Will you be at the ICA’s Comica Comiket this Sunday?

Hello peeps! Did you enjoy the fireworks last night? If not, there’s still time tonight! Fireworks = hotdog + sweets + hot drinks = nom! Y >_< Y

I will be selling my artwork and small-press snacks at the ICA this Sunday, from 1pm to 6pm. This will be the last art fair for me for this year and it’s going to be very exciting! It’s the Comica Comiket, your one and only chance to check out the alternative press scene and meet up-and-coming artists in a great, central location! There’s also an exhibition going on plus the usual ICA art exhibits as well as a bar and musical entertainment. But forget that…there’s mee and my artwork! >_<

If you’d like to read about the Comica Festival, visit Paul Gravett’s site here. If you need more info about Sunday email me or view the ICA’s map – it’s near Piccadilly Circus and I’ll be in the Theatre.

The Comica Comiket line-up of other sellers will include my small-press partners in crime Capes & Drapes and Tempo Lush, plus sci-fi/horror fanzine extraordinaire Murky Depths as well as TP Cat Melody Lee, Atlantic Press, Decadence, Cute But Sad Comics and the amazing Alternative Press team!

 

London MCM Expo Weekend + Illustration of the day!

So the Expo Weekend is finally upon us! If you’re coming along then I certainly hope to see you there! I’ll be in the Artist’s corner, on table C28 with Van, my Expo partner-in-crime, from Capes & Drapes!

If you’re unable to make it don’t worry – keep Sunday November 8^th in your diaries as I will be selling my work again at this year’s Comica Comiket at the ICA. This event will be free to all and I’ll keep you posted nearer the time.

Alas! Back to the Expo! So who is it that I’ll be dressing up as? The Malacca Cane’s “Lady of the Night”. I’m actually still deciding what her name should be (if you have any suggestions – feel free to contact me!), so for now, she is known as the lady of the night.

See you at the Expo! >_<

 

Malacca Cane gonna smash your brain…

So, only  a week left to go until the highly awaited London MCM Expo! I have just received my Victoriana pantaloons in the post this morning and I love them! They look so laced up, so Malacca Cane I can’t wait to rock the full look. It’s sort of a mix between Victoriana and Gothic Lolita, crazy! >_<

My partner J is also waiting for his personalised Malacca Cane to come in the post, and I can’t wait to see him in the full get-up, top hat, eyeliner. Oh Boy! >_< Dress-up is so much fun… but will we look authentic? We’ll have to see… =_=”

And just so you have a clear idea of what characters I’m talking about, here is a sneak preview of a print I’ll be selling (in print and postcard) over the MCM Expo weekend. I present… the Malacca cane himself and his partner-in-crime:

Woot! Woot!

 

Illustrations of the day + MCM Expo News >_<

So I’m officially back from my beachy-break and have some new illustrations of the day to share with you, as well as exciting updates about the coming MCM London Expo!

Some of you may or may not know that I’ll be “Cosplaying it up” for the  MCM Expo, I know, this is really crazy and so unlike me but since it’s the place to dress up for, I thought, why not? I will be dressing up as the first lady of my illustrative project “The Malacca Cane” and…exciting…I have somehow roped my partner to turn up on the Sunday, as the Malacca Cane himself. Woot Woot! Our costumes are nearly there, and can I say…I’m just glad that the Vampire/Goth/Victoriana look is back for A/W 09 because we’re going to be all about that for those two days! >_< or =_=”… you decide…

I will be updating you with more news about the MCM Expo and the Malacca Cane. If you’re interested in going I would recommend you buy advance tickets here. If you’re unable to go but would like to order any of my artwork I’ll be selling on the day, I will be opening my online shop by 10^th November, so don’t worry! If you would like orders before then, just email me.

As for my illustrations of the day, please see below:

You can view these in more detail here.

These will be greeting cards to be sold at the MCM Expo, and bite-sized prints so watch this space!

 

This is great! >_<

Ok I know I’m supposed to check-in in like two hours but I can’t resist! Must post this latest strip of me by fellow alternative presser Paul Shinn, of me at the Japan Matsuri! Thanks so much Paul – I love it! >_<

In case you’re wondering if this actually happened… it DID. I stood in confusion for a while trying to figure out whether the poor girl had already figured out that I didn’t know who she was and vice versa. Her boyfriend looked… confused too. And Paul watched on… planning his next comic masterpiece! LOL >_<

Please visit Paul’s blog here for more of his strips!

 

Thanks for coming to the Matsuri! I’m away like the waves >_<

Thanks everyone who managed to make it to the London Japan Matsuri yesterday, it was a brilliant day with so much happening and so many cute Japanese families running round, enjoying the events and activities.

