黑火子 ~Kurohiko

Uta☆Pri: Gambatte ne?

2012-01-27T23:02:00.001+08:00

Before you read the real story behind this fan art, please do let me know what you think is happening in this scene~ I’d love to hear feedback from everyone, thanks~ ♥

Incidentally, I’ve been playing Uta no Prince-sama Music on my PSP. My frustrated musician side is insatiable at this point, because I want to take up both the piano and violin thanks to all these mind-blowing songs! Though I suppose becoming an idol would be nice too, but that's impossible so…

In any case, Uta☆Pri: Music has a bunch of voiced, “otome game”-like scenes, and my Japanese is poor at best, so I went looking for translations on the internet. Lo and behold, the wonderful works of Bread Master Lee! Not all of the scenes are translated, but you’ll find a lot of material there that you won’t find anywhere else~ >w<;;;

It amused me when it came to Bread Master Lee’s efforts in unlocking the otome scenes. She actually got her husband to play with her, because the Orion de Shout Out is impossible in Pro Mode. I haven’t gone that far yet, so I can’t confirm this… However, her efforts gave me a cute idea for a fan art of Natsuki, so here you go! Have a Haruka unable to finish Natsuki’s Pro mode, with Natsuki deciding to help her by manning the left half of her PSP.

This is dedicated to Bread Master Lee and her husband~ I hope you guys like it! ♥ Sorry, I know you currently have a purple PSP that has a Tokiya sticker on it… Let’s just say you were borrowing mine? xD

Uta☆Pri: Haruka x Masato?

2012-01-13T01:21:00.002+08:00

What a depressing and gloomy artwork to the start the new year with, dear goodness gracious~ >.>;;; But ah, Hijirikawa-san, you really stole my heart. ;_; How you could be so serious and yet…

…of all the boys I had to fall for, it had to be the one with the strangest haircut. ;x; Maybe he reminds me of Hiiragi-sama? But no, the serious violinists are Syo and Natsuki! (Although Natsuki prefers Viola now? Not sure about that part yet.)

I need to learn Japanese so I can play otome games! Ah wait, I don’t really have time to play anymore do I? ;_; And Masato, what are you saying to Haruka anyway?! I want to know! ;o;

This was supposed to be a really quick sketch for a break from all that paneling… but it looks like I spent too much time on it again, as usual. Sigh… More sleepless nights for me.

EDIT: PFFT! Ok, Misaki-chan wins:

It's like he's in much pain, saying, "Why can't you be mine?"
And Haruka tearfully replies with, "I can't stand your hair..."

xD Yeah...

Karma: Chapter 2: Epilogue 4

2012-01-03T01:57:00.009+08:00

Click me to view the latest update!

Hello again! Happy New Year! The mangaka forgot that January 1, 2012 was a Sunday, and so she forgot to update her website again! ;o; So pitiful!

So here we are with the 4th page of the epilogue! I have to admit, the term “head slap” game from Gibbs of NCIS. I remember him saying something like… “A slap on the face is an insult. A slap on (the back of) the head is a wake up call.” Shijirou needed to snap Tori out of his monologue, and before I knew it, there were chibis on the middle of the page I was drawing on! xD

Speaking of another kind of page, I’ve decided to make a Facebook Page for kurohiko.com’s 1st year anniversary! :D Now people will have an alternative means of getting my feeds whenever the site is updated!

Thank you so much for everyone’s continuous support on my webcomic endeavors! I will continue to do my best as we approach the year of the dragon! Everyone stay happy and healthy, alright? Go, go, fight, fight!

Karma: Chapter 2: Epilogue 3

2011-12-25T04:20:00.001+08:00

Merry Christmas Everyone!

I'm sorry! I really don't have time to draw something Christmas themed right now! I have several more pages to do for Mist, and I prepared the Christmas dinner a while ago for my family… all 9 of us! ♥ So please enjoy this latest update for the Epilogue of Chapter 2 for now! With Shijirou and his gigantic angel wings~

Happy Christmas, and happy holidays everyone~~ ♥

Karma: Chapter 2: Epilogue 2

2011-12-18T23:14:00.001+08:00

Christmas is around the corner, guys! I bet everyone is busy getting ready for the festivities~ ♥ Let’s try not to forget the reason for the season, as Christmas does fall on Sunday this year~ :3

I completely forgot that there are 2 new characters being introduced in this page. Well, the guy (yes, he’s a guy) picking up Aly is actually unnamed in the comic, even in A.illusions, but you’ve probably seen him before if you follow the other series. :D

His name is Gau, a moderator in A.illusions, and he was first seen on page 3 of the webmanga. In Karma: Chapter 2, he’s only an extra… for now! I mean, who really knows, right? Both of Aly’s friends are angels, so there might be some possibilities for Gau here! As to what exactly, your guess is as good as mine… I haven’t thought that far off yet! xD

To be honest, Tori’s looking even cooler than usual. xD He’s really serious in that first panel that I’m worried he’s out of character!

A mangaka who’s worried her own characters are out of character. This can’t be a good sign.

In any case, I hope you enjoy this page! A few more will be coming as soon as I finish up some commissions. :D Happy Christmas guys~ ♥

Private I Café: Ian Necor

2011-12-14T02:50:00.002+08:00

Lechon is a pork dish that features a whole pig cooked over charcoal. The skin is roasted to crispy perfection while the meat is left juicy and tender. In many places, including the Philippines, the original use of suckling pig has given way to medium-sized adult pig. Lechon is usually served during special events and holidays, especially on Christmas and New Year’s Eve.

I can’t draw lechon that well, but Ian, please don’t drop that lechon. I might cry if you did. :( Even if it’s only a suckling pig, I love lechon too much to really care about its size. xD

Original character by Ray Magbanua, creator of Private I Café; for the Indie Komiks Manila Secret Santa Event. I’m sorry if the lower part of his uniform isn’t accurate! >.<;;; And I hope you don’t mind that I gave him brown shoes. Merry Christmas~ ♥

PS. If you can't view images from Picasa, this is also posted on my dA. :3

Fly High~

2011-12-13T21:03:00.001+08:00

In the hopes of inspiring people ~~and because of my love of Fan Art~~, I've decided to host a Secret Santa in Indie Komiks Manila. I don’t know about you guys, but I never get invited to any Secret Santa events in Deviant Art. I’ve always been jealous of those famous artists who get fan art as presents… And I still haven’t finished my Art Trades from last year’s event. I know I’m getting a coal in my stocking for that, for sure.

I got my present early from Carlo of Callous Comics. :D Perhaps I should think about colors for Karma’s angels now that people are asking me about it. xD Honestly though, the monochrome looks good on Rei~ And I’m really happy how this turned out~ ♥

Thanks again Carlo! Now I have to work on my baby’s present. ;u; Please go check out Callous Comics for more of his works! x3

Oh, one more thing, how’s the new layout working for you guys? :D Better than the gloomy grayscale, or did you like that one better? :3

Karma: Chapter 2: Epilogue

2011-12-12T18:20:00.002+08:00

Now that I’m back from Hong Kong, I have some time to update my website and…

Dear gracious, I think Picasa’s lost it. It would appear that if the image URL doesn’t have a “/sXXX” to it, it automatically posts images smaller than the original size. Some of you probably caught a glimpse of that a few days ago when my image background shrank!

Well, I’ve fixed that and the manga pages, but not the images in the gallery and download section. =_=;;; Google, can you please stop destroying things? Have you ever heard of the saying “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it?” Most of your fixes for the past few weeks have been horrible! ;_;

Anyway, I’ve decided to post the Epilogue for free reading, because I’ve already sold all of my indie copies of this chapter. :D Yay, yay~ Not bad for a mangaka-wannabe! ♥

Now we’ll get to see more of Tori~ And another character as will be revealed too! You can probably guess who that will be since he’s already in the cover. :D Happy Holidays guys! And I hope you’ll enjoy the epilogue~ o(^o^)o

Mist: Boss Lady Gorawyn

2011-12-02T22:38:00.001+08:00

Meet the Boss Lady, Gorawyn. Anything she says, goes; because if you don’t? No moonies for you. ;x; Besides, who’d dare steal gold from a dragon anyway? ;_;

Mist: Chibi-Lena

2011-11-30T04:29:00.001+08:00

Yes, I know her name is Relena and not “Lena”, but Chibi-Lena just… rolls off the tongue, you know? >:

Now I have to do the next gazillion chibis on my list. @_@;;; Every time I draw a chibi, the proportion and built changes! =.=;;;

And now I realized I didn’t put textures on this one. Good job, me, give yourself a pat on the back… *pats* I need to stop sleeping like a vampire. >: It’s turning my wonky.

Mote-Mote: Page 17

2011-11-27T00:54:00.001+08:00

And now we have come to the conclusion of Mote-Mote! Thank you so much for supporting this series! It was one heck of a ride, with dangerous procrastination levels that would have equaled to style-changes in between pages! @_@;;;

But is this really the end? Personally, I would love to draw more of Baku’s human form. Maybe he would meet up with Kuromi after she leaves the school?

In any case, is anyone interested in getting the copy-bon form of this series? As I’d expected, Mote-Mote didn’t sell very well in Komikon because not a lot of people know about this anime. ^^;;; But this is ok! Komikon was still quite an experience and I wouldn’t trade it for anything!

So anyway, my sister is going the USA this December. This means I can ship stuff to the US (and possibly Canada) from the US! I’ve already got 4 packed away and ready. :D Although I still need to find out how much it will cost for shipping, the book itself is only US$1.50. ^_^

Feel free to comment or email me and let me know! Thanks guys! ♥

The 7th Philippine Komikon: Aftermath

2011-11-23T04:46:00.007+08:00

Now that I’ve recovered from the post-con virus (aka. the flu), I can write up something about my first Komikon experience as an independent comic book vendor. :)

My day started rather early… as in the night before early. I wasn’t really able to sleep much, because I was worrying about forgetting to bring something important. So I checked and re-checked both bags and kept imagining how I was going to set up my table step-by-step. By 7:30 am, I still haven’t slept a wink, but it was too late then. I had to get going.

Commuting with almost 90 books in your backpack and a rolled-up tarpaulin under one arm is tough enough as it is. Try doing it in a fully-packed train and it’ll make you think about driving a car even if you’re dead scared of driving. =_=;;;

I got the venue at 9:00 am sharp, which was the required time for us to be there and start setting things up. Surprisingly, it only took me 15 minutes get my table a rather shocking-looking red. I got Jaz to thank for the overall design. We spoke on the phone a few nights before, and she suggested the tarpaulin and color. ♥ But it was my nephew who designed that Manga stand. It's handmade, with styrofoam, illustration board, and a super secret ingredient at the bottom. We're not telling what it is. :p

Well, finishing my set up meant I had time to roam around the event long before it started. My first priority was to get my latest issue of Pasig, which Joannah ever so kindly reserved for me~ :3 I missed Taga-ilog, but gave her the free copy of Karma anyway. :D She gave me a copy of Curtains for Hire as trade (which, oh dear gracious, I think I’m hooked. This is so bad for my wallet!). And I say trade, because neither of us allowed the other to pay for each other’s books. <--- wait, did that make sense? xD

Next, I ran off to see Sir Memer, the creator of Cat’s Trail.I got my first issue of CT signed, and I also gave him a free copy of Karma as “payment” for… something. @_@;;; I refuse to speak of it. x.x;;;

Too bad there was no new issue, but Angel Mei was there! I finally got to meet her~ and I think she liked my work. ♥ Got her signature too, so my 1st issue of CT just doubled in value. >:3 Mwehehe~

I got a free mini bookmark of Butler that I need to get laminated. :D Definitely gonna carry that around in my planner or books~ He is just the cutest thing, ok? ;_; But maybe I should have gotten Polaris? Ah… I should have bought the stickers! >.<;;;

Anyway, I got back to my table and Ian from Mangaholix passed by to get his reserved copy of Soul Dice. He apparently knew me, but-but… I’m so embarrassed that I didn’t know him before Renka-chan told me about him! @_@;;; Good job, me!

