Countdown: 6 more days to my iphone 3GS! I know EVERYONE knows what an iphone looks like, but because I am so attracted to pretty iphone pictures...



There =D A pretty iphone picture on my very own journal! So, Alex has already gotten his, and all that's holding ME back is my contract with my mobile service provider, that ends 6 days later. In the meantime, I'm looking for an application that'll allow me to post comments, pictures etc to LiveJournal via the iphone. If anyone knows of an app that does so, please let me know =D

Here's a new page for Bedazzled! For more, please visit my comic site at smackjeeves =3

I realize I haven't mentioned much at all about my webcomics, so here's a summary of the 3 current comics that I'm working on (or am having on hiatus). In order of age:

1. Let Me Die

summary: Yako is a shy, awkward schoolgirl who is secretly proud of her large bust. Akatora is a violent yakuza bodyguard, in love with his male charge Masae. Yako has a huge crush on Masae, but Akatora always seems to get in the way.

Will Yako, geek extraordinaire and closet libertine, charm the big bad AND gay yakuza bodyguard (with the aid of her secretly prided assets) in order to get to her precious first crush?

genre: Romance, Drama, Real life

2. Sabbat & Maina

summary: When Maina (occult expert and self proclaimed witch-hunter) sees Sabbat, the mysterious new member of her brother's band, hanging his laundry butt naked in the moonlight, she is convinced that he is a witch, and is determined to hunt him down.

Except that Sabbat is far from just a witch. In fact, he is far from anything that Maina could have possibly imagined.

A tale of a neurotic and rather lazy Demon Lord who has fallen from grace (and somehow into disgrace), and a self-proclaimed witch-hunting schoolgirl who is convinced that he is a witch and is determined to witch-hunt him down.

genre: Fantasy, Romance, Humour

3. Bedazzled

summary: What will Sayuri do when she finds out by accident that the rich, gorgeous and bitchy hostess her ex-boyfriend keeps flaunting in front of her, is actually...a man?

genre: Real life, Romance, Humour

Updates, updates! I've just (semi) recovered from a one day bout of Gastric Flu - I swear it's the most horrible, nastiest household virus ever. I was hit yesterday at work, and I practically crawled home in pain and agony (from the constant painful spasms in my abdomen). Spent the day alternating between curled up in bed, and curled up by the toilet bowl. I made a total of 2 visits to 2 different doctors, before Mum finally dragged me down for a 3rd visit and demand that the doc gave me a shot of Bacophan. Needless to say, that was blessed relief! Because I was throwing up so much that whatever medication I took in simply came out again. I am now a huge fan of jabs <3

So. Am still attempting to sort out the stuff that I want to post in my LJ. Whether I should stick to a regular 'Manga Review' update schedule, while posting updates to my comics sporadically, or if I should do it the other way round @_@ On one hand, I have just so much thoughts regarding certain Manga I've read. On the other hand, I want this to be a blog where I can talk about my own webcomics :( Have no idea how I should take this V_V;

edited: because I've decided that the roughs are a little too fugly to bear x3

Title: Holyland
Artist: MORI Kouji
Genre: Seinen, action, martial arts
Rating: 10/10
Read it: http://www.89890.com/comic/4507/l (chinese raws)
Synopsis: In between the realm of children and adults, there lies a place called Holyland. Abandoned by the world, only violence and shattered laws exist. And in Holyland, Kamishiro Yuu, a boy who has lost his place in his own world, is forced to fight to survive.

( Warning: Contains spoilers. Click to view. )

Procrastination will be the death of me, but what's new. I have several hours on hand before Alex comes over. What I should be doing is getting new pages for Let Me Die done. What I end up doing, is writing this post on LJ, and reading the journals of other manga artists scattered over LJ. Rivkah for one -  very amazing, inspiring person! She removed her journal for a short while recently, and I had a major panic attack because I always, ALWAYS read and re-read her journal posts for inspiration when I'm feeling dry and out of sorts. I'm just so glad that she's back now <3. 

