Juice

Thomas Sgouros

2011-10-04T21:39:00.000-07:00

Although his vision was failing, Thomas Sgouros was one of the most inspirational teachers I had at RISD. He was quite an eccentric and seldom spoke a lot to the students. His critiques were short but always full of insights and truth. He made me see how fussing over little details don't make the paintings better. At the draw-bridge studio we were talking about artists who make awesome work regardless of their physical disabilities and it made me think of him. I don't know if he's still teaching at RISD. I feel truly lucky that I was able to take his class.

Chimera

2011-09-21T21:27:00.000-07:00

something I drew for fun.

Wolf Kahn

2011-09-15T11:30:00.000-07:00

I was at strand yesterday and found a gorgeous art book by Wolf Kahn. His painting style reminds me of Monet a lot, but his landscapes have more simpler beauty. His colors are so vibrant and beautiful, I'd love to live in the woods that he painted.

new paintings

2011-09-10T15:51:00.001-07:00

I went home to VA this week and made some paintings in my mom's basement.. scared that it'll get flooded but thank god it didn't.

cults

2011-09-10T15:47:00.000-07:00

I've been pretty absent from blogging world lately. doesn't mean I haven't been drawing... here's something I drew for My friend Risa's birthday. I've just recently discovered Cults, I love their retro easy sound.

AM New York

2011-08-16T22:29:00.000-07:00

Where music meets comic books

Am New York, a local news paper which everyone in new york can pick up free copies every morning, has an article about my comic, Lexicon. They also put a list of collaborative projects between music and comics. Check it out! x

figure drawing

2011-04-22T18:39:00.001-07:00

I went to a figure drawing session in a small art studio called Spring Studio yesterday. There were many small paintings, old drawing desks and painting materials all crammed up in a small basement, I wonder if this place is a reminiscence of what Soho used to be, before all the chain clothing shops and restaurants took over. I've always needed to draw more of male figure models than female models since I don't really understand male bodies that well. So I was delighted to find a male model at this studio and I had a lot of fun drawing him.

Steve McCurry

2011-04-14T21:08:00.000-07:00

He's probably most famous for the photograph of a green eyed girl from Afghanistan. I happened stumble upon his blog today and found so many crazy amazing photographs! Here's a few of my favorites. His photographs are everywhere in magazines and books and in the web. To check out his blog, click here.

Phyllis Galembo's photographs

2011-04-14T21:02:00.000-07:00

Her portraits are just so much fun!! To check out more of her work, visit her website.

Will Knox: New E.P. "Lexicon" Comic Book Release Show

2011-03-16T20:14:00.000-07:00

‘Lexicon’ is a 5-track recording put together as a comic book, music by Will Knox, comics drawn by me. It is an effort to bring music, lyrics and artwork closer together in a new age of digital technology. While digital downloading has often taken away the necessity for artwork, it has also allowed us to release this project without the need for CDs, Cassettes or Records. You can hear the music by simply entering your unique digital download code, found in your comic book.

The images in the

comic book are inspired by Will Knox's songs in this album. There are 5 short comics in this book corresponding to each songs in this album. Each short comic is 3 pages long, fully colored and all the lyrics of the songs are written in the captions. It is quiet a unique experience to read the comics as you listen to the songs, following the lyrics in the captions next to the images. I've approached this project as if I would storyboard music videos for these songs. Will and I both worked on the script together, bouncing ideas as we listen to each songs carefully to best represent and complement both medium. This was a very special and fun project to work on for both of us, and the first for me to work from start to finish, from character design, script, layout, all the way to coloring and lettering. I'm very proud of it and can't wait to share it with the public. I think the idea of combining music and comic is a genius idea and wish there will be more project like this out there.

Here's a sneak peek of one of the tracks in "Lexicon"

We'll be releasing the record with a full band performance on Friday March 25th at Rockwood Music Hall, Stage 2. Hope you can make it out!

When: Friday, March 25 9:00pm - 10:00 pm

Where:

Rockwood Music Hall Stage 2

196 Allen Street,

New York, NY

For more info on "Lexicon" and where to purchase it, please visit Will Knox's website.

http://www.will-knox.com/wordpress/lexicon

Art View on The Red Hook Star-Revue March issue

2011-03-09T11:55:00.000-08:00

My art "Jelly fish" is featured on the local news paper, "The Red Hook Star-Revue". You can pick up free copies of this news paper in most businesses from court street to van brunt in Red Hook, Brooklyn. Thanks Krista for including my work in your column! :)

R.I.P. Jane Russell

2011-03-01T11:49:00.000-08:00

Ain't no woman like her and there never will be.

Dolce Vita has my print on their new spring collection!

2011-02-07T08:45:00.001-08:00

Dolce Vita must have really like this print, they printed it on many different styles! :)

You can also find these dresses at Urban outfiters online and many other online clothing stores. I can't decide which one to get!

my next door studio mate Kat Robert!

2011-01-28T17:33:00.000-08:00

It's her birthday this weekend, so folks at draw-bridge decided draw something for her to celebrate. Happy Birthday, lady! :)

figure drawing at the society of illustrators

2011-01-27T21:56:00.001-08:00

two awesome ladies in burlesque/ ballroom gowns.

Exit through the gift shop.

2011-01-24T12:29:00.000-08:00

This film asks so many vital questions to how we view and value modern art, without sounding like an art snob. It starts as a documentary about street arts, then turns its focus onto Thierry Guetta who shot all the street art footage of this film. It is a real treat for someone who doesn't know any street artists to wittiness these amazing images taking over the public space without being caught by the police (well most of the time). It's like watching a well planned heist movie, only this is real. Then when these guys become famous in the galleries and trendy media, Theirry turns his obsession in filming to making arts. He devotes himself and his life savings into makings hundreds of paintings, silkscreens and sculptures. And maybe because Theirry's relentless attempts to hype up the media worked, or maybe because Theirry's art is really that great, his first self financed art show is a huge success and he is still doing well as an artist.

Theirry Guetta seems to makes similar "art" as banksy does. But when I do like Banksy's "art", I don't like Theirry's "art" at all. And I wondered why I feel so sure of Theirry's work being inferior to some of the other street artist's works. Is it because this documentary shows how ridiculously full of himself and shallow Theirry is? If I know the artist in person, or if I didn't know him at all, would that affect how I view his art dramatically? This isn't just the case of Theirry's work. Half of the modern art that I see in the galleries these days makes me wonder why they are even in the galleries. So many times, I want to ask the curators why they have chosen these works over hundreds of other art out there.

I guess Banksy and Andy Warhol came before Theirry, but they aren't so original either. Modern artists often borrow styles and make jokes on other arts and trends that there's no truly original art anymore. So why do I find one satire more meaningful than the other?

Who and what determines which art is good or bad? Is it whether the art is in the museum or in the streets? Is it the motivation behind the art? Is it how much people would pay to own it? If the art is well received by majority of people, does it validate its greatness? It could be combination of so many different things, and it could also be that none of these matters. In the current era when there are so many people telling you what is good and what is cool, it is even harder for people to spot something that is truly great.

I had so much fun watching this film and highly recommend it to all artists, artist wannabes or just anyone who appreciates art. But I feel like this film can entertain anyone, even if they aren't interested in art or trends at all.

Heavy Metal Magazine March 2011 issue!

2011-01-13T19:37:00.000-08:00

The new issue of Heavy Metal magazine has my art on their content spread page! In case you don't know about Heavy Metal magazine, check out their website. I'm honored to have my courtesan to be among the boobilicious women of this magazine. :)

Pick up the March 2011 issue of Heavy metal at your local bookstore!

seasonal greetings!

2010-12-21T10:28:00.000-08:00

Water color illustrations by Grzegorz Wrobel

2010-12-17T08:40:00.000-08:00

I was searching for inspirational drawings in the internet and found the work of Grzegorz Wrobel. Looking at these fabulous watercolors makes me want to travel and paint everything with water color. Just the thing I needed to get me going on my work. :)

Check out more about him on this website.