I had a wonderful time and really enjoyed speaking to everyone who came to visit my exhibition and was even given a lovely good luck origami crane chain by one of the Matsuri front-runners, Megumi Tsuchiya – so touched and inspired by everyone who came and the day itself >_< Special thanks to Yuki and Carlos as well for their support! Y >_< Y

I have some photos of the event here. Unfortunately these were taken from my not-so-great camera phone so if you have any photos of my exhibition please email me or tag me in Facebook to share with all!

Roll on Matsuri 2010, it’s got to be the most exciting cultural event I’ve been to and experienced this year!

I will now make like the waves and be on my annual leave for the next two weeks. At last! Beachy time for meeee! >_< On my return I’ll be preparing some very exciting things for the coming London MCM Expo so watch this space!

 

Japan Matsuri this weekend! An extreme…close-up >_<"

I hope you all had a lovely weekend.. I spent mine having a real nostalgic steam boat dinner which was…delicious! >_<

It’s not long to go now until the London Japan Matsuri Festival – this Saturday at London’s Spitafield’s Market, from 10am to 8pm. Please visit their website here for all the exciting details of stalls, activities and cultural events!

And don’t forget I will be exhibiting my recent art pieces including the original painting of “Farewell”, the Grateful Crane. So come and see what it’s like as an extreme close-up or view it’s print in a massive A1 size, courtesy of the Matsuri team >_<

If you’d like more details of how to get there just drop me an email or visit the Japan Matsuri site here.

What are you waiting for? Make a weekend of it! >_<

Hope to see you there!

 

Japan Matsuri Festival, here I come! >_<

I’d just like to give everyone a big heartfelt thanks for voting for my Grateful Crane piece to be exhibited at this years’ Japan Matsuri Festival. Because of your support, I’ll now be part of their group exhibition and have a lovely space devoted to my art! Woot! >_<

So… thanks Y >_< Y

The Matsuri Festival will be held at the heart of Spitalfields Market (near Liverpool Street Station, London) on Saturday 19^th September from 10am to 8pm.

There will be plenty of food stalls, festival activities as well as art and crafts to look at and buy. I’ll be part of a group exhibition (alongside Juan-Carlos Cambon and Yuki Lamb) and am currently planning on what to exhibit (it’s so hard to decide, trust me) – I may even bring out my small-press work!

If you love Japanese culture or you’re looking to gain a better understanding of it then I would highly recommend coming to the Matsuri Festival – it’s a celebrated event in Japan and a great opportunity to appreciate what Japanese culture has to offer. Also…you’ll see my exhibition! Need I persuade you anymore? >_<

Please visit the Japan Matsuri site for details of all the events and directions.

Hope to see you there!

 

Collaborama strip – it’s one of meh! >_<

Hope you had a lovely weekend – I spent mine spring cleaning – it took a very long time and when I finished, I rewarded myself with a lot of chocolate! Ah… chocolate makes the world go round eh?

Anyway…I thought I should post an illustration of the day – not one of mine but an artist I recently met at the Alternative Press Fair’s Collaborama – Paul Shinn!

I took a 4Koma workshop during the Collaborama event and Paul’s neat strip illustrates exactly what was on my mind throughout the session (well sort of, I am professional y’know!).

To view more of Paul’s work you can visit his site here. Enjoy!

 

The Grateful Crane: photos of the inking process…

So here are some snapshots taken with my iPhone whilst I was preparing this piece:

You can view all of these on my Facebook account here.

It was really interesting to see it all come together; when you first drop the ink washes down you never know how the ink will sit or where it will go. Of course I manipulated the ink to an extent with straws and tissue, but it’s the excitement of seeing the patterns being organically formed and watching the different colours mix together. That’s one of the great advantages of using ink – the colours can “sit” with each other or “blend” depending on what you want – with watercolours, the pigments just run into each other to create a really difficult muddy wash.

So who loves ink as much as I do? >_<

The final process was adding the digital touches in Photoshop. I only ever use Photoshop for the final touches and to get the image tone as close to the original.

You can still vote for my piece at the current Japanese Matsuri art competition as well if you like! The deadline is this Friday. Simply email exhibition@japanmatsuri.com and put my name (Zarina Liew) in the subject line.

Whilst I’m on this topic I’d like to throw a shout-out to two of my good friends who also submitted something for the Japan Matsuri – Juan-Carlos Cambon and Yuki Lamb. Check out their work below:

Amazing! I love the whole layout of the Crane Lady by Carlos – a beautiful and elegant pose and the colourway is a sure hit. The playful calligraphy really adds something to the piece as well – you feel as if you want to know more. Yuki has illustrated the tale of the “Bamboo Princess”. She is an amazing fine artist (I know a fine artist – woot! >_<) and it shows in the strength of her composition here – she has perfect colour tones and your eye is immediately drawn to the focal point – again, you’re drawn to learn more about the story.