Children Killing Games -- BR

I think my Facebook Status really sums up what happened:

So, I watched Hunger Games. 

And then I had the urge to rewatch Battle Royale. So, I did.
And then I had the urge to rewatch Battle Royale II. So, I did.

What I realized:
1.) BR II is a hideously ridiculous movie. I think it was meant to make a controversial point, and maybe even be inspirational...but I was, "oh. so uhm. who died again? Do I need to care at this point?" 
2.) I ship Shuya + Noriko....a... lot. Why?

Happy News!  I'm taking Illustration again!  In this class we do a lot of pen & ink work. To ease my way back to pen & ink I decided to do some BR fan art in this particular media:

Red! RED! So much REDDddddd!!
Shuya and Noriko had a certain subtle and beautiful chemistry, in my opinion, that shined through the blood bath.

I find Fujiwara Tatsuya (Shuya Nanahara) to be very beautiful but I find him so difficult to draw!  My mind keeps on telling me that his face is a very flatly smooshed egg, and my hands can't seem to comprehend what my mind is relaying.  This was my third attempt to draw him but UGH. So, I splashed red ink on his face.  I think by the time I got to Maeda Aki (Noriko Nakagawa) I think I got a little bit of hang of what I was doing with the pen & ink and I assess that she looks "decent".  

PS- I liked Hunger Games movie, it has its own charms but I think Battle Royale is still the better made movie.  I also don't think Hunger Games "ripped off" Battle Royale, despite the eerie similarity of their premises, mostly because of the attitudes of the main characters and the feelings I felt when watching the movies.  When I watched Hunger Games, I felt a slight feeling of hope and excitement; while with Battle Royale I felt despair, sadness, and a great anger (there might have been a feeling of hope somewhere but ...).

CYMK minus the K Streaks on Puppy Love.

I was trying to figure out which ink cartridge didn't have ink and little did I know what kind of surprise the paper feeder was planning...

Rain.  Pouring Rain of Color.  Look at that rain go.

...yes.  The printer printed over an original sketch.  One I quite liked, I must add.  I'm actually not that upset over it because it seems to look cooler.

What the original looked like:

You know y'all had that  much older person crush when you were little. No? Just me? 

Beauty and the Beast and the Lurker

So, I have an unhealthy obsession over CW's  Beauty and the Beast.  Like, excessively unhealthy. I say this because the show is actually not very good, it kind of has terrible writing. But, it is my guilty pleasure because of the Chemistry between Jay Ryan(The beast, aka Vincent Keller) and Kristen Kreuk(The beauty, aka Catherine "Cat" Chandler) is so very delicious. It seems that the writers are heads over heels in love with Vincent and Cat that they put all their fan girl energy into writing Vincent/ Cat scenes and then slack off when writing the rest of the show.  Naturally, as a fangirl I wanted to draw fan art and so I did:

Lurker Rie is watching you eat...

In fan art, I generally like to insert myself in the fandom because well it's funny.  I mean, c'mon, fat Asian girl being so out of place....you have to laugh! On other terms, I started this fan art in Thanksgiving and didn't finish it until 2013 rolled in -- this is my explanation for the turkey. SO BELATED OR SUPER DUPER EARLY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE.

Playin' at the Weddin'

I've been a bit preoccupied with my friend's wedding and reception. Her wedding was at Las Vegas but her wedding reception was in California two days later, so it's been a pretty eventful few days.  One of my unrealistic dreams is to travel around to various places and leave my artwork behind.  My way of creating footprints in this world.  Anyway, I kind of got to do that at my friend's wedding events.

At Las Vegas, we went to The Cosmopolitan for their buffet, Wicked Spoon. I like to play with food but I generally don't because I like food a little too much, I even eat my friend's leftovers.  However, at this buffet, I was too full so I started to play with my friend's leftover Gelato.  It was fun.