OMG! preview of my first Marvel comic!

2010-11-26T21:35:00.000-08:00

In the Comic Book Resources, you can see the first couple pages of the invisible woman story I did for Marvel, which is coming out on Dec. 1st to the comic book stores near you! Super psyched!! :D

King Con 2010!

2010-11-02T06:39:00.000-07:00

I will be attending King Con in Brooklyn Lyceum this weekend! this event is from Thursday to Sunday. I don't have my own table this time but I'll be sharing a table with my studio mates on saturday and sunday, so come and say hello at Deep 6 and Hypothetical Island's table! I'm signed up to be at the table on Saturday from 5 to 7, so if you need to find me for some reason, this is the surest time to find me. I'll be walking around for a few hours on Sunday too.

Check out King con website for more info!

King Con 2010 Sketchbook!

2010-10-22T16:12:00.000-07:00

Nathan Schreiber from my studio is having a sketchbook drawing contest for king con 2010 and here's my piece! Read more about it at Robot 6!

My Interview on "Amber Unmasked"!

2010-10-19T12:45:00.000-07:00

Check out my interview with Elizabeth-Amber Delaney on Super heroes and their fashion!

http://amberunmasked.com/?p=3096

New York Comic Con this weekend!

2010-10-05T20:10:00.000-07:00

I'll be attending NYCC at the Jacob Javits Center. I won't have a table at this con, but I'll be hanging around A Wave Blue World table on Friday afternoon briefly, so if anyone needs to find me, come to small press table #444. And for the rest of the weekend, I will be walking around with my brand new comic anthology. Check out NYCC website for more details.

Hope to see you all there! :)

When Is New York Comic Con?

Professional Only Hours:

Friday, October 8, 2010 -- 10:00 AM - 1:00 PM

Open to the Public:

Friday, October 8, 2010 -- 1:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Saturday, October 9, 2010 -- 10:00 AM - 7:00 PM
Sunday, October 10, 2010 -- 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM

Where Is New York Comic Con?

New York Comic Con is held at the Jacob K. Javits Center in Midtown Manhattan. The Javits Center is located at 655 West 34th Street. See our Travel page for directions and information about New York City's buses and subways.

Emerging talent: Amanda Lee!

2010-09-28T09:38:00.000-07:00

Amanda Lee is a singer song writer from Northern VA, and she is my cousin! I remember her as a little girl, and suddenly she is all grown up to a beautiful talented young musician. Time really flies! Check out her music on myspace and also follow her on twitter for updates on upcoming events. She is working on her first EP "Beauty of Failing" through Pledge music and her sale will benefit American Cancer Society. Read more about it at http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/amandaleemusic

Check out her live music on youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/amandaleemusic

This is my favorite video of her :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scinhYJuRh4

On the Comic Book Resources....

2010-09-22T15:37:00.000-07:00

WOMEN OF MARVEL #2 (of 2)
Written by Dame Darcy, Mary HK Choi, Jim McCann, & Audrey Loeb
Penciled by Robin Ha, Nuno Alves, Mike Ryan, & Emily Warren
Cover by GREG Land
Jungle queens, invisible princesses and beautiful banshees, oh my! Marvel’s magnificent Amazons take it up a notch in this smoldering selection of shorts by talent to watch out for! Shanna the She-Devil battles pilgrims and pterodactyls, Sue Storm forges a fairy tale ending for the Invisible Woman, and Songbird faces the music of her past when she meets…Screaming Mimi?! And little Lyra needs a prom dress…which brings the smallest She-Hulk against an all new foe: THE MALL!
40 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

The invisirella comic I did for Marvel is coming out in December under Women of Marvel #2! :)
Check out more at comicbookresources.com!

Wonder woman auction

2010-09-18T18:48:00.001-07:00

Some of the cartoonists at DEEP 6 and Hypothetical Islands are donating sketches for a charity event which will benefit domestic violence programs. Check out Drawbridge blog for other members' drawings and more info on how to purchase the wonderful wonder woman sketches!
http://draw-bridge.blogspot.com/

SPX this weekend!

2010-09-06T06:35:00.001-07:00

I will be attending SPX this weekend with my fellow brooklyn comic artist gals, Vanessa Satone, Risa Hwan Cho and Melissa DeJesus. Please visit us at Table C5!
For more info, visit SPX site:

http://www.spxpo.com/

What: SPX 2010

Where: Bethesda North Marriott Hotel & Conference Center

When: Open to the public Saturday and Sunday, September 11 and 12, 2010.

Times:
Saturday: 11:00 am – 7:00 pm
Sunday: noon – 6:00 pm

Admission:
One day memberships: $10.00
Weekend memberships: $15.00
Collected at the door the day of the show

new drawing

2010-09-06T06:26:00.000-07:00

Baltimore Comic Con this weekend!

2010-08-23T21:00:00.001-07:00

I will be joining Tyler Chin-Tanner this Saturday and Sunday at A Wave of Blue World table. And I might also be popping by fellow studio mate Dean Haspiel, Reilley Brown, and Nathan Schreiber's table. Come and say hello!

Baltimore Comic Con is held at the Baltimore Convention center

The Baltimore Convention Center

One West Pratt Street
Baltimore, Maryland 21201
(SHARP STREET ENTRANCE)

Invisible Woman: Invisirella Sneak Peek!

2010-08-19T18:29:00.000-07:00

Check it out!

http://marvel.com/news/comicstories.13183.tips~and~tweets~colon~_advice_for_writers,_part_1

On the Marvel website now, you can see a few pages of the comic I've just finished for Marvel, written by Dame Darcy. This web page is about tips for the new writers. Just scroll down a bit, and on the right, you will see the link to view the un-colored pages of Invisirella. I don't know when this comic will be published yet, hopefully in a next couple month or so. I think they are going to publish it online first, then put it into print later this year.

I'll put more info up as I find out. Stay Tune! :)

Henri Cartier-Bresson

2010-08-18T06:53:00.000-07:00

At the Art Institute of Chicago museum, there was a special exhibition on Henri Cartier-Bresson. I just wandered into it without knowing anything about him, and later realized he is the one who took the bicycle photo that I had to memorize for the art history exam at college. In the exhibition, there were hundreds of photos he took all around the world, from poverty and war to glamorous celebrities and intellectuals. What a life this guy had. He was in a true sense a brilliant paparazzi, always ready to jump at people with a camera, looking for the money shot.

M

2010-07-30T09:09:00.001-07:00

First I thought it could be a remake of the Fritz Lang's M, but it isn't. Although it also has dark, sinister mystery feeling to it, this is something I haven't seen before, especially from Korean cinema. The director Lee Myung-se is truly skilled in piecing stories, illusions and dreams together in a very artistic and stylish way. This is the first time I've really noticed the director's hands in editing when watching a film. I've seen Lee Myung-Se's other movie, "the duelist" before, which was visually very sleek and the story was much more light hearted. That movie didn't stay in my mind too long. But I think "M" will stay in my head for a long time, haunting me. Both movies have the same actor playing the lead and he is very good in both. In "M" he plays a writer who is struggling to separate his dreams/ hallucination/memories from the reality. It reminded me a bit of Nolan's "Memento" and "Inception", all dealing with a similar subject. But "M" also has a menacing and creepy quality like Lynch's with the precision of Hitchcock's thrillers. There are many Korean films coming out to the U.S. these days, I don't know how I missed it when this one came to the theater. I wish many people had a chance to see "M", because I think this movie is far better than some of the other well received korean movies out there.

Gary Komarin

2010-07-28T21:35:00.000-07:00

I first encountered his paintings at a gallery near my old job. The gallery was super intimidating to walk into, with a very serious looking curator/owner at her table. So I used to pick in through the window and marvel at his paintings whenever I passed by.

It's too bad that there aren't any art books of his paintings out there.

I Am Love

2010-07-28T21:08:00.001-07:00

Did I mention I have a crush on Tilda Swinton?

