I am forging ahead with Fanime, folks! Find me at the Artists Alley with my buddy taichi_chan. My printer is miraculously working like a dream, churning out those Star Fruit Ashcans as if it were popping Pringles into its mouth...so this must be a sign of destiny.

Seriously though, I can't wait to see all of you again. Who else is going? We should meet up and eat some food or something!

I think I'm going to Fanime..I think I'll be at the Artist's Alley!

The ever talented taichi_chan was gracious enough to share her table with me. I think this is going to work out great because it's much easier to have a table buddy than to hold a table alone. And having company is always good encouragement!

Now...how many more days until Fanime? What kinds of things do I want to put together in preparation for it?!....!!!

Some graphic work that I'm doing for the website of the 1st Annual Asian American Jazz Festival in November..which, incidentally, I'm planning to be performing in.


AAJF Prototype Banner 1 by ~bryanyw on deviantART


AAJF Prototype Banner 2 by ~bryanyw on deviantART

This is two in a series of at least three, and I anticipate some further tweaking in the future. I've had meager experience doing the more "graphic illustration" side of artwork, but I've been enjoying putting these together, anyway.

Hi everyone. It's been a while so I thought I'd give you a quick update about how things are going. I know I've been quiet, but I'm still around and I visit the journal everyday to check on how things are going with you guys.

My life has been busy, filled with good things and not-so-good things, but I won't go into any detail at this moment. Fortunately, I still have work. Because of the economy, however, my department's on a hiring freeze; but at this point, we have many projects to accomplish but only so many people to do them, so I've been working overtime since the beginning of this year. Too much work is better than none, I guess, but that's the main reason for why I am not progressing along with my extracurricular activities as fast as I'd like.

I've been working on my script for Muniyoots whenever I get the time and slowly but gradually it is coming together, though I have much work to accomplish even before that pen touchdowns onto the paper. Aside from the fact that other aspects of my life have kept me from going full force on it, I'm overall happy so far with my approach to putting the piece together; however, it seems to me that I'm doing it in a manner hardly anybody else would do -- for a webcomic at least. I sometimes wonder if I'm just going about it completely wrong. Overall, I really don't know how it's all going to turn out in the long run, but I guess I just have to pursue my dream in a way that suits me. And patience is key here.

I've found that as I grow older I've become more and more patient about putting something together before presenting it to the world. Years back, I'd be chomping at the bit to tell you my new ideas and post up new pictures. Nowadays, I'm okay with letting the ideas incubate and become (hopefully) better. I am also better at resisting the urge to work on some "side project." Pretty much, Muniyoots is the only personal comic project on my mind at the moment, and the ability to focus on that alone has done me much good.

I hope that my "settling down" doesn't mean that I've become more lazy or less passionate, but rather that I only want to give you a grand product when the time warrants. It definitely won't be for a couple of months.

Until then, I'll try to pop in every now and then and let you know how I'm doing.

Happy New Year everyone!

For those who haven't purchased Hamthology Vol. 1, I finally can post my story online! Go read Duty Free, the second in the Star Fruit Universe series!

http://www.capradio.org/articles/articledetail.aspx?articleid=5940

The Sacramento local public radio did a piece on my Uncle's restaurant! Go check it out! That restaurant has a lot of my family history associated with it, so it was fun to read it again.

The website is up! Hamthology Volume 2 is now available online for purchase!!

The collection features seven stories focusing on the choices that people have to make, and the consequences they have to deal with. It also includes many pinup art as well. In addition to my Editor-In-Chiefdom, I have contributed to two of the stories, including the writing for a collaboration with Akira Hasegawa of Tsunami Channel fame (I did the shading and lettering) and the complete art (pencils!!?!) for a second piece as well.

You can go to Lulu directly to purchase the graphic novel.

You may also visit our official website to learn more about the book, the contributors, and see previews.

Back from AX! I guess this concludes the 2008 convention season, unless for some reason I decide to do a smaller show in the near future. Thanks to those who came out, I really enjoyed seeing old and new friends again. I certainly feel a lot better after this show than I did at Fanime, which by all means wasn't a bad show at all. In fact, count it all up and I did really well, money wise, in both shows, maybe the best I had ever done. I think the bad feeling I had after Fanime was due to external factors, and not Fanime or the customers or whatever themeselves. You see, I was about to give up a whole year of conventioning to buckle down on my art and my new comic.

But after AX, I realized that reclaiming a couple days out of the year from conventioning would not be much benefit to my overall goals; in fact, avoiding conventions could be counter productive. Conventions are, hard work, a lot of stress, and a lot of spilling out your soul to the public. At the same time, they are my livelihood. I can't begin to talk about the joy I feel when I meet people like myself, fans who enjoy my work, great artists I am inspired by, and folks who are passionate about where they're going with their art as I am with mine. For AX this year, I've had more commissions than I have ever done in any convention. For a brief moment, I can consider myself a professional artist! Drawing for money! It's not that much money, but I rarely get that opportunity. And every so often you'll get the request that you have little motivation to do, but sometimes you'll be presented with a creative challenge that results in a product that you never knew you could come up with. Some commissions are absolute joys to do. I've realized, while working on commissions at AX, that I've improved quite a bit. And there's nothing better than racing through commissions on a hectic Saturday afternoon. It's a brief chance to be an artistic powerhouse.

