patokon blog

The Karate Kid changed my life. The movie, of course. Not the Legion of Superheroes comic character. I'm watching it right now as I type this blog and I was thinking about how many of my perceptions about karate were shaped by Mr. Miyagi. I was never big on "sports" movies, I never saw Rocky. But I knew what it was like to be the little guy. The new kid on the block. And I knew what it was like going up against an institutionalized system of separating the "winners" from the "losers". Luckily, I had friends in and out of school that liked me for who I was and not for who I desperately thought I wanted to be. It took me a little while and Karate Kid 2 to realize what I did want. The summer that KK2 was the summer where I decided to take control of my life and stopped worrying about what the @$$holes thought. It wasn't even a gradual thing. Once I had made that decision, suddenly things started changing around me. I had confidence and that made it ea...

This week the Illustration Friday's theme is "wise". I was going for a wise old pirate, but I think wizards are do "wise" better. I actually need to get working on other things, but I thought I'd get this up. Need to balance creating with promotion. Doing the illustration friday makes me do both. I'm teaching tomorrow. I wish I wasn't. I'd rather be drawing, sketching, or working on my craft. As soon as I finish I'm zooming back home to finish up some roughs for the Tom and Jerry book. All struggling artists go through this, I know. Having to work at something they don't wanna do in order to do something they do wanna do. But sometimes it eats at my soul. Deprives me of the energy I need to do my best. What do you do? You have to find your fuel. My fuel is a mixture of fear, anger, hope, pride, and desire. Fear of mediocrity, anger at my own complacency, hope that I will be discovered, pride in what I've accomplished so far, and desir...

New Illustration Friday Illo. "I'm late! I'm late! And I don't even have a date!" I need to be finishing up my preperation for the Tokyo Contents Market starting Monday, but doing the Illustration Friday every week keeps me drawing! Other news: I may be moving soon, so we' ve been looking at places. Found a really cool fixer-upper in Kugayama. We love the area so it's a definite possibility.

This is my first Illustration Friday submission. Since my homepage is finally up and running, I felt it was time to get some of my stuff out there. The second I learned this week's theme "strings", my mind instantly said 'bondage'. Okay, I was just as surprised as you, but anyway, cute animals in distress is always a good way to start a story.

Yes! I have a busy October coming up! Besides starting a new class at the French School, I have two exhibitions and a special event that I'll be involved with. - SIMONETTA Exhibition - Mystery Exhibition - Tokyo Contents Market 2008 =========================================================================== What: SIMONETTA (translates as 'dirty jokes' or 'ribald humor') - group art exhibition When: Sun. October 5 to Sat. Oct. 11 (Gallery is closed Tue. Oct. 7) 12:00am to 7:00pm (Opening day from 2pm, Closing day until 5pm) +++I'll be there Sun., Oct. 5, and Thur. Oct. 9th+++ Where: Gallery Kopis http:// www.g- kopis. com/ (Japanese) 1-2-12-1 Shirakawa, Koto-ku, Tokyo 135-0021 ph:03-5639-2381 Who: It's a group show including ANAN, namy, and Tom Clouseau from the Movies Exhibition and also Hidemitsu Taya, Yukitoshi Kono, Black Kuma-san, who I've done shows with before and others I haven't. There will be some neato stuff golly for sure! I'll have p...

Hello again. I'll be participating in group exhibition "Lovely Shimoneta" at the Gallery kopis in Kiyosumi Shirakawa (清澄白河) a station on both the Oedo line and Hanzomon line. Though the station is little-known, it is only about 20 minutes from either Shinjuku or Shibuya. Map Below "Shimoneta" translates directly as "lower gag" but basically means "dirty jokes". I'll be displaying pieces based on the pin-up humor of men's magazines from the 40's and 50's. Prints will be available for those who are interested. The show is from Sunday October 5th to Saturday October 11th. The hours are from 12 to 7pm EXCEPT for the first day which starts at 2pm and the last day which finishes at 5pm. Also the gallery is closed on Tuesdays. I'll be there all day on Sunday the 5th and Thursday the 9th. Hope to see you there!

