E-S-Bueno

New Site!

2011-07-07T10:48:00.001-07:00

Hey gang,

I have a new official-er website!

www.iamemiko.com

Blog updates will be thurr nao!!!

Emiko

The Little Mermaid Comic!

2011-06-24T10:23:00.001-07:00

So my Little Mermaid interpretation comic is going to be on gurl.com.
Yay!
Here're the cleaned up panels!

http://www.gurl.com/showoff/comix/the-little-mermaid-parody-comic/1/
It'll go live this weekend!

Emiko

I have never seen "Rocky"

2011-06-14T14:24:00.001-07:00

But I'm pretty sure I get the overall gist of the movie.

Click for larger version.

Emiko

Hire me.

2011-04-26T00:28:00.000-07:00

I've been working on a little character for a friend's website.
It's a design of an otter, and this is a glimpse of what it's like (censored for censorship's sake):
I asked him if he was happy with the results.

11:32 AM me: anyway, i'll make the changes tonight

and send you the stuffs

lemme know if i should change anything else

11:33 AM frank: can you change the otter to an ostrich and give it poptart wings?

Like a professional, I sent him a reply e-mail ASAP:

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from	Emiko Sawanobori
to		Frank
date		Wed, Apr 20, 2011 at 11:58 AM
subject		The changes you wanted

I think this would really re-vamp the look you're going for.

Emiko

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from	Frank
to		Emiko Sawanobori
date		Wed, Apr 20, 2011 at 12:00 PM
subject		Re: The changes you wanted

Umm... MOAR BLOOD!!!!

Frank

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from	Emiko Sawanobori
to		Frank
date		Wed, Apr 20, 2011 at 12:05 PM
subject		Re: The changes you wanted

Weird.

But OK.

Emiko

You should totally hire me for freelance work.

Emiko

NYAN CAT FOREVER!

2011-04-18T00:44:00.000-07:00

One of my co-worker blessed me with this video the other day:

This is my tribute to a wonderfully catchy song and video that somehow avoided my Annoying Things Radar.

Emiko

My little nephew and his kyuuri-cumbers.

2011-03-10T16:19:00.000-08:00

I've been wanting to do an animation or a comic featuring my nephew(s) for a while.

My sister told me that they had planted cucumbers in their yard.

My nephew calls them kyuuri-cumbers (kyuuri is Japanese for cucumbers) which is so freaking cute you could pretty much die.

Here is a very rough passage of the animation I'm doing about my little baby farmer nephew.

Gardening and adorable babies?!

How can I NOT be inspired?!

I'm getting used to Flash, and tried to do a little traditional stuff with that awful vector brush.
The end part is pretty awkward because I was getting tired and rushed.

Little Kyuuri-cumber Farmer from Emiko Sawanobori on Vimeo.

Emiko

Thunder-thighed Dinos.

2011-03-01T17:33:00.000-08:00

I did a little commission work for my friend Ilana, who decided to give her sister a little visual aid to go along with this article:

'Thunder Thighs' dinosaur Brontomerus discovered

Ilana's sister's response was "I'm totally picturing a super skinny dino dressed up a la Richard Simmons, leading a group of thunder thighs dinos."

Work those thighs!

Emiko

The Little Mermaid

2011-02-22T17:36:00.000-08:00

I've only seen the first half of The Little Mermaid.

I have little to no idea how the second half of The Little Mermaid goes...

Emiko

EDITED:

Chris pointed out that I never finished Ariel's story.
So here it is:

Re-posting

2011-02-21T09:16:00.001-08:00

Because I love Harvest Moon so very much...

Emiko

A gift comic panel.

2011-02-17T08:36:00.001-08:00

My bf has been working a lot of late nights on his freelance, so I wanted to cheer him up.

Unfortunately, I'm not very good at cheering people up, so I just decided to combine a bunch of things that he likes and put it in a comic panel.

People like things they like.

Emiko

Year of the Rabbit!

2011-02-03T14:21:00.000-08:00

Bitches!

Emiko

Totally selling out, you guys.

2011-01-27T07:58:00.001-08:00

I've added those awful ads on my blog because I'm actually getting some kind of foot traffic on this site.

Also, thinking about turning the Mortal Wombat drawing into a shirt (after fixing the awful font).
Yay? Nay? (This is for monies)

Totally thinking about doing it as a series.
You have no say in this. (This is for fun!)

Emiko

My life as an otter.

2011-01-24T20:37:00.003-08:00

I love the fact that otters have little armpit pouches to store clams and rocks and stuff.
So inconveniently convenient.

Emiko

Double Updates!

2011-01-23T12:20:00.000-08:00

People have been asking me what I've been doing with myself all day.
My usual answer of "batin' " has somehow lost its charm, so I'm gonna put up little tidbits of my work.

I've been pretty anti-social because I'm working on a pretty hefty graphic novel freelance gig on top of my actual job.

I can't post full-on pages up here, of course, but here are little tidbits of what's happening.
It's been a struggle, this being my first major freelance gig and all but it's been great fun!

Exhibit A- How I feel on good days.

You should totally hire me, you guys!

