Shiho Hoshino's process blog!

New look for shihohoshino.com

2012-01-30T00:07:00.002-05:00

We have a new look for http://www.shihohoshino.com/ On top of the regular Illustrations you've been seeing, now you can view my books and products. Also, I have a facebook page! Please feel free to like them, share them, comment on them:) Any suggestion is always always welcomed! (I really need to know if I'm doing things right!) Thank you for continuing to read my blog. I hope you enjoy my website.

sketchbook pages

2012-01-23T01:12:00.000-05:00

Couple from my sketchbook...

small drawings

2012-01-19T00:47:00.000-05:00

I've started drawing on a smaller size. Good exercise.

New Project: drawing on ceramics

2012-01-17T00:40:00.002-05:00

I love ceramics. To be more specific, I love Fishs Eddy, flea markets and antique ceramics hunting. I started drawing on them and so far I like it. I like thinking about what people would cook and plate on. I'm still in progress with setting up my etsy store, but would you be interested in buying some? :)

Happy New Year!

2011-12-31T16:34:00.001-05:00

Since it's already 2012 in Japan, I'm going to go ahead and saaaay HAPPY NEW YEAR! I hope everyone's 2012 is fantastic and filled with happiness:)

Doodle while cleaning the apartment

2011-12-31T14:18:00.000-05:00

I cleaned the apartment before 2012. I got bored at it so here's some doodles I did from the magazines I threw away. Now back to more cleaning...

Doodle tonight.

2011-11-28T01:16:00.001-05:00

Some doodling tonight. Not sure. Not sure...

Life drawing from SOI

2011-11-25T17:44:00.001-05:00

Another life drawing night at SOI. This time I definitely focused on the figure's shape, in a stylized way. I know I wrote this before but I really appreciate life drawing now than when I was in college.

Totem pole - storyboard

2011-11-25T16:51:00.001-05:00

Started storyboarding for the totem pole idea. This is the general direction we talked about:)

Sample totem pole animation

2011-11-25T00:13:00.001-05:00

So based on last Totem Pole post, I did a sample animation:) Just something to set the tone, and just for fun. I think this is kind of too cute but I had fun.

Totem pole - Night and Day Illustration

2011-11-15T00:57:00.001-05:00

I just finished 2 Illustrations of totem pole Illustration. It's for a new project I am working on with my husband and etc. I wanted to get the look & feel down and the tone of this project right. I'll probably simplify a LOT but I think as an Illustration, I love this level of detail. Actually, I used 3pt pen this time. I wonder how much detail I can get in with 1pt? Would it get lost?

Final Illustrations

And some process. I started out with quick research (meaning google "totem pole"), and from the reference images, I did TONS of totem pole sketches. I probably did about half a day just coming up with new shape, overall silhouette, faces. More and more I explored, I realized how much "simple" works better to make the thing look like a pole. It's also easier to focus the attention to the details when the silhouette is simple.

Once I was happy with the shape & face, I lightbox-ed the sketch twice, get the right proportions, and moved onto inking. Then quick color sketch. I learned this process in college and I still think it's the fastest way for me to get to the end product. THe right amount of planning makes the Illustration loose but controlled:)

My Halloween costume was...

2011-11-02T01:56:00.002-04:00

So yea, I was my own Sim from Sims Social. I work for a social games company so it was kind of a natural choice. And I didn't have much time preparing costumes this year. I hope everyone had a great Halloween!

Happy Halloween 2011!

2011-10-30T04:29:00.000-04:00

Happy (early) Halloween! What are you going to be? Halloween is my favorite holiday because I can be anything for the night and wonder around the city haha. Unfortunately I planned late this year so my costume is kinda lame. I will post it later:) The illustration I did tonight is what I wanted to be. Yes, a zombie Pan AM girl. I am a big fan of the show PAN AM and Walking Dead. Well, my husband was into Walking Dead last season, and he also showed me the comics. So this season I'm starting to get into it. With PAN AM, I just love that uniform and all the clothes they wear. And I started to get into the story as well. Kind of my dream life to be honest, I LOVE traveling! Anyways, I couldn't decide on drawing one thing, so I decided to combine them. Kinda weird? Well, Happy Halloweeeen!

Project Day at my office: 6 Illustrations in 24 hours! (well, 9 hours to be exact...)

2011-10-21T15:56:00.004-04:00

My office had a project day. It's basically a day to do whatever you want to do but in 24 hours. I collaborated with one of my co-workers and she did a poem about the teams in the office as animals. And I decided to represent each team as animals. My challenge was to complete as many illustrations as I can and improve the work flow. It took me about 9 hours total to finish 6 illustrations so I'm pretty happy with it:) So here's the process.

After some research, interview people in the office, I started out with thumbnails.

Then did some sketches from the thumbnails we picked.
Tightened up the lines...Did quick color research to get a sense of what kind of tone I wanted these series to be.
Did quick color comp.

Aaaand the end results looks like this:

Color sketch: From last night's sketch

2011-10-18T02:18:00.001-04:00

I cheated a bit by removing the branches behind the dude.

sketch before sleep & comic con NYC

2011-10-17T02:49:00.002-04:00

Quick sketch before going to bed. I would like to do some final stuff with these.

