Yesterday I went to my first comic convention as an artist rather than a fan. (Although I haven’t been to many conventions, in general.) It was great!  As I expected, this was less of a convention than a small gathering of comic artists and dedicated Belgian fans who came out to the relatively remote location to meet us, buy books/posters, and request sketches. The building (which turned out to be a local pub/BBQ restaurant) was located out in the Belgian countryside, and took about an hour to reach from Brussels.

I was expecting to be greatly overshadowed by the established (and already published) artists/authors there, but much to my surprise I was treated like a celebrity!  After gratefully scarfing down the barbecue lunch, I found myself rushed for requests for drawings.  They have a very different system of comic conventions here in Belgium, it seems.  Rather than me sitting at a table and trying to hawk my goods, fans have to first buy a poster/book of yours, and then they get a ticket with which they can request a dedication and a sketch.

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I was pleasantly surprised that rather than ignoring me as a relative unknown artist, the people who attended were extremely curious about Sister Claire after seeing it announced on the Club’s website. I’m also fairly sure they have never had such an exotic, American visitor at one of these small gatherings. Apparently all the mystery and hyper surrounding me garnered an interview for their local newspaper!  Hey, not too shabby for my first ever convention.

At first I was nervous about doing drawings for people, because all the other professional artists next to me were so much faster and used to this whole process.  My hand was shaky on those first several drawings!  Unfortunately my brother didn’t manage to get a photo of the first ones I did, but they ranged from mermaids to a sexy pinup of Gabrielle on a cloud, enjoying a glass of Holy Water.  I’ll probably redraw that last one for a wallpaper someday. =)

Getting interviewed!

I did get SOME photos of sketches I made, though.  This is the one I made for the BBQ place that hosted the event.  I put extra effort into it, even though my hand was really killing me at the end of 6 hours straight of drawing.  I was told they wanted to put it up on the wall, so I wanted it to look decent. =)

Here are a few more samples of sketches I made for people:

All in all, it was an exhausting but wonderful experience, and I plan to go again next month! =)  Club BD Collines is run by my friend Dominique, who in many ways reminds me of my late professor, Jeremy Mullins.  I wish my professor had lived to see me go to my first convention, I would have loved to tell him all about it.  Going there gave me a renewed optimism and confidence… I feel that my professor was there in spirit.  This was the sort of thing he would have loved to be a part of, and I’m sure if he was still with us, he would be happy to see me going out there and doing my best to spread the love of comics in another country. =)

To take a break from all the typing (which I found out is actually harming me a lot more than the drawing, judging by how much more my hand hurts when I avoid drawing and instead type all day) I’ve been taking a lot of trips out lately.

First off, since I believe this is what most of you are interested in, here are some crappy sketches I’ve been making during my downtime.  Don’t worry, these each take just a few minutes or less, so they haven’t stressed my hand.  I apologise for the awful quality, I took these with my Macbook cam in a dark room.  Consider them potential sneak peeks. XD “Potential” because they are still very deep in the concept stage and may or may not appear in the far future of Sister Claire.

Today I went to Antwerp with my family, and I’ve brought back a lot of interesting pictures.  August 24th is the “Festival of the Giants,” but sadly I didn’t catch them.

However, I DID see a very interesting thing I’ve never seen before: a geese parade.

Geese Parade from Yamino on Vimeo.

I also went to see a gorgeous church called St. Catharine, which had several beautiful painted triptychs, including some by Reubens.  But you know what a sucker I am for crazy candy colors! (And glowing colors are even better.) What I loved most were the stained glass windows and detailed paintings using gold paint:

My brother thought this trinket in the church’s store looked kind of like a toilet.  I had to agree.  Maybe I should stock them in the Sister Claire store? XD  I also snapped a photo of this really sexy Pope. (I think he was a Pope.  maybe he was a Cardinal?) Whatever. Still hot, right?  Bonus: I found their secret stash of Sacred Oil. Oooooh.

I’m a big fan of the urban decay aesthetic, but also natural reclamation.  Most old European cities have it to some extent, but these really old cities seem to encourage it.

Another thing that was new to me: A double-decker horse-drawn buggy!

I feel really bad for not updating Sister Claire in so long.  T_T

I figured it was time for another little TENDONIATUS UPDATE.

Today I had my appointment with the hand doctor, and he gave me a brace that I’ll have to wear for 3 weeks till  my next appointment.  Fortunately, it’s removable, so I can take it off to draw and stuff, although he told me to keep it on as often as possible.  I can even draw with it…  It’s just… very inconvenient.  I know it’s annoying to wait this long for the next page, and believe me, I’m the most annoyed of all.  The split was really fun to play with for about an hour until dinnertime, when I had trouble getting food in my mouth. XD;  Next page will be posted as soon as it is done.

