Third of Three

And here we go, the last image of the series with Aein, Blithe Bauhinia and Edel Clementine May. At first I thought I wouldn't have the motivation to finish all three images (thought it might felt more like finishing a job, than drawing purely out of interest), but these b+w pictures were fun to design and draw.

Pink and Black

Damn, I hate it when you change the size of an image and its resolution just shoots right to hell. Pixelation, degradation of colour quality.... pet peeves of mine. Another image of デス・ザ・キッド from Soul Eater. The character is so spastic, but simply too funny to draw (though I do agree with symmetry being the best thing). Figured pink would be a nice colour to use with such a menacing person. Can't wait for the "黒龍" chapter translated into anime and see some of the Bones-animated fight scenes. Bound to be good.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Received college assignment from my graduate school, and I''m pretty pleased about it. I won't be getting the scholarship I wanted, but disappointments are a part of life and no one can have everything happen their way. I'm just having slight anxiety attacks over packing everything up from H.K. and heading over to the U.K. (as opposed to last time when I left for the U.S.....it was a nightmare getting stuff over there and back after four years), and meeting really smart people. What if I revert back to being antisocial and appear totally daft in front of others? What if my current level of knowledge is not up to par? What if I start having those recurring stutters of mine back in the undergraduate days? ARGHH??? Concerns such as these are normal....right?

My mother also wants to accompany me and my father to the U.K. for the start of term, and whilst I appreciate the sentiment it is also troublesome to have a parent nearby when you're trying to....fit into a new crowd. (E.g. during freshman year she kept asking if I wanted to stay in the hotel with her during the middle of the week, after the term started). I'll regret telling her not to go with me, but I'll also feel obligated to spend the first few days of school with her just because she made the trip overseas. And if I do that, how will I even manage to hang out with fellow classmates? It's not my mother's fault, just that these persistent feelings of guilt [when I can't meet with her] never go away.

Don't even get me started on what will happen if my parents die in the future. Its a mental realm I venture to constantly (not that I want them to die, of course...but it is an inevitable fact that shouldn't be ignored), but end up feeling depressed and scared. It's not the separation that irks me, but the strange feeling of removal of someone from my life. Such morbid thoughts on a Friday....hate to think that stuff would come up on the following Monday.

I didn't share these worries with anyone (because they sound stupid when I voice them out loud), yet I wish someone would just tell me everything will turn out alright. Maybe a bottle of booze (just joking, I don't drink) and some Prozac will be the ones to say it.

Typhoon 8

Part of a three-image series; the first was Aein (previous post), this one is Blithe Bauhinia, and the last one will be of Edel (in progress). I've changed the clothing design for Blithe again, and it is bound to change as soon as I start having time to sketch about again. Surprisingly enough, even though I've been drawing these dresses for a while, it seems that they've become quite popular this Summer in Hong Kong. Must have been picking up some trends unconsciously or something.

Unfortunately, that is not to say that most of the girls on the streets know how to dress appropriately; often times I run into people dressed like a bad-disco-explosion from the 80s (too many bright colours), and then I see the girls dressed like the 1970s hooker around the corners of Mong Kok. And then there was that atrocious outfit with too many layers; a wife beater over a tee-shirt and jeans, topped with another one piece dress with the wrong proportions. At this point, I'm inclined to think that such fashion crimes are the fault of the clothing makers....for even creating such horrendous articles of clothing and making them accessible to the public.

In other news, a typhoon 8 hit Hong Kong this morning. Evil bastards took the signal down right before noon, so everyone still has to go to work for the afternoon. Not like that affects me (seeing how I'm on Summer vacation), but it was definitely not worth hearing my mother grouch over the entire situation. Can't blame her though, I would have been pissed to learn that I have to go out across the harbour just for a couple of hours of meaningless work. I'm just hoping the typhoon would mean the end of the heatwave plaguing Hong Kong this last weekend.

Blue Skies, Grey Skies, Blue Skies

Of course, I have been drawing this Summer. I don't think I'll survive if my head was stuck between the pages of a book for an entire day. Anyways, just a picture of Aein in a really strange, twisted style. I'm sort of liking this psychedelic vibe in illustrations right now, so I think I'll just go with the trend. Probably going to leave this one in its b+w format because it just adds to the confusion of which plane goes where...

Also have been catching up on the Soul Eater series. I must admit that the first time I read the manga I wasn't really a fan of the style, but it grew on me. Plus, it is one of those series that transitions so well into animation (seriously, the fight scenes?)...and it helps that BONES is the studio in charge of all the episodes. (Recalling the Eureka Seven series.....one of the best in the 2000s). I drew Kidd on paper, but I ran out of ink so the outline quality is lower per usual.

And...finally.....the work in progress. Haven't done much DGM stuff nowadays, but will definitely get back to it eventually. Actually drew this image before the other two above, but I didn't want to ink it on paper since the lines are bound to come out ragged and too extreme. So thinking about using my Wacom tablet and drawing this on Open Canvas instead (which is going to be so much more time consuming). Gah.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

More graduate school choices have emerged, but I am pretty dead-set on which one I want to go to. Pleased I will be heading to the U.K. because that is where the majority of my friends are, though it is doubtful how often I can maintain this blog once my Masters course starts in the Fall. So I better make use of the time I have the Summer....it feels like a brief bout of freedom before another prison sentence. (Mind you, I actually like learning and studying so I'm grateful for a graduate school opening; I just dislike how institutions limit your use of time by piling as much work as they can on you at the same time).