I went to comic con NYC for the first time. It was kind of overwhelming but overall good energy. I loved seeing american & anime comics. Both were interesting in different ways and I loved seeing all the creativity and passion.

Below are the photos of nothing related to artists I saw. But something I love. haha

In progress sketch

2011-10-14T00:13:00.001-04:00

In progress stuff. I couldn't finish coloring it tonight because I'm so tired..... more to come tomorrow:)

Sketch: fireball

2011-10-13T01:54:00.001-04:00

Tonight's sketch is a fireball-ish character. I had fun:)

Sketch and a snapshot of stuff above my desk

2011-10-12T02:30:00.003-04:00

Tonight's sketch came out something like this. Hmmmmm?

Also a quick snapshot of stuff above my desk. It's filled with stuff I adore.
Yes I love ironman, Aya Kakeda, toy story (Buzz to be exact) Munny, Fafi. oh and MAC wonder woman eye makeup is soooo awesome!

sketches - does it look 3D-ish?

2011-10-11T01:38:00.003-04:00

Getting the illustration grooooove back. Tonight's sketch is these...

I hope the image above looks somewhat 3D-ish. I was watching Brain Games on National Geographic channel this weekend and was fascinated by how human brain works. Nerdy fun!

SOI sketch night!

2011-10-09T19:39:00.004-04:00

My co-worker introduced me to SOI sketch night and I was finally able to go. It's happening every Tuesdays and Thursdays with live music. There was two models to sketch when I went there. It was a relaxed and fun experience! Below are the sketches.

Left side: In college I hated how I couldn't draw anything other than the model. Well, now I'm out of the college, this is what I draw.

Right side: This was more of a life-drawing of the music.

I usually prefer drawing women figure. I think it's because of the hips.

With the male model, I kept seeing him as a frog. Not sure why... so here's the Before and After. haha.

Guess what... I'm back and I'm married!

2011-10-07T00:18:00.002-04:00

I got married! Yep, I was away from the blog for a while because of my wedding. We decided to DIY as much as we can (which took a lot of time... but it was worth it!) We rented a rustic B&B for the weekend which was also the place for the ceremony & the reception. Orange, yellow and hint of blue was the wedding color. My husband and I are duck and a lion (inside joke;)) and our dog Russel was carried our ring down the aisle. Ceremony & reception was held on a big grassy yard, and we were so lucky to have a non rainy wedding (phew!) We had antique apple cider maker, photobooth, guests book with MUNNY, and lots more little clues of us, games and ect spread throughout the reception area.

Thank you so so so much for everyone that came out! You guys are sooooo sweet! And to all the people we couldn't invite, we are so sorry! Join us when we have a 10th anniversary party?;)

Below are some of illustrations/DIY things we made. Fan, sign, star wands, cake topper, table number, dog bow tie, photobooth props were made by us!

Raining day makes these kind of illustrations

2011-08-15T01:17:00.001-04:00

It was raining all day today. Which made me do some wedding work, an illustration for Matilda, and also spear time to do something personal. Here's what I ended up with.

Illustration for Matilda

2011-08-14T23:54:00.003-04:00

I just finished an illustration for my dear friend's new baby. Matilda is her name (which is super duper cute!) and her mother loves giraffe and butterfly. So with that, this is what I came up with:) I would love to meet her soon! But until then, I hope you like the illustration, welcome to the world Matilda!

Awesome Illustration from Daehan!

2011-07-14T02:23:00.002-04:00

Daehan emailed me this the other day. I saw her sketches and line work and I loved the illustration! And the final illustration looks great! I love her use of colors, how it has a glow to it. And the girl is super cute/flirty!

I thought I brag about this awesome gift here;)

You can see more of her work here.

©Daehan Stevenson

Guache sketches

2011-06-26T18:53:00.003-04:00

I forgot how much I LOVE guache:) I need to do more sketches like this!

Little figurine making

2011-06-26T18:24:00.004-04:00

I've been making little figurines. I'm not sure where this is going but it's soooo relaxing when I make this:)

Hearts to Japan project, donation to Peace Winds!

2011-06-20T00:48:00.004-04:00

I'm happy to announce that Hearts to Japan project made the donation to Peace Winds. I've had some complicated stuff to deal with so the donation delayed a bit but the first donation is completed! I am very excited and relieved.

Thank you so much for all the artists that participated to this project. You guys are truly amazing because everyone responded quickly, and always had a massive heart towards Japan. I would like to especially thank Yukiko for being an awesome supporter of this project, and given me so many helpful suggestions, came up with ideas, supported me when I didn't know what to do.

Also thank you to all the people that bought the T-shirt. It means a lot to me and people in Japan. My uncle was and still is working in Sendai, fixing the road. When my mother mentioned him about the hearts to Japan project, he was really really touched to know people outside of Japan cared about them.

Thank you so much! And remember, this project will continue, so if you have friends/family to tell about this project please pass it on:)

♥ to you!

Sketches of nothing

2011-06-01T01:05:00.001-04:00

Just me and my mind hanging out tonight. I'm not sure where it started and where it ended. Maybe it's that play I saw this weekend...?

I have inspiration tumblr blog!