Emiko

Stupid sunscreen.

2011-01-23T12:02:00.000-08:00

This is for my friend Allison, and the nightmares she gives me.

Emiko

Emiko is featured on Reddit!

2011-01-21T22:24:00.000-08:00

Check this out you guys, this is totally awesomesauce:

http://www.reddit.com/r/comics/comments/f6kzj/the_average_asian_aging_process/

Apparently, that little comic I did a while back has been traveling through the internets with a mind of its own:

http://iamemiko.blogspot.com/2010/09/how-asians-age.html

Thanks, Ryan, for giving me the heads up!
I'd also like to thank the internets for this honor.
I expect an overflow of comments from everybody in the world.

Aaaaannnnddd..... GO!!!

Emiko

What will happen to Frank if he swallows a brick whole?!

2010-12-14T07:33:00.001-08:00

I hate it when people say stupid shit like, "I literally shit a brick."

That is impossible. You will die.
Go learn English and start using "literally" and "figuratively" correctly.

My friend, Frank, argued with me about the logistics of shitting a brick because he is just argumentative like that.
Yeah. Let's see you try it, Frank.
Let's see you shit a brick.

What will happen to Frank?!
Find out next week if Frank is lucky enough to have a next week!

Emiko

Top Heavy.

2010-12-13T23:08:00.000-08:00

There are so many of them....

Emiko

The only thing keeping Dolphins from killing us is their inability to hold a gun.

2010-12-12T16:53:00.001-08:00

Emiko

Pictionary Telephone II

2010-12-09T15:40:00.000-08:00

Classic Horror Movie version!

Emiko

Pictionary Telephone -The Movie-

2010-12-05T23:09:00.000-08:00

Because really, with so many good ideas, how can you NOT make a movie?

Emiko

Emiko is introduced to Smooth magazine

2010-12-02T18:13:00.000-08:00

That shit's crazy.

Emiko

Down Time

2010-11-30T12:46:00.000-08:00

The first day of work is like the first day of school!

Except instead of a Lisa Frank folder, you get a dual monitor Wacom setup!

Emiko

Nephew number 2

2010-11-26T23:59:00.000-08:00

Pretty self-explanatory.

Emiko

The Terminator (My Understanding Of It)

2010-11-11T22:30:00.001-08:00

I've had very little exposure to The Terminator series.
But I think I got a pretty good idea of the plot.

I have no idea what the other 2 Terminators are about.

Emiko

Indiana Jones (my understanding of it)

2010-11-06T15:45:00.000-07:00

Similarly with The Wizard of Oz, I have never seen any of the Indiana Jones movies in their entirety.

I have seen snipets of the movie before, and a lot of parodies.

This one's a little bit rushed because I'm on my way to see the movie now, and I can't spoil my virgin impression of the movie.
We'll see how close I am.
I've been told I'm about 90% correct.

Emiko

The Wizard of Oz (written by me)

2010-11-04T23:16:00.000-07:00

Today, I realized that I've never seen the Wizard of Oz in its entirety. I vaguely know the characters and story but apparently, it's very different from the book Wicked.

I gave Kat, Russell, and Chris a quick synopsis of what I thought the story entailed, and as I was saying it out loud I realized that a lot of my understanding of the story was kind of silly.

They told me I was about 60~80% correct.

Emiko

Fuck yeah, Harvest Moon!

2010-09-28T13:31:00.000-07:00

I've joined a Harvest Moon forum...

Shut up!

Emiko

How Asians Age.

2010-09-03T01:06:00.001-07:00

My co-workers and I were talking about how oddly Asians age.
We're pretty much teenagers until we hit some kind of milestone and then the age really sneaks up on us.

So if you're an Asian girl or dating an Asian girl, married to an Asian girl, or fantasizing about teaching English in Japan and getting an Asian girlfriend who also likes videogames and anime, you have been warned.

You can be like "Ooh, no way man, not my girl," or "Nuh-uh, not me," but you better get used to loving those coarse, tightly woven curls because you're gonna have to deal with it.

Emiko

Spontaneous drawing

2010-09-01T23:18:00.000-07:00

Chris was sitting on the couch, reading a comic, and I thought his overall posture was hilariously comic book geek.

Emiko

Chubs McGee

2010-08-31T23:59:00.000-07:00

So my sister has this strange habit of giving birth to 20 lbs behemoths (just kidding, they weren't that big when they got pooped out).

But I just thought it was so adorable that the older brother (2.5 years) loves to hug and attempt to carry his little brother (5 months) when they're pretty much the same size.

Oh babies!

Emiko

Rough Pass of Hobbes

2010-08-22T13:18:00.000-07:00

So this is my first ever piece of traditional animation!!!!
Chris is doing Calvin's animation, which is why Hobbes is in this very Garfield-minus-Garfield situation.

It's still very rough and looking super stiff.
Especially towards the end--his excitement is so mild. I was pretty burnt out by then.

All in all, I'm pretty happy with this project so far, just because this is what came out of actually learning the whole pencil to paper Disney process animation... and I'm kinda doin it!!!!

