patokon blog

Hello to all my peeps out there! All seven of ya! From tomorrow I'll be in an another art show in Ginza. Doing group shows is always a good experience as I always learn something from other artists. It's also good to see your work among others'. It's humbling. I remember at one show where after I put up my work I was thinking, "hey, my junk is the best junk on the wall!" Then one last artist comes moseying in a bit late and throws this gorgeous detailed work on the wall blowing my work out of the water. Oh, well. You can't win 'em all. What's that you say? Art is about self expression and communication and touching something deeper in the soul and shouldn't be cheapened or made into some kind of contest? You're right. I'm letting my pride blind me to the true beauty of artistic expression. Each work has its own value and should be enjoyed in its own way. I've learned my lesson. I'll be good. (on a side note, that one amazing pie...

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!