mako art

Lolita

2012-02-12T21:09:00.000-08:00

An illustration I did of the song 'Lolita' by Miniature Tigers. I feel like I haven't done a lot lately, but had a lot of fun drawing this. Also, have been looking at a lot of tattoo art lately.

IRIS station

2012-02-12T20:39:00.000-08:00

A concept for a space station that I was working on, I wanted it to have a retro futurism look and after a lot of sketches I decided to make it look like an eye.

Cowa!

2011-12-15T01:40:00.000-08:00

A drawing I did of Paifu and Jose from Cowa! for Robert Iza!

Forest Walk

2011-10-03T03:18:00.000-07:00

A drawing of me and my puppy Momo. She's pretty fastidious and doesn't like being in the rain, but she's my sweetie and this happens a lot.

Space Ghost

2011-08-08T02:27:00.000-07:00

More time spent drawing space skies. I had some visitors staying from out of town so I haven't drawn anything lately. I drew a space sky for something my brother was working on and wanted to make a picture out of it that wouldn't block it too much. Settled on a cute murdered astronaut ghost girl. I guess she didn't have to be murdered, but whatever.

It hurts to shoot lasers from your eyes

2011-07-15T17:18:00.000-07:00

Finally

2011-07-01T05:05:00.000-07:00

So we've been having weekly illustration challenges at work, this week's word was 'Finally' I get teased a lot for making this bloody or at least demanding that things be bloody. This might be the bloodiest thing I have ever drawn. So... thanks working on a girls' fashion game for bringing out the best in me.

Just been working on this the last few nights and I like it, its silly <3

Elq Milq

2011-06-26T02:12:00.000-07:00

So one of my favorite bands is the Octopus Project, they put out a collaboration album with Black Moth Super Rainbow a bunch of years ago and I always liked it. All of the tracks on 'The House of Apples & Eyeballs' have really crazy imagery inspiring titles. Its a great album and the tracks sort of blend between the artists, but 'Elq Milq' is particularly Octopus Project-y and probably my favorite song on this album. I have been thinking that I should do a short series since I enjoy the track titles so much, but I'll try not to make promises!

I'm also feeling pretty good about my space sky lately, I know I've been doing it a lot, but its fun and I'm experimenting with drawing techniques.

Death by Science

2011-06-23T23:36:00.000-07:00

My first non-robot-comic-strip comic. I am pretty excited about finishing it, only 2 pages but a ton of work. It makes me reconsider trying to actually do comics, but it was a fun first try. Click through to read full view.

I also kind of failed at the 30 days project. I am still drawing every night though, I will try to finish out the month at least.

Blood Moon

2011-06-15T04:32:00.000-07:00

Still attempting 30 days project even though I'm a day behind (more like day and a half). I have been told that I'm not making my pictures bloody enough, had to rectify it. I'm not that partial to werewolves, but I thought a cute little bloody wolfy girl would be fun.

Iron Giant

2011-06-14T04:21:00.000-07:00

I just saw Super 8 and as soon as I got home I put on the Iron Giant. It was a great movie and definitely brought on all sorts of nostalgia with older awesome movies, but in a good way. The Iron Giant has been one of my favorite movies for a long time, classic boy falls in love with robot story, might be doing another pic tomorrow cause I loves it so much.

Space Lion

2011-06-14T04:16:00.000-07:00

Decided to do a painting on Sunday for an inner office topic of 'Quest'. Trying to do more space sky, but this time painted in gouache. Also indian girl with a bazooka hunting down robo bison. Its been a long time since I did any painting, I think I'm a bit rusty, I might try again next week.

American McGee's Alice at Gallery 1988

2011-06-12T14:15:00.000-07:00

So I haven't done any posts featuring cool gallery shows in a while. I look at them a lot, but never talk about them or anything. I couldn't resist this show though, I love a Brunette Alice and all the blood associated with this game. See all art from the show here.

"Alice" by Laura Bifano

"Alice" by James Flames

"Alice in the Sea" by Zeng Shou

"Alice" by Phantom City Creative

Momo's Birthday

2011-06-10T03:52:00.000-07:00

I couldn't really think of anything to draw today, then I realized that it was my dog's birthday. Drew a silly picture of us walking through the desert. Working on my drawing of space skies, its fun.

The Clothes Horse (again)

2011-06-09T02:28:00.000-07:00

I previously did a drawing of Rebecca from The Clothes Horse Blog last fall and went back to a saved picture that I had of her (not creepy I swear) as a reference during the 30 Days Project that I'm currently doing. I was looking for the original blog post, but I saved this picture so long ago that I couldn't find it :(

In the original she was in a forest in the day time, incredibly cute and I love this dress <3

Tree Sprite

2011-06-08T00:52:00.000-07:00

Wanted to try something different with lines and silhouettes today. Had some fun, but spent way too long. I'm trying to go to bed early and its not working.

Momo-Cerberus and the rats of hell

2011-06-08T00:48:00.000-07:00

Decided to draw a Momo Cerberus and got a little carried away. Momo is my dog, a shiba inu.

