I'm a Ninja Kitten

Next weekend I'll be skating in my first ever roller derby bout (and I'll be working on a new art project in order to prep for it)!  As opposed to a regular "season" bout, it's a mixer where a number of derby leagues are sending up 4 of their players to compete in shuffled teams.  There will be 2 bouts and therefore 4 teams total: 2 A-level teams consisting of more experienced players (The Alley Cats vs. The Junkyard Dogs) and 2 B-teams for beginners like me (Ninja Kittens vs. Pirate Puppies).

I was assigned to the Ninja Kittens team, and I'm kind of excited about it.  I mean, I might be more partial to dogs than cats, but I do loves my ninjas!  And that's where my new project comes in.  Each skater is responsible for providing her own costume or jersey, so as a cosplayer, how can I not try to put together a ninja costume? 

I only have a week (with no days off from work in between), so I'm going to stick with a fairly simple design.  The team color for the Ninja Kittens is black (naturally), so the costume will be a short, black, sleeveless kosode.  It will more or less look similar to the shinigami shihakusho that Nemu from BLEACH wears with some differences.  I'm not going to bother making the white layer under the black kosode, and instead of having a wide obi (belt) like Nemu, it'll be a thinner, red one vaguely similar to what you see on various martial arts uniforms.  The kosode will also be a little longer in length than Nemu's so I don't accidentally put on a show for everyone if you catch my drift.  This will also be why I'll have a pair of shorts on underneath, haha.  For the sake of comfort and ease of movement it will be made from interlock jersey fabric.  When I put the entire costume together, it will also include the fishnet body suit that I used for my Mitarashi Anko costume (Naruto).  I figure that will add a nice finishing touch.  I'd include a headband as well only there's no point in making one since I'll be wearing a helmet.

I'm sorry to say that I don't have any images to post for you guys just yet.  As soon as I have some, I'll  be sure to post them here!

You Can Call Me Knuckles

The roller derby team I joined this summer had a photographer come in a couple of weeks ago to take group shots and head shots of all my fellow DuPage Derby Dames.  Unfortunately, I missed that practice and thus, have no photos.  I wasn't too disappointed because we'll have more photo shoots in the future, but seeing everyone's head shots did make me feel like I missed out just the tiniest bit.  So, I did the next best thing and drew my own derby shot!

 

I look so much cuter here than in real life, hur hur hur :P

Also, while it will be pending approval, it looks like my official derby name will be Knuckle Sammich.  It was suggested by my future sister-in-law (that is, my brother's fiance).  Honestly, I wasn't 100% sold on the name, so save for a few co-workers and friends, I mostly kept it to myself.  Here's the kicker though, out of no where, the Dames nicknamed me...Knuckles.  Sign from God?  Some would say it is so...

Meet Kiku: My Entry for Anime World Chicago's Mascot Design Contest

Anime World Chicago, a brand-spankin' new anime convention premiering August 19th, held a contest to design the convention's mascot for next year.  This was my entry.  I gave her the name "Kiku," the Japanese word for Chrysanthemum, as it is the official flower of Chicago.  I tried to carry the chrysanthemum motif across in the mini-kimono print, used it to replace the star in the Converse Chuck Taylor All-Star logo, mimicked the shape of the petals in her hair style (evident in the puff/tuft and her bangs), and of course, added the actual flower tucked behind her ear :)

I shortened and stylized the kimono a little bit and added the skinny jeans and Chucks in an attempt to blend together traditional Japanese and modern American styles.  As an additional nod to Chicago, I used the city's flag design in Kiku's obi (the wide belt), and repeated the 6-point stars from the flag in her hair accessories. 

In the end I didn't win.  Honestly, I would have been more surprised if I had.  I really didn't expect to win because I didn't get a chance to work on the design or even come up with a concept until the very last minute.  As in, mere hours before the deadline.  In fact, in order to be able to submit a design at all, I had to send it in unfinished (bleh, I'm embarrassed, hahaha).  The version that the judges received had flat colors.  I only added in the gradients and the shading later on for my own satisfaction, though I am entertaining the idea of further polishing it up just for kicks.

