Remember when I posted Lady Gaga and Nightingale as Avatar characters as part of my work for a portfolio? Well, it’s too late to add it, but I finally got around to making a Claire crossover pic:
Posts Tagged ‘concept art’
I promised and update, and after recovering for a day, here it is! I spent 4 days in Angouleme, France, for the biggest yearly comic convention in Europe. Prepare for the longest post ever made in Sister Claire.com history! >8D
For the majority of the time, I was meeting up with editors and comic publishers to introduce Sister Claire (and in some cases, concept art for Nightingale) in hopes of getting published. As you know, I’ve been working on Sister Claire for over a year now, so I had a lot more material to show for that. I brought 4 preview books and t-shirts, which were all given away to the most interested publishers. I met with a lot of big name publishers, most of whom were not interested. Publishers usually have a very specific idea in mind for what they are looking for, so this wasn’t a surprise to me. Nonetheless, I waited patiently and showed my work to every editor who would see me.
As a result, even if not everyone showed interest in publishing me, I made some unexpected contacts with some really cool people, including C.G. Marra from Passenger Press, an Italian publisher who is making an all-girl anthology soon. I’ll be in contact with him about doing a 6-8 page comic in Sister Claire style. =)
I met Tim Fish, Paige Braddock, and Abby Denson at the GLBT booth. They were all really sweet and interesting to talk to, particularly on the subject of the first gay superhero in Marvel finally being allowed to have a boyfriend. It was also nice to talk to them after 2 days of speaking on French and Italian, it was nice to have a moment in English again… XD
As for other artists I met, perhaps the most famous was Alan Grant, the writer of Tank Girl. I chatted with him for almost half an hour while I waited for my chance to meet some editors from Ankama. He was the one who stood up and waved at me when someone was finally free to speak to me!
Speaking of which, there’s pretty much NOTHING published by Ankama that I don’t love. (But my faves would be Maliki, Muthafukas, and of course now the french version of Tank Girl!) I think my Sister Claire style really matches their theme. I hope I’ll have more good news to bring soon regarding this soon. ;D
While waiting 30 minutes in line to meet the editors of Soleil (who looked at my stuff for about 3 seconds before brushing me off… lol, c’est la vie.) I met a very talented artist from Argentina named Alejandro Marmontel. He does some really nice digital painted coloring for a collaboration comic. This dude is totally gonna be famous someday. O_O
I also met Rosalys, a more manga-style artist who does some really gorgeous artwork. She’s also really cute herself, but I was too shy to tell her that in person. XD If you know the MMORPG FlyFF, you might be interested to know that she made the comic that started it all! She also has a video interview here! (Sorry… it’s in French)

There was a public reading room where people could vote on their favorite comics and listen to live interviews of the nominated artists/writers.
In the above picture room, there was also a public “drawing board” where visitors could leave messages and drawings. Of course I couldn’t pass up the pimping opportunity:
Similarly, at a Wacom tablet exhibition I took it upon myself to do a little demonstration, leaving behind an unfinished sketch of Nightingale:
On the subject of Nightingale, I had a particularly interesting meeting with the heads of Tekneo, who have developed an application to bring comics to the iPhone and other portables. I was very excited to sample their technology, because they are incorporating slight animation, but more importantly, sound into the modified comics. This got me wondering… what if Nightingale was published on this platform, with audio supplements to make it accessible to blind people? It’s been long plaguing me that my comic, which focuses on a blind superheroine, is ironically inaccessible to the very people it’s meant to educate the public about. If I could team up with them to make the first blind-accessible “comic”, that would be pretty revolutionary! They seemed equally hooked by the idea, so we’ll be keeping in touch about this. The first release of Nightingale may end up not in print, but an interactive, portable platform! <8D
I also met some strange characters wandering about the city- some were more recognizable than others. I even picked a fight with the biggest one!
Lady Gaga’s super-tall French cousins from Yamino on Vimeo.
Also, possibly the biggest surprise wasn’t even at the comic festival itself. My host had a disko in her basement. No, really… with a full bar and everything. I made this little video while I was zoning out in between two conversing people.
