Here's to friends

Today I felt the incredible warmth of my friends. At home, in church, in my art circle. I'm just so thankful to God for surrounding me with such wonderful people.

So, I'm recalling this sketch from a couple years ago. 

Here's to friends.

What's up? - Chicken Butt.

Two weeks ago I participated in the Foreign Artists' Exhibition.

Along with many of the other artists participating, I found that I lead a dual life.

Teacher by day - artist by night.

I gave away a lot of business cards, so, to the possible new people who are following my endeavors, here's an update.

Let me tell you what this artist is up to...

I'm working on three projects right now. Each week I'm alternating my focus from one to the next. Hopefully this will allow me to focus and use my energy effectively.

Japan VS America: I'm releasing one page a week. This comic is really fun for me! I've always wanted to write a comic in Japanese and this my first effort to do so. Eri is helping correct my Japanese and is teaching me Japanese sound effects. Though she says her Japanese isn't very good, I still appreciate the help. It's great practice and I'm really loving the challenge of this Bi-lingual comic.

Moonlight Havok:

My hopes are to release this one scene per month. Though the story is pretty solid in my head, my scripts are really out dated and frankly the dialogue is embarrassing and amateurish. I'm focusing on rewriting the script and fixing the paneling. Initially this comic was formatted for left to right reading, but since I'm living in Japan and most people who read comics are adapted to the Eastern, right to left formatting, I figured it would be easier to just keep it that way.

Elftech:

This is a story idea I conceived at around age 12 and it's never died out in my head. Last year I had an epiphany for how I want to finish the story as well as the message I want to convey through it, so I'm currently writing the script.

During the 2 months I was in America this summer I was able to work out a framework and basic timeline, so now I'm fleshing out the details.

Sundays and during the times my head hurts too much to look at the screen, I'm playing with clay and sculpting. With any extra clay I have left over I make little butts.

Let's talk about dreams.

Just recently I had the chance to see my favorite group, Perfume, perform live right here in Nagoya.

I was so excited when I was told they'd be here that I instantly purchased the ticket, despite the fact that it meant I'd be going alone. 

I was so excited that even when I went on the day that I had purchased my ticket for, turned out to be mistakenly for the next day, I happily purchased a second ticket and went twice!

This was my experience:

The huge lights and stage created an outer space atmosphere. The music boomed right into my soul, it felt like... and now I feel I can never listen to their music at a normal volume again.

And the girls, A-chan, Nochi and Kashiyuka with their years of hard work and experience danced perfectly. Despite sitting next to an unenthusiastic older man　盛れ上げないおじいさん  both times, I was ecstatic. 

I follow this group well enough to know their story, to know that they almost didn't make it. That in a time when they could've given up, providence happened, and now they sharing their dream with the whole world.In that moment I was awe struck. Because I was standing there, in Japan, watching them, living MY dream. 

And I thought to myself, God really must care about people's dreams. Not just the dreams of people who believe in him, but everyone's dreams. And He blesses hard work towards making those dreams come true. 

I won't be overly modest in saying that I didn't put effort into being here. But there was so much divine intervention to help me overcome obstacles which sometimes I didn't even know were in my way. Almost as confirmation, at that moment, the chorus of the song "Miracle Worker" blasted and I just about died of happiness.

A-chan ended the concert with saying, "Everyone, sometimes you have hard days, but you're not alone. We all have our own problems to overcome, in whatever it is we're doing. So let's all do our best, every day." Sniffling back my tears I went home charged for the week- for my whole life maybe.

I'll never forget the time I saw Perfume... twice. Which I think was also divine intervention, as once was definitely not enough.

Webcomic host blogーーーacitvate!

I've created a sister blog to my website with which I will be posting a couple of webcomics:

Japan VS America, the one I previously mentioned, and my baby... Moonlight Havok!

So far, I've got the first episode (?) of Japan VS America.

I've got a lot of ideas for it's continuation, so please look forward to it.

It's been a while since I've worked on MLH though, so it might be a little while before I can get the ball rolling on it.

Please look forward to it, however. It's the comic I want more than anything to succeed, so I was waiting till I was at a more professional standing, but I finally decided to just go for it after reading a note in Mangakuukan by one of the professional comic artists. 

He said, "The comic I most wanted to make is, The me who cannot go to school Please read it."

