What's your opinion on Adobe Photoshop CS3? I know many artists who like it, and while I never really draw or color my pictures in Adobe Photoshop programs (I only use them to edit stuff, apply text and such), I'm slightly curious about it.

I need screentones. Lots and lots of screentones. I guess it's time to learn how to make them myself.

Volume 5 of Baku-man will be released on November 4! The cover features Fukuda and his gang. ^^ It's really funny... and I can totally relate to Fukuda's anger and anguish. ^^;;; I rarely work with traditional ink these days because I ink everything in Paint Tool SAI, but I remember the pain of seeing an ugly blotch on your drawing... ;o; Hehe. And because I'll get paid for my translation work very soon, I'll be able to buy it without problems. Hmm... you know, I actually enjoy working as a freelance translator. I mean, I wouldn't want all of my jobs to be freelance, I DO need a regular job in order to feel safe, but it's still nice. Well, ideally, I'd like to be a cat or a panda in a zoo. Much like Hiramaru. ^^;;; Incidentally, I want volume 6 to have Hiramaru on it! Or maybe Aoki. Or both.

I'd like to recommend this set of video clips to all artists and everyone else who's interested in manga. These are step-by-step records of Kaoru Mori-sensei's drawing process. Even if you're not a fan of Victorian Romance Emma and Otoyomegatari, you really need to watch these anyway because Mori-sensei's art is absolutely stunning. *Δ* She's like a goddess to me. Her inking skills are frighteningly good. I'd sell my soul for 10% of her talent. ;-; And... heh, I guess I won't stop wasting my money on manga after all because I want to buy volume 1 of Otoyomegatari, now that it's out. I just... want to keep it in my personal library as an example of What Good Manga Must Be Like™, along with Obata-sensei's works. Sure, it'll give me a gigantic inferiority complex (...as if I don't have it already ;;;), but still... it's simply so gorgeous. ;o; I really like the cover, too. Amira looks very graceful. ♥

I've finally found a way to convert large MKV videos into small AVI files! Now I can watch Hakaba Kitaro and many other anime that are not available in certain formats. The only problem is that subtitles get lost when I use Any Video Converter to create the AVIs, and I don't really know how to fix that, but oh well... I can always look for text subs somewhere online. Or just watch everything in Japanese. ^^; I won't start studying it properly anytime soon, but at least I can practice it a little by watching untranslated anime. It's okay as long as the video file itself is actually watchable and my old computer doesn't hate it. Anyway, I love Hakaba Kitaro! It's... really not for everyone, it's very grotesque, bizarre and full of dark (or just dirty) humor, and Nezumi-otoko is easily one of the most disgusting and amoral anime characters out there (WORSE THAN KYOUSUKE HIGUCHI HIMSELF), but I like it a lot. My tastes are pretty diverse in general - sometimes I enjoy cute, sweet stuff such as Kobato or Kimi ni Todoke, but deep inside, I will always be a fan of ghosts and various monstrous folklore creatures. I'll try to draw some Hakaba Kitaro fanart someday - I have a couple of funny ideas about the main characters. Besides, I ship Kitaro x Neko-chan quite hard, and that needs to be reflected in my fanworks, even if nobody else cares about them. And yeah, I know that I don't post fanart often enough. ;;; Sorry. But right now I'm busy with something else, and that something is related to art, in fact. I'll explain it later.

My doujinshi package has finally arrived! ♥ \*o*/ ♥ Thank you so much, Silvia, the books are in excellent condition and the posters are fantastic as well. I'm so excited, I don't know where to start. *.* GUYS. I'm so honored to have my comic featured in this anthology along with your amazing works, under this gorgeous cover. Hmm, my doujinshi... doesn't look too bad on paper! ^^;;; No, really, the print quality is very nice, and while I'm not entirely happy with some parts of my work (AS ALWAYS ;;;), it's my problem and not anybody else's. Next time I'll try my absolute best to make a longer story, with better art. Though you can probably expect the same pairing since I have a one-track mind... ^^;;; I'll comment on everyone's stories and art later (the book is pretty big, I need time to digest it!), but right now I just want to thank you all. Even though it's a non-commercial fan project, I see it as a huge artistic accomplishment for all of us as it's truly a labor of love. And my very special thanks go to Silvia, again, for her great and invaluable work. ♥ Also... you know what really made me laugh? My father flipped through the book, pointed at my picture of Kiyomi and ASKED IF THAT WAS MY SELF-PORTRAIT. @.@;;; Well, yeah, my usual hairstyle is similar to Kiyomi's (although it's actually shorter at the moment... more like, I dunno, Matsuda's), but... I-I swear that I never use her as my Mary Sue and I ship her with Teru for entirely different reasons. If you're really that curious, my Mary Sue is Teru's secretary. You know, the one who appears in one panel and never does anything even remotely notable. Yeah. Anyway, I'm so happy.