2011-05-22T12:03:00.002-04:00

Yep, I have a inspiration tumblr blog now:) I see so many things online, and I needed a place to store all of them. It's mainly for me only so you might not find it interesting... but I wanted to share it with you guys anyways:)

http://shihohoshino.tumblr.com

Hearts to Japan collaboration with Jackie Yamada

2011-05-18T00:14:00.002-04:00

When I asked Jackie about participating for Hearts to Japan, she mentioned wanting to do a collaboration with me as well. I was so so so happy to do a collaboration piece with her since her characters are so adorable! So here's the final product.

You can always buy this product at Hearts to Japan store (and you can also help Japan)

Rather strange night...

2011-05-15T02:33:00.005-04:00

I had mixed emotions inside me on a particular weekday. I went home and started drawing to Brooklyn beer and loud techno music. And these are the drawings that came out of it. It's strange because I don't remember what was going through my mind when I was drawing. I could have done a more weird one so it's strange how rigid these turned out. Hummn?

For fun and collaboration project coming soon

2011-05-08T23:44:00.002-04:00

Today was all about trying to de-stress myself. So I drew rabbits. Drawing rabbits is such a comforting thing for me now. It's totally weird but funny.

And this is a zoomed in photo of a collaboration I am working on with a talented artist;) It's taking a while (because of me) but it's been so much fun!

Sunday fun

2011-04-17T20:52:00.002-04:00

Quick little watercolor illustrations, done today:) It was fun!

Little something for my friend

2011-04-16T18:18:00.004-04:00

My friend from high school is graduating! Yay! Rainy day in New York today but drawing this made me happy happy! Congratulations Nicki:)

I heart you New York (now I can say this)

2011-04-11T03:06:00.002-04:00

I love New York. I've been living here for about 3 years now. When I arrived here, I got really depressed because it's really really tough city, especially for young artists. But because of my job, and my family and friends, I managed to keep living here, and ended up loving this place. This city gives you a certain mindset. A mind to be humble, be open to anything and everything and to explore. It's about knowing what I want, what I need to do to get it, and get out and find people to do things with. There's so many opportunity in this city which I love, and you just have to want that.

Below are some of the doodles that came out of exploring the city. I would love to keep exploring, and expressing through Illustration:)

Process: Doodling

2011-04-09T15:37:00.003-04:00

Lately I've been doodling A LOT. I mean I doodle whenever I'm bored or get inspired but now I doodle whenever I don't have anything in my hand. It's kind of fun but at the same time I think I feel like something needs to change or be defined. What is this rush?

2 new designs at heats to Japan

2011-04-05T00:08:00.004-04:00

2 New designs up at http://skreened.com/?partner=shihohoshino

The cat one looks kind of different from what I've been doing lately:)

Hearts to Japan store doing well

2011-04-04T00:59:00.004-04:00

Hearts to Japan project is going well. We have more than 20 artists participating for this project and everyone has been professional, creative, and just giving. I truly feel a sincere love from all the T-shirt designs that are in Hearts to Japan. I'm trying to keep up with my designs. I have more to upload hopefully by this weekend so come back later:)

Again, the store is at http://skreened.com/?partner=shihohoshino

We are selling original T-shirts to help Japan! I need your support

2011-03-15T16:55:00.008-04:00

I've been working on gathering artists to develop "hearts to Japan" which is a online t-shirt store to raise money to support Japan.

And it's open! And ready for you!

Please visit
http://skreened.com/heartstojapan?partner=shihohoshino

Please help us and support Japan. They need our help more than ever. The news and friend's blog/twitter/facebook posts indicates that there's still lots of (not so) mini earthquakes and slow recovery from tsunami. On top of that, some areas doesn't have electricity, food, water etc etc. But the most heartbreaking thing is how scared, worried, and frightened Japanese are. And the most heartwarming part of the story is how supportive, respectful Japanese are to each other even in a caotic situation.

Not just because I'm Japanese and want to help, I say "Japan needs your help now".

I really appreciate if you can buy a T-shirt, or even better donate to charity.

Thank you so much!

COMING SOON! T-shirt sale to raise money for Japan

2011-03-14T01:28:00.002-04:00

So I really wanted to do something for Japan after the earthquake and tsunami. I read so many tweets, facebook posts, mixi posts and various news blogs about this event and I was truly touched by the actions Japanese took when the event happened. Instead of panicing, healthy people started helping others by just yelling "is everyone ok? how can I help?", when the traffic was awful and chaotic on the interstate, no one honked the horn except as a "thank you" gesture, at Disneyland high school kids would give away all their snacks and souvenirs to younger kids, homeless man provides cardboard box to the people waiting in line for the train for hours, etc etc... I spend half day today reading about the stories of PEOPLE.

Then, I wanted to help. And after few hours of brainstorm, I decided to contact the artist I admire as a person and as an artist. So that's how this idea becomes the real thing.

SO... me and other truly talented artist I admire and trust are developing a online t-shirt store. All the funds will be donated to Red Cross and I will try my best to give everyone the visibility into how much money we raise.

I will announce where the online store is VERY SOON! I hope you can take a look at the store:)

Love from Japan

2011-03-01T00:26:00.002-05:00

I got some goodies from my family! Yay for inspiration:) And hint hint on the next illustration coming soooooon;)

sketchbook project: Opening reception in NY

2011-02-20T23:55:00.003-05:00

So the sketchbook project's opening reception was on Saturday. It said the reception was from 7pm-10pm so I went there around 8:30pm and I was told I was too late... Soooo all I got was this photo:( I will probably go back another time to actually get in the library and see everyone's work!