Basement Disko from Yamino on Vimeo.
Gunbaby by ~Yamino on deviantART
This is a submission for the GUNBABY: The Baby With Guns Community comic. Details about the comic can be found here:
http://www.deviantart.com/users/outgoing?http://forum.webcomicscommunity.com/index.php/board,25.0.html
The comic was spawned as a collaborative, community comic on the same forum. We recently started up a group on DA:

You should totally join and draw Gunbaby stuff, all the cool kids are doing it!
FiG Album Cover concept by ~Yamino on deviantART
Finished picture coming soon-ish!
I sketched this up for Trav’s birthday, which is today, the 23rd of January! He’s the guitarist and real leader of the band. His character is Aptiva, the dude with the mexican wrestling mask and the cape. XD
I (and Smoker!) are just figureheads, really. The token girl/s, if you will. If it wasn’t for Trav, I wouldn’t even be in the band! Why don’t you pop by and say HAPPY BERFDAY? ;D
Smoker’s wearing a different outfit than the last several times I drew her. This one is very Lady Gaga-inspired. (I adore Gaga, if you haven’t guessed! <3)
For more info Freen in Green and music samples/character profiles, check out our blog! http://freeningreen.wordpress.com/
Freen in Green Concepts by ~Yamino on deviantART
You’ll recognize "Smoker" as the character in my icon, as well as a sketch I posted earlier. Those of you who follow my blog know that I like to sing! Those of you who REALLY pay attention also know that I joined a band, Freen in Green!
We decided that rather that just be ourselves, we want to go the Gorillaz route and do an animated/comic band! Smoker is the vocalist, (I’ll be providing her vocals), Aptiva is the guitarist, Adam is the bassist, Trekker Mint is the drummer, and Mystery is the occasional keyboardist.
They characters all have really ridiculous detailed backstories (except for Mystery, nobody knows who the hell she is or even if she has a real name.)
Find out more here:
http://freeningreen.wordpress.com/
Amsterdam Coffeeshop by ~Yamino on deviantART
Contrary to popular belief, not all coffeeshops in Amsterdam are for potheads. Sofie wouldn’t be caught DEAD in one of those.
Another concept art for Nightingale, trying to get the feel of the city and the character, as well as practicing drawing her with different clothes/hairstyles. I drew this all from memory… I need to get some decent ref pictures next time.
A concept design for Pele, inspired by my visit to Hawaii. She is the ill-tempered goddess of volcanoes. I think my favorite thing about her legends is how all of them inevitably end with her getting pissed off and killing everyone with molten lava. Fun fact: Pele is the only Hawaiian diety still openly worshiped.
ASL ON A PLANE from Yamino on Vimeo.
I made this all on the plane to Hawaii, even though the guys sitting next to me probably thought I was insane.
I’m here in Kona! OH MY GOD. SUNLIGHT. I haven’t seen it in half a year! I’m not even really exaggerating, in Belgium I became a night-owl and I slept all day (which was just as well, because right now it’s freezing, grey, rainy, and WINDY) and so it was perpetual night time. Then even in Southern California it was grey and rainy the entire time, although admittedly MUCH warmer. <3
I also have some new artwork I sketched up on the plane. Claire in Arthur de Pins style, Lady Gaga, some hot Indian whose hair loopies are TOTALLY NOT INSPIRED BY KATARA, OMG. Some random island girl, Airplane Boy? A zombie/shaman/ninja character I made for a roleplay a looong time ago, some hairy dude, a Naga (HAHA I’M PUTTING IT ON DEVIANTART. THAT PLACE NEEDS MOAR NAGAS) and Pele, the Hawaiian Volcano Goddess, riding on a lava flow. And yes, I realize now I spelled "Goddess" wrong. D:
My camera was dead until I charged it this evening, so I couldn’t upload any amazing photos, but believe me, there are some AMAZING things to see here… like the insane plants that look like they’re from another planet!? Seriously, there is so much strangeness on Hawaii that the touristy magazines and things never tell you. I plan on sharing all of this as I explore.