I'm going to have an extra day off this Friday (because it's our university's 50th anniversary). This is exactly what I need right now, to be honest. Also, my art lessons are about to start again! Yay. AS ALWAYS, I NEED TO DRAW MORE.

This is completely random, but our doujinshi project fills me with happiness whenever I look at the main site or at the list of buyers. *.* Seriously, this book is more successful than some of our university department's publications. ^^;;;

Well... here's my gift for Baku-man's first anniversary - a picture of Eiji. ( PICTURE )

I want to get back into the La Corda d'Oro fandom and do something substantial for it, like... some Tsukimori fanart maybe? ^^; And I haven't watched the second part of the OVA yet (I only have the new set of character songs)! What the hell is wrong with me! Len won't die without me, but I need to pay more attention to my favorite tsundere kid. It's a pity that all new manga scans that I have are in Chinese...

I really want to draw another doujinshi. ^^; I don't feel like doing my own comic though because I find group art projects more fun (which is odd, I'm not especially fond of group work in general)... but I'd like to draw something for a Baku-man book or a Vampire Knight book. Sadly, Baku-man is a small fandom, and Vampire Knight just doesn't seem to be very... doujinshi-oriented. And of course I'd LOVE to do another Death Note doujinshi because, well, you know.

Yesterday I tried working with oil paints for the first time in my life! \o.o/ I failed miserably, but it was interesting. And, um, yeah, I know that I'm super late and slow and that most serious artists have at least some experience with oils, but... I have reasons for that! Oils are generally rather expensive and not easy to work with because you need extra stuff like solvents, preferably the brands that don't smell too much (the paints themselves are smelly enough - luckily for me, our apartment has two balconies, so I can settle there and fool around with all kinds of poisonous materials ^^;), and a good pre-coated canvas is also necessary for people like me who are too lazy to prepare it without anybody's assistance. Well, anyway, I'll try my best and maybe someday I'll paint something spiffy with oils. ^^ I'll tell you the truth... I want to learn how to draw for fun again. Not for recognition or anything like that, but just for fun. Though maybe it's no longer possible for a terribly conceited person like me. ^^; Ah well.

Hmm... now that I'm done with my doujinshi work, I really need to start doing something else. >.>;;; The problem is that I honestly don't feel like doing anything even remotely big, which... is sad and alarming, I'm not supposed to be tired after a whole month of vacations without ANY kind of work (short part-time job doesn't count, it wasn't hard at all, heck, it was actually kind of entertaining, in fact). But... I really don't want to return to the office, I'm not in the mood for drawing, which is awful because drawing IS my greatest hobby, in theory (or rather... I simply like it more than most other kinds of activities ;;;), and don't get me started on my dissertation, I don't want to touch that thing with a mile-long pole. I guess I'll have to continue writing it someday, but, argh, it's painful to even think about it. =.=;;; There are moments when I totally feel like Hiramaru from Baku-man, and I don't work as much as that guy does, to be fair. x.x;;; Bah. Or maybe I just hate mornings, especially rainy ones.

Just a little happy note: if all goes well, our fanbook will feature a bonus illustration done by me (aside from my main work). It'll be a picture of a very evil-looking Roger. ^^; He's a minor character in Death Note and most sane people don't pay too much attention to him (he's just an orphanage manager, right?), but Kito and I have a whole set of (unwritten) stories about Roger and his SECRET EVIL LIFE, so I'm kinda partial to this old guy. Well, hey, he dislikes kids and loves books about insects, he has to be a Marvel villain in disguise.