She's as amazing as usual in this Italian film. I can't say I understand this movie fully... the ending is a bit bizarre and the subject matter isn't something I can relate to... which is about a rich middle age woman having an affair with her son's friend. I, being unmarried, nor rich, nor have a son, couldn't really get into the character's dilemmas. But visually this movie definitely had a very precise style, I felt like I was watching Harper's Bazaar catalog of the 80's and 90's throughout the whole film. Amazing color and compositions!

I think this movie is meant to be viewed with an open mind, without demanding a solid conclusion or logical actions from the characters. And I did, so I enjoyed it.

Jaurim

2010-07-28T20:25:00.000-07:00

Jaurim has been around Korean music scene for over a decade. I've loved their music when I was in middle school in korea, and I still enjoy listening to their music. Their music videos are equally well made to fit their music. Here are a few of my favorite music videos of Jaurim.

The lead singer, Kim Yoon-ah has made a solo album a few years ago. This song has been used in a popular movie based on a Korean comics I used to love in the 90's. I love the look of this music video, reminds me of great Chinese period movies like "lust, caution" and the "the last emperor".

Inception

2010-07-19T22:37:00.000-07:00

So the movie that everyone has been waiting for finally opened last week. There really hasn't been many movies that I wanted to see lately, so I was very eager to see Christopher Nolan's Inception.

This movie starts off with intensity and momentum of a good heist movie. when Leo DiCaprio's character says "this is my last job", it reminded me of many slick action flicks like Layer Cake, Italian Job, or Ocean's Eleven. It sets up very high potentials to what might come later in the film. At the beginning, there seems to be no limit to what might happen in this movie just like in dreams.

But being a big budget film with limited time frame, it ends up being a bit too closed in, too safe, and too predictable. I understand the problem of creating a gripping story line within someone's dream, because the audiences know everyone's ultimately safe no matter what happened in their dreams. I wish Nolan had more guts to throw away the logic of awaken person and just let things unfold in it self, like an exquisite corpse because that's how the dreams are like. It's funny that I lost interests when Leo's character explains the danger of dying in a dream when the person is sedated. The movie needed this guide line for the story to work, but it felt too contrived and the story lost it's credibility. But nonetheless, Inception had some of the most striking visuals and concepts. I'm a total sucker for movies that deals with dreams and subconsciousness and I can almost see this movie flowering into a TV series, like 24 or Lost.

hmm.. what would my totem be?

New paintings

2010-07-18T21:36:00.001-07:00

I went to visit my mom in VA for a week and had a wonderfully productive time. I got my hair done, and eye brow done, went for a massage with my mom, ate loads of good food.. and among all these activities, I finished 3 paintings and started the 4th one.

My mom has a beautiful garden full of flowers and she took many photos of them in a vase. So I painted them to loosen up my painting hands. Then I painted a landscape using a painting knife for the first time. It was so much fun mixing oil colors with knife, I don't know why I haven't used it before. The colors smeared across the canvas so smoothly, like butter. I had to refrain myself from trying to eat them. :)

Marcy Kaptur

2010-07-08T23:46:00.000-07:00

What a bright and charismatic lady! I wish she runs for president, she got my vote!

Avatar: The Last Airbender (Nickelodeon)

2010-07-07T20:48:00.000-07:00

When M Knight Shyamalan's new movie came out, my friend Selina mentioned how much she loves the original cartoon show the movie is based on. Although I didn't agree to go see this 3D blockbuster with her, I decided to check out the cartoon show since I haven't watched any good TV animations in a while. After watching first few episodes, I was completely hooked. The animation style is a good mix of both american nickelodeon cartoons and Anime. The main characters are very likable and goofy which take the edge off of larger than life issues these kids are dealing with in the story. Even though I knew it'll end happily (it's a nick cartoon for kids, they don't want to make the kids cry!) the stakes were very high, I really cared about how the story would unfold.

The quality of the animation is good, but what really got me in was the story telling. I loved how they incorporated the eastern philosophies and various martial arts. This is a fantasy story but somehow very well grounded in the real world. Although it is just a cartoon show for kids, it's made me feel very enlightened and spiritual after watching it. And I became a total fan of Appa, possibly the cutest animal character I've ever seen! Well done Nickelodeon!! :)

Jakub Julian Ziolkowki

2010-07-05T20:27:00.000-07:00

On the july issue of W magazine, I read an interesting article on this young polish artist accompanied with a few of his paintings. His work has a duality of Francis bacon's freaky grotesque with Chagall's dreamy innocence which I find very interesting. And his use of color is just beautiful. The article about his life as an art student reminds me of some of my gloomy introverted classmates at RISD. I wonder what they are doing these days... hope they are doing as well as Mr. Ziolkowki.

Steam Punk

2010-06-30T01:13:00.000-07:00

The fictional world of steam punk is a great platform to mix many different genre, from horror to romance to period to science fiction. It is a science fiction because the technological inventions and clever devices have a big presence in the stories but it also has nostalgic and magical atmosphere. It is an oxymoron which can be both blessing or curse for writers and directors because it could end up being amazingly creative (i.e. City of lost children) or disorientated (The Golden Compass). But there's no doudt that these movies tend to be very aesthetically pleasing: Leather, bronze, and glass give a romantic, softened atmosphere that other science fiction genre might lack. Here are the movies that I like because of their steam punk look even though some of their story isn't so great. I wish I can come up with a good story which I can use these imageries in.

Sleepy Hollow

Dark City

City of Lost Children

Golden Compass

Stardust

Sherlock Holmes

From Hell

Edward Scissorhands

I just noticed Jonney Depp and Tim Burton are like champions of Steam punk movies...

and Siamese twins and deformed people appear in many of these movies. Maybe their parents got exposed to radiations and toxic waste while inventing their gadgets. Who knows...

The New Dazzler Comics #1

2010-05-27T17:59:00.000-07:00

Today was a joyful day! I went to the forbidden planet and picked up a comic book with my art on it. The New Dazzler comics #1 "Necrosha Aftermath", written by Jim McCann drawn by Kalman Andrasofszky and Ramon Perez came out yesterday. I did a one page pin up illustration of Dazzler colored beautifully by Christina Strain, which is printed in the last page of the comic book. I'm so excited to show my artwork to the mainstream audiences for the first time. I've been making comics independently for many years in a small scale. And I've enjoyed making them, no matter who and how many people are reading them. I am very happy to be part of a book that is worked on by so many amazing talents and printed professionally by the publisher like marvel.

It's also great to know that this isn't going to be the last time I'll see my work in marvel comics. I've recently finished working on Dr. Strange story and currently working on a short story of the invisible woman. Thanks to my editor Michael Horwitz for giving me these wonderful opportunities!

Of course, I'll keep on self publishing my comics as I've done all these years. There's nothing that gets me more excited than working on comics whether it's my own story or for a publishing team.

Check out the articles on the new Dazzler comics online and also pick up the issue at your local comic book store! :D

(The image above is cover of Dazzler comics, drawn by Andrasofszky.)

Bluebeard Opera

2010-05-18T18:29:00.000-07:00

Bluebeard is an opera composed by Bartok in 1911 based on the french folk tale. I had a lot of fun designing costumes for this opera in my costume design class. The music is very weird and creepy, it's almost futuristic which evokes a very broad range of period. The story is set in the middle ages, but I mixed bunches of different ideas from early dutch settlers in the 15th century to salem witch trial to 1960's rosemary's baby. I incorporated various medieval torture devices and weapons as the dresses for the three former wives of blue beard. And Rosemary's baby for Judith because she's naive about the evil nature of Bluebeard but in the end, condemned to be the prisoner of his castle like his other wives. I actually did a 5 page comic of "Bloody Chamber" a while ago, which is based on the Angela Carter's short story of the same folklore. Check it out here. Enjoy! :)

Fire Bird Ballet Costume Design

2010-05-03T23:16:00.000-07:00

Fire Bird is a russian ballet based on russian folk tale with music by Stravinsky. I had a lot of fun designing these costumes for my Costume Design for Performing Art class at FIT. Like in many ballet, there are lots of girls flocking around with a prince who falls in love with one of them and goes on to save her from the evil monsters. This ballet had many monsters and a bird and a evil sorcerer which were a lot of fun to design. There are many versions of this ballet, but the most well know one is the Ballet Russes. There is a movie/ stage versions of this ballet on Youtube which is bit funny in 80's fantasy kind of way, but I think some parts of it very pretty to look at. I especially likes the Ballerina who plays the firebird. Her movements gave me a lot of inspiration for my design of the firebird. I was very inspired by Ivan Bilibin's illustrations, and also by the russian traditional costumes. I kept my designs fairy tale like, using a lot of pretty colors for the prince and princesses. But I wanted to make the monsters look very dark and mystic like the russian old forrest, full of moss and dead leaves.