Eurgh....I can't type too much, my annoying mother is being indecisive about everything and is talking to me non stop.

Black Rainstorm warning

So my badminton match has been cancelled today, thanks to the black rainstorm warning being announced in Hong Kong. I really want to just don my raincoat and trample outside and get soaked, but my mother is giving me hell at the very mention of the idea-- she doesn't want me to catch a cold. But I'm a twenty something year old person with a decent immunity system. Boo hiss. Kill joy.

Torrents of water coming out everywhere; even bursting out of the sewers themselves. The alternative to running outside in the rain is to stay indoors right and enjoy the scenery...

..and not think about the current global problems. Thing is, I'm physically young so it means I still have a couple of decades to tough things out. And the current state of the environment makes me want to give the planet back to the current generation of older adults and ask for a refund or an exchange. Then again, we young ones did things to pollute as well. Don't get me started on the health of the economy right now. Not the best time to be graduating and looking for work in the U.S.

I wish that I'll become a better adult, the sort that will be good for this planet.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ooh, the new album from Weezer was released earlier this month; I totally forgot in the midst of unpacking and sorting my stuff out since getting back from undergraduate studies in L.A. Pork and Beans is a catchy song, but I heard that the album received mixed reviews in general. But burn the music critic, I say! I love the band no matter what they do. I'll prob head out to HMV and buy the disc in a few days....when the weather clears up.

EDIT: Just checked the price of Weezer's Red Album on HMV. Not going to fork out 150HKD when I can buy the same thing for 9.99USD on Amazon (translates to 77.92HKD....without tax. With tax, it is still under 100HKD). To hell with you, HMV. I'll buy the good music elsewhere. I can deal with the wait time during shipping. Waiting doesn't cost me a thing.

Insomnia blues

An image of Aein and Erebos together. Every now and then I get an urge to draw characters in random clothing from my weird imagination. I have yet to come up with a colour scheme for these outfits, but I'll manage to conjure something up sooner or later.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Not exactly a high resolution or quality image right now, but the original is pretty big so once I finish I'll use that one instead. For now, this thumbnail will have to do. I don't really know what came over me to draw Kanda in such an outfit or pose, but it's cute. But Kanda is cute as a kid, so what can I say? Can't wait for the new chapter this week.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nothing much happening still. Was supposed to do some Anthropology reading, but Thursday isn't exactly a great day for me to work. Ever since I've been back to Hong Kong I haven't been sleeping well. I'm not sure if it is still jetlag, the fact that I've heard a ton of Chinese ghost stories recently, the wooden floors in the house making noises, or the Chinese medicine I've been given to get rid of my abdominal pains. Either way I still wake up in the middle of the night for a toilet run, and then I find myself rolling around in bed wide-awake.

Children are trouble

A picture of Kanda and Lavi as children (because they're too cut in recent chapters), with a [long-hair!] Allen. Kanda and Lavi are totally manipulating Allen with their pouts and glossy eyes. I always think children cry not because they need to, but because they want to. Certainly was the case when I was young, you can get a lot of angry adults to back off just by working those tear ducts. Fine, maybe not all children are evil; just that I was a conniving child.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Eurgh, family drama tonight. To be fair, it isn't exactly a 'family' drama as it involves some random git. The bastard ran into my sister's car, and she's trying to get him to pay for damages whereas he just decided to play "missing jackass" with her on the insurance claim. She calls him, he hangs up on her and then pretends that nothing happened. So my sister is going civil lawsuit on his ass.

And my mum just let out another slew of old-fashion 'conservativism' thinking. Apparently something to do with 'internet being evil with those suicide sites' and all, and how 'suicide is a sin and everyone is going to go to hell'. The latter statement I have no empirical data to prove or disprove (or do I even care, since I'm atheist?); the former I can only say two words- first amendment.

Starting to wonder how a conservative mother managed to spring two liberals out of her womb...actually, the bigger question is: does my mother even know what the hell she is saying half the time?

Days Lull By

Nothing new happening as of late, just sitting idly by awaiting news from the graduate programmes I applied to. Turned down two offers today, and I'm not sure if it was a such a good idea to do so...hopefully I'll just plod on ahead and believe that I've made the right decision (I mean, there is no alternative, is there?).

Can't stand living with my parents this Summer, but it can't be helped. I hate the lack of privacy and how my parents assume they know what I'm like (despite popular belief, parents do not know everything). And their way of thinking is so close-minded and "old-school" [mixed in with some persistent racism that still exists in some Asian cultures] that I'm inches away from whacking their heads whenever they express their opinions on current issues. Not saying that my own opinions are any better than theirs; but at the very least I'm willing to listen to others.....my parents are old and stubborn. And treats me like I'm still in effing grade school. No mother, you can't dictate a bedtime for a twenty-something about-to-be-grad-student.

And I hate the fact that they pick on my weight issues. I know I'm not a size 0, and probably not even a 4, but not everyone's skeletal frame is meant to be that skinny. Not every girl wants to look like a washboard/twig/12-year-old-boy. I'll be healthy and exercise, but I'll be damned if I have to starve myself to achieve a decent weight.

------------------------------------------------------------------

The new DGM volume 15 cover is gorgeous! Would totally buy it if I could venture to Causeway Bay where all the manga shops are. (I like reading manga in its original Japanese text....you lose something with translations).