Also this show is going around other areas in USA so if you live near these places, you should definitely check it out!

Happy Valentine's Day

2011-02-14T01:15:00.000-05:00

Shiho is getting married: Step 1

2011-02-14T00:59:00.002-05:00

So I'm getting married. I'm still getting used to this event but I'm very happy! So step 1 as an bride to be and illustrator, is to make the "Save the Date" card. We decided to go with a simple postcard. I won't post the actual save the date design until it's shipped to the guests. So here's some sneak peak (final design looks nothing like this;))

New year new me: Part 2

2011-02-12T23:56:00.003-05:00

At the beginning of 2011, I did an illustration of "New Year New Me". And this is part 2. This girl is more direct than the last one. Instead of trying a new process, I tried to repeat the style and process this time. And I think I'm getting comfortable with this style:) I still want to use more lines for the next one.

New Illustration: A girl

2011-02-06T02:07:00.005-05:00

I'm officially obsessed with this new illustration style. I was constantly struggling with when and how to use line work for a while. And I think this style is starting to make me be comfortable with limited line work use. Below is the process from sketch to finish.

music and me

2011-01-29T19:27:00.003-05:00

So for me, music is one of the essential tool when creating illustration. I draw the best lines if the music matches the illustration. Sketches become a little crazier when music matches my mood. When I'm illustrating, sometimes I have to stop my work and dance in my room (when I don't have a tight deadline haha) I listen to pretty much anything but when I'm illustrating, I can't listen to anything but techno-ey sounds. I think the repetitive notes/beats and bass sound really help me concentrate. Also helps me to draw looser. So here are the list or artists I admire (in no particular order)

Nujabes

Daft Punk

Pogo

Perfume

Kaskade

Flying Lotus

Prefuse 73

Massive Attack

Röyksopp

Towa Tei

Deadmau5

Gorillaz

And these are some sketches (heavily) influenced by music.

Happy New Year! and so far on my Illustrating life

2011-01-23T23:25:00.003-05:00

Happy new year! I hope everyone's new year was a great one! My goal for me would be to be a little more bold with the themes I illustrate, and don't be afraid of what people think about my work. I think I got better at illustrating different sexuality, different culture, different things last year so I want to continue exploring that path. That probably also means I need to re-evaluate myself as well. What do I feel comfortable? What am I afraid of? What is my passion? etc etc:)

So these are the things I've been illustrating lately...

New Year New Me.

Many People
I've participated in Sketchbook Project. All the participants gets a sketchbook. You also pick a theme and after that you can do anything to it. I chose "Trading Forever". I did about 22 pages+ of sketch/illustration to tell a story. This exhibition will be touring all over USA so please go see it if you're near WA, CA, ME, NY, DC, IL, GA, TX, FL! More tour details can be found here.

Boost high done and done!

2010-12-09T21:49:00.003-05:00

Since I started working for Large Animal Games, I have had many opportunities to work on social games from facebook to iphones. But this one is so far the most interesting one. I was a lead artist on the project for boostup.org The game is not a social game. It's for high school students. They set up a character, and go through daily events to see if the character can graduate or not. This is a educational game so teachers can use this instead of a text book (playing game in school?! whaaaa?). I did UI design/integration, logo design, character design and asset creation. I'm so happy to hear that the game is released! woo hoo!

You can see the preview video here. You have to be a student and the teacher has to register to let you play.

Other games I worked on are...

Bumper Stars - http://bumperstars.com

What to Wear - http://apps.facebook.com/what-to-wear

Office World - http://apps.facebook.com/megacorp-inc

Rejected illustrations

2010-12-05T15:36:00.002-05:00

So I've been working on invitation/ announcement cards for a company. These are some of the illustrations that got rejected. The main feedback I got was the color choices. Right now I'm studying what colors works when it's printed on a sheet of paper:)

doodle night

2010-11-09T01:10:00.002-05:00

I swear I didn't try to make this one sexual. I was testing color combos and overlapping them. Oh well, I had fun with this one so it's alllll good! :)

Recent inspiration

2010-11-06T15:11:00.003-04:00

So you know how girls buy clothes when they get stressed right? Well, my "clothes" is art books. The more I get stressed the bigger the urge is for me to go to a book store. Something about the density of art book I love about, and I can't get enough (and every time I move, I kind of regret buying big books...) So here's my recent finds...

Charley Harper

I adore his simplified yet so detailed animals! I learn a lot from his "editing down" technique and find few shapes that defines that animal.

Gorillaz - Jamie Hewlett

I had an opportunity to sit in the first row of Gorillaz show recently and the art book I got from that show is beyond amazing. First of all, it's BIG. I can see all the strokes Jamie drew. I envy his line strokes so MUCH!

Mary Blair

I might have introduced her before but she is amazing. I imagine her work as retro american. Her choice of colors, painterly graphic shapes, and texture that's created from brush strokes is so effortless. I wish I had a chance to meet her in person.

Seasons - Blexbolex

I found this book in kids book section at Barnes and Nobles. The book immediately caught my eye because of how thick the book was. The book is filled with printmaking looking images and 1 word that describes the image. And the choice of words are so wonderful! It starts from the usual "Summer" "Watermelon" to "Happiness" "Meeting" "Accident". Some of the images hints edgy themes which I love.

