It’s been ages since I’ve had an update. I’ve been visiting the old country, alongside some other hubbub (including a very new family member!) so well sorry if shit has been dead. ^^;;

Anyways I’m here to talk about Sana Takeda. An artist I discovered more along the US comic thread, and my how false my assumptions were. Apparently she’s not a dude, and she’s a Japanese citizen (not a Japanese-American). Hardly the kind of person you’d imagine being commissioned to work for the biggest names in American comics.. (i.e. Marvel, Aspen, etc) I guess the industry has far reaches.

But let me talk a bit more about her style. I think it’s accurate to say it’s a style that truly blends the east and west. It can LOOK fitting for an American comic but it also feels true to a more manga esque style. Not only is it something a bit different, but a kind of vision I can connect with. Check out for yourself how some of her images feel westernized, yet others less so.

P.S. She’s brilliant when it comes to painting images that are off angles from the central subject. Therefore, offering a very intimate if not more poignant impression on the viewer.







http://www.sanatakeda.or.tv/

Sorry. I've been slow on updates. My move back home kinda was a handfull.
How do you clean up the clutter after you've barely managed to cram the excess shit amassed??
I need some major storage compartments, fast. -_-

Also, why does my Tifa look so asian? o_O

Urgh. Something about Cloud makes him look the crappiest so far. WTF is it.

I have a case of the sniffles. I think I'm having a sudden onset of allergies. -_-

Not much to say. Mostly just wanted to make her hair darker cuz really light pink wasn't doin it for me. *shrug*

Dudes,

So this is my attempt to colour "fast". It's done with considerably less work.. but still slow in my opinion. -_- Urgh, when can I do something I like. Hopefully I'll get all six done. Then all fangled to make nice lamis. :D

I like Mr. 33cm SO MUCH. But eng voice is kinda faggy. D:
I didn't like his design very much initially, but he grew on me :D

FF animals need lovin too.

Hands down my fav was RED XIII. He is like not only like a cat... but like a dog TOO... he is cat dog, but BESTLY, he has some angsty shit goin on and you just wanna cuddle him! He's like a doggie with complex human emotions!

(Jenn doesn't have touch problems with non-humans)

I'm having major bouts of "troubled artist" right now, since every time I even attempt to colour I feel terrible. You know a 5 year old with crayons? That is me. No jokes. Wait I guess you need to add ample scoops of self loathing as well.

I don't want to chatter on too much since i have more brain slammin to do... but damn I suck so much.

Anyways I just had to change gears for the moment. So I decided I'd work on some portrait sketches of FF characters for possible lami releases in the summer.
Gee... already did these two in 10-15 min. I wish colouring could be that fast, seriously.

I think I may do two more females and males... prob leads from FFVIII and VII. Requests? Let's hear em.
























 ********* ADDED FFVII AND VIII LEADS TOO. Sorry VIII is pretty rough but I just wanted it up before BEDTIME. :D

Final installment of the Four Symbols, this is Hyunmu, the Black Tortoise of the north. I had to redraw and I think this one is better.

He's still pretty rough, but again I wanted to upload before I went to sleep.

I'll try working out the kinks tomorrow.

Sorry, I wanted to post this before bed.

I actually have been working on Hyunmu for a bit of time and he looks like a complete asshit (almost finished) so I decided to move onto Chungryong for the moment. I think Hyunmu will have to be redone.

It's very rough so I'll touch up a bit more then repost. Unlike the damn turtle this was so much easier.

Azure Dragon of the East for your enjoyment.

Anyone who knows Jenn, knows Jenn LOVES Mr. Kim Hyung Tae.

However... while I may once have been totally star struck by his designs *they are oh so flashy* his flaws seem to get more and more glaringly obvious.

I'm not making a poke at his exaggerated anatomy (which isn't REALLY the problem) but his abuse in BALANCING his figures is the main problem. Exaggerated anatomy is awesome if it looks balanced... just painfully awkward if it isn't.

The Zephie chick... her leg looks like it'll pop right out of her hip socket.. like hip displaysia or something.. and Schauezeit... his feet are so small and his bicepts are bigger than his torso!

Man.. HTK.. I love a bit of flexibility but it's like the fun house of mirrors or something.

