to look up some kicking styles and all the mechanics involved. I think there are tons of drawings out there that show fighters hitting or kicking or whatever, each other, but I feel as if a lot of those don't have impact. Like, I see the fist hitting the face, but the rest of the body isn't reacting to the act of hitting or getting hit. I think with body mechanics, a kick or punch will affect what the rest of the body is doing. From the actual fist or foot doing the kicking to the facial expressions to the stance, everything should look connected.

The first few sketches were done in my sketchbook - I was trying to figure out how to position the feet and how it'll look with foreshortening.

So with that in mind, I sketched over and over how to best show impact, anatomy, and composition and all that fun stuff. Looking at the final piece now, I can see there are things that I would've done differently, and I think, better. But, as with these things, I don't want to be stuck revising and revising over and over ... maybe my A.D.D. is kicking in or some shit, but gotta move on!

Anyhow, I played around with different poses and eventually settled on one that I thought would've worked best. After I got the figures down, I took some tracing vellum and played around with different styles of inking - at this point I wasn't sure how I'd color it, traditional or digital. In the end, I decided to go digital, as it was quicker and I also wanted to try out some stuff in photoshop.

While I was working out the details of their boxing trunks and stuff, I was also trying to figure out background and how detailed I wanted it. A few years ago I did a similar theme in charcoal - but the details were real limited and it didn't have the sense of authenticity I was looking for with this one. The perspective and everything was all off - didn't want to make the same mistakes:

Did this a few years back - charcoal on 18x24 drawing paper

In the end, I went with some banners and shit to make make the surrounds a bit more authentic. I looked for photos of the interior of Lumpini Stadium, but didn't find anything that I could've used, so I just made up the backdrop from a mix of references. The writing I looked up and had a friend double check to make sure I wasn't completely off. I also added the IBerry ice cream franchise logo as well as the Vespa logo (in Thai).

Overall, I'm pretty happy with it - I may do another along the same lines, but nothing really planned yet. Need inspiration!

And here's the final final -

Moto Blah Blah 2

2009-02-17T13:46:00.000-08:00

Just adding the final touches on the 2nd strip I've done for Moto Blah Blah. The first one was published in Urban Moto Magazine in their Feb 2009 issue. Yay!

Oh yeah, here's the first one:
I think these'll be added to my anthology on motorcycles when all the other short stories have been completed. I like this format because I'm not limited to what kind of topics I can cover, in regard to motorcycles and what I've seen. And also, it gives me a chance to draw my friends in whatever way it pleases me! hahahahhHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA

sorry - no ... not really

L William's R1

2009-02-12T23:23:00.000-08:00

Scanning through the web a few days ago, I came across a picture of a friend on his race bike. The photo of Lance can be found here.

I liked the flow of his dreads and the helmet and the Yamaha R1 - so I decided to do a cartoon of it. I wanted to exaggerate the actions of the rider and bike. But after sketching everything out, I realized that the graphics on the bike he was on was a bit boring - so I looked around for something a bit catchier. I looked up some shots of ex-Yamaha rider Noriyuki Haga's old R1. Thought this would've been a bit more cooler.

So here's the final piece:
I had fun with this, I think I'll try to do a few more. Maybe some of Mick Doohan, J Dunlop, and whoever else ...

Here's the few steps, from sketch to final to get to the finished drawing:

Step 1) Sketch
Step 2) Cleaned up line work
Step 3) Color flats
Step 4) Adding on logos and coloring in helmet
Step 5) Adding on shadows
Step 6) Adding on highlights

Been Awhile!

2009-02-08T10:36:00.001-08:00

It's been a long long while since I've updated this blog - I think the last post was about me bitching about Palin - fuck that's been awhile!

All in all 2008 was one helluva roller coaster ride! In short, from new years 2007-2008 I proposed to Naomi in a smokey nite club in Tokyo (she said yes). My grandmother went in and out of the hospital around March and May - thats where Naomi and I found out that she learned English in Burma during the British occupation (wow). Dad got diagnosed with prostate cancer. Grandma finally passed away in June 08 ... or was it July?

Oh yeah I did these plaques for Japantown, funded by the Japanese Chamber of Commerce - they liked it at the beginning ... until they found out that I used personal references to make up the details of the plaques. So, if you're in Japantown and see 3 round plaques in the Peace Plaza, there's a calculator that once had the numbers 10.11.2008 which stood for our wedding date at that plaza - but now, it's been changed to something else ... among other things. Personally I think its a waste of money to completely replace that plaque because of those numbers ... but hey, who am I to judge - it's their money and they ought to know better than I how to priortize their spending!

Moving on ...

Finally got married at the Peace Plaza on October 11, 2008 - Here's a link to some of the photos from that day. Wedding Photos

Photos by Loic Nicolas

A few days after the wedding was my 30th birthday, but I because of the wedding and all that (oh yeah I forgot to metion that I had one HELLUVA bachelor's party - thanks people) I wasn't feeling up to partying much. But Naomi and I took the dogs a short excursion out to Carmel for a couple of days. Not as relaxing as I wanted but it was still very cool.

at sunset on a beach in Carmel

day trip to Monterey

Naomi at sunset - pretty huh?

Then we settled down for a bit - til about mid November where we started on our honeymoon vacation - fly in Paris > fly out Rome in three weeks ... AWESOME. Pics here and here.