Jim Flora

This guy's work reminded me of Tim Biskup. He can draw with lines and without lines which I'm struggling with right now. I learn so much from his use of limited colors and how to use lines as accents.

Happy Halloween 2010 (Girls ver, All ver)

2010-10-28T01:35:00.002-04:00

Here's the girls version.

And everyone! Happy happy Halloweeeen!

What will you be for Halloween? (Boys ver)

2010-10-27T01:16:00.002-04:00

This started as a test on limited color illustrations and getting the "appeal to kids" look back again. I have the girls version too but I'm in process of coloring those. What will you be for Halloween? ...Me? I'm not sure yet:)

Illustration for Infamous JeanClaude!

2010-10-17T16:17:00.003-04:00

It took a while but I finally finished illustration for Infamous JeanCkaude. We know each other since college and since then, he invited me to participate in his shows, I visited his group show and etc etc. He is very hardworking, humble, and talented guy. I was so excited when he asked me if I wanted to do art exchange. He requested me to draw him, and I requested to draw me a rabbit! Check his stuff out at http://www.facebook.com/infamousjeanclaude or http://www.liftedlab.com/ You won't be disappointed.

Sketch started like this...

And the final looks like this...

what is this...?

2010-10-03T12:19:00.002-04:00

So I went to Target recently. I was at kids toy/art section (because I love kids stuff so much!) just looking around. And I noticed this thing, air-dry clay. It was totally my "Ratatouille" where all the childhood memories came back. And so this weird secret project began...

Basically I'm making lots of weird shapes, dry it, over it with gesso and paint it with acrylics. I hope to get it look somewhat like Kid Robot toys.

So I have nesting doll looking things...

Line of teeth looking things...

And some weird creatures....
Most of them are already covered in gesso. Next step, paint!

coming soon + my No.1 motivator

2010-09-27T02:57:00.002-04:00

I have been busy with my job and my personal Illustration lately. As soon as I come home, I walk our dog, eat dinner, and start working on my illustrations. ...Which sometimes is tiering. But it's good to have so much stuff to do! New ideas are finally born almost daily (phew!) so I just need time to execute them.

Since I can't share my illustrations until they are fully done and up on my official website, I wanted to share my motivator (?) Russel.

As you can see, he often sits on my lap when I'm drawing. Yep, he tries so hard to motivate me...
eh....comfy there sir?
And when he doesn't want to sit on my lap, he usually motivates me by sitting (sleeping) near my scanner aka my left side of my desk.
He is such a good motivator;) Thanks Russel!

Music is ♥

2010-09-13T00:10:00.008-04:00

It's been a while since I last did a full Illustration. I am getting stuff ready for all the competition happening soon. This is one of them I did today.

Inspiration:

kind of boring to look at, but it was so much fun to make it!

2010-08-31T00:37:00.002-04:00

Even when I don't feel like creating something, I still like to move my hands. From the paintings I did this weekend, I made some textures for my future illustrations. I have no idea when I'm going to use them but it's always good to have selections of textures in hand. I think it makes my photoshop illustrations a little more... natural and easy to look at.

mmm boreddd with just scanning textures... lets put face on itttt...

End of summer... and I got a new shelf!

2010-08-30T02:59:00.004-04:00

Since I got a new shelf in my apartment, I decided to (finally) paint something on the little canvas I got a a year ago. The base color was already painted, so I had fin colors that matched each canvas. It was a fun mini project:) I still have 6 pink canvas to go... maybe 6 pink elephants?

Oh and my desk has so many things...

pencil drawing

2010-08-22T00:32:00.002-04:00

I've been experimenting like crazy. Basically I wanted to try every medium I used to love. So I did pencil drawing tonight. Conclusion: I love how delicate pencil drawing can be:)

ladies:)

2010-08-17T00:17:00.002-04:00

Before going for a short summer vacation, I did quick sketches of ladies. I love drawing girls and ladies! It's so much fun thinking about what they look like, what kind of personality she has, and what outfits, makeup, hair style she has etc etc... I colored them tonight, mainly to get back into coloring with photoshop again.

summer summer SUMMER!

2010-08-11T23:43:00.002-04:00

It's so HOT and humid here! And waiting for the train is the worst...! Soo... tonight's illustration looks hot and unhealthy... ha

pen and ink and photoshop

2010-08-11T00:44:00.003-04:00

Tonight was a pen and ink experiment night. I didn't do any sketches before drawing with pen and ink so some of the lines looks too wonky. I had so much fun with pen and ink though! I like how I force myself to be looser with lines.

I picked 2 pen and ink drawings and photoshopped them. yep, I still like this process!

Wedding portrait for my friend!

2010-08-08T22:42:00.003-04:00

This weekend I worked on an illustration for my friend. I know her since I was 5 years old. She requested to do a portrait of them for the wedding (because I couldn't fly for her wedding:(...)

So I started with sketches... (this is part of it)

And some bigger sketches...
And then final with Guache, watercolor, color pencil.
And then realized the groom's eyes were BLUE!!! So after a quick fix, this is what I came up with.
Now into the frame I picked up at Brooklyn Flea few weeks ago (I had this part planned out early enough. phew!)
Done! Now relax time:)

New scanner!