"I'm gooey and happy"

My friend's wedding theme was Paris so she had these little Eiffel Tower Name cardholder, so obviously I had to do this at the wedding reception:

'Cuz an Eiffel Tower  is not complete without some random town with a Godzilla in a tutu rampaging it.

Here's a clearer shot with flash, but not as warm and fuzzy:

I intended to draw a French village and then it morphed into some weird town with random requests from my friends.

Materials: notecards, Copic Markers, Copic Multiliner pen.

Happy New Year's, y'all!!

Merry 2012 Christmas...

...I'm writing this post in between daily chores, creativity went out the window. That is my explanation for the lack of cheery Christmas-y creativity and template-like title.

Anyway, here is some retro Rie-art that I downloaded from my own deviantart. Look at that date, THAT DATE.  This drawing is a decade old, A DECADE.  I feel old.

So typically manga-tactic.  Avoiding drawing hands by making them conveniently disappear...somewhere....under.....the.....bear?

BE SAFE, Y'ALL...and have fun, doing all those great Christmas-y stuff.

Little Zombies in the 21th Century

 I drew this 4 months ago in my sketch book,  but I thought it was kind of fitting surviving the apocalypse.

Nightmare Rendering Fun

There's a viable reason to why I haven't been updating this blog:

On Thursday morning I "finished" the most expensive art project I've ever done: financially, physically, and emotionally.  

It was financially expensive because it was done in copic markers, in which I invested a few sets.  I also bought three illustration board for practice, final version, and just in case I screw up.   In addition, I ran out of ink in 2 of the markers, so I invested in these refill inks as well.  I even got a mini-projector.

It was physically expensive because the week it was due I had about less than 15 hours of sleep and I slept on the floor on a bean bag.  Hahaha, tonight will be the first time I'll sleep in my bed.

It was emotionally stressful because, to be honest, I really didn't want to do it. Photorealism, especially of objects, is not my forte. So, I procrastinated and procrastinated.  I started working on the actual board much later than my classmates, even though I was practicing rendering some of the objects beforehand.  Sometimes I would crawl into a fetal position and weep hypothetical tears. Then 2 weeks before the due date, I had nightmares about the project.  3 days before the due date, I started to go on a facebook spree, basically spamming my friends' newsfeed with WTFness every 10 minutes or so.  I honestly believed that I was never going to finish it.

Yupe, it was expensive.  But now it's done and over. And I miss it. 

So, lo and behold...my ridiculously expensive project:

I took this picture around 3:30 am on Thursday.  The project was due at exactly 8 am on Thursday.  Incomplete was a F. Late work was knocked down a grade. Yes, I know. I was pretty much screwed.

At this point I was "OMG OMG OMG OMG. SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT. Fuck FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK.  I'm going to dieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee."

Then, around 6:15 am-ish I had this:

whoa...what kind of witchery is this?

Surprised?

So was I, so was I.  Pleasantly surprised, in fact.

And...the final version that I actually presented at 8 am:

It's "final" because it now has a signature.  Hahaha, just playin' ya.  I also made some touch ups and fixed some micro-mistakes.  

In truth, I am both very happy and somewhat disappointed in this project.  I'm happy because, "OMG. I DREW SOMETHING THAT'S NOT A CARTOON. AND IT LOOKS KIND OF REALISTIC. I CAN'T BELIEVE I DREW THIS."  I'm disappointed because I knew I took some shortcuts, like ignoring details, and I wanted to make it more "photorealistic."

Anyway, much thanks to my rendering classmates and friends who were encouraging and let me have my facebook freakout without prejudice.  

Peace out, and good luck on finals, y'all.

--Post Script--
The photo that the project was based on:

This is a Japanese dish Ozoni(お雑煮）that we eat on New Year's day.  My cousin in Japan made this.     This specific dish has baked Mochi (rice cake), carrot, peas, Shiitake mushroom, Kamaboko(fish cake), Buri (Japanese Yellowtail fish), and chicken.