IF: Shadows

2011-06-06T02:22:00.000-07:00

So today I decided to do an drawing for Illustration Friday. This week's word is Shadows, this drawing is based on the story 'The Shadow' by Hans Christian Andersen. Its the story about a man who's shadow separates and becomes a very wealthy gentleman that slowly manipulates and eventually kills his original master. I've been wanting to draw something from this story for a while, I kind of wish I had more time to spend on the background, but I still like it. I may come back to this story later because I like it so much.

Jackalopes

2011-06-03T03:30:00.000-07:00

Day 3 for 30 Days Project, due to my block yesterday I didn't go to sleep until I decided what I wanted to draw today. I thought some cute antler envy would be fun, also having some desert nostalgia.

Cuddles

2011-06-02T02:31:00.000-07:00

Day 2 for the 30 days project! I already hit a creative block :( I had this sketch sitting around already and worked on it, I would rather do all of the work for it in 1 day, but I couldn't think of anything and I only have so much time to devote to this.

Regardless, I love my cuddly kitties and they are always sitting on top of me. Neither of them are calicos, but I always had a soft spot for them.

The Argus

2011-06-01T02:53:00.000-07:00

I've decided to attempt the Thirty Days Project, with a drawing or craft thing every day this month. I'm kind of terrible and slow sometimes so I really want to do this to prove to myself that I can do this despite working full time and having a limited social life.

This is a simple drawing I did of the Argus, a mythical creature with a bunch of eyes. Based on some Ween lyrics "lying in beds of garlic and orchids, he closes an eye which closes another.."

I had fun drawing the simplified orchid outlines.

Mako Maid

2011-05-29T21:15:00.000-07:00

So earlier I said that I couldn't imagine myself being 'fish-like' and didn't really want to be a mermaid. But then I dyed half my hair green and all of a sudden I was ready to be mermaided. My middle name 'Mako' (rhymes with taco) also has the same spelling as a type of shark (Mako, said like 'MAY-ko') so it seemed like a perfect fit. Also, blood.....

Well doooooone

2011-05-29T20:54:00.000-07:00

This is based on a sketch by my brother, lineart and colors by me. I'm a huge Doug TenNapel fan and it all started with EWJ <3

Year of the Rabbit

2011-05-29T18:56:00.000-07:00

I drew some albino bunnies for Chinese New Years in February, but never finished the background to my liking. So I am just going to post sans background, I still think the bunnies are super cute. I am year of the rabbit, I always thought I got the better end of the Chinese Zodiac personalities. They are sweet and cute and creative and everyone loves them.

Mermaid Self Portrait

2011-05-02T19:59:00.000-07:00

I decided to do a self portrait of myself as a mermaid for my birthday, but as much as I love them I could not imagine myself as fish-like. 'Selkies' are some sort of seal-woman, but I believe it is a woman in a seal-skin suit. This is some sort of inbetween folklore nonsense, with my fluffy seal tail, murdering polar bear/yetis and kicking ass.

Eventyr Concept

2011-03-13T00:52:00.000-08:00

Here's some concept stuff for a comic that I want to start working on. I have the story down, but I'm still working on the characters and scenery before trying to get it all laid out. I've always been extremely intimidated by the amount of work that goes into comics even though I love them. I probably will tone down the colors in the actual comic, I also realized how Daft Punk the colors were after I did them.

IF: Warning

2011-03-10T22:01:00.000-08:00

So over the weekend I started a drawing for Illustration Friday, but then that drawing turned into a two page comic and that comic didn't get done in time. So here is one of the panels that I did first when I thought of 'warning'

Little Red

2011-02-20T00:41:00.000-08:00

Not my first Little Red Riding Hood drawing (see background) and probably not my last. Despite drawing her so much, it isn't even my favorite fairy tale. Its just... her red hood.. its so damn cute. I also get to draw forests and wolves, its a win-win-win illustration. I drew this for a Children's Illustration club on Deviant Art. I cannot resist fairy tales. I also cannot resist blood and making things look like blood lately. But Fairy tales and blood go hand in hand, yea? I might have to draw something for 'The Red Shoes' by Hans Christian Andersen soon, that story has severed feet. (also win)

Eat Your Heart Up

2011-02-15T16:03:00.000-08:00

So I drew this yesterday as a sketch for Valentines. Despite what this looks like, I am actually pretty neutral to the Holiday. Maybe the bitter single girl inside of me is breaking out into my art.

Based on the song 'Eat Your Heart Up' by the Blow.

The Sky Opened Wide Like the Tide

2011-01-28T13:02:00.000-08:00

An illustration based on one of my new favorite songs 'The Sky Opened Wide like the Tide' by The Blow.

I recently became mildly obsessed, its just such a sweet silly song about finding your loved ones during the apocalypse. There's something romantic about who you spend the last moments of the Earth with. New favorite genere: Apocalypse Romance.

I loved drawing the sky and the girl and had the hardest time in the world drawing the dude. Something to work on I guess.

2011 Self Portrait

2011-01-28T13:01:00.000-08:00

A new self portrait for the new year with my dog Momo. She wears pink striped sweaters, but don't let that fool you, she is a bad assssss. My nice tablet broke so I haven't been doing so much digital stuff lately, I borrowed a friend's really old 4x5 graphire and its kind of terrible, but still better than nothing!