I'm currently taking the Traditional Animation Basics class at the American Animation Institute with Alex Topete.
He is one of the greatest, kindest, most helpful teachers I've ever had.
Not to mention the cost is like, 1/100 of any art school you can find.

I need to have this somewhat presentable in a week....
Luckily my freelance gig is currently on a short break, so this is what I'll be working on.

Emiko

My dream about the bestest friend in the world.

2010-08-19T23:12:00.001-07:00

This dream was actually a lot more scary than goofy while I was actually in it.
In the dream, the chow chow actually belonged to my friend Allan.

I've always wanted a Chow Chow.

Emiko

Clean it up!

2010-07-26T21:54:00.000-07:00

My first clean-ups for my first ever traditional animation class with Alex Topete!

Very tedious, and I'm still way sucky at it, but I absolutely love it.

Hobbes--lookin' very creepy...

Emiko

Doodle Me This

2010-07-15T07:16:00.001-07:00

The before and after of what used to be a doodle.

Little did she know she was being edited onto a horribly dangerous situation.

Emiko

Emiko Sawanobori Portfolio

2010-07-12T18:59:00.001-07:00

Emiko Sawanobori
esawanobori@gmail.com

A rough animation for the Hobbes characters in Calvin and Hobbes

Some Character Design
(Done in Adobe Flash)

An otter character for a client, done in Adobe Flash CS4

BG Design for "Popzilla" on MTV

Some 3D models I've designed and built:

Original panel for my freelance graphic novel work

Cleaned up

Pages from a quick comic I did for a friend

Pinocchio clean-up practice for
Animation Basics with Alex Topete
Originals provided in class.

Roughs and clean-ups for the animation project based on
Calvin and Hobbes

Figure Drawings

Room design for a freelance client

The FIFA World Cup Coaches

2010-07-11T18:11:00.000-07:00

I loved the coaches. So charicaturable.

Good job, Spain.
It was kind of a dirty game but you did play better.

Emiko

This is what happens when a bear strikes you in the head.

2010-07-07T20:22:00.001-07:00

My friends and I had a discussion about how strong bears are.
The conclusion was that if you got in the face by a bear paw, your head would stay in place and your body would go flying in the opposite direction.

This is a scientific rendition of what would happen:

Click on the image for the animated gif.

Emiko

The Last Airbender Experience.

2010-07-04T16:14:00.000-07:00

This was basically the movie, with about as much time and care that I put into it:

And if you're the type to insist seeing everything in 3D, here:

He's coming right at you! In all his nauseating glory!!!

To give the movie some credit, the effects were pretty incredible, and the set/costume design was very well done.
As a fan of the actual series, there were moments where I did feel a wave of pure joy, where those feelings of "I bet that scene would look awesome if it were real" were actually gratified.

Kudos to all the designers and graphic artists who worked on that movie--you guys truly saved what little there was to save in that horribly horribly written/directed movie.

I don't hope that this is the last Last Airbender movie. I hope that they hire someone else to do it, and keep the people who made it such a visually entertaining movie.

Oh yeah, one more thing.

Appa was so fucking creepy.

Emiko

Happy Birthday to All the Cancers Out Thurr!

2010-07-03T11:10:00.001-07:00

And now, a cute puppy version!

Emiko

The Forest Band

2010-06-25T19:11:00.001-07:00

A fun little doodle that turned out quite nice :)

Emiko

Autumn Wind

2010-06-20T21:28:00.000-07:00

A quick doodle I did on a Sunday.
Not my best, but it was fun :)

Emiko

MOOOORTAL WOOOMBAAAAT!!!!

2010-06-14T07:47:00.000-07:00

I re-watched the first Mortal Kombat movie (one of my favorite movies ever... so bad, but...so good...) and of course, this awful joke was made.

Coming soon, straight to VHS.

Emiko

d33p the Avenger.

2010-06-09T07:56:00.000-07:00

A dedication to one of the coolest guys and spankiest superhero.
He's in our hearts
And in our pants.

Emiko

Nagano Makoto with a Chinchilla

2010-05-12T18:28:00.001-07:00

Two things I love in life that should be a team.

Emiko

Long-Time No Blog.

2010-05-07T19:56:00.001-07:00

This is a comic that was inspired by a car conversation I had with my good buddies Kat, Russell, and my bf Chris.

The topic being the age-old question: If you were a superhero, what would your powers be and what would you wear?

Russell e-mailed us a few days later with a brilliant cover and the first page of his own hero's comic (I don't post it here because you fiends don't deserve to see it).

This is my contribution to this superfriends series:

Superhero Name: The Moonlighter

Actual Name: Lupa Thornapple

Sidekick: Sparky, the boy genius who's currently finishing his doctorate at Harvard as an 8 year old.

Super Powers/Abilities: She'll fucking stabby stab you with a mini crossbow needle and inject poison, hallucinogens, or tranquilizer into your evil, evil bloodstream.

During the Day: A full-time nurse and part-time babysitter for Sparky.