I could complain about the genre of his charcaters to be played out and tired as well, but I think I've done enough bashing for now.

HTK, sir, your colouring skills only seem to get better and better though... truly a master of colour.

P.S. Usually I'd be bitching about this game bein an XBOX360 exclusive (hence I cannot play) but looking at the screenshots they managed to butcher HTKs designs as well for the character renders. So, I won't be missing much..

I think no matter what I end up doing in life, I will always have a passion for storytelling.
Not just listening to stories, but making them up in my head as well.
I just LOVE stories... and I think most people do as well.
This is a bit vague, so let me try to make this more concise.

As a person who is making up their own comic book story, as much as I would just like to dive in and start imagining and world building, I know this isn't the smartest route. I love thinking up new stories, but I know 1) you can't just completely start messing about... it's a great creative process but too structurally unsound and 2) you need to know your basics.

I really appreciate my Grade 11 English teacher, Ms. Guezalova for introducing me to a book called the Writer's Journey by Vogler. It laid out the foundation of the myth for me. The structure of plot, the type of characters you need.. you know... how a mythical story is built with a hero. I consider it to be an invaluable tool to building your own myths as well. Cuz deny it all you want... the best stories are never originals (I dun think that's even possible) but time tested tales that have taken creative liberty and changed into something "new".

So, invigorated with the idea I may find MORE books like this I scoured the shelves for more books like A Writer's Journey. I found an interesting one called Mythology: The Voyage of a Hero by Leeming at BMV and I look forward to reading it. But... doing some more intensive searching on Amazon, I'm intensely interested in picking up The Hero of a Thousand Faces because it is apparently the bible on this topic. The Mythic Journey is supposedly a reference book to The Hero of a Thousand Faces.

As I brush up on my myths, I'm wondering how many manga writers actually go to the trouble of researching methods of story telling like this. It's noted in the mythic journey that screenplays (the good ones anyway) will resemble this form in some way.

I'm really looking forward to it and I don't want to neglect the other types of mythology as well.

Mythology: The Voyage of a Hero - Google Books Preview

Why are females so much harder to draw?

I think she took about double time longer than Baekho.

Here's my personified "vermilion phoenix"

I actually hadn't planned on doing spots on artists I already know.. but well I suppose that cuts out ALOT of possible spots.

So, I'll do spots not only on new artists, but artists that have caught my attention during the present. Again, if need be.

His greatness, Takehiko Inoue is an amazing, godly artist, whom I believe I have underrated in the past. I think in order to truly appreciate his skills you have to take it slowly... peel back the layers and keep coming back in order to perceive his style with new insight and a deeper sense of understanding.

Well... I find that's true for me anyhow. He was never a huge personal favourite of mine but I think that's quickly changing.

Vagabond is a story I've been familiar with every since I read the original Miyamoto Musashi serial during my early years in high school. What I would consider to be THE samurai epic, I think it's fitting that Vagabond may also be Mr. Inoue's greatest epic as well.

One of the photos is a commissioned wall mural he did for Kinokuniya Bookstore NYC, recently.

http://www.itplanning.co.jp/

Finally a post with some personal artwork.

I liked how I could get creative with with the four symbolic Chinese constellations and did some roughs last year. I felt like redrawing them again. :)

Kinda sad how I was first familiarized with them from Fushigi Yuugi, but we all gotta learn somewhere.

Here's the White Tiger or Baekho. The Baekho is the western/autumn constellation.

Anyways I'll prob update with a cleaner sketch later.
Stay tuned for the other three.

Okay now that I can take a BREATH from school, gotta take a moment to introduce a crazy, LOCAL, Vancouver artist.

I love Edward Kwong's distinct style! He loves using hyper detailed geometric shapes so you get really unique art deco inspired pieces.

I can tell he has a very creative mind. I hope he keeps on drawing!

http://www.edkwong.com/

Blimey, it SNOWS in April.

Today is my first day of HELL week. I managed to crawl out of my bed at the ungoldly hour of 9am, and fight through the frigid weather to write my soc final.

I surprisingly, did not fail. Feeling the need to reward myself, I strolled through the strip of Bloor Street between Spadina and Bathurst.