Illustration Friday: Sneaky

2010-11-22T01:01:00.000-08:00

I have always felt some sort of resonance with the word sneaky, so I was really excited this week to see it as the topic for Illustration Friday. Something about sneaking around being sneaky in sneakers is just a very sweet notion to me.

Want you to be my Prize

2010-11-13T05:35:00.000-08:00

So I should let the internet know that I recently got a job! Its exciting, I know, but I always see artists I like drop off the face of the earth once they get an art-related job. I have done that in the past for normal non-art jobs, so I'm going to make a real effort to spend my free time working on projects for myself. Free time being the last several hours when I should have been sleeping, is it really 5:30 already?

This image was something that I had in my head for the past couple of months and it came out nothing like how I imagined. I've been listening to Its Blitz by the Yeah Yeah Yeah's like crazy for months and I wanted to do something inspired by 'Runaway' (you can listen to it here if you want). I had an idea for the girl and I wanted it to be all moody and a bit sad. I've had a stressful bunch of months so I had been thinking about it whenever I listened to the song. Except, I've been feeling awesome lately and inspired by colors so it ended up much happier looking. Like, too happy for this song. It looks more like 'Hysteric' than Runaway. Anyways! I still like how it turned out, I just don't imagine girls with pink hair being that sad.

Run, run, run away
lost, lost, lost my mind
like you to stay
want you to be my prize...<3

The Bunny in the Moon - Tara McPherson Solo Show!

2010-10-26T13:02:00.000-07:00

Here are some favorites of mine from The Bunny in the Moon show at the Jonathan LeVine Gallery in NY. I have kind of been in love with Tara McPherson for years, so its always great to see new work from her. This new show has pieces that are particularly inspiring, all the blue and pink make for a gorgeous color scheme and all the paintings are huge. Also, mermaids and bunnies!

Safety of Water

Searching for Penguins

Bunny Girl

Time lapse painting of 'Safety of Water' by Tara McPherson from Tara McPherson on Vimeo.

Illustration Friday: Transportation

2010-10-14T23:09:00.000-07:00

So I decided early on this week to participate in Illustration Friday again. I have been working on it and told myself that I would submit it before Thursday night. But here I am again, just barely finishing up at 11:05pm. I wanted to do a more dynamic composition as most of my drawings are head on. Because of this want I spent a lot of time sketching because I had no idea how to draw the bird and had the hardest time finding a reference of one that was pointing down at a 3/4 angle with its wings in flight. I found a decent profile shot, but had to kind of wing it from there (pun intended).

I had a lot of fun drawing the cute aviator girl!

Have some Robots

2010-10-11T03:08:00.000-07:00

I have just been drawing cute girls lately so I took a break for some robots, enjoy! These robots are named ROM & RAM, I did a couple comics with them way back when in 2006 and haven't really done anything with them since. They appear in my sketchbook a lot, but don't get much internet time. I don't really have many characters, especially any with names, so I am quite fond of these two.

Expect more cute girl drawings later on this week <3

Hearts for Eyes

2010-10-05T15:13:00.000-07:00

I wanted to do a new self portrait drawing because my hair has become all long and crazy. This is the first time its been past my shoulders is over 3 years! Ok, so that isn't that much time, but I have been keeping it super short, so it feeeeels really long. I don't currently own a hairbrush, so I'm having a hard time dealing with it.

Anyways, I had fun drawing this. I wanted to do something with outlines and had good luck with the ink brush in Paint Tool Sai. Really, Paint Tool Sai is what made me start doing digital art all the time again, easily my favorite painting program and its so simple (but a little underpowered). Some editing was done in photoshop afterwords for glowinessss. Still having fun with fall colors and feeling very hearts for eyes lately... I can't help it.

The Clothes Horse

2010-09-30T17:14:00.000-07:00

I am a big fan of Rebecca over at The Clothes Horse, its a fashion blog that often features pictures of herself in outfits and things. She is always in some cute pose with her long red hair and bangs. I asked her a little bit ago if I could do some drawings of her and I think this is the first. I had a lot of fun working on this and will hopefully do some more, she is a great model.

I am currently feeling very nostalgic for Autumn. I just recently moved to California and its been so hot all week, I just want it to cool down a little and turn pretty colors. Fall was probably the only time of year that I didn't hate. I changed the colors and poncho from the original photo reference and opted for something a little more Scandinavian.

Here is the original photo reference, from her blog!<3<3

Miho Hatori, straight out of purgatory.

2010-09-23T03:55:00.000-07:00

So following my last post with Karen O in what I am tentatively calling my 'girls I would go gay for' series, I decided to do a portrait of Miho Hatori from Cibo Matto. This is specifically referencing the Stereo Type A cover, which I have always loved. Sometime in my high school years I think I even did a vector portrait of the same reference. Miho Hatori has also worked on numerous other musical projects including the Gorillaz.

If you look close enough there is a Tardis in the background. I was drawing outer space, I couldn't help myself.

Karen O

2010-09-21T03:32:00.000-07:00

So I had some time today to draw and decided to do a "quick" portrait, maybe something messy or unfinished. I had a cute sketch of Karen O (from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs) sitting around that I wanted to elaborate on. Karen O is totally hot and probably the only chick I would lez out with. She dresses crazy without being a slut and is a badass. Anyways, I spent too much time on this to consider it a sketch, but I like it a lot.