Came back to San Francisco in early December ... rested for a bit - got re-acquainted with the dogs and then drove down to L.A. for a cruise with Naom's parents to Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan, and Cabo San Lucas. In a span of two months, we went from the French Riviera, to the Italian Riviera, and finally to the Mexican Riviera - whewww ... that was fun.

just got done snorkeling in Cabo - Mama stayed on the boat that day

Finally, we got back home a couple of days before the new year - which we spent quietly at home.

2008 was a roller coaster for sure, but in the end, it wouldn't be a life worth living if it weren't for the ups and downs!

Political Blah Blah Blah

2008-09-15T00:32:00.000-07:00

Aside from thinking/getting ready for the upcoming wedding ... 26 days to go ... I've been reading a decent amount of news on the whole Palin/McCain campaign.

What the fuck are people thinking? Why the fuck is Palin shit attracting so much fucking attention? When she talks, she seems a bit smarter than GW ... but only a bit. Then again, my ass sounds smarter than Bush so that's not saying much. In the end, did people forget that we're primarily voting for the presidency? What a fucking muppet.

Anyways - since this McCain/Palin thing started, I've been also reading up on some political cartoons. I've always, liked them, but never really appreciated it - until now. It looks so simple but yet it can pack a punch! Comics uses words and pictures to tell a story, long, short whatever ... political cartoons uses the same tools, but it's intentions is to grab one's attention, deliver a message, and if possible be funny all at the same time and within seconds of reading it. Very fucking cool - and can be very powerful as well. So with all those fucking networks covering bullshit stories that cater to fucking imbeciles - I thought I'd at least like to air out my frustrations through some political cartoons of my own - here's one I did this week.

Napa Valley Museum

2008-08-16T18:24:00.000-07:00

This past Friday, the 15th of August, my fiance and I attended an opening reception at the Napa Valley Museum. From now until mid-September there's a special exhibit on the art of manga.

About late June or early July, I submitted a print to the Nichi Bei Times manga cover art contest. The winner of the contest had their print grace the cover of the Nichi Bei's manga issue. Unfortunately I did not get 1st place, but, I did get second. Anyhow, all the finalists were invited to submit up to 4 pieces to show at the Napa Valley Museum's exhibit on manga art.

Honestly, I can't say that my stuff is really manga-like, but then again not all manga art has to have big eyes and all that does it?

Each print submitted by the artist was to be auctioned off and about half the proceeds would go to the museum. It's still a bit strange, but very cool to see my work on walls. Anyhow here's the four pieces I submitted:

Random Blah Blah Blah

2008-08-10T11:26:00.000-07:00

Sunday morning, Naomi went Chinese dress shopping for our upcoming wedding, just finished taking out the trash and finally started getting to work. USA vs China basketball's on, but I'm paying about half attention. China's not doing to well ... 68 - 48 in the 3rd. I many ways, I'd actually like to see China win. I could care less about the NBA and all those overpaid bitches - so I'd actually like to see them lose ... it probably won't happen, but then again, I like to cheer for the underdogs!

http://www.olympic.org

Yesterday's SF Giants game vs the Dodgers was absolutely one of the best home games this year - surprise appearance by Barry Bonds (strategic appearance), good exciting ball game with the Giants on top, 3-2. The Giants are far from going into the post season, but, when all else fails, beat L.A.!

Just finished a logo job for Dirty Dave's coffee roasting machine. Dave's an absolute madman and his coffee roaster has produced some of the best coffee I've hever had PERIOD. I'm not too picky about food, usually whatever fills me up is fine, but seriously, Dave's roaster makes some bombass roasts.

When Dave asked me to work on this logo, he specified that he wanted the logo to have a Rockwell Kent look to it. Rockwell was a woodcut artist around the turn of the century. This was the first "woodcut" looking work I've ever done, and it was actually pretty fun. Maybe I'll look into putting this to other applications!

Ok - back to work - beat L.A.!

Napa Valley Museum

2008-08-04T11:50:00.000-07:00

From August 15 to September 14, 2008, the Napa Valley Museum, in collaboration with the Nichi Bei Times, will present "Manga & Anime: An Exhibition of Popular Cartoon Art" at the Napa Valley Museum, 55 Presidents Circle in Yountville, Calif.

In July I submitted an illustration that was runner up to a manga contest held by the Nichi Bei Times. The winner and runner ups and past winners were all invited to submit about 4 pieces each to this exhibit in Napa. Should be pretty fun.

I'm not exactly sure what the boundaries are of exactly what manga or anime art is. I suppose if you want to generalize you can say that manga has to have characters with big eyes and all that. But I don't think that's a fair measure of manga art. After all, not all manga has characters with eyes that take up half of the head!

Anyhow - if you guys are in the area swing by and check it out - If I remember right, my submissions to the museum are pretty PG rated ... I think ...

First post ...

2008-07-29T23:30:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my blog of random drawings, photos, and ramblings - please feel free to drop any comments, insults, or whatever pleases you -

Anyways - today, Tuesday, I had a fairly busy morning - met with Dirty Dave to discuss an upcoming project that seems very very interesting. I never knew much about how coffee is roasted, and I still don't know much, but Dave showed me one of his latest creations and as I sit and write this, I am drinking some of the best goddamn coffee I've ever had. Check out some of his past work:http://dirtydavecustoms.com

After meeting with Dave - I had a few wedding errands to run throughout the city. There's something truly fun about bombing through downtown and hearing the exhaust bounce off those shi shi buildings.

My final stop in the city was at the Japanese Cultural Center in Jtown. Had to grab some work related paperwork for their annual event booklet I'm putting together for them.

I picked up the latest issue of Giant Robot, the one with the James Jean cover and article - some interesting shit. Check it out - http://www.giantrobot.com/