Getting these posted rather late, but last year while visiting my friend Bob in Osaka, I did a photoshoot with the lovely Shino. To see more photos from the shoot, click the photo, or here.
Goldie
I made a big, pretty new illustration (that’s also nsfw because of bewbz), called “Goldie“. This piece was a fun new direction for me. While shopping at my favorite art supply store in Nagasaki, I saw a couple pieces of washi paper that instantly inspired me. One was metallic gold and full of swirls. This reminded me of curly blonde hair. There was also a piece of white paper with golden speckles (and a few silver speckles here & there), that reminded me of freckles. Using these, as well as silver washi paper for the background and metallic green origami paper for her eyes, I set about making an image of the pretty lady you see here. I worked larger than usual, and it was pretty fun to get out of my usual comfort zones. Since it’s too big to scan, I took photos, so hopefully the one you see above looks okay. It’s about the closest I could get. Since there’s metallic stuff everywhere, it’s very hard to photograph. I’ll be working with washi paper more in the near future as I really love the look. I just bought several new sheets of crazy patterns and am excited to get to work!
Anyway, if you’d like to see the full image, as well as details, the making-of, click here! Also, you can download a big wallpaper for your monitor there 🙂
Faces
I’ve been super busy since moving to Japan last year, and haven’t been able to do as much art as I’d like, but I still find time to make quick drawings here and there! I just posted a few beautiful ladies to my illustration section, here, here, here, here, here, and here!
What have I been busy with? Well, for one, just living my life and exploring this interesting place I live in… Also the day job and a big publishing project I’ve been in charge of for it (I’ll post that eventually on this site). Also I’ve been working on other publishing projects that I’ll talk about someday. Sorry to be cryptic… Anyway, enjoy these drawings for now!
199X
I posted a new music track that I’m quite proud of, as well as artwork to go with it! It’s a tribute to the future, how we used to view the future back in the ’80s. It’s sort of like a space hip hop wall of sound and has a lot of moody atmospherics. Best listened to on good headphones or speakers with BASS 🙂 If you want to see more about the visual art, go to this page in the design section.
As a bonus, here’s a nice big wallpaper of the fake Famicom label I made for the video.
Street Meat
I made a rather chilling new music track, as well as art to go with it. It’s called “Street Meat”. Listen to it above!
Amethyst
Howdy boys and girls! Here’s something I whipped up recently… The release image for my single “Amethyst”. I put it in the Illustrated-Photography gallery, even though it’s about 90% illustration, 10% photography (as opposed the roughly 50/50 split of most of that work) because I thought it fit in better thematically. Not manga-ish like a lot of my pure illustration work is…
I’m sort of fascinated by crystals, in terms of their shapes, and also with polygon graphics and early computer graphics. I decided to put these themes together for the rather surreal lady you see here. If you want to listen to the track that I made this for, check out the video below:
Clair
So the good news is that since moving to Japan, I’ve been super inspired and in a great mood most of the time (which is conducive to making art for me). The bad news is that I’ve been so dang busy that I haven’t been able to make as much art as I’d like. Also, my model network here is basically nonexistent, and despite the large amount of pretty girls and handsome dudes in Nagasaki, it’s hard to find people who want to pose for fashion-type photos. That said, I’ve done a couple shoots for my friend Mai, who runs “Clair”, a dress and accessory shop!
Recently, Mai’s friend Ren posed with a bunch of different dresses. It was her first time modeling, and I think she was stunning! There are a lot more on the gallery page for it, so click here, or on the Ren pics to see more than what I’ve posted here. Here’s a sample…
Next up, a few shots of Mai herself, rocking some fabulous dresses and jewelry. As with before, click here, or below, s to see more! Mai looks quite good here too, I think 🙂
Despite having to leave my big Profoto strobe set back in the states, due to size / weight / cost restrictions, I’ve not been without strobes as you see here. I bought an extra Speedlite, a wireless trigger, and some various accessories. I don’t have quite the power and consistency of light quality that I have with my Acute 1200s set, but the tradeoff is that my Speedlite setup is battery powered and super compact, so I can shoot anywhere without being tethered by a power cord. Also, if things break, it’s a lot cheaper to replace a Speedlite than a strobe head…. Stay tuned! As I get to know more people around Kyushu, as well as planning ahead for shooting when I visit other places, I’ll be posting more fashion and portraits once again!
I should add, as a post-script, that I’m still taking tons of photos. I shoot about 8-10 Gigs per week here, just in snapshots, and I’ve been doing more event photography for the schools I work for. Pretty fun!
MACRO is back!
Oh yes, and another thing… I finally redesigned, revamped, and REVIVED the Macro site! (Macro is my music). Click the above image or here to go visit the site. There are about 30 mp3s on there for you to download (including a whole album!), a few videos to watch, and lots of pictures! Also, I’ve been messing around with new music, of course. Here’s a new track, “Novo”, my first new song in six years!
I’m excited to come out of my music hiatus…
Panorama Island – out now!
In other news, “Panorama Island”, a manga that Ryan Sands and I adapted into English is now available! It’s being put out by Last Gasp, and is now available to purchase in lots of different places, such as directly from Last Gasp, or via Amazon, for example. It was a dream project to work on, since it’s a Maruo comic, based off of an Edogawa Ranpo story. The book came out beautifully, and is a nice big hardcover. Here’s what Amazon has to say about the story.
On a remote and mysterious island, one man builds a playground of hedonistic excess – replete with waterfalls, grand palaces, and gardens – a backdrop for his decadent feasts, orgies, and dark secrets. Set in 1920s Japan, The Strange Tale of Panorama Island follows the twisted path of failed novelist Hitomi, who bears an uncanny resemblance to the son of a rich industrialist family. Hitomi learns of the rich man’s sudden passing and creates a desperate plan. He fakes his own death, digs up and hides the other man’s body, and then washes himself up starving on a beach near the home of the dead man’s family. After successfully impersonating the now-dead son, Hitomi takes over all aspects of the industrialist’s life, including his company, his fortune, and eventually his wife. The failed author soon redirects the family’s wealth to his own perverse aims. A graphic novel based on the revered novella by Edogawa Rampo. Rampo was the godfather of Japanese pulp mysteries. Stunning artwork by master manga artist Suehiro Maruo deftly illustrates this Japanese pulp classic in fine detail. * 13th Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize for New Artist
I handled the lettering, touch-up, and book design, while Ryan handled the editing. Ryan and Kyoko Nitta did translation. Pick up a copy and enjoy it 🙂
Long time no see. Here’s a bunch of art!
Hey everyone. I’m all settled in Japan now. Er, I have been since late January, but things have been quite busy. Anyway, I’ve been feeling super inspired since moving here, and have working on lots of creative projects whenever I have time. I’ll post about some of other stuff I’ve been doing soon, but in the meantime, here are a few illustrations and collages I’ve done since getting here (you can click on them to go to their respective gallery pages if you’d like):