I've been listening to It's Blitz lately, but this drawing is mostly based off of the Y Control music video. I was thinking I might do more of these, maybe Miho Hatori of Cibo Matto or Yvonne from The Octopus Project... hmmm.

Art of Coreyyy Lewis

2010-09-07T00:07:00.000-07:00

I've been a big big fan of Corey Lewis (Reyyy.com) for years. Everything he draws is awesome and the girls are always cute. Is it weird that I am a fan of cute girls?

He recently posted this short 1 page comic. Absolutely love the last panel, both of the tiger getting blasted and its face at the end.

I think the first thing I ever saw of his was an drawing of Link. Ugh, what can I say, I enjoy fan art.

3G Art Show

2010-09-06T23:49:00.000-07:00

3G art show premiered on Friday night at Gallery 1988 and I was waiting all weekend for the art to be posted online, but then I got busy and couldn't see it until today. 3G is for Gremlins, Goonies, and the Ghostbuster and I have been eagerly awaiting this show since it was announced.

Original artwork for the show can be seen here.
Prints and posters from the promos can be seen here. (alliteration ftw)

Here are some of my favorites.

Gizmo by Craig Parrillo

Inventions of Data by Tom Whalen

Adventure and Horror by Oliver Akuin

Pixel Art

2010-08-12T02:07:00.000-07:00

Trying my hand at pixel art! Its a little difficult for me because there is a little more thought and planning involved with the pixels, but still lots of fun. I've been working these on and off for the last couple of week nights, most of these are zoomed in 200%-400% so you can see the detail. Next step is to to bring my dormant pixel animation skills back into action, something I haven't used since my buddy icon days. I'll get back to my illustration work soon, promise.

2 versions of Little Red, the one on the right is about half of the pixels of the one on the left.

Pixelated my profile picture, is it bad that I like it more now?

Last but not least here is a robot and a yeti. They're friends, yea? Different sizes though.

Jen Mundy Illustration

2010-08-06T15:09:00.000-07:00

I've been following Jen Mundy on DeviantArt.com as Jinju for some time. Her illustrations have the most gorgeous colors and are just a little bit surreal (ok, maybe kinda really surreal). Although she does have pieces where people have normal skin color, my favorites of hers have the dramatic color choices and combinations (like dark teal and light pinky-orange, so pretty).

Odin & Sleipnir in "RAGNAROCKANDROLLLLLLL"

Persephone and Hades

Art of Kazuko Taniguchi

2010-08-03T23:06:00.000-07:00

I wanted to share one of my favorite Japanese artists Kazuko Taniguchi. Her lovely drawings are so ornate and high fashion, I always enjoy seeing them. There's an excess of flowers, sweets, and flowing locks of hair. And some how the eyes are always shaped perfectly, maybe that's a weird thing to like, but they're cute without being too big.

Prints are for sale at Gallery Nucleus, although none right now :(

We'll sleep on the water.

2010-08-02T20:23:00.000-07:00

I created this image for the Children's Illustrator club on Deviantart. The theme of the month was "We'll sleep on the water" and there was something very romantic about it. I wanted to draw a peaceful mermaid lazing around in the sea. I'm also pretty obsessed with The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen, you can read the whole story here. Although I actually like the story more as a tale of unrequited love, self sacrifice, and ultimately a sad ending (I don't really consider the ending to be happy even with the sisters of the air). This illustration reminds me more of the beginning, with her simple life under the water.

Here are also some shots of the detail.

Apollo Justice

2010-07-30T19:29:00.000-07:00

A painting based on some characters from Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney. This was a present for my friend. She is a fan of the game and I just finished it, so I was excited to work on this. I had fun drawing everyone, even though the background is non-existent (boring, I know). If you have a DS and enjoy a good story, you really should be playing this series, starting with Phoenix Wright.

Art of Susie Ghahremani

2010-07-29T15:15:00.000-07:00

I found Susie (and her website boygirlparty.com) sometime in 2005 when I first discovered awesome handmade crafts on the internet. I was young and doe eyed and at the time Etsy wasn't really big yet; I was mostly scouring cutxpaste looking for something amazing. Since seeing Susie's work I immediately fell in love and have been really been inspired by her for years. She is the reason I tried gouache painting and she makes me feel less guilty about making small paintings (something every art teacher told me is wrong).

Her illustrations are simple and adorable and she has a wide variety of products that she sells online in her shop. Stuff like stationary and "I'm Moving" cards that I would never use, but I want to buy them just to have them.

Something she specializes in is tiny (2"x3") paintings of animals. She often posts work in progress shots online and I always find it interesting that she seems to work in bulk, painting several tiles at once and doing the backgrounds before tackling the subject. I can't really imagine working this way, but I always love to see how other artists manage their stuff.

Anyway, I'm a huge fan of her stuff and I'm always excited to see what new things she has to offer. Sometimes I see her illustrations and books out in the wild at regular stores and not only do I admire her art, but her small business is also something that gives me inspiration. Nothing seems more fulfilling than being able to work for yourself and enjoy what you do every day.