2010-08-05T00:27:00.007-04:00

I bought a scanner from my friend today! I'm sooo excited! I've been looking back through my sketch book to see if there's anything I can share. I found out that I LOVE drawing women from neck and up. I think face to neck in woman is one of the most beautiful parts.

And this is what I was listening to while doing the sketch/test scan illustration above.

late night sketch result

2010-08-02T02:45:00.002-04:00

Today was very tough day for me. Nothing was bad, in fact it was a really good day. But the rain made me have a HUGE headache throughout the day. I don't know why but New York rain effects my headache so much. So all the urge to sketch went away until late night. So this is what came out from late night sketch. Notice the wobbly lines. I'm still practicing on sketching with tablet thing.

My scanner decided to quit helping me...

2010-07-29T01:33:00.003-04:00

My scanner I have had for more than 4 years decided to quit functioning tonight. I tried to fix it but all I got was "BEEEEEEEEEEP". le sigh. This scanner traveled from Alabama, Georgia, and to New York so I knew it was going to break soon. BUT not tonight...:(

I have no idea what kind of scanner I should replace it with. I want a scanner that can scan pencil lines well. Any recommendations?

So instead of working on sketches with pencil and paper, tonight, I practiced with tablet. NOT ideal at all and I need to get used to drawing lines with tablet more.

Russel: my idol!

2010-07-28T01:31:00.004-04:00

I draw animals a lot. I am obsessed with rabbits (as you may know from my logo and other doodles) so I draw them the most. But lately I've been doodling my dog Russel into sketches. He is goofy, a sweetheart, and always ready to be drawn. I hope to do more of Russel doodles and include them into final illustrations.

Post it project

2010-07-26T23:54:00.005-04:00

I got an review from 3x3 magazine's art director recently, and he said my work needs more "ME" in it. Especially the ones on my website. And he is totally right. It always always ALWAYS helps to get a honest review. So using the post its, I started doodling, trying to focus on what I like to see.

It definitely helps to just doodle in fast pace. I'm still searching for what's me, but I think I'm getting somewhere. I need to test it by making a final illustration.

On the completely unrelated note, Russel likes to sit on my laptop at night. He uses it to look out the window. haha

PostIts and prep for new illustration(s)

2010-07-19T01:08:00.004-04:00

I went to a show opening night few weeks ago at Giant Robot. The show was structured like this. All the talented artist had the opportunity to draw/paint/collage on PostIts to be sold at the show. The wall was like a live animal, so organic. Since there was a lot of buyers, it was so important for me to capture the moment. So the wall looked like this... (see photo below)

Then I got inspired by drawing on a PostIt. There's size and color restrictions and I wanted to know how much I enjoy it. It turns out, I like A LOT. I only had 5 minutes to doodle, and I got this much! (see photo below)
I think I'm going to continue with 5 minute doodling everyday. It should be fun.

After doodling on PostIts, I started working on new illustration for self promo. Since I have about 5 sketch books (2 to carry around, 3 to do thumbnails, sketches and color comp) my desk is always filled with books and materials. I'm 90% done with sketches. Color comp tomorrow:)

test test on my imac!

2010-07-15T01:17:00.002-04:00

Tonight I messed around with performance for Photoshop on my imac. It's been getting slow, especially when using effects. I don't have a clear solution yet so if anyone has any performance tips, I would love to know! I think it gets bad when applying color or inner glow.

Oh and I used this doodle chick to test. nothing exciting but still...:)

Nuts and Bolts ends!

2010-07-14T00:43:00.003-04:00

I'm a little late on posting this but I basically had so much fun at the Nuts and Bolts conference! I was one of the quiet person at the conference (which I'm not too proud of) but at the end, everyone was so nice and kind to me. As I got more comfortable, I got to talk with wonderful people at the conference, and also amazing speakers! I was mostly so surprised how all the speakers were so humble and genuinely nice. I am motivated than ever was, ready to go out and promote myself! I also gained huge confidence in what I do as an artist for my game company. My worries have disappeared. Now I'm ready. Thank you thank you thank you to 3x3 magazine staff!

Nuts and Bolts conference in NY

2010-07-09T23:46:00.002-04:00

I had a rare opportunity to attend the 1st Nuts and Bolts conference by 3x3 magazine today. I will be attending tomorrow as well but so far the experience has been fantastic! I felt a little uncomfortable knowing everyone in the room was probably students or people who just graduated. But all the speakers were great and inspiring. Also I got to meet Mr. Marshall Ariesman! He has been one of my idol since my professor at SCAD talked about him. His obsession with analyzing himself and putting himself in his art is just mind blowing! I'm looking forward to tomorrow!

New and old exploration

2010-06-05T18:50:00.002-04:00

I used to do so many drawings of combining shapes and characters when I was in high school. I quit doing that when I was in college because i thought it wasn't focused enough. Well, I realized how much I miss doing that last night. So here's some mid night doodles.

weekend fun!

2010-05-17T02:22:00.000-04:00

More watercolor x pencil sketches

2010-05-11T00:01:00.001-04:00

I have been working more and more with watercolor and pencil. I love the texture of pencil and looseness of watercolor. All these are hanging up on my bedroom and I'm trying to think of what to do with them since I have so many. It's a very relaxing exercise:)

Ladiiiiies!