Finally, the event began! Almost immediately, people who passed by made a bee-line for Soul Dice. I think it’s thanks to Renka-chan that I got to sell my books too. ;u; It was quite a battle so to speak. Sometimes, people would look at the books and buy, other times, they wouldn’t. I wish those who didn’t would comment as to why. Was it the price? The art? Just not their thing? @o@;;;

The mini-cards Jaz suggested was a hit though. There were 39 designs in all, some of them pointing to kurohiko.com, others to mistcomic.com. Most of the designs were various chibis I made before, and people really did take them even though they were so small!

Next time though? I’ll print them on sticker paper. :)

Since it was a slow morning, I skipped out for 2 minutes to get a copy of Girl Gamer Girlfriend. xD I’m sorry, but I love this series so much even though I don’t play RO! Maybe because Romel is a bishie? Enjelia signed it too! And now that I’ve read it? The Tagalog version is so much funnier! xD Haha~

This is what I love about cons. =u=;;; I get to meet my idols! Even though I don’t say anything to them. ;_; Haha…

By noon, I had only sold a few copies. Which made me worry about carrying everything back home! Thankfully, my former officemate, Lani, came to the rescue. Well, my rescue in the literal sense, because I then realized, I was starving! Awkwardly, I asked Ernest of Crazy Metro to watch my table for me while I grabbed a bite to eat. He’s my table-mate but I hardly even noticed that he already had lunch?! When did that happen?

Lani grabbed copies of all three books before we had a casual lunch and talked about Twilight. xD Don’t get me wrong, I don’t like or hate the series, but I can’t stand it! Lani can’t stand it either, so we just had a good time nit-picking at the series, hehe~ ♥

Wrong timing for me to step out though. Nicole passed by while I was eating! I was waiting for her to come, but she only had a few minutes so she grabbed the books from Ernest and ran off. @o@;;; I’m so sorry! I hope will get to meet you next time!

After lunch was when it got crazy. Really crazy! There was a sudden surge of people! I think I made most of my sales from 1-3pm!

Speaking of sales, Renka-chan’s parents were also there to buy her books. Renka-chan’s parents. Wah! @_@;;; I wasn’t very good with my Fuukien, but I did my best to greet them and talk to… auntie, because uncle kept disappearing for some reason. xD;;; It was so much fun though, because while we were talking, there was video camera and when auntie noticed it, she was really posing and showing of Renka-chan’s work! xD;;; It was just the cutest thing!

Oh yeah, I got to sell my first sketch commission during the event! I was going to sell an original sketch of Aly, but I kinda changed my mind after. @_@;;; Anyway! I forgot the girl’s name, but she asked commissions from practically everyone in the event! I wonder what she’s going to do with all those drawings? I’m really curious to know!

I’m a little sad I wasn’t able to add more details to this though. I had to take care of my table while I sketched in between. I wasn’t able to finish Martin’s request either, because people kept pouring in and asking a lot about me, my work, and Renka-chan’s work.

Things slowed down again by 4:00 pm. John was making rounds to ask the Indie participants to tally their sales and pay the 10% fee for the committee. Eh? Why so early? I thought the event would end at 7pm! But then, I noticed people were leaving already.

Skar then appeared with 30-something copies of Ibato Mo! He looked so tired and rushed! And how sad that I was only able to sell as few of his books. ;_; I really felt terrible about it! Maybe I need a better sales pitch, like Salmon Comics. Now those girls can really sell! They sold out before the event ended! I need to pick up some tips from them. ;u;

Jaz came by near closing time and helped me out in my table. Thanks to her, I was able to go around the con one more time and got to buy Trese’s “Santelmo” print. I was afraid I’d be too late and all the copies would be gone since it was closing time, but I managed to snag print number 113 of 1300. I would have chosen 111, but the print was damaged slightly. :(

Sir Budjette wasn’t around, but luck upon luck, Sir KaJo was! As soon as I got my print signed, I raced back to my table and grabbed a copy of Karma to give him. I was pretty embarrassed giving him my book, but he accepted and even asked for my autograph.

Two of my idols asked for my autograph that day. I was on a high. I hope they all like my work! >.<;;;

It was around 6:00 pm when Jaz told me to pack it up and leave with her. xD;;; I would have stayed ‘til 7:00 pm, but Chris, another old officemate and fellow indie vendor too, was also leaving and he looked like he needed sleep! (Wasn’t I the one who didn’t sleep the night before? Why did I still have so much energy?!) Well, I gave copies of my work to Ernest to thank him for watching my space, and off home Jaz, Chris, and I went! :3

I did feel tired by the time I was calling my brother to pick me up though. Probably because the train ride back home was even fuller than the morning ride! I got squished!!! ;x;

Anyway, when they picked me up, my cousin was there, and they wanted to have dinner together… I declined and said I really needed to sleep. So I went straight home, had a little dinner, and… well, I didn’t even feel the pillow hit my head. @_@;;;

Overall? What an experience. I wasn’t able to sell everything, but I earned back almost all of what I spent. I don’t think I regret anything, aside from not taking enough photos of the event. Then again, when you’re a vendor, you hardly have the time!

Would I do it again? Definitely. Just… probably not as soon as Summer Komikon. Unless I hit my head and forgot how tiring this was. xD;;; More power, Komikon! More power… Thanks RTMoratin and Kixmachina for dropping by! x3

By the way, remember that incident about me sharing a trike with Michael David to the Komikon meeting? When I think about it, I really didn’t see him in the meeting, even though I saw him walk into the Bayanihan Center. I went to see him at Komikon, and dear gracious, I’m even more sure it was him that day! But how could that be when he didn’t attend the meeting?!

…I think I’m going to bed now. I hope I can sleep.

Home from the 7th Komikon

2011-11-19T22:36:00.001+08:00

Every single muscle in my body aches from having to carry books, tarpaulin, a custom magazine stand (made by my darling nephew), cloth, and many miscellaneous important items to and from the Komikon… but right now, I don’t even care if I wasn’t able to earn back the money I spent for making the indies…

I’ve never had so much fun in my life.

It was sheer joy that I got to meet my idols again. Elmer Damaso, Taga-ilog, Michael David (geh! I forgot to give him a copy of my indie!), Kajo, and even Enjelia Villanueva! Wah~! Thank you for putting up with my crazy fangirling! ;_;

I will write something better tomorrow when I finally get some sleep (I didn’t sleep the night before). For now, here is a wallpaper of the art that debuted in the indie today. :)

Thank you guys, for coming to visit me today! I hope you enjoyed the free mini card (which was supposed to be a sticker actually), and thank you for all the kind words! For now, I need to find and use some “phoenix down” before I collapse. ♥

How I Prepared the Pages for Independent Printing

2011-11-16T00:51:00.001+08:00

With any printer comes its own challenges. Mine? Well, it’s an HP1310 with a mind of its own. It decides to print pages off the center of the paper, either moving the content too high or too low, which means trouble for printing independent comics.

So how did I tackle this problem when I had 3 books to print?

I printed A4 sheets onto 8.5 x 13 inch paper and cut them down to A4 size. All 46+ of them. I don’t know if that’s what they call dedication or the beauty of a crazed mind.

And that, my friends, is a rusted, semi-sharp paper slicer from my gua kong. It may be old, but it helped me get through all of my and Renka-chan’s pages with near-flawless precision.

…that’s the second time gua kong has somehow helped me out of a bind, and I’ve never even met my mother’s father. Hmn…

There are many things I learned from making an independent manga, but the best rule that I can give to anyone is to not print the pages when you’re not sure about your page layout yet! >.>;;; You know me, I jump the gun whenever I get the chance to do it!

As a result? I had to cut up a few pages and paste them together. Literally. @_@;;;

But if you need to edit something and don’t have the printer ink to do it, then I suggest you only print what you need and use glue stick to put them together. It’s dry glue, so it won’t wrinkle your pages and is fairly easy to use… just makes sure your hands are clean when you starting gluing!

Ok, that’s it for my update! I just got off the phone with Pigtails creator, Jazmin Cruz. She reminded me to prepare a couple of things for my booth, and I asked her to bring some of her merchandise to sell in Komikon. We’ll see how everything goes this Saturday! :D

That Komikon Staff Meeting…

2011-11-15T00:30:00.002+08:00

So there I was, getting lost at the Boni MRT Station, trying to figure out how to get to the Bayanihan Center (without looking like an newbie), and time was running out! It was already 9:15 am, and we were asked to arrive at 9:00 am!

Thankfully, I figured out how to get to Robinsons Pioneer (no thanks to the guard, mind you) and rode a trike to the center. Manong was quite helpful in pointing out where I should go, and it turned out I was sharing the trike with 2 other Komikon participants… ~~one of which was Kubori Kikiam’s Michael David. @o@;;; I think he was carrying a package full of his books when we entered the room, but that’s just me speculating.~~

Well, never mind that awkward moment. When I entered the room? It was full of people! Oh dear gracious, I was worried about what happened in the 30 minutes that already passed from the start of the meeting but… it didn’t look as if it started at all!

I settled at the back of the room, near the door, and took a quick snapshot of the people inside. Somehow, they all looked like veterans, and I was the only greenhorn panting in the corner. ;o;

The organizer, Jon Zamar, gave out the indie IDs and the guy beside him with the red shirt (who also looks familiar, but I can’t put my finger on it) gave me the guidelines and map.

…and that was it. Seriously. orz;;; They basically told us we could go home after that.

It was… kinda overwhelming? I thought I was about to receive the greatest secret Komikon has kept for the past 6 conventions! Like where the secret ninjas are hiding while we set up the booth, or which Samurai class will be on duty that day, or which aswang we should watch out for!

But alas… All I got was an ID and map. The real meeting was for the sponsors and exhibitors only. ;_;

Oh well, I can tell you where to find me during the convention. I was placed near the stage, and I’ll be table-mates with Section Six Comics and Ernest Fiestan of Crazy Metro. W-why am I paired up with Komikon veterans?! @_@;;; There’s no way I can be on par with these guys! ;; S-sob…

And to top it off? I recently found out author of WIP Comics is a friend of Renka-chan’s. He’s going to be on table 13, very close to my table. I’m just doomed, aren’t I? xD;;;

And of course the bigger question: Should I wear a skirt or pants for this event? Hrm…

EDIT: ....omg, GAIS! I was pretty sure that was Michael David, but he just commented that he wasn't in the meeting! So that was either a doppelganger or a certified mumu! I told you Komikon has some secret underworld agents!!! xox;;; Ho noes...

The Indies are Ready for Komikon 2011!

2011-11-14T02:20:00.002+08:00

I was actually going to update about what I had to go through in preparing the original print outs for xeroxing, but this is much more exciting news~ ♥

I have in my possession, all 30 copies of Karma 2, Mote-Mote, and Renka-chan’s “Soul Dice”! They’re cut, stapled, and ready to be sold at Komikon this coming November 19!

Although I’m disappointed that I can’t splurge a little for colored covers, this will be a good “test run” for my first convention as a seller. >.<;;; Besides, black and white Mote-Mote turned out pretty well~

There’s a sneak peak into the Epilogue available in the independent manga. International readers don’t need to fret, because I will probably post these pages on site some day… not right away though, because I want to give the Komikon people their exclusivity. And speaking of exclusive, this Komikon version of Karma will replace all Japanese “Rei-nee”s and “Tori-nii”s with their Tagalog equivalent, “Ate Rei” and “Kuya Tori”!

Soul Dice's cover will not be in the catalogue given out at the Komikon, unfortunately, but with Lan looking so cute, I'm betting people will be fighting just to get this manga~ ♥ I’m now wondering if it was a good idea to just print 30 pieces of this book… but then again, I can only carry so much in my backpack. @_@;;;

This is one of my complaints about the xeroxing. >.>;;; What is with those blurred edges??? I thought the xerox machine would be able to cut it off cleanly, but apparently not! If I do sell these again, I will need to modify the original copies so that it will turn out better next time!