Quatches and Yetis from APAK

2010-07-20T14:39:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of cute sasquatches and yetis by Apak.

Quatches and Yetis are basically amazing. I recently saw most of these in person back in April around my Birthday at Rotofugi. They are so beautiful and small and detailed in person.

Obsessive Consumption

2010-07-01T15:38:00.000-07:00

I recently enjoyed the blog Obsessive Consumption by Kate Bingaman-Burt. The drawings are super simple, but still detailed and just a little bit wonky. I spent some time browsing her flickr picking out some pictures I liked the best. Aside from just liking them, they make me reflect upon my own purchases. So many times I think I need something or that its a "good deal" and I make some impulse buy. One of my best friends buys things when she is depressed and her bank account is physical proof of mood swings. Although I will admit to a mild case of consumerism, I have never been in any amount of debt and have a decent amount of savings. One of my favorite pictures was her official declaration of being debt free!

Old News

2010-06-04T11:20:00.000-07:00

Back in April I did this painting for the HAPArt show in LA. And yes, I am still posting that link even though the website is no longer helpful. I did another painting, but its not internet ready yet.. It was too large to fit into my scanner so I had to scan it in sections so I have to piece them together and make it look seamless before I want to put it online.

Anyways, I wanted to do something with a Japanese theme. Although I am not personally associated with Kimonos and Kanzashi, I really liked doing this one a lot. She reminds me of my mom, although my mom isn't a traditional Japanese kind of girl, the lotus tattoo is for her.

Favorite Artists: Meg Hunt

2010-05-05T19:45:00.000-07:00

I only recently became aware of Meg Hunt's work, but she is amazing. I find myself spending several minutes taking in every detail and color and falling in love with every new picture I see. All of her illustrations are so full of character and I love all of her animals drawings. *LOVE* Here are some to look at.

Amicvs Monstrvm at Gallery 1988

2010-05-05T12:13:00.000-07:00

Amicvs Monstrvm show at Gallery 1988 featuring Scott C. and Nathan Stapley. I particularly love Scott C's contributions and will only really be showing my favorites of his. No offense Nathan Stapley, but none of your pictures had Skeleton Warriors or Ultraman.

"Skeleton Warrior Waterpark", more like most amazing thing ever. They look so happy on the slides and sunbathing.

"Ultramans, All Day And All Night"

"Picnic With The Draculas" reminds me of Mr. Show's own song Dracula's Pajama Party, as they say Everybloody's Inbited!

New Plush from Kidrobot

2010-04-22T17:22:00.000-07:00

Fell in love with these two new plushes from Kidrobot. I had a recent run in with them having terrible customer service online and vowed never to buy anything from them ever again. But these may have changed my mind... I suppose my hatred isn't as powerful as my lust for cuteness.

New Jackalope plush by Amanda Visell. Its not even ridiculously priced. Its so cute I just want to cuddle with its nubby horns.

Coming out in May is this Tako (Octopus) plush by TADO. I don't think I could love the embroidered suction cup things more. Sigh, I have to figure this out, maybe someone else will be selling them so I don't have to buy them from Kidrobot, even though I know that Kidrobot is making them so they will be getting their cut in the end. Whatever, CUTENESS.

Favorite Artists: Junko Mizuno

2010-04-21T18:57:00.000-07:00

I have been a fan of Junko Mizuno for years and find her stuff to be really wonderful. I think a lot people like her drawings because of the creepy/cute factor and for skanky naked girls + weird stuff. I really appreciate her style and the over excessive use of food. She does amazing details in the hair and eyes and everything, I always find myself looking at each picture too long. Everything is always crazy cute and weird and I love it.

I first got to know her through her fairytale comics, I loved Hansel & Gretal with the gratuitous ham drawings. But I remember The Princess Mermaid coming out during my Junior year in High School and completely falling in love. It was very different from every other iteration of the Little Mermaid and both her and her dude turned into sea monsters in the end, but it was at that point that Junko Mizuno became my favorite artist. Since then I have added lots more favorites, but for a long time it was just her.

Picture by fish-bird on Flickr.

I had the good fortune of meeting her at Acen in 2006. She is so tiny and cute, she signed my Fumi (the blonde) vinyl toy and a copy of Hellbabies that I got in Japan.

Here's a picture of Junko Mizuno, Me, and my friend. I usually don't share this picture (as in I have never shared this picture ever) because I look weird and its super blurry because the person who took this person sucks. She was very nice and spoke a little bit of english even though she had a translator.

An excerpt from Cinderella.

Later on this year in November she will be having a solo show at Gallery Nucleus. I'm always excited to see her new stuff and look on nostalgically at her old.

Favorite Artists: Diana Sudyka

2010-04-05T20:32:00.000-07:00

Diana Sudyka is a local Chicago artist that I first saw years ago at the Renegade Craft Fair. She does really wonderful silkscreened gig posters for bands as well as beautiful bird and wildlife watercolor paintings. I have several of her silkscreened posters sitting around in tubes because I have nowhere to put them, only one of them is framed. Also I have a tattoo that was inspired by some of her bird artwork, I tweaked it (a little) and redrew it, but she gets absolute credit.