2010-04-26T01:45:00.002-04:00

I have been getting back to traditional medium since I use Flash and Photoshop at work. I realized how much I loved watercolor, guache, and pencil sketches. I am thinking of selling something like this if I get better:)

peace - quick sketch kind of night

2010-04-16T01:19:00.002-04:00

Tonight I got home from work, kind of feeling on the blue side of the spectrum. So I decided to play around with Illustrator. I've been so used to Flash that I forgot the good side of Illustrator. Maybe I need to explore this path more often:) Well, this is what I got for tonight.

sketches after MoCCA festival

2010-04-12T01:57:00.004-04:00

Despite all the busy work during week, I was able to visit MoCCA festival this weekend. It was very nice seeing so many talented artists there and I thought it was just comic but there was actually lots of screen prints, jewelry, plush toys, and illustrations. I saw many multi-taskers, and a lot of them were really passionate about what they do. I got inspired and started sketching at the park right after the festival:) This is what I got from it...

It's been a while...

2010-03-21T16:07:00.003-04:00

It's been a while since I last posted to this blog. A lot has changed in my life since I got back from Japan and I have been consistently busy. I still kept up with sketching and I manages to find time to take some into Photoshop. Here are 2 of many rough sketches.

Duplicate of a Duplicate show: Part 2

2010-02-01T23:34:00.003-05:00

So I kept hididng this from everyone (not really) but... here it is! My pieces for Duplicate of a duplicate show. My "inspiration" was human and human with egos. No matter what they have, they are still unhappy. Not being confident, not trusting anything, hoping without growth. King of diamond, who has everything material wise, but still doesn't feel full. Queen of hearts, who has everyone's attention, but she never opens up. Men tries to control her mind, but she never sees anything because she just does not trust. Jack of clover. Young boy/man hoping for success, always hoping. But he never realizes just hoping will not help the situation. He needs to realize he needs to go out, meet people, socialize.

Duplicate of a Duplicate Art show: Jan 15th - Feb 15th

2010-01-20T23:54:00.003-05:00

So I have been involved in this art show "Duplicate of a Duplicate" You saw the thumbnails sketches in my previous post. I really wanted to go to the opening show but I couldn't...:'( Apperantly, the opening night went really well! (People stayed until 11pm even though the show was supposed to be from 7-10pm!) Here are links to announcements about the show... Actual illustration will be posted soon!

living proof magazine

joyengine.com

blacksheepnc.com

Show will be happening until Feb 15th so if you are in the area, go check it out:)

Thumbnail to sketches - Illustrations for a show

2010-01-05T05:00:00.004-05:00

I have been working hard on the illustrations for a show in January. The concept was vaguely "inspiration" so I started thinking about what inspires me. In the end I am always interested in human. And I wanted to create something on the dark side. I came up with a concept of cards along the way. So below are the process of how the ideas came together... I used to have "Joker" card included with this series but I didn't like any of the ideas that came up.
Sketches on crappy paper to transparent paper to adjust layout, and scribbling on the back of the final layout to transfer to the good paper:)
Some doodles of "J" for Jack of clover.Final "A" for ace, "K" for king, "Q" for queen and "J" for jack.
Final line work done with charcoal. Lesson learned: I need better chacoal pencil.

Funny Japanese commercial

2010-01-03T10:06:00.001-05:00

Being back in Japan for few weeks is very tiering but exciting! So many new things to see:) This is a commercial that made me laugh the most. You probably need to understand Japanese but... I like the look of this animation too!

Childhood influences - Children's book and comics

2009-12-27T23:29:00.003-05:00

I was a book nerd. Well, I still am and love to collect books but...:) My mother loves buying children's book so I was never bored at home growing up. Below is part of children's book collection. My mother has a room just for reading them and we call it "Piggy's room" because everyone gets lazy there.
My favorite things to collect in UK was stones and teddy bears. My favotire teddy bear was forever friends bear. My absolute bible is this comic. Everyone my age say they grew up with salor moon but I wasn't allowed to buy comics back then. When I came back to Japan and was old enough to buy my own stuff, I bought Gokinjyo Monogatari comics by Ai Yazawa. I LOVE her stuff but Gokinyo~ is my favorite:)

Childhood influences - Sketch book

2009-12-27T23:12:00.004-05:00

I lived in U.K. for 3 years when I was a small kid. My parents were into traveling, eating, and visiting museums back then. So I was lucky enough to visit almost every famous (and sometimes non famous)museums in Europe. But sometimes me and my sister got tired of seeing giant paintings all day, and my mother decided to hand us a sketchbook. We weren't forced to do anything with it so we would sketch anything we wanted (ofcourse I don't remember most of it since I was so young) Here are some of the things I liked when I was age 4-7.Sketch in Wien Austria. Apperantly I got a signature from some guy...?
Sketch of Matterhorn in Switzerland.
Little souvenir from North York Moors National Park. Probably not allowed. Oops.
Dragonfly sketch.
Sketch of a painting by Marc Shagall. He is still my favorite.

Experimenting day!