WELL, GUESS WHAT, FOLKS. Yesterday, Silvia received the very first copy of our Death Note anthology! \*∆*/ This is a photo of my comic page spread (sorry, I edited it a bit ^^). I love the way it looks on paper. *.* I mean, the drawings themselves aren't perfect, but! Guys! It's my first, and hopefully not last, Death Note doujinshi dedicated to my super rare, super unpopular OTP! I want to do it again... maybe I'll draw a longer story next time? Eee. The whole book looks gorgeous, it has a shiny cover and it's full of amazing works done by fans - AND it's quite thick, almost like a real manga volume. Thanks, everyone. I'm so proud of you all and I'm honored to be a member of this project. Naturally, I'll get a copy for myself. I can't give you any pre-order info at the moment, but there will probably be an official announcement at the community, so if you're interested, you won't miss it. ^^

You know what? My journal needs more original art, especially animal art. I'm not planning to stop doing anime art anytime soon, of course, but... variety is good, don't you think? I'll be extremely grateful if you take a look at this wintery little picture of a bird. ^^ It's my first non-anime CG. ^^;;; ( PICTURE ) By the way, this is my new DeviantArt account - I'll use it for my non-anime works. Please don't mind the weird username.

For someone who's supposed to be a huge Baku-man fan, I really don't post Baku-man fanart often enough. ;-; Alright, here's a little picture of Miho Azuki. S-she is so cute in the manga. ≧∆≦ I will always be an Iwase fan, but Miho plays a bigger and better role in the story, being the hero's girlfriend and all. ( PICTURE )

Hah... I feel so guilty when I look at my favorite artists' galleries, they dedicate so much of their time to drawing, while I... eh. Sorry, I'm in a weird mood. Perhaps I should just go and find myself some more freelance work and improve my mental state by manipulating people into giving me money. Oh well. It's not that bad. I'm reading Skip Beat! and Bride of the Water God (a Korean comic based on an old legend). Skip Beat! is very funny, but somehow it's hard for me to read... I have no idea why, but it makes my eyes feel tired. @.@ It's odd, I have excellent eyesight and normally I never feel tired after reading (and I read A LOT all the time), yet there's something about Skip Beat!'s page layouts that makes this manga difficult for me to digest. It's seriously strange and a bit sad because I actually like Skip Beat!, and Nakamura-sensei's style is just so pretty, and heck, I want to be able to discuss it with my friend who's a big fan. Eh. Whatever. Bride of the Water God is amazing though, and the author is only 4 years older than me! I don't want to be a professional comic artist... being a doujinshi artist is enough... but I must work harder in order to catch up with these awesome people. I like how it is connected to the ancient tradition of human sacrifices. Another great manga is Mousou Shoujo Otakukei, which you can read here! It's a story of a BL fangirl who loves yaoi and doujinshi more than anything else, but as far as I understand it, there's no actual BL content (only in her fantasies). ^^;

My plan is to read many different manga during summer! I also need to practice drawing MUCH MORE OFTEN, but... er, that's another question. I'm simply waiting for inspiration and cool ideas, I swear! ^^;;; Today I read several volumes of Katsu! and... dropped it halfway through. I really like Adachi-sensei's art and writing style, but I guess I just don't like Katsu! as much as Cross Game, and boxing is not my thing, I prefer baseball even though I don't get the rules all that well. ;;; I'm impressively dumb when it comes to most sports, in fact. Anyway, Katsu! IS a fairly good story, I just can't bring myself to care deeply enough for the characters. I'll read Adachi-sensei's other manga though. I have mixed feelings about the way he portrays girls (I'll write about that later), but I can't deny the fact that he's a highly skilled author. Nobody is perfect, I guess. Also, I've started Mirai Nikki! I know that Mihael likes it very much, and I can trust her taste - for example, I discovered School Days through her journal and that was an enjoyable little thriller. Nice boat, eh, Kotonoha-san? There's an important yandere character in Mirai Nikki, so I'm pretty sure it's good, haha.

This afternoon I attempted to color one of my newest pencil sketches. I... failed, so I sat down and wrote a short Teru x Kiyomi fic instead. Take a look at it? Heh, that's my favorite way of dealing with problems - when all else fails, do something related to your OTP. It'll make everything better.