Ivan Bilibin

2010-04-14T11:03:00.000-07:00

I found his illustrations while researching images for Firebird ballet costume. He is a russian illustrator who illustrated many russian folk tales and also designed costumes and sets for ballet in the beginning of 20th century. I love his colors and beautiful textile patterns on the characters and background. I'm putting him among my all time favorite illustrators like Arthur Rackham, Edmund Dulac and Lizbeth Zwerger.

tripping without illegal substances

2010-04-13T20:22:00.000-07:00

Here are some wacky videos to kill time when you are supposed to be working! :D

Post MoCCA

2010-04-12T09:17:00.000-07:00

MoCCA 2010 came and went so fast, everything is a bit blurry in my mind. There were several of my non- comic friends who also got tables this time. It was inspiring to see so many people trying to do their own thing and to see so many great work coming out of young talents. I also saw some familiar faces from past MoCCA and other conventions. I wish I have taken more time to look around, the armory was huge and I only got to see maybe half of them. But I manage to exchange my comics with many artists, which I'm reading right now. I had some new art prints, but I couldn't finish as much new comics as I hope to have done. I'm thinking of going to SPX and New york comic con this year so it gives me a few months to finish what I'm working on right now. I got rid of most of my old comics and promotional postcards. So I think it was a good event to expose of my work to new audiences. Thanks to people who checked out my work, shared their thoughts and bought or exchanged comics with me! It was a lot of fun and a good kick on my butt to work harder and get more stuff out there.

City Lights

2010-04-09T15:31:00.000-07:00

I love the cartoon show "Gargoyles" from the early 90's. I wanted to draw my own version of it. :)

MoCCA this weekend!

2010-04-07T15:52:00.000-07:00

MoCCA Festival

Saturday & Sunday April 10 & 11, 2010

69th Regiment Armory
68 Lexington Avenue
New York, NY

I'll be sharing the tables with fellow brooklyn comic artists, Risa Cho, Becky Cloonan, Melissa DeJesus of Estrigious, Vanessa Satone, Eve Grandt, and Vasilis Lolos. Visit our table at C4 & 5!

I'll be bringing some original linoleum and silk screen prints and new postcards. I'm also working on previews of my new comics right now. Hopefully I'll finish them on time for MoCCA.

Hope to see you all there!

The Trojan Women- Costume Design

2010-04-06T08:24:00.000-07:00

Hecuba, Chorus, Andromache, Cassandra, Helen, Menelaus, Tathybius, Greek Soldiers.

(All cast except Poseidon and Athena.)

Finding swatches that matches my design was a lot harder than I thought. Made me want to have my own textile factory.

The peacock garden

2010-03-18T22:25:00.001-07:00

painting people and landscape in the same picture has been bit of a challenge for me, so I am trying to do more of these water color illustrations to get more comfortable with it.

Come and enjoy the music and Art!

2010-03-16T09:30:00.000-07:00

//\\\\ LE SLOWEST FRIENDS ARTT NYTE V.2 ////\\
VERNAL EQUINOX //\\\\ ////\\ MARCH 20, 2010

Painting * Sculpture * Photography * Drawing * Installation Ideas * Collage * Prints *Sound

Saturday, March 20th

Gallery opens at 6:00pm
Music starts around 8:00pm

The bar will be selling cheap beers, wines and whiskey.
DJ's will be spinning between sets and after hours for late-night dance party.

Come see the bands: The Netherlands, Sylphid, The Slowest Runner In All The World, Ribbons & Man Bird Lion
It's PWYC (pay-what-you-can) event...so everyone gets in.

Where: 538 Johnson Avenue, Apt. 202.

Directions: Take the L train to Jefferson. Get off at the Wyckoff/Jefferson exit and take a walk across Flushing. Take a left around the triangular warehouse and then take a right when you hit the next street (Stewart) take yr first left on Johnson and that big red factory on yr right is 538 Johnson Avenue. If the door is locked just punch 2970* into the keypad and come upstairs to the second floor and the second door on the left is 202, yr destination.

I will have couple of water color work as the part of the gallery show.

see you all there!

-Robin

Silk Screen

2010-03-15T09:12:00.000-07:00

I used two transparent color layers (magenta and blue green) so when they overlap, it would create another color (dark magenta).

jack black as a dog hair stylist

2010-03-01T23:26:00.000-08:00

this is one of the sketch comedy character ideas I did for my costume design class: Jack Black as a star dog hair stylist, he has an over the top style and attitude and take his profession a bit too seriously, spoofing on tv shows like 'sheer genius' and 'tabatha's salon take over'.

Sylvie Guillem

2010-02-18T02:54:00.000-08:00

She's like a goddess of dance. This woman can move every single muscle of her body separately. I've always liked to watch dances, modern or ballet, but her dance is truly mesmerizing!

Yuna Kim Figure Skating Costume

2010-02-17T13:27:00.001-08:00

Music: Bolero by Ravel

showgirl costume design: GEMINI

2010-02-15T21:51:00.001-08:00

cognac label

2010-02-11T20:35:00.000-08:00

I'm taking a silkscreen class at FIT this spring. And I can basically print whatever I want. I always had a fascination with vintage, Victorian labels and ad, and I thought I could recreate it with my own images for this class. I'm planning on making a mock poster for florist, cigarette, wig maker, hat maker, wine label, book cover, theater poster...etc. Possibility is endless. Here's one that I designed for a bottle of cognac, my favorite drink for the cold winter. I imagine it would go on a flat round bottle, like remy martin. (btw, there is no cognac named deux royal. I just made it up.)

new comic work!

2010-01-29T04:48:00.001-08:00

Here are 5 pg comic that I worked on this week. The script was very romantic and had a character that emitted light so I tried to play on light and dark a lot on the pages. This is by far the most elaborated backgrounds and cross hatchings I've done for comic pages. But I enjoyed working on it very much.

(Disclaimer: This script has already been published as a comic with a different artist so I'm putting my comic pages without words. This is just to show my art on my personal blog and websites and not for any commercial uses.)

Tilda Swinton

2010-01-23T22:16:00.000-08:00

There's really no one like her in this world. My crush on Tilda Swinton started when I first watched "Orlando" in the early 90's. She has such an odd beauty that I never get sick of watching her films.

new paintings

2010-01-19T16:00:00.001-08:00

I'm finally back from the longest vacation since I graduated from college. It was a total bliss to enjoy the beautiful nature of Hawaii for two weeks. I had so much fun snorkeling, hiking, looking at the clearest night sky on Mauna Kea (I saw the galaxies and nebular for the first time with my own eyes!) and just plain lazy sun bating. When I got back, I felt a bit guilty about taking such a long break from making art. I was thinking of painting Hawaiian landscape but it was just too beautiful and immense in my memory that I don't have the guts to recreate it on canvas just yet. Perhaps I would try it in a few month. So I made some paintings from the photos I took from my last trip to Europe, where was also scenic but more malleable in my memory to paint.

The bloody chamber: Comic book adaptation!

2009-12-18T16:54:00.000-08:00

"The Bloody Chamber" is a short story by Angela Carter, which is based on the fable, "Blue beard". I loved this story ever since I read it in a class at RISD and I've been meaning to make a comic book adaptation of this story for a long time. Last sunday, I was suddenly struck by the god of drawing and sketched up of the most dramatic scene of the story in a storm. I love how Ms. Carter gives a little feminist twist at the end of the story, that the girl is saved by her kick ass mother! I had so much fun drawing it. :)

old and new drawings

2009-12-07T11:25:00.000-08:00

Happy Holidays!