2009-11-27T18:45:00.004-05:00

I got inspried by Antonio Frasconi's "See and Say" and started experimenting with textures, colors and line work. I really really love how the pencil line came out. I think I'm going to experiment more with this kind of grany, organic look. Antonio Fransconi does wood cuts and his use of shapes and colors are amazing! Especially when he layers colors with textures, his work really grabs me. Mmmm, now I need to do some printmaking!

Holiday cards!

2009-11-27T04:32:00.006-05:00

Happy (late) Thanksgiving! Since I got 5 days of free time, and my family is too far away to visit, I worked on holiday cards. Usually, having time doesn't help me but this time I got to really work on ideas, composition, line work, colors, and textures. And I found out using tracing paper to figure out the composition helps me more than I thought. I need to work this way more often.

So here are the steps...

And final! (skipped the color and texture experiment part) There's more inside the card but it's a secret;)

Otter project

2009-11-14T21:12:00.005-05:00

Couple of days ago, I finished a project for Georgia Aquarium. The illustrations was used for a presentation on Otters. There was apperantly people (scientists, biologists and so on) from all over the world to see this presentation. The otter basically pee on que into the cup. This way, it's easier to collect pee sample for various tests. I never knew otters are so smart!

So the project started with thumbnails to sketches to some color samples...

After few tweaks, below are the final images used for the presentation. I had so so so much fun with this project! I am secretly an aquarium nerd. I used to study about dolfins, did a overnight stay at aquariums, and probably visited more than 10 aquariums in 3 years. I am looking forward to visiting Georgia Aquarium soon and meet these cute otters!

This year's Halloween costume was...

2009-11-02T00:27:00.002-05:00

For this year's Halloween I decided to make my own costume. And I though hand sewing everything was a easy, good idea (wrooong!) It took a while but... this is what I made!
Got it? It's MAX from where the Wild Things Are! I tried make it look more like a book than the movie.
And I wore it at work. (for an hour)

I love who I work for because...

2009-10-25T21:28:00.002-04:00

This Thursday my office decided to do pumpkin carving after work. In the past we did gingerbread man decoration and Halloween costume at work and so on but I did not expect to have 15 big pumpkins at the office! It was so much fun, this is one of the reason why I love working for this company. So here is what I carved...
And this is what it looks like when it's lit up.And this is the master piece(s) created by coworkers. All of them turned out great don't you think? :)

Editor's choice for IllustrationMundo!

2009-10-14T00:54:00.002-04:00

I got an email from IllustrationMundo.com couple of days ago saying that I have been chosen as an "Editor's choice"! I have been a huge fan of IllustrationMundo and have found so many great artists there. My profile image is on the front page right now so go check it out:)

My work displayed in "Sex in Art" website!

2009-09-10T00:24:00.005-04:00

I am soooo happy to know that my work is displayed at "Sex in Art" website! It's still kind of funny that this image was the piece my college chose for their alumni show. And it was displayed in a college building for a while. Anyways, I am especially excited about this because I have been trying to break out of the "innocent look" shell for a while. I am still learning and trying to make art that is sexy but not overdo it or make something meaningless. Hopefully I can create more of it to enhance my "naughty and bitter" section;)

Here is the direct link to Shiho Hoshino's "Sex in Art" :)

http://www.sexinart.net/2009/09/04/shiho-hoshino/

octopus obsession!

2009-08-30T21:19:00.002-04:00

I've been obsessed with octopus lately. I don't know why but whenever I have free time, I keep drawing octopus. Maybe this is a sign that I should go by the beach and eat octopus...mmm:)

SI: facebook jealousy

2009-08-22T17:16:00.003-04:00

This week's Saturday Illustrations was about facebook creating unnecessary triggers for jealousy between relationships. Some of the "jealousy triggers" include tagging photos and wall posts. People are so obsessed with facebook today... I remember freshman year of college, when everyone was obsessed with Live Journal and AIM, and they would exchange information a little more private than facebook. Hmm I feel so old now...

ANYWAYS, this is what I had at first. This is close to the sketches I did but something looked wrong.
So I revised it to have more direct and simple symbols. I'm glad I revised it. This was a challenge for me because I usually include animal or human in illustration. But since I do this kind of graphic stuff at work, I thought it would be a good exercise to include it into my illustration:)

Which tool are you?

2009-08-16T04:19:00.006-04:00

It took soooooo long to do this week's Saturay Illustrations. I guess it's because of the coffee I had this morning. I kept going back and forth with thumbnails and sketches and I never could decide what to do for the topic (which was about how to be a better employee, and they explained it by hammer and swiss army knife). Here's some of the disaster sketches...

Once I got out of that struggle, I did about 4 finals. I mainly was experimenting with linework, textures, and colors even though I wasn't trying to. I kept coming up with new process but none of them seemed right. In the end, I got this image.I'm not too happy with it. It's not "me". But I guess it's good to struggle whole day to get something ok once in a while... it made me think about my work/work process:)

card board fruits/vegetables

2009-08-09T17:10:00.004-04:00

Thanks to efmouk and Jade's suggestions, I did some more fruits/vegetable sketches. I used card board as a base. I kind of wish I used white in these but... I had fun:) More fruits/vegetable suggestions are appreciated :)

Midnight apple

2009-08-06T01:43:00.001-04:00

I had an urge to play with textures tonight. I started this after 12am so it didn't take me that long. Maybe I will add characters or something more fun in the near future. What should be the next fruit I should draw?