My August

The studio paid for a coffee truck to come by so we got free coffee, tea and other drinks! A beautiful husky we bumped into downtown. Cute design at Yogurtland. Art battle winner! Bunny buns ready for the oven. The evil spider. Little baby Mason. The kitchen counter at work. Korean BBQ. My vegan dinner. Only here would you see that sign. Paralyzed cat in a diaper. Link and me downtown.

Overall, a really great August. We'll see what September has in store for me! :)

Let me tell you about...

It was a regular morning and we were leaving to go to work. As we walked out the door, I noticed a HUGE, black and yellow, most evil looking spider had made her web right beside it. It was a good location for her, since the lamp next to the door attracted a lot of moths and other bugs. It was NOT such a great location for us, since we needed to skirt around her and her massive web if we wanted to get in or out of our place. She was very large and very evil and scary looking. But little did we know what we were in for the next morning...

Finally she's done!

This took me a much longer time to finalize than Albert did but it was worth it. Here is the final version of his little daughter. She's so cute! I'm really in love with how she turned out. I'll be doing a turnaround next.

She doesn't have a name in the story because she isn't mentioned except for in one small part, but I think I want to give her a name. I love her so much I'm sorta entertaining the idea of incorporating her into something else unrelated to the app, like stationery or something. We'll see. I have a lot on my plate right now.


Oh and alsooo,

I GOT A JOB OFFER. I'M MOVING OUT MID/LATE AUGUST. SEE YA, MIAMI!

A few more sketches

Some Photoshop sketches of Albert's little daughter. Sketching in Photoshop is soo easy (hi undo button and copy/paste) but it's really not the same as pencil and paper. Speaking of which, I should probably get myself a new sketchbook.

Fattest weekend ever

This was my weekend of obesity and diabetes. Yesterday I had grilled steak and vegetables for lunch and then saw Harry Potter and had Korean BBQ. So double that steak PLUS pork. Today we went to Jaxsons, aka the best ice cream parlor in all of South Florida, ordered hot dogs and a giant, delicious banana split. I only had half of my hot dog... the one with the neon green relish (that I promptly removed from my hot dog after noticing its color). And we got pistachio, death by chocolate, and butter almond with our banana split. OH man the butter almond and death by chocolate ice cream was so delicious. Now that I look back on it, it's almost too much for me to handle... I'm definitely working out EVERY single day and eating really healthy for this next week. Oh man.

Sketchies

Just a few sketches I made of Albert Plimpton's daughter. I imagined him with a little daughter who's maybe around 5 or 6 years old, and an older (maybe teenage) son. I took this picture with my phone because I was too lazy to go scan it, so... it's not such great quality. Whatever. I'm partial to the one on the top left, but I gotta get rid of her little neck. A turnaround will be coming soon :)

I had a fun day today. First I got some seriously great news (which I may get into details later but I don't want to curse anything). Then I went to this sample sale going on in Miami Beach with Caye, where I scored an AWESOME bikini. It has this sorta crazy black and white Op Art print on it AND a Brazilian scrunchy butt bottom, which is my favorite kind of bottom :) I swore to never wear any other kind of bikini bottom again after I discovered scrunchy butt bottoms haha. They make your butt look really good, especially for girls like me who are cursed with Asian flat butt syndrome. No matter how many squats/butt workouts you do, your butt remains relatively small and flat.

We had some nice girly bonding time and of course, did some people watching, as it is fashion week here in Miami. It was a nice little break from all the illustration work I've been doing. But back to the drawing board now. Or... screen/Wacom tablet.

Sneak Peek

Just a little in-progress peek at my next pinup girl, based off one of my best friends, Cayetana. Physically, she's known for her mole (which I actually have to reposition on the other side of her face), her boobs and her overall bangin' bod haha. She's got feathers in her hair and likes to wear thigh high socks and high-waisted short shorts... so that's what I'm trying to play up here. I was a little discouraged at first but she's actually turning out really nicely so far.

I just remembered... I really have to update my Behance page. I should just unpublish every project that's on there haha. For now I'm just gonna be using my Cargo.

I'M SO EXCITED

okay okay so I know I have like three projects that I'm working on all at the same time. That's just how I do things. But this one is definitely the BIGGEST and most ambitious, and I'm really excited to be working on it! It's only in the very beginning sort of conceptual stages and I'm probably going to need more people to help me on it. But here it is.

I'm going to be making a children's book iPad app! It's based on a short story I wrote called "The Star Man." It's about a man named Albert Plimpton, whose job is to light the stars in the night sky in his big hot air balloon. Here's an excerpt from the story:

Albert floated across the sky to light the constellations: Aquarius, Taurus, Ursa Major, Orion, Andromeda. Betelgeuse’s bulb was flickering dimly. He unscrewed it with his sparkly stick and threw it away. A couple sitting on a park bench saw a shooting star. He replaced the bulb and Betelgeuse’s warm light shined brightly in the sky.

I've done some turnarounds for Albert's design here (ew PLEASE click on the thumbnail for a higher-res version, this thumbnail looks like crap):


He's an adventurer! I still have a lot to do but I'm loving it so far.