The other complaint? The sketches I added are not all clear! Some turned out alright, others didn't. ;_; S-sob... More modifications for next time, for sure!

Either way though, I got these exactly one week before Komikon starts. Not bad, considering I’m releasing 2 books and working on Mist. T-then again, Mist is late this week, so I’m wondering… if joining Komikon will cost me my job. >.>;;; Wah! I hope not! ;~;

Ok, I really need to sleep. I’ve had this flu all week long, and working so hard is really not healthy. @~@;;; Good night guys! See you at Komikon! *^_^*

Komikon 2011: Indie List of Participants

2011-11-11T00:03:00.002+08:00

Indie Tiangge 2011 by ~komikon on deviantART

7th Row, 1st Column.

It’s funny how the indies are dominated by male artists. :( I thought there was a lot of girl power in the industry… This will change some day, some how!

I’ll give you guys an update when I know where my table will be. :)

Komikon: Mote-Mote Sneak Peek!

2011-11-02T02:24:00.001+08:00

I've finally finished Mote-Mote! x3 All the pages have been printed out, but there’s a minor correction in the copyright page. x.x;;; I don’t understand why I always catch wrong spellings and grammar errors only after I’m printed the page out. It’s a wee bit frustrating. :/

Here's a sneak peek at the extras I'll be adding to the copy-bon~

That's a really old sketch, but I loved how it turned out~ I’ve been meaning to color this since forever, but there’s no way I can do it now. ;_; I’m way behind schedule for Mist’s pages and Karma’s page layouts! Not to mention that my hand is already dying…

I need to find a good place to xerox my copy-bon. Maybe I can test it in copytrade or something… National Bookstore is a good bet for quality copies, but it’s expensive. ;_; I want to bring down the prices for my books… low-budget and all that.

Ok, back to work now! …or maybe I’ll snack on that caramel pudding. I’m hungry… x~x;;;

It Started with Something Trivial…

2011-10-29T17:28:00.002+08:00

Last night, I was pulling an all-nighter for Mist while listening to ChiChi and GiGi's “Top 10 Definitions of Horror” Podcast. At around 4am, I remembered Chico saying something about being on air at 4am on a Saturday, so I decided to turn the radio on and post a tweet…

cokho7: anyone know the music chichi and gigi used for the @rxtmr's halloween horror special? would love to hear the entire thing! >.<;;;

Chico was the only one on air, but he read my message and said he would try to look for it. That was really exciting because he’s never read my messages or tweets before! He was telling people to send in their requests because… I guess it was too early! He sounded so sleepy!

cokho7: @chicogarcia please play patrick stumps' this city for my fellow artists who will participate in komikon indie tiangge. go pinoy komikeros!

Funny thing was, Chico forgot where he put my message! So he played it saying “Someone requested this- you know who you are!” and only read my tweet when the song ended. It was so cool~ And I hope a lot of Komikon artists heard it and share my sentiments about the Philippines. :3

The only thing was, Chico kept thinking I was a guy. Probably because he has an avid listener named “Coco” who is a boy?

In any case, Gino finally came on the air and I remembered… Gino is a gamer! He would probably be interested in anime too!

cokho7: 2 more panels to go! but i think i need to sleep now. good night twitter! thanks for the awesome music @rxtmr~ gigi! visit komikon please!

I didn’t think that was going to get read on the air, but it did! And in the exact words of Gino, “You tell me when it is right now!”

Apparently, Gino was deprived of going to cons when he was in the States and it was one thing that he regrets. Note that this was already around… 7 in the morning? And I’ve been up all night… but who can say no to GiGi and s/he’s this demanding?

cokho7: @ginoboi komikon is on nov19 at the bayanihan center, 10am-7pm. and please tell chichi i'm a girl, not a "he" ;~; @rxtmr

xD;;; I had to correct Chico by then, because he sounded really confused on how to address me! So does this mean we’re going to have a certified, hot DJ, who’s man enough to call himself a girl? (I swear, that statement only makes if you listen to The Morning Rush.)

…well, probably not. Someone in the booth said that November 19 was a Sunday, so Gino immediately said he couldn’t go. Otherwise, he knew where the Bayanihan Center was and even mentioned it was by Pioneer and that he was really close by.

But then that got me thinking… maybe if enough artists bugged him to go, he would! I for one, would love to meet him, and wouldn’t mind giving him a copy of my indie~ So rally up, fellow artists! You have the links to their tweets, so tweet away to Gino and encourage him to visit us at Komikon! We may not compare to the huge cons in the USA or Japan, but we love what we do, and we’re all awesome, friendly people ~~who only bite when asked~~! I’m kidding, I’m kidding~! xD;;;

It’s a silly dream of mine to see the DJs I love so much, but hey, as they say, dreaming is free of charge~ Thanks again to Chico for keeping me company during my all-nighter with some awesome music~ It got me through the night~ ♥

Test Printing: 1, 2, 3, and 4!

2011-10-16T22:36:00.001+08:00

With Komikon only a little more than a month away, I decided to try and print a few pages early just to see how I’ll go about screen toning the pages for the actual indie. I used Azorite’s panel from page 19 of the webcomic for my test:

…well, you can’t really see the differences with my camera phone, but the first two were bitmaps using different frequencies (70 and 90 at 300dpi); the third one was done using the halftone filter in photoshop; and the last is the regular gray tones I used for the webcomic version.

Strangely enough the halftone filter works best for this print size, and I’m surprised that the font was just the right size! All I need to do now is to arrange the pages and Karma: Chapter 2 should be ready for the xerox machines! xD

Funny thing though, just when I began printing these last night, my printer decided to die on me. I spent the entire night trying to fix it, and finally had to go to the repair shop this morning. I’ve slept a total of 3 hours in the last 48 hours and spent P600 on printer repair, but seeing this makes me really happy and excited! x3

~~…now I need to get my lazy self to work on Mist before my deadline kills me. x.x;;;~~

Mist: Virtuoso

2011-10-11T04:04:00.002+08:00

I keep forgetting to post this now that I have approval! Sorry about that, guys! I’ve been busy trying to prepare for Komikon on the 19th of November, as well as planning more pages for Mist! We’re on Page 2 now, so please visit us when you can!

This illustration made me experiment on making my own brush for the butterfly effect, and honestly? Wow… I should have tried to make my own brushes earlier! It would have saved me a lot of time and effort in detailing pages!

Oh well, I guess with time, we learn~ :3 Hope you guys like the illustration!

And by the way? The piano is based on the piano we have in our living room. It was a gift from my grandfather to my older siblings~ ♥ I wish I had met him… so here’s to you, gua kong! I hope you are in peace~ :3

Mist Launch and Virtuoso WIP

2011-10-05T22:57:00.003+08:00

Mist, the new webcomic I'm working on, has officially launched!

…a couple of days ago. What kind of artist am I? Missing my own launch… ~~You see? This is why people shouldn’t hire me. >.>;;;~~ I mean, no, please hire me..! Lawl… ;u;

I have a little something that I wanted to go with the first page, but thanks to the tropical storms we’ve been having lately, I only have time to work on… well, work! So here’s a sneak peek on the latest Mist illustration:

Yes, we’re actually going to have an official soundtrack to go with the comic! But no, sorry guys, I’m not going to be the one singing~ ~~because I'd scare people that way-!~~ That’ll be Emily’s job, and she has a beautiful voice, so please watch out for it!

Ok, I’m behind schedule on everything, so I’ll have to cut it short here~ :3 See you guys real soon!

Forever Alone

2011-09-23T23:13:00.003+08:00

I'm not sure if it's because of the weather, the stuff that’s been going on at home, my classmates getting married and having babies all at the same time… But…

It’s probably really because Dai, a dear friend of mine is going to write me a little fan fiction about Soubi and Kuromi. xD;;;

I’ve been meaning to experiment with this style for a long time! You know, how they leave the clothing in silhouette but detail the hair and skin? That, plus the use of other colors for shading. I’ve tried it before but I don’t think I ever came up with anything that came out this nicely. x3

Purple looks so good on Soubi. And it means mystery, right? Or spiritual, I don't know...

Of course, he’s lonely, so I had to add blue… because you feel blue when you’re lonely. xDDD Ahahaha, so corny, I’m so sorry!!!

Then again, maybe I’m just being emo about a lot of things, ahaha~ Either way, enjoy the fan art! These won’t last when I start working again.

By the way… I think there was an official illustration that was something like this..? I seem to recall an image that was somewhat like this, but it had… bandages? I really can’t remember! If anyone knows what I’m talking about, post it in the comments or something. :D

Mist Soft Launch

2011-09-22T02:05:00.004+08:00

Mist is Soft Launching Today!

You have no idea how nervous this makes me. *_* No. I. Dear.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I will go hide under my bed until it all blows over. *o*;;;

Oh yeah… the actually pages should be out by next month. Or something. IDK. Gonna hide now.

Komikon 2011

2011-09-20T17:32:00.001+08:00

It's pretty much official, so I guess I can make an announcement here. :3

I will be part of November 19th’s Independent Komiks Tiangge in Komikon! For now, I will be releasing 2 books, Mote-Mote and Karma: Ai (Karma Chapter 2)!

I know, I know, both are available to read for free online, but I will be adding some special extras for the indies.

For Mote-Mote, there will be several Onegai My Melody fan arts that I have never posted online. I will try to add a few more pages to the finished doujin, but this is more or less the basic idea of what to expect when you buy it as an indie.

For Karma, it may be renamed “Karma: Ai”. The reason I am doing this is because I want to turn Karma into a series of short stories for indies. Each will have it's own subtitle, but all of them will have “Karma” somewhere on it. :) And because this is my original work, I will be including an epilogue to what is available online. I’m not sure if I’m going to post the epilogue online anymore, but we’ll see!

There will also be material from the original chapter 2 drawings. I used A.illusions characters for this version, but in the original, there were 4 characters specifically created for Karma.

Needless to say, I’m very nervous about participating in Komikon. This will be my first Komikon as an indie seller, so… I’m kinda worried! What if no one buys my books? What if people get irritated that they could read it online anyway? What if I get lost on the way to the Bayanihan Center? What if I don’t finish these on time??? ;u;

Ah well… I will do my best! I hope to see you guys at the Komikon! >.<;;;

A.illusions in Wonderland: I Am Alice

2011-09-18T12:56:00.001+08:00

The colors of this illustration makes my eyes bleed. But somehow, I like how it turned out… much much better than my first attempt, although I’m still not fully satisfied.

I don’t know how Rann-sama can color with all the color of the rainbow without making the colors try to outdo/kill each other!

Ah well… I still have a lot to learn. :)

WIP: A.illusions in Wonderland

2011-09-14T01:00:00.002+08:00

Do you remember some time ago when Deviant Art held a “Picture Yourself in Wonderland” contest? I was going to join that, but I wasn’t able to finish my entry on time! I went overboard with my design that I didn’t expect I would need more than a few days for coloring (and my coloring skills were extremely inefficient at the time).

As a result, I left it in my external hard drive, unfinished. I have a tendency of doing this whenever I reformat my computer. –_-;;; It’s a terrible habit ~~of laziness~~, I know, but one I’m trying to change.

Well, I decided that maybe it was time I finished it. But you know what? I couldn’t make heads or tails over my layers and the colors burned my eyes so much that I. Just. Started over.

So far so good with this new color scheme. You can probably tell that’s Aly, but she is cosplaying the White Queen from Alice in Wonderland. I’m not using any particular version for the costume design, but I guess it’s more of Tim Burton’s? Or maybe Rann-sama’s X-Down? I don’t know, but I might use a checkerboard background like X-Down if I get lazy. xD;;;

Wonder if you can guess who is the one in blue in the teeny-tiny preview? >3;;; The main cast is pretty much there in this one illustration, so~ :D

100 Araw ng Komiks: Interview Meme/Q&A by Columbia Kho

2011-09-12T23:30:00.003+08:00

Hey, guys! We’re having an “Interview Meme” over at 100 Araw ng Komiks, so I thought I’d just share mine over here. :D Forgive the lengthy post~ but do read on if you’re interested! :3 I’ll translate the Tagalog questions into English for those who can’t understand Tagalog~

About Me: My name is Columbia Kho, an amateur manga artist dreaming of becoming a pro!