2009-12-06T13:45:00.000-08:00

holga from europe

2009-12-03T07:09:00.001-08:00

I wish the weather wasn't so gloomy wherever I went in Europe.

and something from V&A museum in london... forgot who the artist is.

Martin de Thurah

2009-12-02T06:03:00.000-08:00

Martin De Thurah is a Danish film director who did music videos for bands like Royksopp, Mew, Carpark North, and Fever Ray. I first noticed his video through Royksopp's 'What Else Is There'. His videos are very eerie, dark but also humorous which I find very appealing. It’s like watching a modern version of Grimm’s fairytales. His delicate color palettes and use of beautiful but odd youth reminds me of ‘Paranoid Park’, a recent films by Gus Van Saint and ‘Let the Right One In’, a Swedish film about a vampire girl.

Where The Wild Things Are

2009-11-27T22:45:00.003-08:00

I wasn't familiar with the children's book "Where the Wild Things Are", I knew the book existed but never read it as a child. So when I went to see the movie by Spike Jonze on Friday, I had no idea what it would be like. It turned out to be one of the most emotional movie that I've watched this year. This movie seems like a children's movie with cute furry monsters and a boy as the protagonist. But I really don't think it is for children... maybe they would enjoy it as much as adult, but I doubt children would understand the layers of emotions between all the characters without their own experience of going through the adolescence and growing up. This is definitely a very nostalgic movie. It reminded me so much about myself as a child, it wrenched my heart the way I've never felt when watching a movie. The monsters are figments of the boy's imagination, so they all have the traits of the boy himself. But Carol is by far the most similar to the boy, they recognize each other right away and form a tight bond which has to break and then mended for the boy to grow up, leave his fantasy land and go back home to the reality. It's funny but I felt like I went through this amazing adventure with the boy in the movie and came back alive and more grown up at the end. Everyone was a child once, but we feel as though we just became the person we are now automatically. But this movie reminded me that growing up is a hard process of understanding yourself and accepting the reality. The reality is sometimes painful and scary and you wish there would be someone who can make it alright. But sadly, there isn't anyone who can do that, not even your family. Soon you have to accept this reality and be o.k. with the life's uncertainty. I'm making this movie sound like a therapy session, but it was gorgeous, entertaining and very touching, everything a good movie should be.

Libreria/ Fumetteria Mardi Gras

2009-11-27T22:45:00.001-08:00

The Number by Thomas Ott Sofie & Abou by Judith Vanistendael
Sambre Story by Balac, Art by Yslaire.

Il Gigante Italiano Cuba' 42 Story by Ottavio De Angelis, Art by Anna Bandoli
Rosso Oltremare by Nanuele Fior

Arrugas by Paco Roca LMVDM by Gipi (Giani Pacinotti)

and some other work by Gipi Cronachette by Gicacomo Nanni L'Autoroute Du Soleil by Baru

Mardi Gras is a comic book and art book store in Bolzano. They had pretty amazing collection of alternative comics. The owner was kind enough to take out a big pile of comic books that she thought was good to check out. I was only familiar with old school Italian comic artist like Battaliglia and was surprised how many different type of comics are available in Italy. Here are a few books that caught my eyes.

Carl Moser and Giselbert Hoke.

2009-11-26T11:37:00.000-08:00

At the Galleria Goethe in Bolzano, I found many interesting art books of austrian and italian artists. Carl Moser is an austrian artist from the beginning of the 20th century. Like many artist in the art nouveau period, he seems to be influenced greatly by Japanese aesthetics. His graceful women are clothed in beautiful textiles and laces, much like the geishas in the japanese wood block prints. I love his soft colors and interesting negative spaces in his wood block prints. Giselbert Hoke is another austrian artist who works mostly with landscapes. It seems that whichever cities he paints, they all end up looking abstract with colorful blocks and scribbled lines. His paintings have almost childish playfulness and I love the boldness of his colors and compositions. I hope to find their books in the U.S. but so far I have had no luck. Perhaps I have to wait until my next travel to europe.

Bolzano Comics Festival Report

2009-11-24T17:58:00.001-08:00

I had never heard about Bolzano before I entered the No Words Comics competition, so everything about Bolzano was very new to me. Bolzano was very different from other cities I've been to in Italy, because a lot of people spoke German and the architecture seemed like a mixture of German and Italian. I met many people who are involved in this festival, thanks to Elisabeth and Hannes for showing me a great time. There were several interesting events going on, one of them was Cartoni, live drawing session at the local clothing store called A store. There were card boards and shirts to be painted by the comic artists in the festival. I had so much fun with it that I thought I should do this every day. Galleria Museo, where my comic was exhibited, was a perfect place for a small pages of the comics to be displayed. I liked how inviting this place looked from the outside and the simple white walls made the comics pop out clearly. I just wished there was a way to display my original comic book instead of the color copies, but it was quite difficult to display it without possibly damaging it. The Bolzano Comics festival was associated with the Bolzano Short Film Festival so I was able to watch all films in this festival for free. I was surprised to find a modern and alternative film scene in a small and traditional city like Bolzano. I watched couple of No Words short film programs and an Italian short film program which are about 25 short films in total. It was overwhelming to watch so many films at once but at the end, I was thoroughly inspired by them. The films that particularly caught my attention are "Good Wasp" from the U.K., "Next Floor" from Canada, "Les anges dechets" from Canada, and "L'Arbitro" from Italy. It was very interesting to see a strong connection between the films and the comics shown here. I wondered why there aren't more of dual festivals like this around the world, because the similarity between comics and films is undeniable. It would be awesome if New York or Chicago film festival would have a comic festival that showcases artistic and experimental comics alongside of their films. There was a small exhibition of Thomas Ott's original scratch board art works at Galleria Geothe. His scratch boards were so expressive and beautiful, It made me wanna go home and take out my scratch boards again. There were couple of lectures by the editors in Italian comics, one by Lorenzo Sartori of Burumballa, and the other was by Alberto Corradi who worked with Thomas Ott's publications in Italy. They were all in Italian, so I barely understood anything. But I felt that these people wanted to refine and publish quality works to be viewed by a greater audiences. It made me realize there are people outside of the U.S. who are willing to look at new work. Bolzano Comics festival was a refreshing experience what I needed for a long time. It was exciting talking to people who had very different background from me, yet shared very similar ideas and interests. I would have never have met them if I hadn't gone to this festival so I am so glad that I had decided to go. I'm already looking forward to traveling to a different country for a different comic festivals in the near future.

sketches from europe

2009-11-24T17:20:00.001-08:00

I am finally back from 12 day long trip to europe. I had a great time meeting many new and old friends, visiting beautiful places and taking pictures. I'm planning on making a comic about my trip soon. But for now, here are some drawings that I did on my travel.

King Con and Bolzano Comics Festival!

2009-11-09T11:04:00.000-08:00

I had a lot of fun at King Con last weekend. Although the con seemed like it was put together in the last minute, a lot of people came and the small lyceum was packed on Saturday. I shared a table with 4 other gals, our table was covered with our comics and colorful illustrations, buttons..etc. I have to say our table looked awesome! :)

The lyceum was pretty shabby, the floor was unstable and everything from ceiling to the walls were bare and unfinished. Although I kinda like that industrial Brooklyn buildings, this place was a bit too ghetto. Nonetheless, the venue was lively with amazing artists, I saw a few people that I've met in the previous conventions and had a good chat with them. I've started actively participating in comic conventions since couple years ago, and I finally felt comfortable being behind the table, maybe because this convention was small and intimate. It was very encouraging to hear people's feedback and see other independent artists making their comics. I am already looking forward to MoCCa next year.