Conventions help me assess where I am at and where I need to be. After doing it, I'm aware of the areas of art I need to work on. The talent in the AA is definitely inspiring to me. It's a boost jump that one usually doesn't take into account when tabulating up the money at the end of the day. And each new convention is a chance for one to bring out something new, because there are people who'll remember you and will come back to see what you've done. They motivate you to be daring and think big.

So I'm saying all this gushing stuff in retrospect; all in all I can't separate myself, at least at this time, from the Artist's Alley, and I'll continue to keep doing them as I can, painful as they sometimes are. Knowing that convention season has died down for me, I finally feel like I can fully concentrate on my next large undertaking....with some caveats.

Nevertheless, the next one for me, I think, is ALA 2009 in January. I hope to have something good by then as well.

That is all!

Quick ping, I will be selling books and drawing sketches and stuff at Anime Expo; I'm in the artists alley at table A12. If you're gonna be there, please make sure to drop by and say hi. Looking forward to seeing all of you!

I'm actually quite excited about the show..more than I usually am, and a lot less stressed out about it. Perhaps I like the simple joy of interacting with people and drawing pictures and such. The AA is not a bad gig -- I enjoy it. And being that I might take a year off from the circuit, I might as well enjoy it while it lasts.

...and I'll be trying out public transportation to get from IE into downtown LA! All the while carrying 40+ books and all my supplies! Should be an adventure.

Hey, check out this cool brand new comic with real bad-ass art. The reason I came across it is because one of its creators put up a blog entry about Star Fruit and star fruit. Apparently, my ashcan encouraged the friends to purchase and eat a star fruit. Apparently, for them it tasted really weird.

It makes me feel real bad -- as if I were creating an element of fantasy (well, I am) to a fruit that actually doesn't taste good at all. I haven't seen one in person for a long time, but I do indeed remember having it when I was a kid, and I also do remember having it for the first time and it tasting really, really good. Kinda like a green plum. Perhaps it has to do with the season, ripeness, origin, etc...

Anyway, I guess I must make a warning to gentle readers that even though Keoyen loves star fruit, she grew up eating them all the time. For everyone else, some "taste acquiredness" may be par for the course..

...oh, and in addition, please don't judge star fruit's flavor by the bottled juice they make out of it. I've tried one brand, and it's rather truly horrific..They put salt in it or something!!

Hey everyone. I'll have a table at Fanime this year. Let's do dinner or something!



See you there!

Hey there folks in the Los Angeles area:

I will be playing piano in a jazz quartet at Cafe Metropol in Downtown Los Angeles, Saturday, April 26th at 8:00PM. Cover charge is $5. We will be playing a couple jazz covers in addition to a couple original compositions of mine and my friends.

If any of you have nothing to do on Saturday and are interested in listening to some music and chilling out, please let me know. I will put you onto the guest list.

First off, Happy Lunar New Year! Year of the Ferret! (YAY)...I wish. Well, the rat's closest we're going to get to a ferret, right?

So..what happens when you say a word that's never been said ever before in the history of mankind?

Does your head explode? Do you unleash demons? Do you get to claim ownership? Or at the very least, do you get etymology bragging rights?

Anyway, there's a word that I've been crossing my finger no one has ever used (or more importantly, is using)..And as far as the all-wise Google tells me, I have a good chance of making that a reality. It doesn't even suggest other words that I may have "meant". That's how new this word is.

So I'm going to say it. For the first time ever.

Muniyoots

The word plays an important function in the new comic I'm working on, "Sömmat-Nieh Municipal Youth Association." It also serves as a practical shorthand version of the dry, verbose story name. If you think this all sounds lame, I don't blame you. Wait until you see their sports jackets.

Anyway, I am not going to say much more about the project, and jinx myself by talking-the-talk.. I will, however, update you when I meet milestones.

The main reason had to post this message at this given time is because...

Muniyoots <- MINE!

EDIT:
(Oh yeah... Traansej*e LlaesSadjlehld <- Mine too.)

Yes, I stayed up until 6:30AM for this.
I'm goin' to Disneyland!

Thanks to all who participated in the contest!

http://www.constancyroman.com/2008_comic_contest.php

It's Mr. Bear, © pmbq!

It will be arranged onto a bench for ALA 4, which is in only a handful of days.

Was trying to do the whole Chinese bamboo painting thing, so I looked at a lot of references. I even washed the background to make it look like an old yellow manuscript.

Considering I hardly ever paint, much less so on such a large canvas, I think I did okay. It certainly could have turned out profoundly worse.

An updated SoC graphic novel is coming along the way; it will include all 9 chapters and span a total of 304 pages. I feel bad for those of you who already purchased the first graphic novel, but I figured I probably should put a complete collection together anyway.

It has some updated notes, revamped cover, a couple new extras, and finally, the Enocoiyna Alphabet key.

The book should be ready in the next few days.

http://www.animelosangeles.org
(Designs are only notional as of this point)