I also made this (again, click it to see a higher-res version):

It's a pinup illustration. I just did it for fun but I'd like to expand it into a series since a couple of my girl friends wanted me to do portraits of them. I thought it'd be a good idea to make them in the same style so I could add them on to the series. This originally started off as a sort of fantasy self-portrait, inspired by Shane Glines and Bill Presing with a more contemporary feel. Mind you, I don't really look anything like this haha.

IMA BE UPDATING SO MUCH omg thuuper exthited!

The little pancakes that could

I made these pancakes in Illustrator for a redesigned IHOP menu. I eventually completely redid my first design and scrapped the pancakes for some real photographs so they never made it onto my portfolio. But they deserve some recognition! I spent a lot of time on them. I gradient meshed and pen tooled until my fingers cramped and my eyes burned. So check em out.

I drew some animalz

I drew some animals! They're gonna be incorporated into a pattern I'm making right now. Keep checking back because I'll have the pattern done soon.

Quick sketch

This maybe took me an hour or so. Just a quick sketch inspired by my two parakeets. The boy tries to impress the girl every day but she just seems confused by his actions and doesn't seem to like him back.

Summer 2011 Bucket List

I guess this is a bucket list... I don't know what else to call it. It's my list of things I want to do/goals/accomplishments for the summer (and beyond)

1. help mom and dad clean/organize the house
   
2. apply for jobs - as many as I can
   
3. GET HIRED.
4. go to Disney or Harry Potter Land! Or both!
5. go thrifting a lot
6. teach myself enough After Effects that I can list it as a skill in my resume
   
7. go to Shake Shack.
8. draw a LOT. I missed out on a lot of doodling/drawing this past year or so.
   
9. lose at least 5 lbs
10. work out at least 4 times a week
    
11. be able to do 1 pull up on the pull up bar
    

Whoopi's Commencement Speech

I'm so glad someone filmed this!! Whoopi spoke at my graduation. I loved her speech.

GRADUATION

I.

Am.

GRADUATED!!!!!!

I'm so excited for the future and what it holds for me. Grad school? Job? Travel? Who knows. I'm really happy with my life right now.

Wishlist for my life and the near future:

In no particular order:

1. Mr. and Mrs. Eaves
2. Archer
3. A scooter or small car
4. Cha Cha Tint
5. An electric hot pot
6. New pair of running shoes

Best. Weekend. EVAR.

So we went to Atlanta this past weekend to see The Flaming Lips.

Now, I've seen a handful of shows . Van Orsdels, Shack Shakers, Ladytron, Datarock, Broken Social Scene... I've never been to any sort of mainstream concert (although I think I would like to go see Lady Gaga one day). This was hands down the BEST show I've ever been to. It even trumps the Gogol Bordello show I went to a couple summers ago. It was beautiful. There were rainbows everywhere! Huge rainbow balloons, rainbow confetti, rainbow lights, hot girls dressed as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, hot guys dressed as the Cowardly Lion and Tin Man, Teletubbies... and we were COMPLETELY sober!! We didn't even drink once. It was simply the greatest and most beautiful thing I had ever experienced.

AND it was magical as well... I dropped my iPhone, ID, debit card and bus passes all over the floor during the opening song, when everyone was jumping and dancing around. I miraculously found everything underneath everyone's feet. And no one had stomped on my phone. Crazy I tell ya.

These pictures do the concert NO justice at all.



I also had hot pot for the first time. It was amazing and delicious and maybe my new favorite food ever. It's sad that we don't get hot pot anywhere close to Miami... I've decided that I have to live somewhere with a very large Asian population when I move out so I can get my Asian food/grocery fix.

Just updated my website with a few more projects! Check em out...


More big news: I'll be going to Atlanta this weekend to see The Flaming Lips! I'm so excited!! They've been one of my favorite bands ever since the beginning of high school. They'll be playing The Soft Bulletin, which is my favorite album too. Maybe I'll be getting some shabu shabu and getting some groceries at H-Mart, as well as some trampoline jumping... I'll have to post up pictures when I'm back.

Spaceman Sam!

I made a book for my Studio II class. It's about a space explorer named Sam. It's an interactive (lift-the-flap, pull tab, etc) book for children ages 3-7.

Check it out here

"Growing in your mommy's heart instead of her belly"

This is an old project I revisited for my portfolio. It's an informative poster/mailer about international South Korean adoption. The topic is really close to my heart, as I am a South Korean Adoptee. Researching and working on this project was very emotional for me and I found myself getting choked up during the critique! Definitely one of my favorite projects.

Is this real life?

I'm finally cracking down on myself. Intense work mode INITIATED fo realz this time. Gonna keep up with this blog, finish my portfolio too, omg I'm going to be a real grown up and responsible. Here's my really scary to-do list for this upcoming week... not that it really means anything to anyone other than me, but look how much stuff I have to do D':


I also made a bunch of cards for Mother's Day... my dad thought they were amazing - he wouldn't stop gushing about them. Then I told him that when I get married I'd make my own wedding invitations and he didn't really respond hahah. He probably got worried thinking about me getting married.


I came home for Mother's Day weekend and I've definitely gotten more done here at home than I would have at school... which is weird, because I turn into super lazy blob mode whenever I go home. This must be a sign!