A silkscreen poster triptych of Illinois themed ecosystems. As beautiful as they are I still don't like Illinois, imagine all of these scenes with large amounts of humidity and mosquitoes.

Some really wonderful watercolor paintings, I super love the Sasquatch. As much as one could love a piece of paper. Its for sale here annnnnnd my birthday is coming up. *wink wink*

I have both of these posters, they have hints of metallic ink and look even better in person.

Check out her new store and her etsy store.

We Heart Wood at Munky King

2010-04-05T19:21:00.000-07:00

I recently came across this show (We Heart Wood) of all hand painted wooden Jibibuts. I really enjoy toys and custom art, normally on vinyl figures, I like these wooden ones because of their simple cute shape.

I love these! Robots! Mustaches! By Doktor A.

Some super cute mushroom houses and hermits by APAK.

Also love these by UK design duo TADO.

You can see some more of the toys here on their preview page. It opens up officially later this week, I'll be excited to see if they post some more.

HAPArt Website

2010-03-10T12:15:00.000-08:00

Last month I worked on a project for my friend Abra, she is the president of the HapaSC club at USC. HapaSC is having an art show called HAPArt to showcase talented young mixed ethnicity and mixed culture artists. Go here to learn more about it.

Aside from being a person of mixed ethnicity myself, I contributed by doing the illustration for the website. I had a fun time drawing all the birds, conures and quails are so cute. I did the illustration digitally in paint tool sai in a much higher resolution, so here are some close up pictures. Even though its digital, they wanted a somewhat sketchy look and to have lots of different types of birds hanging out and doing stuff.

Here are the birds, you can pretend they are talking about how great you are. Maybe your imagination isn't that narcissistic? You can pretend they are talking about how great I am.

The cutie quails and bunny from the bottom of the page. I moved the quails so they would fit better.

Again, go to the website for more information. Currently accepting submission, deadline is March 28th.

Creebobby Archetype Timetables

2010-03-09T17:11:00.000-08:00

Recently saw these prints on Nakatomi by Creebobby (Jacob Borshard). Although I do not necessarily show my sense of humor in my work, I do in fact have one. I find these comics (?) to be completely adorable and amazing, I just want to stare at them and enjoy all the possible combinations. I'm still trying to figure out what my favorite one is, maybe its the mermaid/unicorn or the astronaut/ninja? What's your favorite?

Also, this:

Curiouser and Curiouser at Gallery Nucleus

2010-03-02T16:59:00.000-08:00

The Curiouser and Curiouer show is up at Gallery Nucleus. Its all art inspired by Alice in Wonderland and its all pretty amazing. A lot of artists that I like participated and I have been spying on them and their blogs. I'm putting up some of my favorite picks from the show, but you really have to go to the website and check it out.

Aside from this Art show there is another one in Paris also featuring pieces inspired by Alice in Wonderland at Galerie Arludik. This one is specifically coming out for the release of the new movie. Honestly I'm not even really excited about the movie. Sure it looks pretty wonderful, but I am skeptical of Tim Burton's actual talent in remakes ever since Charlie in the Chocolate Factory and how terribly horrible it was. I also heard Tim Burton will be doing some type of Maleficent movie, with bothers me even more because she's probably my favorite villain ever. I will wait until I hear the reviews before I go rushing in.

New movie or not I'm still excited about all the art. There is a soft spot in my heart for Alice in Wonderland and all these pieces make me super happy. I've been doing some sketches of Alice and bunnies and hopefully I will get something up soon. Click on the pictures to see them at Gallery Nucleus.

Drops of the Sea of Tears by Meg Hunt, one of my favorite artists lately. She did some more Alice inspired art on her website here.

Eat Me! by Alina Chau. She did several paintings, but this one was my favorite of hers.

I See You, Cheshire by Mall, she made some really beautiful pencil drawings as well. Check out her blog here to see some close ups and work in progress shots.

Le Champignon by Marguerite Sauvage. I love colorful and cute illustrations, but I also always appreciate and enjoy pieces like this with a sense of fashion and lovely linework.

Also check out this pictures from the Opening party at Gallery Nucleus.

Video Game Fan Art

2010-02-25T14:49:00.000-08:00

Here are some fan arts for February birthdays. Moogle and Chocobo done in gouache on watercolor paper. Megaman and Rush done in Paint Tool Sai. Enjoy.

Becky Dreistadt: Tiny Kitten Teeth

2010-02-18T23:49:00.000-08:00

After originally hearing about Becky through Penny Arcade artist Mike Krahulik, I immediately fell in love with her work. A lot of people compare her style to old fashioned Golden Books, and I would agree the painting style is similar, but the way she draws is very unique and wonderful. I can never get enough of her paintings of cats and dogs (seems so simple, right?), but they are always amazing and make me smile. I dream of comissioning her to do some paintings of my pets someday.

She recently got posted on Gallery Nucleus' new Ghibli inspired art blog. I saw earlier that they were reviewing submissions for this and wanted to work on something for it. I don't know exactly what they're looking for, and I'm not really a "known" artist or anything, but it'd still be fun to make something and submit. Besides, watching any Miyazaki movie always leaves me inspired and wanting to draw, it can't be too hard.