Tungkol saan yung unang komiks na ginawa mo?
* What is your first comics about?

Karma is about angels. The first story was an experimental, short-story I drew for a call for submissions on Culture Crash, a local comic/manga magazine. Alas, it was never published, but it was a good learning experience for me~

What is your favorite medium? Tools of the trade?

Watercolor and color pencils! I love drawing in a sort of “pastel” effect, but because of time constraints, I’ve had to color in Photoshop for most of my paid commissions. ^^;

Describe your drawing style in 3 words

Shoujo/Shounen Manga. x.x;;; I tried to change said-style for my thesis, but… I don’t know, drawing in Manga/Anime style always makes me very happy.

What/who is/are your motivation/s for starting your own komiks?

When I went to Sakura Con 2004 in Seattle, Washington, I met Fred Gallagher, the creator of Megatokyo. He took the time to look through my portfolio and stopped to look through all 8 pages of Karma. He asked me if I had a website, which I didn’t at the time, so he smiled and said, “When you decide to make one, let me know ok?”

Later in the same convention, I got to meet the Director of Fruits Basket, Daichi Akitaro! He also looked through my portfolio and said “I wish I could understand the dialogue!” Karma was only in Tagalog at the time, and I hardly spoke Japanese. ;x; But he told me to keep at it, because I had a good eye(?) The translator only winked at me when I asked what that meant. ;x;

So yes, they were the first two people that gave me the courage to write and draw my own manga. Although many people tell me that they probably only said that as a form of courtesy, I’d like to believe that I… have some kind of talent… somehow! >.<;;;

What made you come up with the idea of your title?

Since I have 3 Webcomics now, I’ll state them one by one:

Karma: I’d like to believe that there is a form of divine retribution from above. That’s why the collection of short stories deal with some sort of karma. I’m such a simpleton, no? xD

A.illusions: This one is based on something that happened to my first online community, Anime Illusions. I don’t really know why I didn’t just write the whole “Anime Illusions” for my title, but I guess I didn’t want it to be labeled “just another anime”. ^^;;;

Mote-Mote: Since this is a doujinshi (fan comic) of Onegai My Melody, I wanted a title that held some meaning to the original. Hiiragi Keiichi’s car in the anime had a plate number that said “Mote x2”, which translators noted meant “Ladies’ Man”. It was too perfect for words~ x3

Which do you prefer, writing the story or making the art?

Definitely the art. I don’t have enough confidence with my writing skills. This is why most of my stories are either co-written by another individual, or based on a true story.

What drove you into selling your komiks? Do you make merchandise of your komiks?

I haven’t sold any indies yet! Although I was hired to be the continuing artist of Mango Jam’s “Twilight’s Calling”. They have people who take care of selling stuff and making merchandise so~ xD

I do plan on attending Komikon one day? Maybe I’ll sell a few indie books and buttons. :D

What's your fave food/drink?

Hm… Toughest question so far! I’m not really picky with my food, though I can’t resist omelets. *A*;;; And Japanese food~ I’m easily bribeable with Japanese food~

As for drinks… I’m torn between Cappuccino and Milk Tea. :D I like them both!

What do you listen to when you work on your comics?

Depends on the mood? I like listening to Chico and Delamar’s Top 10 and recently found out I'm a huge fan of Chichi and Gigi! Podcasts only though, because I work at night, and sleep in the morning! :(

Other times (especially when I’m all caught up with C&D’s podcasts), R&B music, Jpop, Kpop, Cpop, and a lot of violin music. :3

Original Character closest to your heart (or personality)?

That’s also hard! I love my characters a lot!

Hm… I guess I’d have to choose Dominic Hunter as the one who’s closest to my heart, but the closest to my personality is Rei Kuassary.

Dominic was one of the first original characters I ever made. I had a vision of a “cool-type” with glasses who is very irritable. xD;;; He’s the type of character I like to poke fun with, and he can’t do anything because I made him! Bwahaha~!

Rei is technically a personification of my online persona, but the two of us are very different in many ways (Just like how most people are when they’re online, right?)

Kung gagawing pelikula ang komiks mo, sinong gusto mong gumanap na artista? (Local ha) :P
* If your comics were to be made into a movie, which actor/actress would you like to cast? (Local only!) :P

Hm… Maybe Kim Chiu would make a perfect Rei Kuassary or Aly? Aly most likely.

I think Rei is more like… Kitchie Nadal. :D Why I chose a singer instead of an actress is anyone’s guess though~ ;p

What do you feel about fan fics when it comes to your comics?

Hahaha..! *nervous nervous laughter*

I have received a few fan fics… One was shounen-ai (boy’s love)! I’m ok with it, and was quite amused reading it, but some of my characters are based on real people! I don’t know who they’d feel about that when they read it! xD

Sinong character mo ang gusto mong may mag-cosplay?
* Which character would you like to see someone cosplay as?

Khyle and Eri-hime! I figured since most cosplayers are female, I might as well choose the bishounen-est one among my male original characters~ xD

But really? To see anyone cosplay any of my original characters would be a dream come true. ;_; I think this is the same for many manga artists…

Anong theme song ng komiks mo? Bigyan mo ng title
* What is your comics’ theme song? Give it a title…

Let me see if I can give some convincing lyrics too!

A.illusions: 2nd Chances

Since when have people forgotten how to talk to one another?
Are we really so different? Or similar; like every other?

(This in ballad or a pop song would be nice… it’s a light-hearted series, with a bit of meat in it after all. xD)

Karma: Mirror

Say the words that hurt me
Crush my heart in your hands.
But forget not what you see in the mirror
“Who really misunderstands?”

(This one should be rock/techno. With that last line being sung in a creepy voice, like a sort of warning. :D)

What is your take on the local comic industry?

It’s… difficult? For one thing, not a lot of people are buying comics in general now-a-days, and it’s not just the local industry. And for another thing, wow, so many talented artists are getting into this now that it’s very tough to break into it! >.<;;;

If you'd be given a chance to work with at one of the big comics companies (eg. Marvel, DC, Darkhorse, Jump),which one? And, if ever, who among your (just one) OC would like to be seen with the big guys company?

Jump. Definitely Jump. And probably Rei Kuassary in her Karma debut. :D That would be supper cool!

Message to the readers?

I’m sorry A.illusions is taking such a long hiatus. ;u; It’s mostly trouble with the script, but I think I’ve figured it out now! I hope Karma and Mote-Mote have kept you entertained though!

Message sa mga nagdadalawang isip bumili ng komiks?
* Message for people who are thinking twice about buying comics?

If you guys like the story/artwork, please support the artists! They are probably some of the most hard-working people I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting, and yet most of them don’t really get any money in return thanks to the internet! So please support us! No more piracy, please! ;u;

Plugging time! (Promote your comic title/s and whatnots)

Feel free to read any of these online! They’re all free!

As for Twilight’s Calling though, I’m not sure if they’re still available in stores, but please ask about us in your nearest bookstore!

Batian Portion (greeting space)

Hi, Sir Memer, Sir Ilog, and Sir James too! Thanks for taking the time to teach me a lot of tips during my thesis! I’m sure you guys probably got bothered a lot back in those days, and I’m so sorry about that! Thanks for continuing Cat’s Trail and Pasig!

Renka-chan! Hope you will keep up with Soul Dice! It’s looking really good so far! Hope we can sell our indies together one day!

Lei, Aly, Tori, and Khyle… thanks for all the support! I really don’t have good time keeping skills, but thanks for cheering me on all these years! ;u;

Mote-Mote: Page 16

2011-09-11T03:37:00.001+08:00

I'm sorry, but I am giggling incessantly over my own cheesiness. ~~Technically, this is also Mallory’s cheesiness, but what the hey-~~

This is such a typical, shoujo manga storyline. I’m kind of glad I got to draw this scene, because Hiiragi blushing? That never happened in the anime did it? xD

Not counting that new year’s(?) episode though… the one with Hiiragi in a kimono and ponytailed hair? I’m pretty sure he sorta blushed then, but I can’t remember now. I should have downloaded the entire series! ;u;

Anyway, I just finished Karma: Chapter 2 and now I’m wrapping up Mote-Mote too. I hope this drive continues so I can get on with A.illusions already!

…I really need to practice drawing kisses. This looks so awkward somehow. ;u;

Back to sleep for me! Hope you guys enjoyed this page! ^^

Twilight’s Calling: Cammy Gomez

2011-09-09T04:33:00.001+08:00

I just realized the configurations of my screen was terribly... terribly wrong.

Lately, I’ve been practicing drawing directly on the computer to see if that would speed things up. I didn’t think that screen resolutions would be a problem, and ever since I got a 17-inch monitor, I would always use 1280x1024.

What I didn’t realize was that all those circles I’ve been drawing were ovals all along. So basically, my digital drawing were quite… long. But this new illustration of Cammy Gomez from Twilight’s Calling was drawn in a newly adjust screen, so hopefully, the proportions look better!

…what? I wanted to draw something nice, fluffy, and… pink. Someone in Deviant Art was asking for more Twilight’s Calling art, especially of Cammy showing off her new-do~ :> How can I resist?

Also, Windows 7… why are there still several programs that don’t work properly on you? I finally gave up on it and went back to XP Home. It’s notably slower than Win7 because a 32-bit only recognizes a maximum of 3gigs of RAM. I have 4gigs, so 1gig will be sitting around in my CPU doing nothing for now. ;_; I guess I should give Win7 a few more months before I try it again so that other programs can catch up!

R.I.P. my bluw wacom pen, which is barely working now. Guess I need to buy a replacement soon. ;o; Why are my techie things dying? ;_;

Gift: Rei Kuassary by Evangeline Louise

2011-09-07T02:13:00.001+08:00

D’aww… I got a new fanart! Rei’s wearing a skirt, haha! xD;;; She’s the only female member in A.illusions who wears pants instead of skirts, so this really made me smile. The outfit is totally cute too! *u*;;;

Thanks again Evangeline! I will need to print this out when I get printer working again. ;u;~ ♥

And I really like the background style. :D I should try it out some time~~

Mote-Mote: Page 15

2011-09-03T15:57:00.001+08:00

After ~~abandoning~~ putting this manga on extending hiatus, a new page! And it looks… extremely underwhelming, IDK. ;o;

You could say I had art-block on this for… forever! I had started on this page last February and only managed to add the finish touches today.

I’m not really sure why… but I guess I wanted someone to feel better. I recently found out someone I know was going through a really tough time, and I guess this is my way of hoping they will be alright.

This wasn’t on the original script, but I wanted it to be somewhat more dramatic. That 3rd panel on the middle though… reminds me of Severus Snape. *A*;;; I’m a Harry Potter fan, and I read all 7 books, so I guess maybe that line was subconsciously stuck in my brain?

Anyway, hope you guys like it! :)

Karma: Chapter 2 is Now on Smack Jeeves!

2011-08-29T02:09:00.003+08:00

I know, I know, there’s nothing new with this comic, but apparently, Renka-chan is having a hard time viewing the comic from the Great Firewall of China! *A*;;;

The thing was, “Karma” is fairly common for a title of a webcomic! There were a few already on Smack Jeeves, and so, with the dilemma of the Great Firewall, I decided to use the Chinese translation of Karma: 因果報應 / Yinguo Baoying or “Yin Guo” for short!

So yes, I am the one who is cross-posting Karma on SJ! If you’re also having trouble with the comment system here on my site, feel free to share your thoughts on SJ! Pages will probably be added once or twice a day~

Now to get ack to finishing some pages for Mist so I can work on Mote-Mote and Palisay at Sumbling! *A*;;;

Danaan-Chan’s Cosplay Giveaway!