Origin of Name: A plant called Dendrocnide Moroides, which is a large brush found in native rain forests of North Eastern Australia, Moluccas, and Indonesia. It's basically covered with poisonous needles that could potentially kill a horse. It's the most virulent species of the stinging tree. Also known as "Lupa" to some Philippines locals. Also known as Stinger or Gympie.

I had a lot of fun with this conversation as well as the car conversation itself.

May the superfriends prosper for years to come (in their alternate universe)!

Emiko

Chinchilla Studies.

2010-03-14T11:56:00.000-07:00

My new pet chinchilla
The cutest little guy ever.

Emiko

Yay Frog <3

2010-01-17T02:08:00.001-08:00

Frog (Glenn) is one of my favorite characters in any video game.
I'm pretty happy with how this turned out except for Lucca.... I got burnt out after several hours of digi-painting.

Hopefully I'll get over this Chrono Trigger obsession soon....

But of course

it's the best game ever.

Emiko

Frog's Theme from Chrono Trigger!

2010-01-16T00:08:00.000-08:00

Frog's Theme from Chrono Trigger from Emiko Sawanobori on Vimeo.

The Frog's Theme from Chrono Trigger made on a $15 music box kit.
Apologies for the weird arrangement, rhythm, and odd notes.
I was limited to 2 octaves and the key of C, and the amendment tapes kept getting caught.
However, I'm starting to become addicted to music box making.

Is this a good thing?

Y

Emiko

Some 3D Work

2009-11-08T10:48:00.000-08:00

Hey figgity fellas.

Here are some updates on my extra 3D work for my friend O'neal's studio's project.
You can see the progress of the work in its entirety here: http://monstroville.blogspot.com/

So here's the hover platform that I've been working on for him:

With some custom textures...

Ok, so for starters.. I hate texturing in 3D. Or anything.
I just like to draw and build and that's it.
I've avoided any complex surface work at all costs and now I have to do a "toon-shader linked with image file" shenanigans.

I still can't figure it out D:

I know you're reading this, Dan. HELP ME OUT!!!

Also, if there's anybody else out there who can help me, PLEASE HALP!!!!
I will give you a nice treat if you do.

Emiko

Ugh. Steampunk Koi this time....

2009-10-22T11:51:00.000-07:00

I don't know why but I've had so many request for drawing fish.
Maybe because they're boring as hell unless you give them bowler hats and gears.

Emiko

Moar Trout

2009-10-21T19:53:00.000-07:00

Emiko

Le Trouts

2009-10-20T18:53:00.001-07:00

A few quick sketches for fellow Ghostianity member and lover of Law and Order SVU.

Emiko

Another Jellyfish Drawing

2009-10-15T17:30:00.001-07:00

But with a Little Red Riding Hood theme.
I got kind of tired of this one.... So I just wrapped it up prematurely.

Emiko

Doodles

2009-10-01T12:46:00.001-07:00

I was fiddling around with drawing awesome/adorable old people, and I decided to focus in on my own grandparents.
The grandpa in my first batch looks identical to my mom's dad.
The awesomeness of his little potbelly is eclipsed only by his awesome love of ice cream, and his willingness to provide me some.

I also drew my baby nephew as a pumpkin. Trying to do a traditional animation of him as well :)

Oh and did I mention that I spent last night trying to (unsuccessfully) fit in with a room full of animation big wigs?

Well.... I did.

And it sucked.

Emiko

Some Sample Works

2009-09-06T23:48:00.000-07:00

Some Room Design

A happy Red Panda.

Some sketches.

Playing around with style.

Emiko

The Natural Order of Things

2009-08-29T12:27:00.001-07:00

Emiko

This Is Why You Should Fear Women and Sea Monsters.

2009-08-27T23:18:00.000-07:00

Emiko

Digi-painting s'more

2009-08-26T12:02:00.000-07:00

Just for fun.

A very rough digi-painting of a Ninja? I think...

That is all.

Emiko

What a character.

2009-07-29T18:11:00.000-07:00

Wow. So I'm failing miserably at "A Drawing A Day," but I'll keep trying!

A lot of exciting things have been happening lately (Plants VS Zombies).

Here's a character I came up with, along with his best (breast??) friend!

I may start a mini-series with these guys, so if you have some weird intentions of using them (I don't know any context where they'd be relevant...), please ask for permission first.

EDIT:
I spent yesterday waiting for assignments.
Good things followed:

Emiko

Today's Drawing!

2009-07-21T23:17:00.001-07:00

Ok, so today's was exceptionally quick and careless... Mainly because I just came back from Tissu class and I'm exhausted/sore.

Apologies all around.

Now I'm going to go to bed and wake up in tears.

Emiko

A Drawing a Day!

2009-07-19T22:35:00.003-07:00

Today's drawing submission, using Prismacolor Markers... which I love, but haven't been using very much.

Emiko

I never take you dancing anymore.

2009-07-18T21:40:00.000-07:00

Hello blog world. I'm sorry for being so neglectful...

Being an adult can suck sometimes.

So a quick update:
I'm working full-time as a freelance BG designer at an animation studio I interned for last summer.
I volunteer at a retirement home ever Sunday.
I occasionally walk an adorable dog named Tuny.