First visit was to the Labyrinth. My all time fav store in Toronto because I love artbooks soooooo much and their selection is one of the most diverse I have seen (even online!). But unfortunately, nothing caught my fancy. :(

Second stop was my other big favourite, BMV BOOKS. Le omg... you find the coolest surprises! But alas nothing really cool caught my eye.

So, I was prepping to get to my streetcar stop when I warily spotted the new GAMESTOP (damn, we do have them!) with a sale posted. Couldn't hurt to look right?

I know.. I know I swore bloody hell to EB games for their meh pricing, terrible customer service (douche bags), and store fronts that REEK of terrified nerd sweat.. but hey this one has no carpet :)

The sale is actually pretty decent. It lasts until early may and although not many PS3 games were on sale, the ones that were, they're great. To my utter delight I was able to pick up MGS4 new for 30 bucks+ tax...!!! I also swore I would never pay more than 30 dollars for a video game after picking up DMC4 in pristine condition for 20 something bucks. So I guess so far my track record is pretty good :D The cashier.. *looking at the receipt...* ya Ryan.. looked like a college kid and he was totally courteous too. None of that could I please see your ID bullshit, just a big dopey smile to brighten your day. Yeh,yeh,yeh Ryan, you have restored my faith in customer service.

Hmmm.. the only other game that piqued my interest was Prince of Persia. Sorry for not getting a good look at the Xbox section, but alias I am a Microsoft hater. I'm sure they had more games on sale in the Xbox360 department though. So my fellow gamers, go check out your local EBgames. You'll find something good, I hope!

Game review will happen 1-2 months from now, when I can actually get home and warm up my Ps3!

Not only is "Marguerite Sauvage" a totally bitchin name, her artwork is equally FINE and DANDY. I stumbled into her artwork recently and her style is SOOOOOO pretty and SOOO stylish.
If I wanted to do more girly things, I would definitely take a few pointers from her. The French never lack high class STYLE. Art Nouveau for the WIN.



I love leggy, fashion style girls... and the swirly abstract hair is a FLOURISH.
I know... knowing me you'd think wtf, eh Jenn?

But it's TRUE. Deep down I appeciate pretty, delicate things as much as the next hipster girl. You just have to get past all the violent carnage first >:)

Go see some more goodness:

http://margueritesauvage.com/

I got this little gem in on Friday.

Yeh, yeh, yeh. It looks like my post office isn't "losing" all of my packages, thankfully.
I swear I think customs has me cock blocked or somethin.

Alright so this is basically Ciel's collection of Cg works from 2005-2009.
The content is great... I mean she did alot of D-Gray-Man works in recent history but I'm a little disappointed not to see her OLDER FMA works. Here you get a mix of mostly D Gray Man and the touch of Reborn stuff she's into now.

Print quality is fantastic. I knew she was really happy about the colour accuracy when it came back from the printer. She thinks it is one of the best reproductions she's seen. Not bad since this is the crown gem of her works. I'm willing to bet every one of her fans wants this book. The presentation is ridiculously fancy too. I'm talking textured, aqueous finishing on the outside with gold leaf inlay kinda fancy shit. It's a turtleshell paperback too. I love turtleshells... it's like paperback 1.5... almost hardback but not quite there.

Now for the not so good:

The format is too small. I mean it's all so fancy and pretty, but clocking in at only B5 it still feels TOO much like a doujinshi. I wanted an A4 format book. That would have been awesome.
I also was disappointed by how 2-3 of her images would be squished onto a single page. Yeah, it's inevitable if you want to keep the page count down, but I would have loved to have some more single full shots or double paged spreads. The price point was very cheap from my perspective and I would have eagerly paid 2-3x more for some of these improvements. I gotta keep in mind she wants her work to be accessible to as many people as possible.. so a lower price point makes sense.

Overall, a book I've been waiting quite a while to see and it still delivers, all things considered.

P.S. I may put up a single interior spread as a sample.

So I guess I actually decided to start a blog.

We'll see how this goes. If I can get into the groove and stuff actually worthwhile can be posted, this will actually last.

Expect to see stuff like my drawings, reviews on random stuff I get or see, and ya prob things like spotlights on new artists I find and like. I'll try to keep this blog "mostly" art orientated.

Well.. Let's get the ball rollin.