Meanwhile, try not to kill yourselves over the suspense! And if you want to be super-awesome, send in a guest comic! =)

Today I went back to an abandoned house I had found on a hidden trail near my house. I had seen it before in my explorations, but never had the courage to go inside (I was always afraid some homeless people and/or scary drug addicts might live inside) but it was thankfully quite empty.

Here are some photos I took as I approached. I wanted to document the excursion, in case I was found dead a few days later.

Upon, entering the house, I had the sudden nostalgic feeling of playing one of those horribly irritating text-based computer adventure games, where every action must be indicated by commands such as “enter door” and “look around” and nearly all of these options ended with a) boredom and puzzlement/ b) sudden death and a need to restart the entire game.  I decided to pick my actions very carefully.

I looked around.  The floor was littered with all manner of… well, litter.  Chunks of what I presume used to be bits of house, trash, leaves and natural debris.  Judging by the grafitti, a lot of would be “punk” teens had been there to drink and pretend they were cool.

To my left, I noticed that a stolen metal barrier had been propped against the wall as a makeshift ladder.  Against my better judgment, I climbed up to explore the upper level.

It was actually quite pretty.  There was something really beautiful about looking up through the torn, half-destroyed roof and seeing only sun and leaves. I can only imagine what it looks like at night.  I wish I could say the same for the actual interior, it housed two filthy mattresses and the dirtiest blanket I’ve ever seen in my life.  I batted a cloud of mosquitoes and gnats as I tentatively moved forward to peer into the other room.  It was dark and so covered with garbage I didn’t even bother stepping in, but took a photo from what was left of the doorway.

Perhaps my favorite bit of all was the interesting bit of grafitti I found on the wall as I made a short video using my mom’s phone:

Abandoned House, Hidden Poetry from Yamino on Vimeo.

I just got back from a very last-minute trip to Italy! Along with some photos, I’ve also taken pics of a few sketches for you! =)

I’ll open up this post with everyone’s favorite thing: magical toilets.  I found this one on route to Italy while we were on a highway in Switzerland:

Amazing Pitstop Toilet from Yamino on Vimeo.

On to the photos!  This is a famous statue in Verona, where I spent most of the 3 days visiting family.  The statue holds a stone ball, and it’s said that if a truly honest person walks underneath it, he will drop the ball on their head.  As you can see, it’s still there…  After that, a photo of the Alpine countryside I walked in with my family. That place is used for skiing in the winter, when it’s covered with snow, but right now the only thing covering it is rocks and cows.  Last but not least, the Verona colosseum! (Rome isn’t the only Italian city that has one!) Built during the reign of Augustus, this colosseum is also used as a traditional Opera stage.

These next pics were taken in Malchesine, a gorgeous town on the edge of Lago di Garda. (Garda Lake)  It’s so picturesque and labyrinthine.  The landscape Claire lives in is inspired by a mixture of Tuscany and this place, although we have yet to see the town near her abbey. =)  The first picture is of  a mountain dubbed”Napoleon’s Nose.”  Can you see the profile silhouetted?

I also took these pics at my other relative’s house near Verona. They have a really cute cat named “Sandy”… they named him after the squirrel in Spongebob. XD

An interesting sign advertising ‘Nternet and Fooo.

Last but not least, a few random sketches I did during the trip!

It’s only 9pm, and I’m already EXHAUSTED. So today’s update will be mostly pictures!

Breakfast: Honey raisin-granola with soymilk and pomegranate. NUM NUM.

We visited a gorgeous place called Place of Refuge. It was once a refuge for Native Hawaiians, and now a refuge for sea turtles. <3 My favorite thing about the beaches here are how you can see exactly how the lava flowed into the water, leaving rippling patterns and cracks.

Tidepools! Always an exciting place to explore! I haven’t gotten to visit one since I lived in California. There was a poor little angelfish stuck in the shallow pools, stranded there since high tide. I also found some crabs and convinced them to pose for some photos! (Well… they were empty crab shells… but still!) I also found some ADORABLE shingle urchins. I can’t get over how cute they are! They look squishy, but they’re hard as a rock…

This talented lady (who I forgot to ask permission for posting her photo online! hence the mosaic, just in case…) was making stone towers on the beach. It’s a lot harder than it looks! Also, some of the neighbors of the beach made their disapproval of tourists and and US colonization clear by flying an upside-down Hawaiian flag in protest. A little awkward, considering this was prominently displayed right next to the beach where all the tourists were gathered… Well, I guess that was their intent.