2011-08-20T00:15:00.001+08:00

Just wanted to post this here too because… I really do think Danaan-chan looks so cute in the maid outift. *u*;;; It turned out better than I expected since I only had one night to finish this.

And I also have only a few minutes of break time to post this. I am way behind schedule on my secret missions~

If you want a chance in winning the outfit Danaan-chan is wearing, Please visit Cosplay Holic for details. >3<;;;

Shorty After Posting Tori Kaito…

2011-08-05T22:45:00.001+08:00

It looks like my monitor melted from all that hotness… xD;;;

Seriously though… it looks like Ghost Month is affecting me terribly this year. Of all the time for my monitor to break down. :/ This is gonna set me back on a lot of work.

Tori Kaito

2011-08-05T05:17:00.001+08:00

When I was inking this, my sister said that she found this to be very offensive because he is a guy character. However, I asked my friend whom this character is based on and he was ok with it.

It’s only cosplay after all… but I feel very guilty about even drawing this.

I think my art block just got worse. Maybe I should work on manga pages instead.

Khyle Gakupo

2011-08-04T03:06:00.003+08:00

I am so swamped with work that I am beginning to have art block again.

So I decided to take a little break. Lately, I’ve been really addicted to Gackt’s “Episode 0” single album. I can’t believe he sang Paranoid Doll! I have it on loop while I’m drawing~ *u*;;; Makes me so happy! ♥

I think I will make a series of “Vocaloid Cosplays” for my characters. x3;;; I just hope people aren’t disappointed this isn’t really Gakupo. ^^;;;

Karma: Chapter 2: The End

2011-08-02T04:03:00.001+08:00

“The End? That’s it? This is it?!”

I found myself asking that question over and over again, but wow… finally finished this chapter! So now I can tell you a little bit more about it.

Like most of the stories I write, Chapter 2 is also based on a true story.

When I was on my final year of college, near graduation, I found out that one of my professors was murdered. Like Aly, I couldn’t remember him at first, but the more my classmates talked about him, the more I remembered him.

I never found out how he really died, and I never attended his funeral… but I did remember his lectures; how he always smiled no matter how difficult to handle any class was. He was just a happy person, and it was always a joy to be in his class.

Yeah… I drew Chapter 2 in remembrance of him. :) And I know he’s in a much better place.

That aside, this isn’t really the end~ There’s a prologue that I’m still working on, but I won’t be posting that on site any time soon. I’m planning to make this into an independent comic, so I’ll be adding those pages there. :D

What? You don’t believe me? Then what in the world could this W.I.P be? :p

Hope you guys enjoyed Chapter 2! And now I can take my well-deserved break to work on other titles. :D See you all again real soon! o(^o^)o

Karma: Chapter 2: Page 26

2011-07-26T21:11:00.002+08:00

Hello everyone! >.<;;; Long time no see! So much happened this week that I wasn’t able to update the site much! I have a few more FAQs I want to post for 100 ARAW ng KOMIKS, but I thought I should focus on getting the page out first!

I practically died last weekend because I was art-blocking over the setting for Mist. TAT;;; It looks like I’ve finally stumbled a little on my dream job, because my initial ideas for the City is completely different from Nilo’s. So I have to re-think everything and it’s making my head hurt! ;_; Not to worry though, Now that everything’s smoothened out, I can work on additional architectures and the final pieces of artworks without a hitch!

Anyway, regarding the page… I had to redraw Rei on the first panel several times. x.x;;; I couldn’t get her expression right! But I think this is the closest thing I can come to what I want, so I decided to tone this quickly so that I can finally post an update!

Although the dialogue gave me a lot of trouble too… I’m afraid that this page has too much text in it! ;~; Although there’s space for all of it, I’m not sure if this will explain everything that I have in my script!

Guess I’ll have to work on the next page to find out. Please do leave comments and let me know what you think! :3~

Karma: Chapter 2: Page 25

2011-07-18T00:55:00.001+08:00

My head hurts. @_@;;;

Like many of you out there, I went to catch the final Harry Potter movie today. The film made me smile, laugh, and cry. I am so grateful for the author of the books and the actors and the directors of the films… Thank you for bringing magic back into the world~

But I digress, the movie did throw me off schedule, but so did fixing my scanner (which works now, thanks to my nephew!) along with several other things all together at once! So, even if I already redrew the second panel, I think I am not completely satisfied with it still!

Then again, I am already a day behind, so I wanted to post this page anyway! Chapter 2 is almost ending now, and if you are wondering what Chapter 1 has anything to do with Chapter 2?

Aside from angels… Not a thing. :D Sort of… Maybe…

I will explain when I am a bit more awake. I need to sleep now before my head decides to explode at the wrong moment. *_*;;;

…why did my little devil turn out to be the one in white while my angels are in black anyway? This must be remedied… somehow! >:[

100 ARAW ng KOMIKS: Karma says “NO” to smoking(?)

2011-07-14T03:18:00.001+08:00

Did you know/notice?

The very first sketch I made of Karma’s characters had Dominic smoking a cigarette. I’m not exactly sure why I did that, but it could be because my dad smokes?

However, This aspect was later removed because I felt guilty about telling the kids that angels smoke. x.x;;;

There is further evidence of Dominic’s “habbit” in the last page of Chapter 1 (page 9 in the manga section), where Dominic is apologizes to Reign about being late ~~and later complains about having to take his client home!~~ He wasn’t adjusting his glasses in that panel, he’s actually holding an invisible cigarette to his lips! xD;;;

On another note, I need to stop writing these at 3 in the morning. *u*;;;

100 ARAW ng KOMIKS: Karma’s Chapter 1 Characters

2011-07-13T03:51:00.003+08:00

Did You Know?

Fact 1: Karma’s characters are not original to the series. In fact, they are a form of doujinshi or “fan comic” of my own work. Just as Chapter 2 is a doujin of A.illusions, so is Chapter 1 a doujin of my first novel, “Guardians of Celestia”, which was supposed to be my first manga. It was later renamed “Vanguards of Heaven” for my college thesis, but never made it past the first installment.

Fact 2: Cecila Marx’s personality and appearance are based on a real person that I had unfortunately encountered. Her hairstyle was tweaked so that I wouldn’t get in trouble if she ever found this comic! xD;;; Her name was changed dramatically for the same reasons.

Fact 3: Cecilia is the only character who has not appeared in the first installment of Guardians of Celestia. However, she was set to appear as the college dean in the second installment; a fact that could change if Guardians of Celestia rises from the ashes.

Fact 4: Julian Angeles, Dominic Hunter, and Reign Shuei’s real names are James Lee, Sean Allen Kreuz, and Sean Vincent Kreuz respectively. Their appearances remain the same in Guardians of Celestia, with the exception of Dominic who has a long braid as Sean Allen.

Fact 5: Dominic and Reign are brethrens (brothers not related by blood) in Karma. However, Sean Allen and Sean Vincent are identical twins of the Kreuz Family.

Fact 6: Sean Vincent Kreuz’s personality makes a complete turnabout as Reign Shuei. He is kinder, happier, and more approachable as Sean Vincent, whereas he is cold and distant as Reign.

Fact 7: Dominic’s representation of Fire and Reign’s representation of Water have the same significance as Sean Allen and Sean Vincent in the original series.

Fact 8: Christine Angeles is loosely based on the younger version of Claire Angela Lee, another character from Guardians of Celestia. One of the main differences are their eyes; Christine’s are green while Claire’s are brown. Christine’s bangs are also parted in the middle, while Claire has full bangs.

Fact 9: Christine and Julian are siblings in Karma, which is the pretty much the same with Claire and James in Guardians of Celestia.

Fact 10: The events in Karma Chapter 1 holds certain secrets to the first installment of Guardians of Celestia.

Mist: Interlude

2011-07-09T13:57:00.002+08:00

I could tell you why I drew this and what exactly is happening in this scene…

But, some things are better when left in the eyes of the beholder.

What do you think is going on? *^_^*

Karma: Chapter 2: Page 24

2011-07-08T02:47:00.001+08:00

Nothing like a contest for free passes to Comic Con to make me finish a page early and in time for said competition’s deadline. @_@;;;

I know it’s a long shot, and they’re probably up to their knees with submissions coming in left and right, but hey, a chance is a chance! ;_; A-and, I’ve heard a lot of good things about Comic Con, so I want to see for myself!

In any case, if Rei’s no mere angel, what would she be? *_*;;; The answer seems so cliché and obvious that I think I will leave it at that!

Ah… I’m so busy with Mist now, I don’t know if I will make next week’s update or not. But I will still do my best! I want to meet all of my deadlines and I know it’s possible with a little concentration and a little luck!

I should… try to get more sleep though. My head feels so woozy from all the art I have been doing lately. Perhaps it’s time to take a little break and catch up on a few series.

On one final note, the mantra Rei uses is based on the King James version of Matthew 6: 9-13. You can flip through the pages in the manga section in case you want to check her entire passage~ ^_^

Mist Preview?

2011-07-07T14:16:00.001+08:00

Not quite! This was supposed to be a sketch of how magic works in Mist… B-but somehow, it ended up like this. ;x; It’s like I can’t post work that isn’t properly inked anymore.

In a way, I guess it is a manga preview, since this is how I will be “toning” my pages.

So much work to do for this series… *yawn~* Time to get some sleep.

Prey and Predator

2011-07-07T00:51:00.001+08:00

Just thought I should add this in my gallery now that they're been approved by the boss~ Because he is a stagwolf, I thought I should draw my inner artist in the form of a bunny.

Ok, that’s a lie. I actually asked around to see what animal people associate me with. I was hoping for something cool like… I dunno, a tiger or lioness?

However, most seem to think I am just as scary as a bunny rabbit. ;_; Why why why… Now my boss will eat me. ;o; And look! I am shorter than he is too! T-this is very bad. ;~; I don’t want to be eaten!

100 ARAW ng KOMIKS: The Beginnings of “Karma”

2011-07-05T21:50:00.003+08:00

As part of the ongoing 100 Araw ng Komiks (100 Days of Comics) campaign to promote Philippine Comics, I would like to talk about my very first attempt with manga, “Karma”.

Karma was a story that came from a horrible experience. During my third year in Fine Arts, our professor was angry with another class, and decided that she would fail our class’ final grades. I was striving for the honor role, and getting the lowest passing mark from her class would have landed me a Cum Laude at least, but alas, her mind was made up, and with it my dreams of ever being in the honor role.

That summer, still angry with what had occurred, I picked up the latest issue of Culture Crash, which was calling for entries for one-shot comics, 8 pages long. My initial thought was “that’s impossible! How can a story start and end in 8 pages?” But I decided I needed to take my mind off of my professor and my school work, and this was the best way to focus on my real dreams: to become a comic book artist.

This was in 2003, and I didn’t own a computer then, but that didn’t stop me from trying! And so, Karma was created; drawn in oslo paper, inked with UniPins, lettered in the same way, and colored with watercolors. I was warned that watercolors are one of the hardest media to master, but the soft shades were all I needed to create the effect I wanted.

Sadly, ~~perhaps thanks to my constant pestering in the CCCom Office,~~ Karma was never chosen to be part of the historic comic-magazine. However, in 2008, I decided that hey, this is my first work, and I am still proud of it, so I might as well post it online.

I translated the original Tagalog script to English to cater to the international audience. Although the current version’s computerized lettering looks… terrifying… it is still a learning experience! And now that Chapter 2 is currently being worked on, I plan on re-drawing Chapter 1 and expanding it so that the story makes a little more sense!

That’s it for now! Come back tomorrow and I will tell you more about the characters and some random trivia about the series!

bunny-hiko

2011-07-05T03:40:00.001+08:00

bunny-hiko by *kurohiko on deviant ART

As part of my duties in Mist, I had to come up with a chibi me for the “About” section in the site. I’ve also drawn Nilo already, but I will save that for another post. :)

In other news, I can’t seem to upload my drawing process on Colors! I need to figure out why before I add Claude in the gallery. ^^;

I need so much sleep and time and coffee…

Karma: Chapter 2: Page 23

2011-07-03T00:00:00.002+08:00

You'd think that after all these years of tinkering in blogger I'd be some sort of expert by now… Yet again, I am late to the party!