I'm flying to Italy this Thursday to be part of the Bolzano International Comic Festival. As I have blogged before, my work will be exhibited in the Museo Gallery along with the works of the other finalists of the No Words Comics competition. Check out Bolzano Comics website for more info. My comic is also up for viewing on their website with other finalist work. They are pretty amazing stuff! I'm very excited to be part of this festival.

http://www.bolzanocomics.it/

I'll be also doing a living painting with some other artists at the A-store in Bolzano on November 14th Saturday at 2:30 p.m. So if you are in the area, come and have fun drawing on cardboard and t-shirts with me! Check out their site for more info.

http://www.a-store-bolzano.com/

King Con This Weekend!!! (Nov. 7-8 2009)

2009-11-04T10:23:00.000-08:00

I'll be attending King Con, the first comic and animation festival in Brooklyn! I'll be sharing a table with my fellow comic artists; Melissa DeJesus, Hwan Cho and Becky Cloonan of the Estrigious and Vanessa Satone.

I don't know our table number yet, but it will be under the name, Melissa DeJesus. I'll be attending both days with our fairy tale anthology, "Through the meadow", my short comics, illustration prints, post cards and many other goodies. Come and find me! :)

http://kingconbrooklyn.com/

Nov. 7-8 2009

227 4th Ave Brooklyn, NY 11215

R train to Union Street

Crosstown BusB71 to 4th Avenue 3rd Ave, BusB37 to Union Street 5th Ave ,BusB63 to Union Street.

Happy Halloween!

2009-10-31T07:57:00.000-07:00

my old illustration of Mad Hatter.

Hope you get a lot of treats! :)

doodles

2009-10-24T17:51:00.001-07:00

I sketch random things from my head, thinking that one day I'll make them into finished illustrations or use the character designs for my comics in the future. But they just pile up and I never get around to use them. so I decided to post them here and free my guilt of not being able to do anything with them yet. Here are a few of those drawings.

Figure drawing

2009-10-24T15:09:00.000-07:00

Drawing from my head can be pretty daunting. I prefer drawing from life. Fortunately there are many places in New York that offer figure drawing sessions. I've been to a few of them and the craziest one that I've been to was the DRAW-A-THON last year. Brooklyn based artist, Michael Alan had various models posing in every corner of his apartment. The apartment was packed with artists and models that I had to crouch in a tight ball to draw. Some of the models were cooking in the kitchen, some were making out in the bedroom, some were fighting in the living room. I felt like I was stuck in some independent Felini-esque movie. The climax was when they decided to move up to the roof of the apartment building and use the natural light. A couple of musicians, also naked, started playing their folk guitar and sing. The models moved slowly to the music like ghosts. When the sun set, they turned on the spot lights and continued until it was too cold for the models to stay outside. I must have stayed there for about 10 hours, and I've never drawn so many sketches in my life. I was exhausted by the end but it felt awesome. There's no greater feeling than after you've lost yourself in drawing for hours. Like everything that is good for oneself , i.e. going to the gym or eating healthy, I should draw from life more often.

Helmut Newton

2009-10-12T10:58:00.000-07:00

His photographs are just sinfully delicious. They have a great atmosphere of chilly gloom of autumn like today. His fashion photography reminds me of old crime movies with more sinister, sexy twist. If Helmut Newton extended his talent into film, and directed something like Eyes Wide Shut or The Ninth Gate, wouldn't that be an amazing film to watch? Not that Kubrick and Polanski didn't do a great job already, I love these films. I mean stories like these would have suited Newton very well. Just a thought.

evening dresses

2009-10-09T10:26:00.000-07:00

I was bored at work and made some evening dress designs for fun.

Maybe Charlize Theron can wear the white one and Karen Elson the green? : )

H.G Clouzot's Inferno

2009-10-08T09:12:00.000-07:00

L’enfer d’Henri-Georges Clouzot is a documentary about Clouzot's film, L'enfer which was never completed or released for almost half a century. Hundreds and hundreds yards of film had been sitting at a vault collecting dust until Serge Bromberg convinced Mrs. Clouzot to give him the permission to release it. And I'm glad he did. What an amazing and valuable footage this was! I've never heard of Clouzot or this movie, I'm not a big fan of old french films, until the guys at Film spotting mentioned it. The clip I manage to find at youtube looked very interesting so I decide to watch it at New York Film Festival this weekend.

Basically Clouzot, after many successful films was given almost unlimited funds and crew to make this movie, and drove himself and everyone nuts by endless experiments and re-shooting until his main actor leaves the set and Clouzot get a heart attach. It was a very fascinating to watch what happens to real people collaboratively making art without limitation. It is every artist's dream to have unlimited resources and not having to make a forced decision when they aren't happy with their work. I certainly day dream about one day to be able to have the backing as Clouzot did when I make my art. But after watching this film I realized to complete a project, especially if it is huge and involves lots of people, you need someone or something to put a stop on you, forcing you to make a decision, to change things if it doesn't work, to compromise. Otherwise it will never be done. I'm sure Clouzot wasn't the easiest person to work with, but any ambitious artists would go through the same turmoil as Clouzot did in the same situation. Even though L'enfer was a failure, it still produced an admirable footage of crazy visual experiments. Most of these footage of experiments would have been lost if the film was actually completed and released because Clouzot was only going to used a few seconds of it, so in a way I'm glad that this film never got completed. How else will the public see this kind of film works of big name directors? The story of L'enfer didn't seem that special to me, the basic plot is about a man who is extremely jealous of his wife, goes crazy and kills (or doesn't kill?) his wife. We've seen a movie like this before. We have no idea if this movie would have been special if it was actually completed. But watching this documentary was a definitely a special experience for me.

SPX, Bolzano Comics and More!

2009-09-28T07:11:00.000-07:00

Melissa DeJesus, Hwan Cho and I had a great time at SPX last weekend. We brought our fresh off the copy machine comic anthology "Through the Meadow" and traded with various artists and publishers at the con. It felt great to finally have collaborated with my good friends after all these years of talking about it. It was a miracle that we actually finished it on time, especially with our crazy schedules and gmail not working on thursday, we were seriously working till the very last minute to finish this little anthology. But I am very happy with how it turned out and hopefully we'll be able to add more to it and print it in a nicer quality for the next convention. Here's a sneak pick on my comic for this anthology.

It was great to see so many people in little convention, I could feel the enthusiasm and energy coming from the crowd, artists and the publishers. It was a great inspiration for me to work harder and finish all the little project that I started and have them ready by next conventions. I also attended couple of panels,"critics roundtable" and "source based comics" which gave me a lot of insight on working with pre-exiting stories like novels and history and translating them into comics. I've gotten up to date with many current comics and comic artists through these panels.

We also found out there's a comic convention in Brooklyn in November called "King Con", which we are planning on getting a table or at least attend it with new comics. Yay to Brookyln!

When I got back from Bethesda last night, I found out that my comic "Muzakwee Comic: 1" is selected to be one of the finalist in Bolzano Comics! This competition is part of the Bolzano short film festival on November in Bolzano, Italy, and they'll be selecting the winner at the end of the festival on November 15th. This film festival looks very interesting, I wish I can go and check it out whether or not I win this competition, but it's in Italy which is too far for me to travel at this moment! I'm super excited about this since I didn't expect anything when I submitted my comics to this competition. You can check out my web portfolio to read my comic "Muzakwee Comic: 1" and also check out http://www.bolzanocomics.it/ for more info.

Small Press Expo

2009-09-21T17:10:00.000-07:00

I'll be attending SPX with Risa and Melissa this weekend. We won't have a table but are working very hard to make a comic anthology together to bring to the convention!

Here's more info on SPX
Hope to see you all there!!

SPX 2009
Bethesda North Marriott Hotel & Conference Center

Open to the public Saturday and Sunday, September 26 and 27, 2009.