I realize that every time I want to start on my drawings, I end up opening that damned firefox browser window; next thing I know, I'll be surfing, playing silly games, doing whatever except drawing O___O Bad girl! There really has to be a way to stop all this procrastination. I do have a theory - it's because I'm avoiding. I'm more often stuck than not when I'm drawing, and I want to avoid that, because I hate the feeling of being stuck @_@

Title: 《无论我在或不在》 / Watashi ga Itemo Inakutemo
Artist: Ikuemi Ryou
Genre: Shoujo
Rating: 6/10
Read it: comic.fxdm.net/comic-name-id-1780.html (chinese raws)
Synopsis: On her way to a part-time job, 18 year old Shouko Abe bumps into an old high school acquaintance, Maki, now a popular shoujo manga artist. Unlike Maki though, Shouko is unable to hold onto a steady job. When she is suddenly fired from her job, she is at a total loss, until she receives a phone call from Maki.....(source: http://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=11788 )

Review: The truth often hurts. 'Watashi ga Itemo Inakutemo', a softly told slice of life piece by Ikuemi Ryou (author of Honey Bunny) shows it to us in subtle, but constant dosages.

Like many slice of life stories, we follow the characters in WGII on a constant journey of self-discovery. A hapless highschool graduate with a low sense of self-worth, a bumbling, lonely playboy, a haphazard manga artist, her highly talented yet emotionless boyfriend are the main cast of the story. These are people you would pass by on the streets without batting an eyelid. Indeed, this seems to be a key device in this comic - ordinariness so stark, it jumps out and doesn't really let go until the last page. There are no hyperactive divas, no madcap chases, and barely a plot to speak of. Instead, what arrested me were the simple truths of human nature, revealed through the eyes of Shouko Abe. That in real life, we don't always get that cute chap we've been eyeing for the longest time; that words are never taken at face value, and being nice puts you at the risk of being marked a hypocrite.

WGII may be relatively low on the romance factor, but read it if you are one of those who are in constant pursuit of life's truths. Don't expect a happily ever after, because in real life there seldom are happy endings, and closures, and Ikuemi Ryou, ever ruthless in his gentle drawings, tells that to us very firmly. What you can look out for though, is friendship, warm and pure, at the most unexpected of times and true strength and courage drawn from within, to face these painful truths of reality.

Since this is my first post, I thought I'd write abit about how it all began.

Candy Candy was the very first manga that I got my fat grubby fingers on. Way back when I had just graduated from toddlerhood and I could barely read, (the manga was published in Mandarin, back then) the frilly, dream-like world of Japanese manga, with its beautifully drawn characters, overwhelming presence of decorative flowers and bubbles, and its ever romantic nature, grabbed me instantly. I marvelled at how stories unfolded together with the beautiful drawings. I think I was already bored to death with snow-whites and sleeping beauties and all the princesses and princes and wicked witches. Candy Candy appealed to me in a way fairytales didn't - it was real and it was tangible.

From there on, my obsession with manga took a slow but steady progress. In the late 80's and early 90's, (or maybe because I was just a kid) manga wasn't as readily accessible. Those that were commonplace were Dragonball (an older cousin donated to me his entire Dragonball collection but mother threw them out T__T) and Doraemon, and some Taiwanese and Hong Kong comics.

Then, the manga era boomed to life with a vibrant roar in the mid 90's beginning with the Sailormoon anime that was aired on TV. Manga shops sprang all over the place and I soaked in the manga atmosphere greedily. I would spend 3/4 of my daily allowance on a book or two each day faithfully, accumulating to shelves and shelves of manga - Inuyasha, Fushigi Yuugi, City Hunter, Tokyo Juliet.

It was during that period when I began drawing manga. Truthfully, I could churn out a page a day of not-so-bad looking manga. I drew manga in class, I drew manga while watching TV, I drew manga during my exams. My stories were mostly cliche though, and there were many starts but middles and ends were never to be seen. (My very first male protagonist was a tall, blonde stud with waist length hair, who tended a dessert shop. The second, was another tall blonde stud who wore a long skirt and tight pants, and was from outer space. Far out, eh.)

Somewhere in the middle though, I lost track of drawing manga when I discovered a love for CG, which is another story for another day. It wasn't several years after I'd graduate from an art school and began working fulltime as a professional CG artist/graphics designer, did I rediscover my love for drawing manga (a few months ago, to be precise.) And so here I am now, with the manga drawing pencil - or rather a wacom tablet and photoshop - in my hands and a hopefully lasting passion for my beloved manga.