And I was like, Dang it! I want people to read the comic I most want to make!

Here I go!

Until I can figure out better methods for displaying these comics, here it is!

http://parapearlcomics.blogspot.jp/

Japan VS America

This is an idea for a strip comic chronicling the interesting experiences I've had so far living with my Japanese room mate, Eri. A running joke that has developed between us is "Japan VS America".
There are a lot of fun stories that I'd like to share, so please look forward to them. For now, it's late, and I'm sick, so I'll just tantalize you with this crappy sketch of the first story.
On Eri's birthday I hid a party popper in the bathroom... but she ended up getting home at nine, and not using the bathroom until 4:00am!
It was still awesome.

Self diagnosis and treatment for Unproductivitus.

Unproductivitus is a disorder that develops from a deficiency in organization and motivation coupled with a daunting amount of things to do.

The sypmtoms of Unproductivitus include lethargy, stress, inability to focus, anxiety and even panic attacks. If left untreated, Unproductivitus can develop into unrealized dreams syndrome.


The remedy for Unproductivitus takes only a few steps and self treatment is the best method.

1. Get paper, a pen, a calendar and a timer.
2. Set your timer for 30 or 60 minutes and begin making a list of the most immediately necessary tasks or projects you have to do. Anyone can focus on a task if given a strict timeline to accomplish it.
3. Break down those projects into their most basic steps and calendar when you will do them so that your project will be completed in time.
4. If doing this takes up your whole time limit, then begin by tackling the first steps on your list. If you have remaining time, move on to step 5.
5. Write another list of secondary tasks or projects that you need to do and calendar the steps for those to be completed as well. (Be sure to schedule these tasks for after your most important tasks.)
6. Repeat steps 1-6 weekly until a pattern develops. For aggravated cases, a task list should be made daily. These steps help increase organization levels which reduces some of the more severe symptoms of unproductivitus. The next steps are important for increasing motivation levels.
7. Upon completing projects it is very important to reward oneself however is best suited to the individual. Some recommendations include: taking a nap, going out to eat, buying a small present for yourself, doing something fun and chocolate.
8. Communicate accomplishments to friends, family and co-workers. Unproductivitus is not an uncommon affliction so you shouldn't be ashamed to celebrate your successes. People who love you will be happy for even your smallest victories.
9. Spend quiet time thinking, meditating on or praying about your current endeavors and the future. If the above steps are being implemented then you should experience a feeling of excitement and hopefulness.

Some activities which aggravate unproductivitus are: Youtube, facebook, instagram, twitter and any other form of social media, texting, snacking, television and unnecessary cleaning (also known as procrastinating).

Unproductivitus should not be confused with ACTUAL PHYSICAL SICKNESS. If you are sick and you do not rest, you will die.

I hope this helps someone.

keeping the milk carton rolling.

So, tonight I found myself making mini-vans out of milk cartons for my Saturday school English lesson. As I was testing it out I was down on all floors, pushing, blowing with everything to keep that smelly little box rolling. And then it connected to my life... ah, how interesting it is when that happens.
You think... my life is like a makeshift race-car crafted from garbage. Haha.
I've got all the right parts... an education, a platform, vision, etc., but they aren't in the position or quality level that will bring me to the place I want to be in. But the answer to getting in that spot is right there... just keep it rolling, learn what needs to change, adjust and keep it rolling.

Networking 101

Hello world, my name is Sara Cooney. Here's my business card. Hope to hear from you soon.

Need for speed: Speed drawing pose practice

I've always thought that speed is a skill that is very important to comic and manga artists. Meeting deadlines and also being able to continuously create new ideas isn't something that can be done if you spend 30 minutes perfecting each character's pose. This is my problem.
To remedy it, I've been trying to make the habit of practicing 45 second drawings on Posemaniacs.com It's a great website that I was introduced to in college for my drawing 101 class.
I've been doing sets of 10 as recommended by the website. Within only one week I can already see improvement in the completeness and structure of the poses.
It's an exercise that I recommend any budding artist add to their regimen. It only takes about 7 minutes for a set of 10, 45 second drawings, and onlly 5 minutes if you do the 30 second drawings.
That will be the next step up for me.

My first bout.

Today's practice.

You can tell that the drawings are much more complete.

