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Sunday, December 30, 2012

good bye 2012


It's been a while...I just wanted to draw year of dragon version mr. birdman. 2012 was such a dramatic year for me. I hope it was great year for you all!

Thursday, November 15, 2012

multilegged ladies

I was working on these because it was kinda slow today... quiet before storm though...




yep. redesign of this one by my partner's request:



Wednesday, November 14, 2012

latest...


Last week I was back in the US. It was nice to be in Boston again although it was only couple days of stay and it was...snowing...so Boston... Now I'm back in Tokyo enjoying the luxury of being able to have fashion choice for a jacket. In New England during winter I would have no choice but dull, waterproof dawn jacket.

I started this painting last week before my flight to the US. I was hoping I have time to work on this during the stay, but I didn't. (I was disappointed that my effort for carrying tablet was worthless after all) I finished this up yesterday, but I'm still not sure. I feel some spots are still needing more work, perhaps the dark areas...every time I take a look I feel ashamed because it makes me feel still the "mother" and "her will  (the other side)" look better.

btw "our void", the last post's art is widely accepted in many forums and art SNS. I was surprised to see the people's reaction on that because I thought the piece was too quick and in rough state. I can't tell if it's because I got more exposure since the devianArt daily deviation incident or it's actually pretty good.

The title for this one is "in my solitude". She's shy. ...and before anyone says...yes, I do like the song and I borrowed the phrase from it.

Thursday, November 1, 2012

hmm


It's been a while...I'm painting and doing other things. Being exposed to high quality art at studio everyday I feel I have long way in front of me...

Do you ever feel empty? You better don't because the creature above would come to you and sit next to you. You may pet its fur, but try not to poke its eyes...

Monday, October 15, 2012

nu


living in Japan is crazy! I'm afraid that I'm gonna gain back heavy Japanese accent in my English, so I'm pushing myself to hang out with my English speaking friends who happen to be in the city. Above is the break time doodle of the day... I'll post more as I progress this more.

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

painting painting!


It's been busy crazy this year...I decided to quit my job (hard decision  of course, but I had to move forward...Harmonix is truly one of the greatest studio with tons of nice fun people. I miss them already...), move to Japan, and now I'm lucky enough to work as an assistant for my concept art mentor at his studio in Tokyo! I've been painting all day for work, like a dream...

above is today's practice. probably 2hrs with photo ref.

Thursday, September 27, 2012

moved!


Last week I moved to Japan from the US. Starting new life!


I've been pretty busy, but I finally got adopter for my laptop so I can paint! In case you are wondering...all US products work in Japan. However Japanese outlets only has two holes. If your electronics require 3 hole outlet you need to get an adopter for that (you can see in the photo above...) 




I've been working on practice pieces. I started these couple months ago, and work and moving got all too crazy that I couldn't finish it...now I got a bit time till next job, hopefully I can bring all of them to presentable level...


Monday, August 27, 2012

うNKO☆


started doing tumblr finally. i know usually people use it for scrap books, but i think i'm gonna use it as doodle pooping place. these are one of my favorite doodles from past.


http://raqmo.tumblr.com/

Monday, August 13, 2012

business time


After 5 years, finally decided to make new business card! moo.com is pretty awesome...I love the paper stock, and they are fast and reliable. I love how everything can be done on their website quickly.

and in case you are wondering...村上は日本人なので普通に日本語話しますよー(笑)。お問い合わせも日本語でどーぞ。

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

whaaaa



Something must have happened! all the sudden I'm getting crazy exposure on deviantART.

Sunday, July 8, 2012

done...?


After fighting with two IKEA bookshelves I finally wrapped up this painting. I'm feeling exhausted, but there are still two more boxes to go...

It's kind of funny looking back the progress of this angel. It started out as an entrapped figure, then it got more like dying creature with its chest busted, and finally it became a creature releasing her inner whatever. I guess each stage reflects my stress level.

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

still progress


Independence Day? My family is so uninterested this year that we decided to just chill at home. Yes, my parents came to visit me. (So nice of them) And I'm trying to finish this so I can start new assignment...

Sunday, July 1, 2012

color


My family is visiting this week, so I didn't have much time to spend on this. Here's this week's progress, starting to think more about color scheme and atmosphere. 

Work is crazy, personal life is messed up (thanks to my ex partner...). I'm working on planning future to focus on things that truly matters. 