Things have been hectic and LA is disgustingly hot. NO WONDER I LEFT YOU THE FIRST TIME!!!

I've been trying to draw a lot more, but it's just been a lot of experimenting.

Here are a few sketches that I did a while back, actually...
More of concept/character design stuff that never really fructified.

Oh and I finally got Maya on my laptop, YAY!!! So I started on a brand new model (hmm, whatever happened to finishing my other project...?)
Things have gone relatively smoothly, we'll see how this one pans out. I wanted to make a simpler model that's easy to animate.

Human anatomy study/designs:

OK, I'm going to give myself a challenge.

A DRAWING A DAY!!!!

At least one, no matter what.

...Maybe...

Emiko

Emiko's Harvestmoon IRL Adventures! Part 3

2009-07-01T07:51:00.001-07:00

So here are some quick updates and things that I've learned from my garden:

1) Compost Bin

We had to move the compost bin out and cover it with shade, because there was a huge gnat outbreak in our apartment!

Tip 1: Make sure the very top layer of the compost is COMPLETELY DRY. Otherwise, you will pay the dire consequence of perpetual annoyance.

Tip: 2: If you have a lot of gnats you want to get rid of, leave out a dish of water with dish soap in it. It works like a charm.

2) Buggies

Our praying mantis egg hatched!!! :D They are adoooorable and too tiny to capture on a camera. Only a handful of the hundreds will survive, but that'll do the trick.

We saw this really gross-looking and potential harmful bug on our plants, so I looked it up... As it turns out, this is a ladybug larvae!

Being the city girl I am, I had no idea!

So these are good guys.

The funny thing is, I'm pretty sure where the mother ladybug came from...

I actually found a ladybug nestled in the swiss chard that I bought from the store and was going to cook for dinner. It was probably in hibernation in the fridge, so it was just starting to move around on the chard leaves. I had released it onto my tomato plant, and a few days later, these gross little bastards emerged!

Anyway, they are good news! So our garden is doing pretty well, methinks :)

We have little tomato and strawberry fruits that are still green.... but hopefully we'll have a full harvest in a week or two.

Emiko

My Fort.

2009-06-17T22:10:00.001-07:00

What do you do with empty moving boxes and a National Geographic dinosaur poster?

Why, build a fort, of course.

Emiko

Another dream

2009-06-11T22:23:00.000-07:00

This one isn't as awesome as the other ones.

Well, no... Visually, it was stunning. The colors were so vivid, everything was surreal and beautiful.

In this dream I turned into a white half-stag human that tries to lure a girl into this forest.
Creepy, I know.
The girl was creepy too.
She was a 12 year old girl wearing a bright red southern belle dress, but with the face of a 30-something year old.
Reminds me of that old lady who tried to pull off Wendy from Peter Pan at Disneyland...

Anyhow, the forest itself was beautiful, and there's no way I can recreate it... But here's my best attempt at jotting it down before I forget it. It was more liquidy than anything.

Also working on drawing out the half-stag person too, that was pretty sweet.

Last night I had 3 nightmares in a row, and I won't go into them because I'm lazy and they're disturbing as well as semi-personal.
I haven't had nightmares in a while, but I'm feeling pretty insecure because of having to be a responsible working person now. I'll get over it.

Or fired. :)

I think I'm also missing my family for once. I have a lot of dreams about them, mainly my bebe nephew and my sister.
The most memorable one was when my bebe nephew and I had to emergency-replace some actors on stage for a play at some airport. We performed wonderfully. Then we went out to lunch where my oldest sister informed me that my nephew doesn't eat ground taco beef.

Now I know.

I'm also missing Atlantic City because I dreamt that I was gambling there while drinking a mojito and talking to my college's president. She cackled and shook my hand with her cold, smooth hands.

I'm a bit tired, time for bed!

Emiko

Worst Lyrics Collection.

2009-06-11T17:53:00.000-07:00

Kelly Clarkson --My Life Would Suck Without You (also see: Worst Song Titles Collection)
Guess this means you take back
All you said before
Like how much you wanted
Anyone but me

Kid Cudi-- Day 'n' Nite
The lonely stoner seems to free his mind at night
He's all alone through the day and night
The lonely loner seems to free his mind at night

Jordan Pruitt -- Teenager (also see: Reasons Why You Should Ban Radios When You Have A Kid)
I dread making my bed
I wish I could get out of cleanin' my room
Cause I hate keeping my friends waiting
Fast cars
Playin' it by heart
Googling stars
And searching for tunes
Does anyone here get what I'm saying?

Give me a break
I'm just a teenager
I like puttin' things off til' later
Just hangin' out
Havin' fun
Takin' my time
Give me a break
I'm just a teenager

The first week where I didn't have an adapter for my ipod, I had to listen to the radio in my car.

I'd have to say that my root canal was a much more pleasant experience.

To Be Continued.

Emiko

Zoomorphism

2009-06-09T18:48:00.000-07:00

It's just that point in my life when I begin to think about what my appetite would look like if it were a giant reptile.

It took me a while to figure out what the word for "personification but with ideas into animals" was.
But now I know.
I am pretty content with life.