You can now view 黑火子 ~Kurohiko with your mobile devices ~~without crashing them due to lack of memory~~! However, the layout is not as impressive, and I realized that the plug-in I have for my galleries does not work on mobile, so you really do have to click each link to see each page! Grr… >x<;;;;

If I had known this earlier, then I wouldn’t have revamped the site! It’s easier to see post per post rather than link per link. ;_; All the work I put into this website will go down the drain is mobile browsing takes over! *cries*

Ramblings aside (or not?), my sister told me that she doesn’t understand how the action sequence took place. This is not my strong point, which is why I wanted to practice and try stuff out. I hope no one was too disappointed with what I came up with. ;_;

Now to work on Mist and the rest of the pages as well as some goodies. I am going to need more coffee…

Karma: Chapter 2: Page 22

2011-06-27T15:42:00.003+08:00

Finally back online! ...but I missed Sunday's update, uhuhu! ;~;

You'd think getting a new computer would be easy, but it appears once you upgrade one thing, you'll need to upgrade everything! ;_;

Ichigo/Kaien, my desktop, is now gone. I can't even use his old hard drive anymore because it's causing errors for my new system. The only thing I can use now is his casing and DVD.

Ah well, I suppose those are the breaks. ;_; I had to switch to my pink Wacom tablet again because the blue one has a serial port... and Wacom no longer supports serial port drivers for Windows 7. -_-;;; I might try using a serial to USB converter to see if that works, but meh- corporate sharks! *shakes angry fist at*

Back to the comic! This is my most favorite page so far! I had to redraw the first and last panels to get it to look the way I wanted it to, but it was worth the time and trouble!

If you haven't noticed yet, Rei is reciting the Lord's Prayer, found in Matthew 6:9-13. I wonder if adding something biblical makes people cringe and hate this comic?

Ah well, like I said, those are the breaks. Hope there are people who are enjoying this anyway! ^_^ Look forward to the next update soon!

Another Webcomic?

2011-06-21T18:37:00.002+08:00

One would think, now that I’m working on finishing Karma, Mote-Mote, A.illusions, and Mist that I’d stop taking commissions. I mean, any sane person would do that right?

Someone call the looney bin, because I’m also working on “Puerto de Vigilante” (working title) because of patriotism and loyalty to my country.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to order about 2 trucks of coffee.

Karma: Chapter 2: Page 21

2011-06-18T13:23:00.002+08:00

...”ktnng”?

After all those manga pages I’ve done, you’d think I can come up with a more interesting sound effect than “ktnng”!

Why do I feel the anatomy’s so awkward in this page? ;_; Another one of those pages I need to redraw for the print version I guess!

In any case, early update, because tomorrow, I might be getting my PC upgraded. I wish I could just repair him, but my nephew and officemate suspects hardware failure – the motherboard kind. Ichigo/Kaien is already 7 years old, so I guess it’s to be expected. :(

I’m not sure about the whole upgrading thing though. I still have Sumomo, my laptop, but her screen is tiny.

I guess I need to figure it out what I want to do… somehow. In case I miss next week’s update, forgiveness please. Computer troubles can be such a hassle for someone who doesn’t understand computers very well like me. ;x;

Time to backup all my files… a year’s worth. *pats Kaien* ;_;

Thoughts

2011-06-15T21:43:00.001+08:00

With my current struggles in drawing the world of Mist, I’ve been staring at my monitor, frowning at my lack of architectural vocabulary. Dx

And so, because I couldn’t take it anymore, I decided to doodle Simon instead~ x3

The more I draw him, the more he reminds me of a classmate of mine in college. Although their personalities (from what I can tell) are the exact opposites of one another~ Hehe~ ♥

…yes, that is how I look at my blank canvases at the moment. Only a few more pieces and we can get this ball rollin’! You’d think I’d have a little more motivation than this. ;~;

Then again, this would make a cute postcard, wouldn’t it? :3~

Alright, enough babbling, time to get back to work before Nilo decides to unleash a fire-breathing dragon in my direction. Believe me when I tell you, he can do it. No matter how much he denies it, I know he has it hidden somewhere. <_<;;; >_>;;;

Karma: Chapter 2: Page 20

2011-06-12T01:19:00.002+08:00

A Public Service Announcement ~~of sorts~~:

If you guys ever wanted to ask me anything about my art, you can do that through my tumblr account. :) You can even ask me anonymously, but I probably wouldn’t answer anything too personal though. ^^;;;

Ah, this page… The first and last panels were a pain that I wanted to re-draw them all together. Eventually, I had to settle for re-drawing the last panel just so that I can make it for this week’s deadline.

I’m pretty sure a lot of people will be running away from this manga now that I’ve added Biblical references though. How could you not, considering this is a sort of… Angels and Demons kind of thing?

Oh, and the last panel’s effects are again a courtesy of Falln-Stock’s wonderful smoke brushes-- mercilessly reformed by yours truly. xD

Hope you guys like the manga so far~! For now, I think I shall head to bed. :3

Karma: Chapter 2: Page 19

2011-06-05T03:07:00.002+08:00

I feel so tired. ;_;

I’ve been doing conceptual arts all week… and now I feel like my creative juices have been drained dry.

The good news is, I’m getting a lot of good practice with drawing animals. Both comics I’m being commissioned to work on have a fair amount of animals in them, so I’m burying my nose in anatomy books whenever I have free time!

Ah, I wish I had more free time. ;_; Things are getting tough at home, but I want to be the one to draw positive energy in instead of being a carrier of negatives! (Does that make sense?) Call me an eternal optimist, but even though I am always tired, I want to do my best everyday so that I don’t waste a second of precious time working on my art!

Now that I’ve bored everyone with all that writing, I will reward you with a new page! So many text in this one too, I hope no one gets dizzy reading it all!

Is it bad that I am creeped out by the way I drew the last panel on the lower right? *shudder~*

More Mist Characters~

2011-06-03T16:51:00.002+08:00

...well, aren't they an interesting looking bunch? xD;;;

I think the two characters on the left are my favorites so far? For one thing, I really like glasses, so Count East is a definite favorite. Drawing Countess North reminds me of drawing Yuuko from xxxHolic, who is also a favorite character of mine.

People probably think I’m on a roll considering how active the site’s been lately, but… that couldn’t be further from the truth! I’m way behind schedule with the 2 webcomics, not to mention I need to finish an update for this week!

I need an assistant… Like how Hanabi-san asked Soubi to help her with her doujin. ~~If only Soubi was real…~~

Karma: Chapter 2: Page 18

2011-05-29T02:39:00.002+08:00

I think I should have drawn Aly with an ahoge. In the first panel, I didn’t really plan on giving her that curly strand of hair, but I felt that it was lacking somehow and adding that made it work. :3

I’m hoping the word bubbles look ok with this page. I’ve moved it around twice already and I think I should post this now so I can stop fidgeting about it.

For the record, this is a few hours late because my brother asked me to accompany him to do some work. I didn’t expect it was that much work, or else I would have brought my laptop with me! ;x;

Anyway, I hope you guys like the page! This is probably one of those pages I want to redo when I publish this, but for now, this will have to do~ ♥

25k Kiriban: Ryo

2011-05-26T01:55:00.002+08:00

Finally finished this W.I.P. from a month ago! D: ~~Can you imagine how lazy I am yet? xD;;;~~

I’m in so much art block at such wrong timing, with storms coming this way too! I need to finish some concept art, character sketches, and more manga pages by the end of this week, and honestly, I am beat! So I thought that I might as well finish a few pending pieces.

Ryo belongs to =Eclipse113. Butterfly stock belongs to *Shoofly-Stock~!

Blizz’s Prints

2011-05-23T00:01:00.000+08:00

Look what finally decided to show up in the mail~

They're prettier ~~and smaller~~ than I expected, haha! But I really love *blizztheevilone’s work and I wanted to donate to Japan’s relief efforts… I can count myself lucky that was able to do both at the same time, I suppose!

There was also a little note that came with it, but my camera refuses to take a clear photo since it’s tiny. ^^; I guess I will keep that for myself! ♥

Thanks again Blizz! Now if only I can decide how to hang them in my room…

Karma: Chapter 2: Page 17

2011-05-22T01:48:00.002+08:00

Well now~ If memory serves, the world should be ending some time on the 21st this month. Sadly, it’s already the 22nd in my side of the world, so I guess life still goes on. :3 ~~Much to the delight of our dear “professor” so it seems. xD~~

There was something strange that occurred, however, and that was the fact that we blew a fuse at exactly midnight. It was a rather rude awakening for my brother, but I shan’t get into that nonsense. After all, you are all probably here for the update, and not to read about my incessant babbling.

If I sound rather different in this blog post, that would be due to the fact that I watch Sherlock Holmes on HBO this evening, thus delaying my scheduled update. ;3 Wonderful film, really, if only the blown up fuse didn’t ruin the middle part for me.

Ah, and the effects on the last panel showing the professor magically appearing is courtesy of the smoke brushes created by the wonderful Falln-Stock. Have a gander at her gallery, won’t you, s'il vous plaît? *^_~*

Mist: Character Sketches

2011-05-18T13:02:00.001+08:00

In case I miss this week's webcomic update, you can blame these people right here:

It's *almost* official, guys! I'll be working on a new webcomic series called "Mist"! This is what we've been working on so far... there are a ton of characters and I'm loving each and every one of them!

Talk about look-a-likes though... Rimmy looks like Azorite, even if his hair is parted on the side. His hair color is different too, but ah well. *_*;;; Relena, I did not expect to turn out looking like Hermione. o_o;;; But she’s too adorable with brown hair, so I’ll give her purple eyes and leave it at that. *_*;;;

Alright, back to work for this wannabe mangaka. :D Wish me luck!

Karma: Chapter 2: Page 16

2011-05-15T00:07:00.002+08:00

ANNOUNCEMENT: Because Notify List has not been working lately, I will stop updating through email! I have a new email listing which you can join below!

For those who have been listed on Notify List, I will be adding your emails to the new service. If you no longer want to follow me by email, you can ignore that message on your inbox, thank you! o(^o^)o

This has been such a busy week. I'm so tired I want to crawl to bed and sleep as much as I can before I need to wake up and face the next day again. ;_;

I actually wanted to draw tiny chibis for the jumble of text on the last panel… but alas, there is no more time left for me to add anything more to this page. I think when I print this for a local convention, I will add a few more details to this page. For now though? This will have to do~ :3 And hey, it’s better than no update, right?

Speaking of which! Blogger has been having hiccups lately, has anyone else had that problem? I wanted to show you guys the character designs for Mist, but I guess I can refine them a bit while I wait and see how the bugs are doing~ xD;;;

So what do you guys think? Ghost, or no ghost? >:3

Karma: Chapter 2: Page 15

2011-05-08T01:28:00.002+08:00

Ah~ I finally got to this page! x3~

You guys probably remember that chibi illustration of Tori on the lower left corner of the page~ I posted a photo of the finished inks back in November~ :D

It still bugs me that I wasn’t able to print this for Komikon. :/ I mean, I had everything planned out, but in the end, I had to back out because I bit off more than I could chew. ;x;

Speaking of biting, though~ :D It would appear that I will be working on that other webcomic~! x3 The series is currently called “Mist” and I’m still talking to the writer about it, but so far, I’m really liking what I got myself into!

Which brings me to the sad part of having to let go of another project. :( I wanted to see if I could concentrate on two webcomics at the same time, but with 2 different clients with very different stories… I might end up making the characters all look the same! ;_;

Oh, and by the way? An old officemate of mine is also asking me to help him out with a one-shot. <_< >_>;;; I thought I was pretty obscure when it came to this line of work, why the sudden splurge of opportunities? ;_; *sob sob* I want to keep them all! But that wouldn’t be fair, would it?