Absolutely amazing Catbus and Kittens inspired by Totoro.

I also saw that she'll be in Chicago this April (she is normally in New Zealand) for C2E2, a comic convention I've never heard of, but it looks like they will have lots of artists and comics people so I'll try to head down there to check it out.

You can also see Becky's art here on deviantart and don't forget to check her webcomic: Tiny Kitten Teeth. Alllsoooo, this Animal Crossing guest strip for Penny Arcade is also pretty amazing.

IF:Adrift - Sugar Glider

2010-02-18T22:57:00.000-08:00

Here are some cutie sugar gliders for Illustration Friday this week (or should I say last week). I'm really terrible at getting these in before Thursday night, but whatever, its done. I was super busy with other projects this week so although I had a couple sketches of sugar gliders, I only had this evening to work on it start to finish. I don't think I've completed something this quickly in ages.

I was also completely distracted because I was cursing Plushenko to failure for mens figure skating. Mmmm... Olympics.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2010-02-14T08:28:00.000-08:00

I wanted to spread some Valentine's day love (and some Olympics love). Probably my favorite Olympics mascots ever are Quatchi and Miga from this years 2010 games. I'm a huge fan of illustration team Meomi who created this pair (actually trio plus sidekick, but I don't like them as much). I first became aware of them in 2004 with their adorable Octonauts calendar wallpapers. Back then the Octonauts were just drawings, not books and a new kids tv series. When the mascots were announced I was super excited because Meomi was doing the designs. I also loves sasquatches and yetis, and Quatchi is completely adorable.

Anyways, here's my take on the mascots for Valentine's day, for my own Quatchi <3 Much respect to Meomi for making such cute characters.

Also, here's link to the last Olympic fan art I did 4 years ago for the Torino games.

Also also, watched Apolo Anton Ohno race the 1500m last night, soooo good.

Love For Games

2010-02-13T22:28:00.000-08:00

Just saw this poster on Sprite Stitch and fell in love. I'm much more into illustration than design (basically my problem with being a graphic design major in college), but I feel that this falls into the realms of amazing for everything. Created by Axel Pfaender for Gee magazine, this print is available online here.

Seriously though what's not to love. DS is the cutest btw.

Wee Beasties: Helena Garcia

2010-02-10T16:54:00.000-08:00

I'm super in love with some of Helena Garcia's painting and illustrations so I wanted to gush a little bit about her recent show at Pink Ghost, Wee Beasties. Here are some of my favorite picks from her show. I love all of the foxes, they remind me of Momo.

Zombies in Love is up at Gallery Nucleus

2010-02-07T20:10:00.000-08:00

The Zombies in Love show is now online at Gallery Nucleus. I previously posted about Scott C's contribution, but here are some of my other favorites from the show. Click on the images to go to the art site for more information.

One of my all time favorite artists, Junko Mizuno. I met her at Acen several years ago (got her to sign some books and toys), she is super tiny and adorable. I will probably be doing a dedicated post for her soon.

This one is by John Pham. I'm not really familiar with his work, but I'm enjoying his take on zombies.

I'm also really loving this high fashion girl on girl bloody leg warmer make out by Ippei Gyoubu.

See the rest of the exhibit here!

It should be known that I love Yetis.

2010-02-07T00:44:00.000-08:00

Just putting it out there. One of my favorite yeti enthusiasts is Tim Biskup who often puts Yetis in his work as well as on t-shirts, toys, etc. I've been a bit of a fan for years and eagerly snapped up his Yeti Qee back in 2006 or 2007 I believe. Ah, so many years ago now.

This is not my picture, but is still quite enjoyable. Tim Biskup is usually known for his paintings as well as design and toys. He has done stuff for kidrobot, but I mostly see things from Gama-Go with his distinctive style.

To be honest I'm not even sure if he did the following shirt. I know that the kaiju and yeti stuff is definitely in his style, but it doesn't say if he specifically did this one. Either way its amazing. Click on the picture to go to the site for the shirt:

New Work by APAK

2010-02-06T09:19:00.000-08:00

So APAK is this adorable arts duo based out of Portland, OR. This husband/wife team make adorable paintings, illustrations, and all around cute things. A lot of their "hermits" remind me of pikmin, but softer and squishier.

So I recently spotted this post on Gallery 1988 for their group show Glass Hat. They had lots of new pictures that are just wonderful and make me swell with happiness.

Here's a close up of the previous image:

Also here's something that I loved on their site recently. Needle felted hermits, super cute! I took up needle felting recently, but haven't made anything so magical.

One last pick from their website, I love the quail <3

Step by Step Sea lion Sketch

2010-01-29T23:00:00.000-08:00

So I've been seeing lots of work in progress posts by artists I like and I thought I'd show a bit of my process. Its really not quite as simple as I'm showing it because these aren't progress screen shots, they're just sketch and color screen shots. When I color it doesn't just come out perfectly as soon as I put color done, there's trial and error, retouching, and other things going on that aren't being shown. But anyways, here's basically what's going on.

So here is my first sketch, its pretty scribbly and I wasn't sure how I wanted the face to look, so that's where the two headed sea lion came from. I went over it with a less messy sketch. Usually I would go over the super messy sketch with nicer outlines, but I wasn't sure if I was going to do outlines at this point and I changed the face, so I needed a nicer sketch to go off of.