Emiko

Emiko's Harvest Moon IRL Adventures! Part 2

2009-06-08T21:22:00.000-07:00

Blue borage and corn have sprouted!!!

We've also set up a compost worm bin.
A great way to recycle your food wastes and get awesome all natural fertilizer.

Here's a really well-organized and easy video on building your own compost bin:

Emiko

Emiko's Harvest Moon IRL Adventures! Part 1

2009-06-06T12:41:00.000-07:00

So we've set up a little garden on our rather spacious porch. My dreams of starting my very own Harvest Moon setup in real life has finally come true!
Flowers and stuff are nice, but if videogames have taught me anything, you can just pick flowers from the nearby mountains and caves and they only go for like, 80 Gold anyway.

So far we've planted:

Marigolds (they are delightfully edible)
Blue Borage (same deal, edible flowers and plants with a cucumbery flavor/scent)
Eggplant
Swiss Chard
Corn
Pumpkin (in preparation for Halloween!)

For the others, we just bought plants because they're pretty easy to grow and I've already started them from scratch before. The key to becoming an ultimate Harvest Mooner is to challenge yourself with higher tier seeds.

It's been 6 days since we planted the seeds, and we've gotten some sprouts!
Here are some pictures that we took with our sub par cameras:

Marigold sprouts! The first ones out.

One of the Eggplant sprouts

The cherry tomato plant has flowered!

The strawberry plant has flowered!

Oh and these are praying mantis eggs.
For gardening purposes and to fend off lonely nights
by feeding them worms from my hands.

We also have mint and basil but those aren't very interesting.

We're also going to start a compost bin this weekend. It's a great little worm farm that allows us to recycle our leftover veggies and fruits and make a super healthy natural and free fertilizer.
I'll update you on that as well.

Anyway, stay tuned for the maturing of our lovely little seedlings!
I hope to make some tasty dishes if and when we do get plump, juicy fruits of sustenance.

Emiko

My Immortal Identity

2009-06-05T23:10:00.000-07:00

I think it was Russell who brought this up... But I had lunch with Animax people and the hot topic in Chris' car was: "What Would Your Name Be If You Were Immortal?"

So I guess this blessing/curse will render you immortal, but you have to stick to one name.... I don't know. Those are the rules. Rules of immortality. Kind of like how vampires have weird rules that other people came up with that they now have to adhere to.

I can't remember what Russell chose... but it WAS pretty awesome and we all suspected that he'd been thinking about it for a long time (he claims he hadn't).

Naturally, all the guys wanted super powerful names that are like... Epic Leader, Latin American, Robotic, and Kind of Outerspacey at the same time.

As for me, I want to be a little more approachable.

So I chose Mangor.

In retrospect, it probably wasn't the best of ideas, but I've already said it and now I'm immortal so I'm gonna have to live with it.

I think the overall response was "that doesn't sound approachable at all," and I guess I'd have to agree with them to a certain degree, but I was thinking more along the lines of the mango fruit.

The mango is sweet, delicious, full of natural fibers and rather pretty in color.

I've also drawn myself as Mangor:

With a little umbrella.
I'm dancing.

Feel free to join in on this topic if you think you're powerful enough to come up with a name that you'd be willing to live with FOREVER.

Emiko

EDIT:
12:51:29 PM Emiko Sawanobori: what was his name again
12:51:32 PM Emiko Sawanobori: his immortal name
12:51:46 PM Sporin47: started with T
12:51:52 PM Sporin47: James T kirk
12:51:54 PM Sporin47: Tiberias
12:51:56 PM Emiko Sawanobori: ah
12:52:03 PM Emiko Sawanobori: but didn't he chose Siberius?
12:52:05 PM Sporin47: oh how ever you spell it
12:52:05 PM Emiko Sawanobori: or Ciberius?
12:52:10 PM Emiko Sawanobori: or was it with the T?
12:52:15 PM Emiko Sawanobori: oh wait, it was tiberius
12:52:18 PM Sporin47: i think he went with the T
12:52:19 PM Emiko Sawanobori: because i said it sounded black
12:52:25 PM Sporin47: yeah
12:52:33 PM Sporin47: so it started with a T
12:52:40 PM Emiko Sawanobori: yeah

How to make an awesome animation desk setup for less than $200

2009-06-01T12:59:00.001-07:00

This is my current setup, and I'm pretty much in love with it.

I can easily pull out my wacom so that it can be tucked away when I'm not using it, and still have space on my desk for my laptop. The great part about this setup is that my screen will be at eye level while my arms are at drawing level.

I specifically bought this glass top desk so that I won't have to hash out hundred of dollars for a light table. I just bought a little light pad thing at Target, and it's a little weak, but gets the job done. I'm sure if it REALLY bothers me, I can buy one with stronger bulbs for less than $10.

So there you have it.

If you're planning on buying new furniture post graduation, I definitely recommend this setup.

Oh and I was watching Supersize Me on my lappy when I took this picture.
It's absolutely disgusting and the only thing that could soothe me right now is a Double Double.

And yes, the lamp on my desk is the same type as the beloved International superstar that is the Pixar Lamp.