The birds here are all super colorful. I was lucky to get a pic of this redheaded bid and the bright yellow one in the same shot. They’re so fast and skittish, it’s hard to get a good picture! Also of interest… the most disgusting fruit I have EVER seen. Every part of this plant looks like some kind of nightmarish insect monster. The first picture reminds me of some kind of freakish, toothed worm. Then, the fruits themselves look like a nasty cross between a pine cone and a maggoty larva.

I found a giant spider (about the size of my pinkie) with a very interesting abdomen design. (That’s my brother lurking in the background.) Also, a photo of one of the most common flowers on the island, the plumeria. It has a simple elegance to it, and it smells very sweet, which is why it’s common used to make leis. (Hawaiian flower chains.)

After hitting Place of Refuge, we drove up to the world-famous Kona coffee plantations to buy some Kona coffee. There were some… interesting outlets along the way. (Yaoi fans in particular might appreciate the “Just Ukes” store…)

The Kona coffee itself was exceptional. For myself, I picked out a chocolate-macadamia nut flavored brew. I was sniffing the bag all the way back to the hotel. *___*

Today was EXTREEEEEME. We took the Captain Zodiac tour (lol, check out their charmingly mid-90’s website). I want to KILL myself (and my family!!) for not bringing the waterproof camera. When we weren’t seeing humpback whales and dolphins and manta rays (the latter practically jumped into our speeding boat… jesus! I didn’t know they COULD jump! Those things are the size of a SMALL CAR) we we speeding around on this crazy dingy. If you didn’t hold on with a white-knuckled grip to the ropes, you would definitely have been flung off on some of those hairpin turns. I’ve got rope-burns on my palms and my hands are permanently hardened into claw-like shapes, but it was SO worth it.

We also snorkeled at Captain Cook’s monument, the location where he was murdered by locals when they thought he was trying to kill their chief. Ahh, good times!

Now… it’s time to put on some aloe vera… My sun-deprived alabaster skin is turning blotchy, despite my best efforts. TILL NEXT TIME.

I have far too much stuff to post about my Hawaii trip all in one post, so I’ll be dividing the posts up to one a day this week, divided roughly by category.  Today’s theme: Hula and Hawaiian music!

Hula Girls from Yamino on Vimeo.

I had the pleasure to walk in on this free hula event, which featured highly talented girls of all ages showing off their hula dancing skills. They are all trained by the same teacher, (the woman playing ukulele and singing in the back) and they compete in nationwide Hula competitions. Cool! (Also, check it out… Not really related, but… Hawaiian Roller Derby Girls!?)

There’s also a very strong sense of cultural pride in this ancient tradition, one of the few that has survived the sad watering-down of the Hawaiian culture due to tourism. There are still many places where you can find more “honest” luaus held by locals that don’t have all the kitch of the touristy ones, and if you are given the chance, you can see some local girls (and sometimes even boys- hula is NOT a girl’s only tradition, despite what a lot of non-Hawaiians think!- showing off their skills in preparation for competitive events and historical celebrations.

This is a video of a hula celebration we stumbled across on our first day on the Big Island.

Hula Girls from Yamino on Vimeo.

This is a video of a hula celebration we stumbled across on our first day on the Big Island.

I think it was in memory of the last Queen of Hawaii. The famous Merry Monarchs played, while a group of young girls performed the hula. The cutest one was this TINY little Japanese-Hawaiian girl, who looked very unsure about what she was doing most of the time, and kept looking to her mom in distress. Aww. There was one older girl who was very smug and had a feisty attitude- when her father (who had been bragging about her to us throughout the performance) told her to smile more, she stuck out her tongue at him. XD

On the subject of Hawaiian musical culture, I bought a few CDs while I was visiting, to round out my family’s Hawaiian music collection. I noticed they don’t have ANY Hawaiian ladies, just IZ and the Cazimero Brothers, who are admittedly probably the most famous contemporary Hawaiian musicians. I wanted to support some lesser-known, but still very talented sistas: Raiatea Helm and Brittni Paira.

Anytime I travel to a foreign country, I try to pick up some local music, particularly in support of women musicians.  We girl artists gotta stick up for each other!  For that same motivation I made the logo and will soon be making the website for Kimly, the musician friend of mine who I recorded with in LA two weeks ago.  I’m looking forward to getting the final cut of our song, so I can post it here! =)

Also, this is unrelated, but too awesome to share. My New year’s resolution will be to do everything I can to make my life more like a Bollywood Music Video.

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.  =)

Sadly I didn't have any time to go to any of their meetups, but I'm sure it was really swingin'.

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

Thank you so much Mr. Grant! T_T You're a cool dude.

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

The waiting area to speak to Soleil editors looked like a fashion runway.

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:

Claire left her heart in Angouleme...

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.