I'm back in Japan after a whirlwind tour of the U.S. and I've already got a show to do. What : SPACE & NATURE - group art exhibition with both Japanese and American artists When : Sat. August 30 to Sat. Sept. 6 (Gallery is closed Tue. Sept. 2) 11:00am to 7:00pm (Opening day from 1pm, Closing day until 5pm) *** Opening Reception : Sat. August 30 from 6pm to 9pm (I'll be there from 7)*** +++I'll also be there Sun, Aug. 31 , and Thur. Sept. 4th +++ Where : Gallery Kopis http://www.g-kopis.com/ (Japanese) 1-2-12-1 Shirakawa, Koto-ku, Tokyo 135-0021 ph:03-5639-2381 Who : SONIC (illustrator/animator/comic artist and a good friend of mine - this is his first gallery show), Tom Clouseau (artist/humorist - a very funny and irreverent artist, worth talking to), Patrick Gannon (papercut artist/illustrator - a brilliant talent and a good friend - this is his first show in Japan), Patrik Washburn (me - illustrator/animator/cuddly artist at large), Kyoko Fujiwara (felt artist - ...

I wanted to let everyone know that I had an exhibition coming up very soon. The details are as follows: Event: "The Movies" Exhibition (eiga-ten) Theme: Revisit your favorite scenes from the silver screen. Place: Kopis Gallery ( http://www.g-kopis.com/ ) ph. 03-5639-2381 1-2-12 1F Shirakawa, Koto-ku, Tokyo 135-0021 Date: June 8th to June 14th (Gallery closed on the 10th) Time: 11am to 7pm (from 1pm on the 8th, until 5pm on the 14th) I'll be there on the 8th and the 12th. The gallery is very close to the Shirakawakarasumi station. Just use exit A3, when you finish climbing the stairs take a left and then an another immediate left. When you hit the road, go right and the Kopis Gallery will be on the next corner. I picked a number of movies to riff on, including many of my faves like Star Wars or A Clockwork Orange. Please stop by and pick up a few postcards or a print (or two).

I'm hooked on this BBC4 show called The Mighty Boosh. My friend S-ko let me borrow her DVDs and I became an instant convert to the the Church of Boosh. Check out this scene where the Boosh become hippies. http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=1ldQggHj78I "Yeti Magic" Parsley:Follow me. Forget the world. Look around at the wonders of nature. Never fear everything is here, And you don't need your friends or family... We're your family. Come with me and then you will see everything you need within life. Hey, ho! It's easy letting go,When nothing before was real. Look into our eyes, you can see the future. Look into our eyes, we can see your soul. We will be together...Everything is good here. Vince: He's gone wrong! Naboo: I know! He's in a trance! It's all part of the ritual. It's what they do before they breed with ya. Vince: What's Bollo doing? Naboo: Oh, he's gone too! Listen, Vince. This is yeti magic. Don't listen to the hippie nonsense....

yes, yes, yes... i got me a shave. gots to look more respectable and all! i'm doing some extra work to pay the bills and decided to lose the furface though i'll keep the ponytail... for now anyway. so as a result, i no longer look like the little dude on my business cards. i call him patobit and he is my representative in the digital realm. i've been neglecting him recently so i decided to get the little bugger a shave as well. i hope he appreciates all i go through for his little digi-butt. you may have noticed that i have disposed with all capitalization on this post. it is my subtle way to protest all the wrongs of the world promulgated by the capitalist elite propaganda machine. next post i will continue in my role as hapless cog of the machine. cog #5050873227380-003 as i'm known in the secret boardrooms of the oppressors. and remember free texas !!!

Check out "Space Tyrants #1" for a cheap laugh! If you dig it, let me know!

I have over 1000 entries in my American Comic Sound Effect Dictionary. I made it to sell in Japan, but I realize that I do have all the data in the original English as well! I think I'll start shopping it around to see what the response is. The Japanese version has been selling well and might possibly be picked up for publishing! We'll see. Best not to get too excited prematurely. Here's some of the letter headings designed by my good friend SONIC who also translated the entries into Japanese.

Sorry about being away so long. Since my dad had a heart attack in October I haven't been keeping up on my blogging duties. I just wanted to mention what I'm up to nowadays. Design/Layout: I'm doing layout for "Earth Rangers" which is an online comic being published at Kodansha's Michao site: http://moura.jp/manga/michao/ More info can also be found at: http://www.playfullness-comics.com/ It's written and drawn by Kishira Akanuma, a talented young comic creator who has a unique vision and a huge interest in musicals, Takarazuka theater, and American Comics!! I did the logo and I also do the layout for the "splash page". I'm designing some "goods" for the "Next Stage: Hudson Dance Cup 2008". I designed the logo for the event which can be seen here: http://music.i-revo.jp/ice/regular/dance_cup/contest/index.php Illustration I'm working on some illustrations for a Tom and Jerry puzzle book. It will be out in March. It...