Emiko

Playing around with digi-painting again.

2009-06-01T11:44:00.000-07:00

I worked on this on-and-off for maybe like, 2 days...
The total time spent on it is probably 3 hours-ish.

Most of it was spent playing around again with brushes, color, and shading decisions.

Not my best work, but still fun to have my Wacom again <3

Emiko

Emiko's Culinary Adventures! Part 1

2009-05-30T22:40:00.000-07:00

So I got an awesome late birthday gift. It's the Cooking Guide on the DS with various recipes from around the world.
It's basically a talking recipe, and approximately 3000% better than Cooking Mama.

So today I decided to make some tikka masala, one of my favorite Indian dishes (apparently, it originated from the UK... who knew).
Also, apologies for the shitty picture quality... I only have a cheap camera at my disposal.

I also made a side dish of garlic spinach, parsley rice, and vanilla rice yogurt with some mangoes.

Result:
Spinach and mango yogurt were good, the tikka masala was pretty good, but I think I'll go easy on the tomato and sugar next time.

Overall: Good! I'll definitely be using the garam masala powder for other dishes :)

Tune in next time for some more of my culinary adventures.

Emiko

Collection of Sample Works

2009-05-28T09:54:00.001-07:00

VM 363 from Emiko Sawanobori on Vimeo.

My latest project

Sort of Final Project from Emiko Sawanobori on Vimeo.

My first ever CG project.

New Natural Catastrophe Playing Card!

2009-05-25T23:16:00.000-07:00

I've moved into my new place, and got my Wacom back!
So what do I do on the first night?

El Niño!

More to come!
Suggestions are welcome!
I will reveal my next card in this upcoming week.

EDIT: I need to fix some of the text.

Emiko

Long Time No Updates!

2009-05-21T18:54:00.000-07:00

Since all of my stuff is packed up for my move to CA, I really can't scan anything in or really update anything... So here's some old stuff!

These are stills from the animatic that I was doing for Anya's class.
The actual final product was atrocious, and I hope to somehow redo it... Because my computer crashed, I ran out of time, and the editing was really last minute.

The assignment was to re-interpret Poe's "Oval Portrait"
You can read it here

I decided to focus more on the aspect of people's attachment to the ideals, and created several storyboard images of a mother who goes insane after realizing that her beloved unborn child can eventually age and decay, destroying the picture perfect image she's created in her head.

These are meant to be quick sketches, since they're part of an animatic.

Also, I very reluctantly post my 3D animation project here as well.

VM 363 from Emiko Sawanobori on Vimeo.

Since I've spent so many hours working on that model, I really am working on finishing this project to have more of a narrative.
I've re-rendered a few scenes, and hope to re-do the rig on my little Coy so that moving her along with the ornaments will be possible without something creepy happening.

Emiko

Pooh: Portrait of a Bear.

2009-05-15T21:17:00.000-07:00

Hey remember that dream I had about Pooh's interrogation?

Where Winnie the Pooh murders Christopher Robin because he suddenly realized that Christopher Robin will age but he can't? And the detectives interrogate him and try to find out why he killed his best friend, but the other members of the Thousand Acre Woods eagerly await Christopher Robin's return because they don't know or comprehend the concept of death? Except Eeyore because he is a war veteran and knows too much, but is always quiet for fear he'll reveal too much to his innocent forest friends?

No?

Well, here's the first two pages of the comic I'm going to make for it:

“If ever there is tomorrow when we're not together..
There is something you must always remember. You are braver than you believe,
stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.
But the most important thing is, even if we're apart.. I'll always be with you.”
-Winnie the Pooh

Yep.

Edit: I'm going to re-do the panel with all of the happy friends. It was half-assed and it looks half-assed.

Emiko

Speaking of Doodles.

2009-05-14T16:06:00.001-07:00

Here are a few from waaaay back... In my dark days of Marketing...

Also, from a Hyena meeting when I was suuuuuuper sleepy.

I don't remember any of this, but clearly, beautiful things happen when I'm hallucinating.

Emiko

Gordon Wants Attention

2009-05-12T08:01:00.000-07:00

Emiko: and doodled endlessly in my notebook through the speeches
Emiko: which was fun
Gordon: Pictures for/of me?!
Emiko: absolutely nothing related to you.
Emiko: but i will keep you in mind next time.
Gordon: Hm

Emiko

Update:
Speaking of bad chats, here is an example of why I'm grateful for my friends who are just as terrible as I am:

Emiko: you can like, do the single guy rebound thing
Emiko: just hit up them bars
Emiko chase dem pussies
Just As Terrible As Emiko: right
Just As Terrible As Emiko: cuz i know how that works
Just As Terrible As Emiko: i'm a nerd
Just As Terrible As Emiko: if you told me i should go cyber in the tunnel of the deeprun tram
Just As Terrible As Emiko: i'd understand
Just As Terrible As Emiko: i'd be grossed out
Just As Terrible As Emiko: but at least i'd understand
Emiko: and then you'd do it
Just As Terrible As Emiko: then i'd do it yes

Neither of us should be let near serious relationships.

Doodles.