I'm very happy about it. I hope if you've never heard of posemaniacs you will check it out. It's a great resource. 

Church Notes 2

The night before church and I got the karaoke bug, so I went and sang from 12:00am untill 4:30am, went home, slept for a couple hours and then went to church at 8:30...
The fight to stay awake was so real. Before service started my roommate and I went to the nearby shopping mall for breakfast and I got a sketchbook to aid in the struggle. It worked! I managed to stay awake the whole time.
And here are the notes:

There's Something in the Water.

Last night I was slumming around and talking to my roommate about how tired I was. The meanwhile I drew this. 

I thought out loud, "Why do I always draw scary things?"

Eri said to me, because you draw to relive your stress right? You're just expressing that stress. 

(In Japanese)

Oh, duh. *facepalm*

Reunions

 

Today I got to hang out with my old friend from college. We had a great time catching up, talking art and even had a little painting party. 

It was good to see ya Alex!

My little brother made his first painting, a knife sharpener that he modeled in Minecraft.

 

Alex painted me. 

This is what I drew. It started out as a little hedgehog but turned into a hell-dog.

It was really fun.

My Church Notes

Something about singing worship songs with my congregation and listening to a good message from my pastor just puts me in the creative zone for drawing. Usually at that time the only paper I have on hand is my church notes. Oh well, here's the picture I drew.

Launchpad (dejavu)

So, I've started a new website! http://www.parapearl.com/
I really want to connect in the art circles of Japan and one thing that everybody has and needs here to connect... business cards.
That's right, I made the website to put on my business cards. Laughable, I know, but the experience of re-designing the site, thinking about my statement and image, as well as revisiting my portfolio and art documents really was a good thing.
Having finished my first comic, Oh Israel, I went into the frenzy of thinking, "What's next?!"
...
Well, I've taken a step. We'll see what the next one is together.

Expectations

It's easier to get along with people when you don't expect anything from them. It's easier to not be hurt or angry at them when you never expected them to act otherwise. I was thinking of that in regards to my latest drawings. In the Dog Rose drawing above t's easy to see that my own expectations were low. This was just play. I wasn't trying to create anything spectacular. 

I set my expectations high for the Blue Hobbit drawing, however, and though it took more time, effort and energy. It turned out significantly better.

So, maybe that principle can be applied back to people. The people we have high expectations for, may make us hurt, angry, sad or upset when they let us down, but if we put the time, effort and energy into the relationships with them, they will end up ultimately better than those relationships with low expectations. 

Starting fresh

Soon my life is going to change a lot.
I finished my first short story comic this week, Oh Israel. Now as I sit, revisiting my goals and talking to my future husband I'm faced with that realization.
He's going to be here with me soon. I feel like to possibilities are opening up immensely. I feel like this next chapter of my life is going to be amazing. Different... really different.

I've learned a lot living on my own. I've learned a lot through this last project. Now I'm ready to tackle what comes next.

Meeting doodles

There was a meeting at church today, so I had a lot of time to make some fun drawings. The thing I want to study most recently is dramatic lighting. I'm getting flashbacks from Art History and Caravaggio, the catholic graphic artist. Dramatic lighting and perspective key traits of the Baroque painting style. I'm being a bit sheepish about it though, if I'm really going to study it I need to get some figures and actually light them up.  I also should use a softer pencil... I forgot mine today and was borrowing from random places. The first image I used a mechanical pencil and the BG was an HB. It was very fun and I'm glad I have something to show.

 I did this yesterday, the second piece in my tiny flower book. This project took back burner surprisingly fast despite my initial excitement for it. I'll try to do better this week.

Finally! A displayable project!!

So, I've been drawing like a maniac lately to finish my short story Bible comic, but it's a project that I don't really want to show until it's finished, so I haven't felt like there's been anything to post on the blog... I know you all get tired of me proclaiming all of my good intentions without ever having good art to show for it.  That will come soon though. I'm spending my time working instead of talking about working.
However! I was at the 100 yen shop yesterday and had the compulsion to buy a tiny little blank book.
And I've decided to fill it with drawings of exactly what is on the cover... flowers!

It will be a fun practice and a cute little edition to my portfolio. I'll consistently upload the pictures each week. So please look forward to them as well as the release of my comic project.