I was craving pasta last night so I made some for the first time in 3 months. I boiled the noodles, heated up the sauce and slapped them together and realized I didn't have any forks so ate it with chopsticks. Very bizarre. It was like pointing left and saying "right". I was also left with a plate full of tomato sauce...

Been working on some illustration work and preliminary drawings for things. I've been painfully realizing that, along with eating pasta, I haven't really drawn anything in 3 months as well. It's been a nice way to reset my drawing hand though and working towards training my eye to see differently. Here's a sample of recent efforts:

TAK

I have a few videos taken with my phone I wanna upload but I'm having a bit or trouble transfering them online. Hopefully, I'll figure it out soon and shoot them up. As always, thanks to my web guru Tu for all the help thus far.

There have a been a few developments with work in the last week or so. I've been here for close to 3 months now and the nagging thought of my visa slowly running out has started to set in. I know it's still very early in my stay but I'm a worrier by nature so I can't shake it. My current work holiday visa only lasts for 6 months and can be renewed for another 6 if the government deems me "acceptable". I haven't broken any laws except for forgetting to turn on my bike light at night (for which I've been stopped and warned about twice already by the local cops) so I think I'm in the clear. I've been a good boy.

Anyway, with time becoming a factor I made a logical work decision last week and it seems to be paying off. I can't give details at this point but let's just say I thought about it long and hard.

It was my grandma's 90th birthday last week (the one that got that crank call a while ago) so I sent her a card and some castella which is Japanese sponge cake. I don't know why they call it that. Maybe it's french. She wrote back with a nice thank you letter and made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

I picked up the first volume of Kazuo Umezu's Hyōryū Kyōshitsu or "Drifting Classroom" the other day. I've been on a horror kick for the last little while so it was only a matter of time until I got to this book. I see Viz is publishing it for the NA crowd. Anyway, it's very good. For a book that was published over 30 years ago, much of it still rings fresh and appropriately terrifying. The slow progression into insanity is beautifully paced and the efforts of retaining normal life by the students (like eating a school lunch) gets so twisted on it's head it's sublime. I'm a big fan of Minetaro Mochizuki's Zashikionna which is another famous horror book but DC is quickly becoming a contender for my top spot. Just look at that face and the spotted black. Like, fuckin' eh!!

TAK

Wow. Been a while. I haven't had much to post regarding work since I've been out and about mostly. Seeing old friends and visiting past places have been on the menu for the past 2 weeks. I think I just want to be inspired by or from something, however lame that sounds. Picked up a couple of cool books like Freesia and Junji Ito's Hellstar Lemina a few days ago. I wanna name something with "hell" in front of it dammit. Oh, I bought an amp and a toaster oven. Both for pretty cheap. So, I guess I've been buying shit to keep myself occupied. I still need a vacuum cleaner but that'll be for later. I finally joined a gym too which has been nice. Granted, my membership only allows me to go during the day so I work out with a bunch of middle aged women and grampas. How nice. Anyway, this is quickly turning very mindnumbing so I'll keep it short.

TAK

Yesterday was another amazing day full of surprises. I was still recovering from a slight cold but managed to wake up in time for Comitia. I met up with Y-san at a McD's before entering the convention and walked around together for a bit before splitting up to make a more thorough round of things. As opposed to Comiket, Comitia is nothing but original work and, to me, the overall quality of the books and works were delightedly higher. The show itself isn't as big. I'd say about a quarter of what Comiket was and a lot more relaxed and layed back. There was an opening surge of people but other than that, I didn't see the mad crowds like last time. Oh, btw, the following pictures were taken with my cell phone since I'd forgotten my camera. Sorry for the size.

Like before, the pros were lined up against the outer walls and the various circles and newbies were in the central area. They had half an outer wall dedicated to portfolio reviews by a wide range of magazines with a couple of editors repping for each one. The magazines that were present were Weekly Shonen Magazine, Monthly Shonen Sirius, Beth, Monthly Sunday GX, Comic Blade, Monthly Dragon Age, Comic Flapper and Comic Ryu. I had brought a few samples to show and made a note to get a review once I'd checked out the show which, in hindsight, was a big mistake but more on this later. For now, here's what the portfolio section looked like:

I weaved through all the aisles, made a note of what caught my eye and circled back for those once I'd seen everything. I bought a few books. One by Ugetsu Hakua was freakin' amazing. I'd seen his art on posters or something so it was nice seen someone I recognized. I got the impression that this con was really creator driven rather than fan driven. The presence of the editors is proof enough but I felt a general air of comeradery rather than rabid fandom. It's hard to explain but it was nice. Anyway, I eventually met up with Ryusuke and Go-san and chatted for a bit to catch up. After a smoke break, I decided to attempt a portfolio review but was unaware that I had to fill-out some paper work with a number on it in order to get a review. A seperate one for every magazine. So, by the time I got there the numbers were up to 31 and a quick glance at who was getting interviewed revealed they were still in the single digits. By this time it was past noon and the con was scheduled to end at 3:30. I sat for a bit in front of the Shonen Magazine booth and timed how long each interview was lasting and it was easily pushing 20-25 minutes a piece. Damn...

By this point, I'd given up hope, cursed my idiocy and went back to find my buds. I kept the application form though. I found Go-san and told him the situation. Long story short, I was convinced to go back and found out that it wasn't about what number you had but who was actually sitting and waiting. Once a spot opened it was about who had the lowest number. Geeeezus... Anyway, I managed 2 reviews. The first editor mentioned my art was good enough but I needed to show more samples in Japanese so they could get a feel for my dialogue. Everything I had was in English so I understood I was at a disadvantage for that. It was at least reassuring to hear that my drawing hand was up to par. The second review was probably the best art review I have ever had. He commented that some aspects of my drawing were out-of-date. Like, how I drew my mouths were kinda old and to work on that. I was also told to condense my heads so that there was less space between the eyes and nose and I needed bigger foreheads. My tone work was old too. I was asked about my influences and was given a few sources to look at in the future. It's so nice to hear these things. Then the conversation switched to what I was aiming to do. I told him about my intensions and that I'd recently moved and whatnot. Similar to what E-san said, I was told to commit to a specific audience and then to find a good editor through applying directly or conventions or what have you. He stressed that this was very important. Everything else started once I had these 2 things. I was suggested a genre that his magazine was currently looking for and that the elements he saw in my work would fit accordingly and to not bother with the seasonal contests since it would end up taking more time in the end. Is this not fucking rad? We exchanged contact info and I left with the promise that I would show him breakdowns for a short within the month.

So, yeah. Suffice to say, it was a good day in the end. A very good day.

TAK