Times:
Saturday: 11:00 am – 7:00 pm
Sunday: noon – 6:00 pm

Admission:
One day memberships: $10.00
Weekend memberships: $15.00
Collected at the door the day of the show

Chris Cunningham

2009-09-19T10:57:00.000-07:00

I first got to know Chris Cunningham's work through his music video for Bjork, 'All is full of Love' and was struck by his disturbing but beautiful visual sensibility. Chris Cunningham is known for his frequent collaboration with Aphex Twin, another electronic musician that I like. He seems to work mainly on short length videos like commercials and music videos but never a full length film. With his craft and extraordinary visions, he would be an awesome director for science fiction movies. He was rumored to be directing William Gibson's novels which I thought was a match made in heaven, but sadly it seems like the project fizzled out before it reached production. What I admire the most about Chris Cunningham's work is that he seems to have an amazing appreciation and understanding on human forms. I'm always deeply moved by figurative art that shows the brilliance of human bodies away from the conventional ideals of beauty people accept from magazines and other media. Chris Cunningham's videos plays with the incredible strength and intricate designs of human bodies and I wish one day I could be able to express it in my own art. Even though there aren't tons of Chris Cunningham's work out, whatever I've seen so far has inspired me a lot and I will look forward to watch anything he comes up with in the future. Here are some of my favorite Chris Cunningham's Videos.

sketches for goldie locks comic

2009-09-15T10:30:00.000-07:00

Fairy Tale Anthology

2009-09-13T17:21:00.001-07:00

I don't know why I drew this, but it must be the influence of all the Underworld movies I watched recently, and my friend Becky is drawing an awesome werewolf comic and my other friend Risa has drawn an awesome little red riding hood comics. Me, Risa and Melissa are suppose to make a short comic anthology based on fairy tales for upcoming SPX, and I had an idea to draw a variation on Goldilocks with Frankenstein twist. But for some reason, I just can't get it out of my head, I've drawn a few sketches but I am not sure where I am going with it.

So I side tracked and drew this instead for fun. Maybe it can be included in our fairytale anthology as a bonus illustration. :)

random sketches

2009-09-10T10:20:00.003-07:00

I was bored at work and to pass the time, I did some sketches in the morning. and look! it's already lunch time! :)

District 9

2009-09-08T07:45:00.000-07:00

Over the labor day weekend, I watched District 9, a new sci-fi movie about aliens on earth. It was sometimes a bit too gory and trigger happy for my taste but over all this movie was very exciting and fresh take on aliens. We are used to seeing aliens as malicious monsters who are out to kill humans and take over the world. But in this movie, they are pretty harmless creatures who just want to get out of slum and go home. I loved how you ended up rooting for these horrible looking alien creatures over the humans. There are some plot holes that need a better explanation than "these aliens are just dumb". I mean these creatures don't want to live in this condition and most humans don't want to keep them on earth either (except the greedy evil military scientists/ weapons manufactures). There are a few intelligent aliens left who have the knowledge in how to restart their mother ship and they could even communicate with humans. And their technology is far advanced than humans and there were many alien weapons left on the ship. They could surely protect themselves and fix their ship before they were condemned to live in the earth slum for two decades! Also, there are some moments towards the end that reminded me too much about "die hard" or "mission impossible" with huge shoot outs where no bullets seem to get the heroes and the main human character who doesn't have any previous experience with operating alien machines suddenly controls very cool, complicated looking alien craft. Even if he's genetically altered to be able to use alien weapons, this craft was no simple hand gun.

Despite many flaws, I thoroughly enjoyed watching this movie and I was in the edge of my seat the whole time. The alien machines looked really cool and the CG was superbly blended into the real footage. I never felt the visual was contrived or over done. And despite the appearance of being a summer action flick, this movie questions our very real problem of discrimination and brutality against people who look different from those with power.

Moon

2009-08-12T08:31:00.000-07:00

Moon is a sci-fi movie directed by Duncan Jones, starring Sam Rockwell. If you like Sam Rockwell, this is the movie for you. It's basically a one man show with one other character which is a computer voiced by Kevin Spacey. I first heard about this movie from a movie reviewing podcast called filmspotting. They were raving about this movie and it perked up my curiosity. And I wasn't disappointed after watching it. Moon reminds me of one of my favorite sci-fi movies Solaris. It could be viewed as mystery/ thriller, but It also deals with more internal issues of one's identity/ destiny and loneliness. This movie is pretty low budgeted and you can see it in the moon exploration scenes, but I kinda like it that way, it gives a nostalgic mood of old 70's sci-fi movies and also makes me focus more on the characters rather than the flash visual effects. I've never watched Sam Rockwell in movies before and I was really impressed with his performance in this movie. Without giving too much away, he plays two different versions of the same character and it is chilling to see how different someone can turn out in different circumstances. I loved how the story ended too, I was content to see the credit roll. I'm excited to see what this director and actor will come out with in the future.

Crush and Blush

2009-08-11T09:02:00.000-07:00

Thanks to my good friend Risa Cho, I've been watching a lot of good Korean films lately. Crush and Blush (Korean Title: Miss Hongdangmu) is a funny and corky korean flick written and directed by Lee Kyoung-mi. Interestingly, Park Chan-wook (director of Old-Boy and I'm a cyborg but that's o.k.) is also credited as a writer. This movie is packed with weird characters and over the top, crazy story lines but they all work well together by the equally audacious direction and editing. I love how daring and different this movie is from other Korean movies I've seen recently. The main character Yang Mi-sook played awesomely by Kong Hyo-jin, is a red faced high school teacher who will do anything and everything to get her long time crush, even though he's her co-worker, married, and has a daughter who happens to be a student in her school. The plot gets a little unrealistic sometimes but the way the actors played their characters so unapologetically made me get sucked into this crazy love triangle (or multi-angle depending on how you look at it). I also love how teenage girls aren't portrayed as pretty objects in short school uniforms, but weird, dirty minded, and sometimes cruel individuals, much like what I remember myself to be at that age. It's probably because this movie is directed by a woman. I think this movie can be a kick ass comic book series. I can see so many side stories developing from this movie. All the characters were so funny and interesting, I was sad to see it ended.

Asterios Polyp

2009-08-11T08:15:00.000-07:00

I've just finished reading David Mazzucchelli's Asterios Polyp. Although I haven't been reading a lot of comics lately, I feel this one is a very special piece of work. This book walks in the thin lines between many boundaries. The story seems pretty simple yet complex, the art looks clean and simplified, almost like signs yet there is so much thought behind how they are designed. I love every aspect of this book. David Mazzucchelli was one of my professors at RISD and I wasn't so familiar with his work at the time. He's well known for more main stream comic series like Batman and Daredevil. I've never read american super hero comics when I was young and I couldn't get into them when I grew up even though I was around many people who know a lot about this genre. But now I want to check out his older stuff just to get a glimpse of his talent. Comic books like Asterios Polyp make me want to keep on drawing comics. It shows how intelligent and complete media comics can be, even more than movies. Simply by laying lines, colors, and words on a paper, comics compact so much information and tell a story in a personal way for each readers. Asterios Polyp is one of the finest examples of how it could be done.

Here's an interesting article on David Mazzucchelli and his work.

http://squallyshowers.wordpress.com/2009/07/17/david-mazzucchelli-at-mocca/

Don Pedro's

2009-08-08T18:15:00.000-07:00

My water color "Narcisa" will be showing at Don Pedro's if you haven't had a chance to see it at 'the Love show'. Several pieces from 'the Love show' and other art work will be hanging on the wall as part of the gig with the local bands: Fancy Colors, Organs, Your Vegas, and Chappo. The show starts at 9. Come have a drink and enjoy the music and art!
August 11th Tuesday
@ Don Pedro's
90 Manhattan Ave. Brooklyn, New York 11212
http://donpedro.us/

Asian American Comic Con

2009-07-06T05:17:00.000-07:00

I have been invited to be one of the exhibitors in the first Asian American Comic Con. This is one day event on July 11th from 10 am to 5 pm at the Museum of Chinese in America (215 Centre Street in New York City). Visit http://www.secretidentities.org/aacc/homepage.html for more info. The guest list is awesome including Derek Kirk Kim, Larry Hama, and Christine Norrie. There will be an art auction to support the AACC and I'll be entering my "Aurora" print and one of my signed comic book in the auction. I'm very excited to be part of this event!

the LOVE show

2009-06-26T13:22:00.001-07:00

My water color painting of "narcisa" will be shown at the group art show in brooklyn, new york called " the Love show".