Sunday, June 24, 2012

upside down


Had a terrible week at work. this year has been nothing but a torture for me... no wonder all the sketches I do for personal work comes out as freaky images... though I learned as long as I have energy to create I'll live.

Monday, June 18, 2012

I miss...IMC...

It's Monday today and I'm back in office. In fact, new office, since we moved back to the original building (Harmonix is made of two buildings). Before my creative energy fades away I want to post up some memories here... 

Donato painting LOTR illustration.

BROM became my hero after seeing his body of work...just awesome.

Greg' painting demo was inspiring. It's OK to spend time!! Slow down!

Dan painting me as dragon girl :D

It almost look like I'm naked, but I'm not! 
I love how he liquified my face to make it look like a creature!

I modeled for Jerry too. I'm looking such a badass in this one :D

He didn't finish this, but I'm looking forward to see this done sometime.

Also by Jerry. This one is closer to actual model. lol.

Now I'm back...the first thing welcomed me was this paper dragon, Max.

My new setup. This space is kind of sentimental to me
because 6 years ago I was in the same room as an intern.
Now I'm Concept Art Lead (for now)...time flies...

My desktop buddies. Do you guys remember this character Lars Ümlaüt from GH2?

Well, I should keep sketching. 
My next piece is already started...(if I don't loose interest in this one)




Friday, June 15, 2012

Making of the Lady

I decided to summarize what I learned at IMC by looking back the last painting I did. Hopefully this helps anyone reading this. FYI, this post includes some breast exposure...NSFW depending on your work environment, so be prepared...!

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Wrapping up

The week at IMC is almost over...It's Thursday today (wow) and we are all trying to wrap up our paintings. Here's my stuff. I'm trying to adjust color balance and levels for print.



I found painting scary ladies is really fun.


Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Progresso

Here at Illustration Master Class, we get to talk to amazing faculties...I've been getting tons of great feedback from those masters in Illustration industry. On the first day Scott Fischer encouraged me to go for my doodle since I'm more excited about it than assignment thumbnails. Though Doug Gregory pointed out the relationship between two figure is too vague. He suggested possible story; instead of the death angel taking the life from the figure, the figure is trying to capture the angel to end her life. I was excited by the interpretation, so I made further detail incorporating the concept.


Later that day Greg Manchess, Dan Dos Santos, and Donato Giancola showed how important it is to have reference for a painting. I have never done such an intense reference photo shooting with models for my painting. I always vaguely knew I have to do more research to gather reference materials, but after seeing their process it became really clear how it affects the outcome if one paints only out of his head. It shows. (and it looks sad) So I tried to get accurate reference for the head...


The next day Donato came by and gave me feedback. He said I could push this further to next level by showing more conscious thought for background. Since the angel is already bizarre it would create strong contrast if the setting is more familiar than fantasy landscape. I agreed. Totally, right. 

Also Boris Vallejo took a look at my progress. I asked him how to deal with color, and he said "just do whatever works for your story...there is no right nor wrong"


I tried more simple but effective background, still incorporating the dying figure trying to catch the angle. Brom stopped by and gave me a feedback it'll be better not to cut the legs of the angel. 


Then I got feedback that the hands are too separated from the main angel figure, so I reworked on the posture and placement of the hands. Maybe it's too much to have a set of hands.


Dan Dos Santos did quick draw over of my piece, suggesting surreal dreamy landscape for background.


It's lovely and strong visual, but personally I'm more attached to the interior as environment concept...so it's like this currently, as of this morning. (who knows what happens to this tomorrow)





Saturday, June 9, 2012

Art Camp


I'm at Illustration Master Class in Amherst College, Massachusetts this week. This is a great opportunity to experience slow and focused painting creation. So fun! Here's a doodle I did last night...on new laptop. It's good to know my new laptop is powerful enough to do serious work :)


It's like going back to college!


Friday, May 25, 2012

Social Kingdom


I've been hearing about the online comic project "Social Kingdom". One professional comic artist made an issue worth of comic, and everyone is welcome to redraw their own version for each panel. One panel per person, total of 1000 panels...sounds fun! So here's my panel :D


Saturday, May 19, 2012

Bang!

went to Bang Camaro show last night. so energetic, so epic, amazing! just wanted to do some quick sketch to capture the power and speed \m/

Friday, May 18, 2012

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

waiting

Work's been slow, meaning lots of waiting time and therefore more doodlings. I wanted to do some anime fan art, but somehow it turned out to be like this.