So first I colored under the nicer outlines to get the shape right. I then did a lot of the shading without the lines on top. So I finished the coloring on the seal before I even touched the background, mostly because I just wanted to draw a cute sea lion and I didn't really care how the background looked. I didn't really sketch it either, I just drew some lines of sky and rocks.

So first I fill in the lines with colors that looked nice then I zoom in a lot and make sure everything looks nice and clean. I also added some minimal shading on the rocks and tried out some brushes to add a little texture, not a lot though.

You thought I was done (and so did I), but I actually liked it better without outlines. I tend to gravitate a lot to outlines, but I thought this looked nicer and the colors blended nicely without. So after I took away the outlines I had to clean everything up a little bit more. What do you think, with outlines or without?

Having all the super zoom and different layers is something that I really appreciate with digital art versus traditional art. I like that I can make this last minute decision without too much work because I put outlines and colors on different layers.

Also, this was inspired by my recent lust to go to the Galapagos Islands as chronicled in my other blog. I want to hang out with the sea lions, they're so cute.

LOST Underground Art Show

2010-01-27T17:10:00.000-08:00

Another bit of old news, but I refused to look at this art until I was done catching up with the show. In less than a month I have watched the entire 5 seasons of Lost and I'm not sure if I should be proud or ashamed (I'm proud btw). Watching so much Lost has given me recurring dreams of being stuck on the island, or like last night's dream when some dude's came from the Amazon in South America in a competing Dharma Initiative to kill everyone at my camp or the one where we all sailed off in an old Pirate ship and escaped to my Mom's house only to find that Sawyer was working for the CIA all along and Kate was working for some other group and everyone shot each other.

Anyway... now that I'm consumed I can enjoy this art show without fear of spoilers and things. Originally posted in mid-December, I was following Scott C.'s blog and he had some updates for it. Check out the full exhibit at Gallery 1988, but here are some of my favorites.

Ben Strawn

LOST showdowns (love Hurley v. Ranch)

Scott C!

Carlos Ramos

IF:Wilderness- Little Red

2010-01-21T14:36:00.000-08:00

Obviously this isn't super new to everyone because its the background of my blog, but I wanted to post the whole thing because its hard to see all of the details when so much of it is covered up. Finished it just in time for Illustration Friday to have Wilderness as the topic.

Bob Staake

2010-01-19T16:47:00.000-08:00

Bob Staake does illustration, most of the stuff I've seen is for children, but he does other editorial and other commercial illustration as well. I have one of his kids books featuring robots and its very cute and colorful. So anyways, I'm a fan already, but a few years ago I stumbled upon this gem, a video of him working in Photoshop 3.0 (in this modern age!) with a mouse. Its actually pretty nuts how he uses shapes and marquees instead of drawing. I'm used to having a sketch layer and making lines and doing colors and things, but this is weird and actually entertaining to watch, enjoy!

Zombies in Love

2010-01-19T15:11:00.000-08:00

I've been a huge fan of Scott C. for years (art director and comics guy for Double Fine) he also does amazing water color paintings and super silly things that I love, so I recommend checking out his blog if you like fun. Most recently he posted this huge painting for the upcomming Zombies in Love show at Gallery Nucleus.

Amazing right? Check out his step by step process which is insane at his blog. Insane because I could never do something so detailed with so much preparation. Check out his prints at Gallery Nucleus here.

Also.. this: Cult Tree

Iron Giant Project

2010-01-18T15:42:00.000-08:00

So this is pretty much old news, but I still want to talk about. The Iron Giant Project was created to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Iron Giant (movie). I have lots and lots of favorite movies, but this is definitely at the top of my list and probably the movie I recommend the most, mostly because nobody has seen it (boooo). It was directed by Brad Bird (The Incredibles, Ratatouille) and has amazing animation and storytelling. I just saw that the website is still taking submissions even though they were supposed to stop about Nov. 2nd of last year, so maybe I'll work on something to submit. My favorite scene of course is when the giant goes into a berserker rampage and kills everything, like I said, amazing.

Here are some favorite pics from the website.

Angela Suk Montgomery

Mark Mariano

Evan Shaner

Anise and Tokunaga

2010-01-14T20:50:00.000-08:00

Ah! So this is the first post for my new art blog. Regular type blog can be seen here: Regina Mako Blog. I would occasionaly post art stuff there and that might have even been its original intent, but I tend to post whatever there now and it has become increasingly pet related... not that that's a bad thing. I like writing about my daily things and having a record of what I did in the last few years, but I want some place to focus on my art where people can come and just see art stuff. I also want to post things to my favorite art things and showcase some of my favorite artists, illustrators and things (being toys and cute stuff that is mostly art related).

I've also been much more active in doing my own illustration lately (and fan art, kind of to my dismay). But here is one of my favorite RPG characters ever. Anise Tatlin from Tales of the Abyss, one of my favorite RPGs. Her cuteness is seriously what made me play this game and her badassness is what made me play the game as her. Tokunaga is a doll that sits on her back, but when she fights it grows all gigantic and she rides him and he fights all crazy with his crazy arms.