JULY 17th 2009

@ SpreadArtGallery

E. Williamsburg, Brooklyn. ~ 104 Meserole St. ~ 7pm

http://www.spreadart.org/

Here is the press release of the show for more info:

Brooklyn, NY - This summer, Love comes to Brooklyn. Over a dozen artists from

New York and around the country will be submitting to and attending the

premier Love show hosted by the Spread Gallery art + performance space in

E. Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The show will exhibit a generational cross-section of

celebrated working artists and designers through their reflections on love. Love

as a force of good, a force of malice, force of height, of hate, a force of God,

creation, destruction, oppresion, and the many experiential et ceteras.

Gallery Opening going down on July 17th, 2009.

The Love show is a submission show with artists submitting work from New York,

Los Angeles, Miami, and elsewhere. Artists featured include Tatiana Suarez,

renowned culture illustrator from Miami now working in New York; Cameron Davis,

a conceptual designer from Los Angeles on hiatus from Neversoft, and Billy Rueck,

furniture designer-turned boat builder doing a residency program in Scotland this

year. These artists and more will be showing their art and available to speak on

opening night. Artists and appraisers welcome.

My new paintings!

2009-06-22T07:29:00.000-07:00

I went home to VA last weekend to finish some new paintings for my mom's salon. I've been really into some of the american modern painters like Helen Frankenthaler and Richard Diebenkorn lately. I love how free and fresh their colors play on the canvas. I am not use to painting abstract so it took some time to loosen up. Weekend trip to VA always ends too early, when I'm just getting the hang of painting, I have to leave back to New york. I made a lot of mess on half a dozen canvases, most of them I have no idea where they are going to end up, but I manage to finish four paintings. I am going to keep on playing with abstract paintings concentrating on colors in my new york apartment. So when I go back to VA in my mom's basement, I'll be ready to make a better mess!

My Space Odyssey

2009-06-16T16:57:00.000-07:00

I've been reading a lot of science fictions and watching movies set in space lately. And I couldn't help but draw what my own version of space drama would be like. Whenever I find fictions I like, it's my hobby to do character designs for those stories.

I'm still in the process of finishing coloring lots more of the designs, hopefully I will be able to put them to use in my comics someday.

Stay tune for more! :)

post MoCCA

2009-06-11T10:25:00.000-07:00

Thanks everyone for coming to MoCCA!
I am so glad that I have finished some new materials on time to bring to the convention. I met many interesting people, there were so many amazing artists that I wouldn't have met if I haven't gone.
David Mazzucchelli (of "Batman: Year One", "City of Glass", and "Daredevil") was there signing his new book "Asterios Polyp". He was one of my favorite teachers at RISD and I was so glad to see him again. He remembered me and the comics I made in his class after all these years. His new book looked so gorgeous, it sold out at the convention. I can't wait to get my hands on it when it officially comes out in July.
I bumped into some RISD grads too, Corinne who I see in almost every convention, I just love her corky comics and it's great to see her doing her own thing so diligently. I also met Jethro who is curating a RISD grads group art show called "the Love show" coming up on July. I have submitted my work to be considered and I was so excited to hear that my work is in! I'll post more info about this show soon! It was also interesting to meet some people who've seen my work on the web before.

There were people from all over the country and even from Europe. The power of comics united us all! I bought a book called "Love Pain" by Ephameron from this Belgian publisher, Bries. I found all these books that I got when traveling europe years ago on their table. They publish many books by ANKE FEUCHTENBERGER whose work I LOVE.

MoCCA was huge, it was endless rows and rows of comics, many of the people that I have seen in last year's MoCCA and other conventions. It was easy to get lost in the sea of artists tables and I felt a little overwhelmed. There was no ventilation inside that I felt a little light headed at the end of the day. But all in all it was a great convention and I'm looking forward to next year!

Website make over!

2009-06-03T21:37:00.000-07:00

I have re-designed my website with new comics, illustrations, and fine art.
check it out at
http://robin.megaten.net/

I usually re do my website once a year, because I get sick of my own website. lol. Also MoCCA is coming up and I wanted to show a fresh look to people who've known my work before and the new comers.
This time, my main goal was to keep it very simple and allow the maximum space for the images of my work.
I've noticed when I am viewing other people's websites, I only click on the first few thumbnails. So I've tried to included the full size images in one pages for lazy people like me who doesn't want to go back and forth and click on different thumbnails.
I've also deleted many of my old art because I've been just adding and adding without really thinking about if the art work represent myself or not. I've trimmed down my archive and group the images a little more sensibly... I hope this make over will help the viewers to see more of my work with less effort.
Please let me know if there's any problem with my website. Thanks and enjoy! :)

MoCCA and my new comics!

2009-06-01T08:21:00.000-07:00

I'll be attending a comic festival in new york this weekend with my new comics and illustrations.
come visit me and my friends' table at MoCCA!
It's a great place to find all kinds of printed art, from books, comics, illustrations, cards, posters..etc.

http://www.moccany.org/

Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art Festival 2009

June 6th & 7th

The Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art is proud to announce MoCCA Festival 2009 will be held June 6th & 7th at the 69th Regiment Armory at Lexington Avenue and 25th Street in New York City.
The Village Voice calls the MoCCA Festival ""the best small-press nexus (anywhere!)" Now BIGGER than ever! An incredible weekend of comic and cartoon art exhibitors, panels, lectures, sketches, autographs, and more! Thousands come every summer to meet and purchase works from some of the world's best cartoonists, animators, and graphic novelists.

Where?
69th Regiment Armory
68 Lexington Avenue, between 25th and 26th Streets

When?
June 6th and 7th, 11am-6pm

Cost?
$10 per day
$15 per weekend
MoCCA Members: $10 per weekend

NAVATOR

2009-06-01T07:46:00.000-07:00

My friend Saad launched his website NAVATOR a few months back. It concentrates on promoting local events and artists and in this month, my work is up. Thanks Saad! :) Saad came to my opening in VA and he did some interviews with me. You can see the video and some of my sample work on his website now.

http://www.NAVATOR.com/

in the photo section, there are a few images that aren't my work, RIchard Diebenkorn and Elizabeth Peyton's paintings. these are the artists that who influence me a lot at the moment.

Apart from the section "EYE. ONU?" which features my work, Saad has a lot of interesting videos in his website and he uploads loads of info about underground artists and musicians, so check it out often!

Beautiful Monsters

2009-05-19T20:28:00.000-07:00

Whenever I watch any visuals with figures, the first thing that I notice is the costumes. I love creative visions on human bodies, whether it's clothes or make ups or prosthetics. There are two costume designers that I admire in the movie industry, Eiko Ishioka who designed costumes for Tarsem's The Cell, The Fall, Francis Coppola's Dracula and many theater and dance costumes. The other designer is Sandy Powell who does everything so well from Shakespearean dresses to rock stars' body suits. I would go see any movies that these designers are involved in no matter what the movies are about, just to get a glimpse of their creativity.

I am a big fan of fashion as an art form, and the designers that I adore usually make fantastic clothes that are almost impossible to wear in real life, i.e. Alexander McQueen, John Galliano, Jean Paul Gaultier, and Viktor & Rolf. There is one fashion designer that caught my eyes this year. Gareth Pugh, a british designer who I didn't know much about until his fall 09 show. His show set itself apart from other designers by showing a video installation instead of models walking down the catwalk. Other designers have done videos in their shows before but Pugh's was a work of art on its own. I loved how surreal and animalistic his clothes are even though the silhouettes looked hard and machine like. I wouldn't want to wear his clothes unless the world war III happens and I need a protective haute couture to shield myself against dinosaur size mutant cockroaches on the streets. But I gotta give it to his explosive creativity, he might seem like a skinny soft spoken guy but he gotta have some balls to make clothes like these. He gave such dark and interesting visions on female forms which I think is infinitely attractive.