Guess I need to talk the talk tomorrow. ;_; It makes me so sad, but I have to…

Character Designs (for a New Series?)

2011-05-06T04:35:00.003+08:00

Would you believe me if I told you I’m trying out for a job as a webcomic artist when I have my own series to finish? Three, actually?

Well, this will be a paying job, and I’m pretty sure we could all use the extra income, yes? xD

I got the "go ahead" to post the initial designs here and on Deviant Art. So far, Simon looks very asian for his name. He actually reminds me of Kenshin when I drew his profile, but I’m pretty sure his ponytail is shorter than the well-known character.

Ah, creativity, where have you gone?

Relena is a lot of fun to draw, especially with all that wavy hair! I thought it would be more trouble that it’s worth, but it’s actually a lot easier than straight hair! I should keep this in mind the next time I design characters.

Oh, and Notify List has been giving me a lot of trouble as of late. If you would like to follow this blog by email, there is a new option found on the right. ^^; Sorry for all the trouble!

Karma: Chapter 2: Page 14

2011-05-01T13:13:00.002+08:00

Looks like I'm on a roll again! And hopefully I can keep this up, because I really love drawing manga, but I never had enough time and concentration to sit down and work on them like I used to!

You can probably tell that I like drawing different kinds of shoes by now. ^_^ Aly’s and Rei’s shoes are something I’ve always wanted, but it’s either they’re non-existent, or too expensive for a starving artist like me to get. x_x;;; Maybe someday~ xD

Also! I’ve recently got myself a Tumblr account. :3 If you guys would like to follow me there too for convenience-sake, then please feel free to do so!

Hm… Now that I think about it, I think Azorite needs a new hairstyle. It looks too similar to Tori’s. *_* Then again, he looks much gentler than Tori does and he has glasses anyway.

Hope you guys are liking the manga so far! :D Please do leave me comments if you see something I need to improve on, or would just like to say hi~ x3

Karma: Chapter 2: Page 13

2011-04-24T15:10:00.003+08:00

Because I spent the day at the beach yesterday, and I'm running late for Easter Sunday church today, I shall leave you folks without a "sneak peak" thumbnail and just write this post with a smaller version of Page 13.

Click the image to see the larger version~!

This is probably the only time you will ever see Rei wearing a skirt while staying in character. xD;;; I had to compromise by giving her tights, because it just seemed so… wrong.

Oh, and are the text hard to read? Please feel free to let me know so I can adjust them! And for those who were looking for the chat box, I had to remove it because of the spam I’ve been getting on a daily basis. –_-;;; It’s just too much of a hassle to moderate.

Hope you guys like the second page! And the rest of the pages are in the Manga Tab just in case some of the new readers haven’t figured it out. :3

Karma: Chapter 2

2011-04-17T00:46:00.002+08:00

I realize that I might regret this later but...

I’ve been meaning to self-publish this for Komikon ever since last year. As many probably know, Komikon has come and gone again this year and I have made another no-show.

I can’t state my reasons because they would only be excuses. And so, because there were a numbered few who have expressed the desire to read this manga, it appears the only way I can bring this to them will be for free reading online.

Welcome back to Karma.

25k Kiriban WIP: Ryo

2011-04-14T13:30:00.002+08:00

I decided to do one of those “kiriban” things on Deviant Art. No one was able to catch the first one (20k I think?) but =Eclipse113 managed to grab the exact 25k screenshot.

And this is her character, Ryo, eating… something.

Of course it’s not done yet. xD I just wanted to show this off a little because I love how the expression on his face turned out. :3

And back to work for me~

Thesis. Antithesis. Synthesis.

2011-04-03T15:36:00.001+08:00

DBSK: "O" - Thesis.Antithesis.Synthesis

Godchild: Earl Cain Hargreaves

For Crimson Vendetta

Love is Sweet

2011-03-29T19:12:00.002+08:00

This is a long overdue artwork I wanted to make for Dai. She gave me a pair of butterfly earrings last Christmas, and I wanted to at least draw her something… ~~because I’m currently broke at the moment. ;_;~~

If you’re a fan of the Ritsuka x Soubi pairing in Loveless, then please think of this as Ritsuka with long hair, or Ritsuka female version or something like that. ;_; Just don’t kill me please.

Lyrics from Super Junior M’s song, 幸福微甜 / “Love is Sweet”. Thanks to Tomomi Kazuko for the translations!

Why Did I End Up Falling For You?

2011-03-21T10:30:00.001+08:00

I somehow always end up liking the pairing that never end up together.

For Vampire Knight, I was a Kaname x Yuuki fan from the very beginning. The anime ended up with them nicely, but the manga is currently making me cringe. With Yuuki as the grim reaper of pure bloods and Kaname currently killing off several powerful vampires, I’m afraid that Yuuki will stop him by killing him.

Of course, Zero x Yuuki fans will probably be delighted with that news, but I wish there wasn’t a lot of pair-bashing going around. :(

If this prediction of mine rings true, it makes me sad and happy at the same time. Kaname has suffered through enough with two lifetimes, so I think he deserves his eternal rest.

The words are from DBSK’s どうして君を好きになってしまったんだろう？or "Why did I end up falling for you?"; a good theme for this pair, I think. Kaname will always love Yuuki even though she will never completely love him back.

Thanks to DBSKer for the lyric translation! ♥

A.illusions Character: Shijirou

2011-03-15T02:23:00.001+08:00

And here’s the Dictator himself, Shijirou of A.illusions!

I had a little fun with the belt on his trench coat. I don’t know why I keep drawing him in this pose because my first character profile illustration of him was quite similar. You can find that in the gallery.

Oh, and you guys might be interested in winning an Ipad, so read up on the instructions and good luck!

A.illusions Character: Tori Avalon

2011-03-02T19:05:00.001+08:00

I've been thinking about how I was going to tackle the characters section with the new site’s features. Old readers have probably caught a glimpse of the profiles for A.illusions’ Eri-hime and Karma’s Dominic Hunter, but I didn’t want to use the same format for the new site. It took too long to finish each illustration anyway, so I would’ve ended up finishing the manga long before the site was completely up and running!

The art needed for this layout style doesn’t take too much time, so I can work on the manga at the same time I work on the profiles. It’s an old layout design we never got to use for Anime Illusions, and with Tori as the site architect, I just had to use him as my guinea pig! I hope he doesn’t mind. xD

Are the colors too bright and shiny? Please do let me know what you think so I can work on the rest! :3

Mote-Mote: Page 14

2011-02-26T21:58:00.001+08:00

This page has been sitting on my hard drive since last year..! Argh… it’s funny how I have to update the copyright on the bottom right from 2010 to 2011! ~_~;;; But for those you thought I was done with Mote-Mote, here is the latest update!

The party Kurumi Nui (Kuromi) mentions is the one that occurred during the first season of Onegai My Melody. She ran off because the spell she casted on herself was wearing off, and if she didn’t get back on time, she would turn into the appearance she hated most, and that was a Baku! Haha~! ♥

I have 3 manga’s that I’m working on right now… I wonder if I should finish Mote-Mote first before I continue with A.illusions? Mote-Mote’s almost at the end after all, so… hm…

For new readers, head on over to the Manga Page to read the entire webcomic~ ♥

Tai Yang Bing

2011-02-24T00:40:00.001+08:00

Because my brother-in-law is a relative of the Lin Family, I get to have the original, delicious Tai Yang Bing (太陽餅) or "Suncake" whenever he and my sister go to Taiwan. I wanted to show them my appreciation, and my brother-in-law suggested that I paint something for them.

I originally planned to draw something intricate with details that will blow my mind and break my fingertips, but when I showed my sister and brother-in-law the concept sketches, my sister was rather forward about me doing this instead of the other. –_-;;; It wasn’t even a real concept or anything, I was just bored waiting for them to decide.

I’ve never actually been to Taichung, so I’ve never tried these pastries fresh, but I do adore Tai Yang Bing~ I will need to pay them a visit one day and thank them in person. :3a

In any case, I took pictures while I was working on this watercolor painting (on canvas, which was a stupid thing to do), so here are the work in progress shots:

The initial sketch, which is pretty tiny... probably 1-2 inches long? The "?" is where I originally planned to draw this design/motif they have on their plastic bags, but there was hardly enough time to finish the character so I had to scrap that idea. ;_;

The beginning of the painting process! I used a flesh colored pencil to sketch the character on canvas and added the flesh tones with watercolor. Ugh! I should have opted to use acrylics right here, but I'm not that comfortable with acrylics! :(

Yes, my drawing table is purple. :D

The Tai Yang Bing was probably the most difficult to do, because I had never painted pastries before! The flaky texture was a challenge to render! But I guess I passed, since the owners of the shop immediately knew he was eating a Tai Yang Bing?

Then again, I cheated and wrote the "太陽餅" on the pastry. They actually have that stamped on the real pastry as well, but my sister made the mistake of telling me it's "餅" when it's not. ;_;

The first of five sunflowers were… wrong. Haha! They look more like daisies than sunflowers actually! I was getting pretty frustrated with my choice of canvas and medium at this point. xD;;; And oh! The little booties are there now too! :3

Almost finished! Just needed to take a coffee break because my eyes were failing. The blue shadow needed a lot of blending too and this is where I begun correcting the size of the center of the sunflowers.

All done! Aside from the stamp and signature. I made another idiotic mistake of using my Chinese name stamp to sign this because it’s canvas! Dx The stamp hardly showed up at all so I had to write my Chinese name and it looked quite hideous, honestly. ;_;

…I feel like I have to redeem myself and draw them a new piece, ahaha. ;_; I’ll save it for the next time I visit Taiwan!

A.illusions: Page 76

2011-02-16T18:26:00.001+08:00

I needed something to celebrate my birthday with, so today I decided that it was a day for doing what I loved best: drawing manga~!

I’ve changed the font from Comic Sans to Wild Words. It looks more… “professional” to me, and I hope you guys think the improvement is good too!

And did you notice the page is slightly bigger? :D I’m thinking I should change the sizes of my old pages too… but then again? I wonder if people still read this series? xD;;;

Oh well, if you’re a new reader, please look up the old pages here. :3

Christmas for Kurohiko

2011-02-02T23:25:00.001+08:00

I received an additional fan art for my Christmas Art Trade Event from Ever Vicious Yuna. Unfortunately, she didn’t make the deadline before the art trades closed, so she won’t be eligible for the trade. She still has a chance to appear in my indie though! I hope that’s consolation enough…

It was still sweet of her to still work on this piece so diligently! Thank you so much! I love how Eri turned out here!

In any case, just to let you guys know, I was able to fix the followers widget on the right hand side of the site. ^^ It was apparently a common problem, and honestly, I didn’t know how it was fixed. All I did was restart the layout from scratch, so people who had similar bugs might want to try doing the same thing.

Some people may have noticed the gallery was not working a few days ago, but it should be fixed now. Let me know if you guys have trouble with anything!

Baguio: Little John’s Art Gallery

2011-01-25T05:01:00.005+08:00

During my weekend trip to Baguio City, we’ve come across a restaurant in Camp John Hay appropriately named “Little John”. They had a wall full of different art pieces ranging from every style you can think of. Upon closer inspection, each piece was actually drawn by one of their customers; an idea I wish I had thought of!

I decided to draw something too, although it makes me wonder if this will ever be up on their walls. ^^; They change the drawings every month from what I can tell because most of the messages on the wall talked about Christmas at Little John’s.

Maybe if you guys go to Baguio in the next month or two, you can try to find this and snap a photo for me? :3

Well, yes, I added my website onto my piece. xD;;; Shameless plugging is a go!

Here are a few of the artworks I liked:

Probably my most favorite piece among all others. The pen work is simply gorgeous! I love the concept too!

Skullie

2011-01-21T01:53:00.002+08:00

What started out as a sketch on my planner turned out into an ink and color pencil endeavor that ate my entire day.

