patokon blog

Yes, friends I've been lax in keeping this sucker up-to-date, but it's because I've been busy moving! I'm no longer in Tokyo proper, but the suburb Saitama. Where I live it's a bit more sub than urb if you know what I mean. But it's nice and quiet with babbling brooks and birds singing and a view of the mountains! And now, the first art pieces I've created in the new place will go on view from this Saturday the 16th (2009) to the following Saturday. I'll be at the Kopis Gallery on Sunday with postcards for sale. To get to the gallery, it's 20 mins from either Shibuya (Hanzomon line) or Shinjuku (Oedo line). Get out at exit A3 at the top of the stairs turn left and then take a quick left through a walkway. When you hit the street, take a right and it's on the next right corner. If you go to the dog cafe, Jolly Job, you've gone too far. The phone # of the gallery is 03-5639-2381. I hope people can stop by on Sunday while I'm there, but if n...

*It's a Marvel Geekout! New podcast over at Tim Young's Deconstructing Comics . We discuss Marvel's latest crossover Dark Reign and deal with some general goofiness. Other good podcasts here as well with Tim and guests. *Been animating music videos for acoustic group Kirazuki . Good stuff. here is a frame from "Elmore" by Kirazuki *Been designing undies with a retro SF motif. Funfunfun. More on this later. *Had a booth at the Tokyo Animation Fair with my Artist Army buds. *Fresh off of two art exhibitions in Ginza and Tokyo City Hall. *And I'm about to move to the country. Well, out of the city anyway. Fresh mountain air, plenty of room, and we're gonna get a doggie! *The good part about being so busy is that I'm getting more work. The bad part is that I haven't done any kind of promotion! Grrrrr! My next show isn't until May, so I should be settled in by then. I'll have my promotion plan put together by then as well. Maybe I'll even ...

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.