If I had more time to work on the design, I would have come up with a stronger concept and more dynamic pose.  Eh well.  At least I got another drawing done!

Congratulations to the contest winners!

 

Just Another Day at the Bookstore: Based on a True Story

Just so's y'alls knows, this is a reeeally big image.  You'll have to click it to see it at full-size!

If you weren't aware, I work at a used bookstore (the awesomestest one evar!) that sells and buys books and media from the community.  Most of our customers are fabulous people, but every so often we get some who are...significantly less fabulous.  Like the title says, this comic was inspired by true events--Events from just a few weeks ago, actually.  In fact, the conversation is pretty darn close to verbatim of what "Mr. Gray" said to me.

And no, he didn't tell me that I was fat and that he hates me...But he was thinkin' it!  Haha!

Co-starring in this comic is co-worker extraordinaire, Josh!  And yes, he really did give him the stink-eye.  He told me he did anyway :P

Practice Sketch: Josh

Super rough (keyword!) sketch of another one of my

awesome co-workers (and easily the funniest guy I know), Josh!  

Even though I'm still not finished with the big side project I've been working on, I had a little "incident" at work that I feel compelled to illustrate as a comic.  Josh will make an appearance in it, so I started doodling some practice sketches of him.  Despite the look of the sketch, I don't want this comic to be very detailed/realistic, so I'll need to reduce down his features into more generic, cartoony forms than what you see here.  I'm not sure what sort of style I'll be working with just yet though--need to do some more sketches first.

Odd little note:  Even when drawing them as cartoons, I tend to draw real people in different style than if I were to just make someone up.  I figure it's because I try really hard to capture some defining physical characteristics of that person so that even the cartoon versions bare some resemblance to their real-world counterparts (like good caricatures).  Unless I'm going for a very specific visual style, I don't usually draw real people with features so generic they can represent pretty much anyone. 

Nyuk Nyuk Nyuk!

About a month ago, my friend, Rebecca, got her boyfriend, Andy, a beer home-brewing kit for his birthday.  As a part of his surprise gift, she asked me to design a fun little label to go with it.  We brain stormed a bunch of ideas but threw most of them out when she covertly found out that if had he his own beer brand, he'd name it "Shempster."

Yes, as in Shemp Howard of The Three Stooges fame, LOL

Bottle cap sticker--The "A.W." stands for Andy's initials :P

 

All the photos were provided by Rebecca!

Just something I photoshopped using a stock image.

It was fun getting to design something so goofy.  Now we just need some for all the other Stooges.  Hope you had a fantastic birthday, Andy!

Magic Sparkley Cheeseburger

I haven't posted anything new here in about a month, and I feel like that's way too long.  The only thing is, I don't really have anything to post just yet.  See, many of you guys know that I've been working on a side project for quite some time (much longer than I had any intention of letting it drag on for...my apologies to the appropriate party...).  Since I'm determined to have this project completed in its entirety by the end of July, I have been forgoing most other attempts at artsy-ness, including the occasional, fun doodle.  But you know what they say...

...All work and no play makes [Saemi] a dull [girl].

Or, if you'd prefer the Simpsons take...

Saemi:  ...All work and no play make [Saemi] something something...
Marge:  Go crazy?
Saemi:  Don't mind if I do!  *crazy mouth noises*

Truth be told, it's just a (very) rough sketch that I took from one of the panels I was drawing for the project.  I did tweak it to look different than than the actual drawing though, since the project is yet unfinished, unpublished, and it's not my intellectual property (I'm just the brawns to someone else's brains).  Basically, I just changed some of the facial features and added the Cheeseburger of Sparkliness.

 (Click for larger view)

I also misspelled the word, "Sparkly" apparently.  Ah crap.  I knew that, I swear!  Well, I'll just argue that that's how it's spelled in the mystical world of glittery foodstuffs. 

Hope you were as amused as you were befuddled by this nonsense!  I'm off to fetch a glass of iridescent juice.