This was Skullie around 7pm yesterday. She’s one of seven art trades I’ll be working on this year. I remember praying before I actually started coloring her with color pencils because it’s been a while since I last colored using any traditional media.

I seem to have fallen in love with coloring all over again.

Sad thing is, the scanner doesn’t pick up colors as well as it should. I adjusted the scan using Sugar‘s tutorial, but I still think the original is much better.

Strangely, the scanned image looks… *squished*? It’s probably my monitor or something, but please tell me what you think when you view the original illustration.

Resting in Pieces

2011-01-19T02:12:00.001+08:00

Not your usual artsy blog update, but I felt like I had to post this anyway.

Alas, my pink, Wacom Graphire 4, you have served me well… but the humidity of the tropics proved to be too much for you, and now I must lay you down to eternal rest…

…or something like that. :3a

I got this limited edition Wacom in Hong Kong a few years back. I don’t think it’s more than a 4 or 5 years old, but I guess I used and abused it a little too much. Good thing my older tablet is still in good condition. The Graphire 4’s tablet is all scratched up and looks so worn out compared to the ET-0405-R.

Now I feel a little bit better. Time to contact Wacom’s Service repair to see if there’s anything I can do to salvage this one. ;x;

Milktea and Cakes

2011-01-17T17:17:00.004+08:00

I’ve been working on this piece for such a long time that I can’t remember how many hours I actually spent on it. I had no idea placing desserts on the table could be so… terrifying!

The perspective still seems a little off to me, but I like how this came out nonetheless. It was a good practice to try my painting and patience skills.

Kazimier does not like serving people, seeing he’s a demon and all. Of course, Mikhail’s not impress with his lack of class. xD

Hopefully I can still qualify for =Kilo112205’s contest! But for now, feel free to download the wallpaper version in the downloads section. :3

…What Is It?

2011-01-03T04:41:00.001+08:00

Happy New Year, Everyone!

I hope everyone had their fill of new year’s celebrations! You could say my holiday was quite interesting and busy… I didn’t have time to draw something to celebrate the new year!

Thankfully, Aly A. gave me the perfect fanart for the celebration. :3 Thanks, Aly!

Oh, and did you guys notice? If you haven’t yet, please update your links, as I am now the proud (re)owner of kurohiko.com! \(^o^)/

I hope I do it right this time! No more changing of links / domain host dying on me, please! I, of all people, know how hard it is to let readers know where I’ve moved to! ;_; Maybe re-purchasing the site means I can get my old readers back too?

…now if only I can figure what sort of “pink animal thing” Rei is here. xD

It’s a Promise

2010-12-30T00:04:00.002+08:00

This lovely fanart of Sean and Twilight (whom I hereby dub “Twean”!) by ~SweetIris reminded me that I should draw more artworks from this series. The story ended rather abruptly, and believe me, it was surprising to me too that I was already drawing the last chapter on issue 13!

I’m more of an EnLight (Enzo x Twilight) fan though. I should draw those and see what gets thrown at me.

And don’t worry! Just as Twean made a promise to each other, I promise to work hard on the art trades I promised! ^_^

Eri-hime

2010-12-21T23:13:00.001+08:00

Looks like Dio’s finally got around to doing our “deal”… just in time for my Christmas event too!

Do you recognize the pose? It’s from the character card I did some time ago, but there are several details here that are not on the original.

I do apologize for not updating in a while… as I mentioned before, my parents have gone to Canada for the holidays, so I’m stuck taking care of the house. I forgot how big a job it is, especially when it’s me against 7 people. xD;;;

My sister’s leaving for Taiwan tomorrow as well… looks like a very lonely Christmas for this wannabe Mangaka. ^^;;;

Feline Sisters

2010-12-04T00:01:00.000+08:00

I think I may have died of cuteness…

This is Japanise Sakuras’ interpretation of Eri and Naru from my illustration “Feline Sisters”. I love the expressions on their faces, it’s so in character!

Poor girls though… they might be freezing out in the cold like that. Won’t someone take them in?

Santa Rei?

2010-12-03T16:02:00.001+08:00

This actually reminds me of an old illustration I did at the launch of A.illusions. And it also reminds me that I should stop being lazy and fix the gallery sections in the new site!

Thank you so much to Yuuki Hanabusa for this fanart! I will do my best with the trade I will do for you! ♥

Cammy and Rei

2010-11-30T00:52:00.001+08:00

Christmas has come so early for me this year~! This time, I got a crossover fanart from Evangeline Louise; Twilight’s Calling’s Cammy Gomez and A.illusions’ Rei Kuassary!

Rei’s so tiny and cute! And wow, Cammy… I haven’t seen fanart from Twilight’s Calling in a long time. Perhaps I need to draw illustrations from that series again.

Thanks so much, Evangeline! December will definitely be a busy month for me!

Angel in the Snow

2010-11-29T13:53:00.001+08:00

My second fanart for my Christmas event! And this time, I have Dominic from Karma!

I never thought I’d get fanart from this one shot… this marks as the first ever fanart for Karma! I’m so happy! Thank you so much, Crimson Vendetta!

I’m also getting worried… How many artworks can I finish by Christmas, I wonder?

Snow Flakes Fallin’

2010-11-28T02:31:00.001+08:00

I’m so excited to have received my first fanart for my Christmas Event! Check out this cute illustration by Erikate!

Renka-chan’s first fanart! And her panda’s got a little purple Christmas hat to go with it! I love how Erikate gave Renka a manicure too! I think that’s a little white flower on her middle fingernail.

Of course, now I will work on her request! I hope I finish it in time for Christmas~

If you’d like to join too, the event is still open until December 16! Thank you so much~ Have a Happy Christmas~ ♥

My Christmas Art Trade Event

2010-11-26T04:25:00.002+08:00

For those of you who don’t have a deviant art account and/or are not watching me there, I have news~

From now until December 16, draw me a fanart, fanfiction, or fanwork of any of my original works with the theme “SNOW” and you will get something from me in return. The basic idea is a Christmas exchange gift event; make my Christmas wish come true by give me fanworks, and I will match it by giving you an artwork!

You can gather more information in my deviant art journal. Oh, and in case you’re not a deviant art member but still want to participate, then you can email me your entries in kurohiko at gmail dot com!

Have fun guys! Happy Christmas! ^_^

A Princess, an Angel, and a Demon…

2010-11-23T20:17:00.003+08:00

Just a few things that are keeping me busy at the moment.

The one on the left is Kara from Phantasy Star III drawn in my style, specifically A.illusions style. I’m already inking her since Amy’s approved her already. I’m probably going to do some minor changes with the skirt and add a bit of background to the final piece. I really like how her dress came out… I just hope I can color this with just the right hues!

The ones on the right are Kilo’s original characters, Kazimier and Regalus; a demon comforting an angel who is of royal blood. I have to admit, the concept is unique, and the pose was challenging because Kazimier is supposed to be comforting Regalus while smirking at the sight of war outside the window (which I will draw later on). What I ended up with made me think it’s Sebastian Michaelis carrying a much younger Hiiragi Keiichi. Go figure… This is Kilo’s second commission from me, so I’m hoping this will get approved without much of a hitch.

Back to work for this starving artist… but who’s complaining? At least I have a bit of money for Christmas. ^_^

Never Let Me Fall

2010-11-21T04:38:00.004+08:00

Just when I started to work on my webcomic, I get word from Richard that there might be a Comic Bazaar on December 4 by the same organizers of Komikon. Bitter sweet news, as I should have enough time to put together A.illusions: Karma; however, I will have to put A.illusions: Act Two: Fourth Stage on hold yet again.

C'est la vie~ For now, please accept this humble cover art from yours truly:

I have to admit, I didn't think making this underwater effect would be so easy. Alex’s tutorial is precise and easy to follow, although I modified his process a bit to better fit the illustration’s needs.

Let’s hope I can have enough free time to finalize the site and add new pages. Until then~!

I am aware that Josh Groban has a song "Never Let Go". Where do you suppose the inspiration for this piece came from? ♥

Happy Birthday, Nephew~ ;p You know who you are!

A Father’s Love

2010-11-20T03:01:00.003+08:00

When =Kilo112205 had a contest involving her commissioning another artist to draw my character with hers, you could say I totally jumped the bandwagon.

Lo and behold, I won second place, and this is what I received:

Please click the thumbnail to view the whole image!

I suggested that Alaistair, who is Kilo’s character, be a father figure to Rei, who is also an angel of sorts. Both of them have pet phoenixes, and Rei is a girl who doesn’t really have a father in A.illusions.

You can imagine how overjoyed Rei is to have a Dominion Angel teach her proper archery.

Thank you so much to =Kilo112205 for her lovely contest and the artist, ~basotahuikan for such gorgeous work!

In other news, the Manga and Gifts sections are complete! Please let me know what you think of the new site’s navigations and I will do my best to keep improving them! Now to work on some actual webcomic updates after some sleep~

Unfinished Business

2010-11-16T03:37:00.001+08:00

As most have probably guessed, Komikon has come and gone with no independent manga released from me.

All I can show in my defense is a messy drawing table with all of my pages properly inked:

It was the tones and script that left the work undone.

I’m pretty disappointed since I was planning this since August. Unfortunately, September was very hard on me and my family… the only thing I’d like to share from that month is that I learned how to properly time IV drips, inject medicine through those drips, and adjust them if there’s a backflow. All of this and yet I’ve never studied medicine.

But as they say, “excuses, excuses!”

I’m still thinking about selling the indie in another convention… or perhaps submit it to local publishers.

For now though? I will be reviewing the pages again and see if I can improve on anything. Maybe stretch it to 24 pages this time…

Aly's New Look

2010-11-04T00:33:00.004+08:00

And here's the star of the show..! :3~

I love how Aly turned out in this project… She’s a lot cuter and she’s grown up a little. The designs of the uniforms came out pretty well too! But I keep forgetting how the bow looks. Sometimes the ends come out completely different, and I don’t know how that even happens! Haha…

I’m so pressed for time right now that I fear I’m not going to make it for Komikon. Worse, life is happening right before me, so my focus is a little off. Let’s hope I can get my concentration back so I can finish strong..!

Reality Bites…

2010-11-02T02:50:00.005+08:00

The highlight in the midst of my panic to finish before Komikon on November 13, 2010 lies with this right here:

I almost feel bad about making Tori the unofficial punching bag of A.illusions. If it’s any comfort to Tori, I feel exactly the same way he does… after I found out from a poll that not a lot of people are willing to buy my indie. It’s too late to back out now though? Or, to be more precise, the only way I’m backing out is if I don’t finish in time.

Picca 2010 Festival

2010-10-25T00:20:00.003+08:00

Picca 2010 Festival is currently being held at SM North Edsa’s The Block. It just so happened that my family and I passed by and the number of people present in the gathering really surprised us… Not really all that surprising when I found out that famous local artists are drawing caricatures for a cause. Exactly what, I didn’t get to find out, because my parents were in a hurry.

It was pretty cool to see Culture Crash get the attention they deserve… and it was even more surprising that we saw several posters of Mango Jam by the side. I was ecstatic and looked around to see if my work, Twilight’s Calling was among them. I was sadly disappointed, but also partially happy that Twilight’s Calling wasn’t there. ^^;;;

Guess that means I will just have to work that much harder in improving my art! Here's hoping I will be among the elite next time! ^_^

Restarting Systems in 3, 2, 1…

2010-10-24T00:23:00.006+08:00

You may have noticed that everything on site has been wiped clean. Not to worry though! I didn’t delete anything… In fact, 黑火子 is getting an upgrade to a much more sophisticated(?) site. Browsing manga and artwork will be much easier once I’m done with modifications…

I’ll also be adding work in progress shots like this one:

This is a photo of my PC screen showing a portion of a manga page I’m working on. I got the original idea from Shilin's Blog. Anyway, I’m not going to say much about this project for now so that I don’t jinx it, but hopefully, Philippine readers will get to buy this very soon.

I hope you guys like the new layout so far… stay tuned for more updates! And please mind the falling debris. :3