2009-05-11T12:02:00.001-07:00

Not much to update... But I've scanned some doodles that I've done to distract me from important things.

The result of my professor using the term "Google Juice"
during my Studies in Digital Media & Culture class.
One of my favorite moments in college.

Note: I found that blue fuzz on my scanner.

This is an awesome little notebook that Chris got me as a
"Just Because You Like Otters Day" gift.
It's pretty great.
Whenever I have it around or feel like it, I write shit in it.
Once in a while, I use it for personal matters, but 90% of the time,
it's for stupid doodles and observations about crazy people.

Today we had to go to school for the commencement ceremony
information session.
Apparently, meticulously recording time is a sign of suicidal
tendencies. I'm sure the images accurately express why I wouldn't
be surprised.

I like how my handwriting and drawings
really kind of express my mindset much better than any
form of description I can provide here.

Emiko

Jellyfish Installation Part 3

2009-05-08T10:26:00.000-07:00

I'm not happy at all with how this turned out, because I really wanted to use Photoshop on this.

Several things have been getting in the way:

1) The 3DL labs with the wacom at our school is shut down until summer sessions (lame).

2) I don't have Photoshop installed on my new laptop yet (lame).

3) Oh yeah, did I mention that I have a new Macbook Pro? (Awesome) Because my Powerbook decided to completely shut down 3 days before finals? (lame).

Anyhow, this is my Man-of-war Drawing. Like the drawing portion of it, hate the coloring (watercolor that I had to do on printing paper because I couldn't find my watercolor paper notebook... results: disastrous).

Also, apparently Man o' wars are not technically jellyfish.

They are commonly but erroneously thought of and referred to as a jellyfish. In fact, a Portuguese Man O' War is not a single animal, but rather a siphonophore – a colony of four kinds of minute, highly modified individuals, which are specialized polyps andmedusoids.^[1] Each such zooid in these pelagic colonial hydroids or hydrozoans has a high degree of specialization and, although structurally similar to other solitary animals, are all attached to each other and physiologically integrated rather than living independently. Such zooids are specialised to such an extent that they lack the structures associated with other functions and are therefore dependent for survival on the others to do what the particular zooid cannot do by itself.

(Wikipedia) ....(sorry)

Now, you know.

I'm still going to include them in my jellyfish collection because they are jelly-ish and live in the ocean.

Oh yeah, so I'm done with school forever for now.

Really contemplating attending a real art school... After working for a year or two.

I'm pumped to do a lot of side projects that I wasn't able to do... But the school's ridiculous lab policies are making it extremely difficult.

Currently working on painting one of my sculptures, and starting on a little animation.

Stay tuned!

Emiko

People I Will Truly Miss, Part II

2009-05-05T22:30:00.000-07:00

Ok, so no jokes this time around.

First off, a sincere thank you and congratulations to Jon.

He did a damn good job being the president of this group, and I know he had a lot of shit to take care of outside of Hyena... So kudos.

It suddenly occurred to me that he is probably the first "friend" I made at Emerson as well.

Thanks for the years, wanker.

You'll seriously be missed.

Hyena, you guys really outdid yourselves this time around.

Hytimes is really. REALLY. Ridiculously amazing.

I'm so proud of you guys, even though I didn't contribute much at all, I'm so glad I was a part of this group.

Not pictured: Lots of cool kids. Will most likely photoshop Billy Chu over them again.

Thank you for everything.

Emiko

I miss you guys already.

2009-05-04T15:44:00.001-07:00

I really do.

In all seriousness, a group of the most talented and hard-working people I've ever met.

Thank you for making my last semester (and for some of you guys, year) at Emerson one of the best experiences in my life.

Craig's Class = Brilliant

Emiko

P.S.

And then there's this douchebag:

Just because you still think Yahoo is the Internet.

Sneak Peek

2009-05-02T07:38:00.000-07:00

A frame from my Animatic assignment after shading help from Anya.

This one scene is stylized... If you think I'm going to draw all the frames this detailed, you must be crazy.
Hair is still pretty shoddy...I'll fix it if I have time.

By the end of this semester, I hope to have creeped out every single person in every single class I'm in.

Emiko

The Most Frightening Thing

2009-05-01T06:32:00.000-07:00

I'm in my render-craze right now for my final project, so I usually have 2 render chunks submitted for the render farm at my school.

It's pretty much a "Set It And Forget It!" situation, which I love. Sometimes it fails, but name something in life that doesn't.

This time around.... It definitely failed.

So I've been having problems with Maya doing crazy things on me. Like... animating characters without my permission?

I don't know why or how this happens, but sometimes when I import characters into a new scene, it somehow sets mystery key frames that aren't visible... It's really hard to describe. I would be setting key frames for my camera, not even touching the character model, and while I'm previewing it for the camera work, I notice that my character is sliding forward.

It's REALLY weird and frustrating.

Anyway...

Something similar happened to this good chunk, which was just supposed to be a fly-around shot of my character simply sitting there... With absolutely no movement.

I got to school this morning to look at my rendered product and am flabbergasted, to say the least, at my end result.

My little model decided to ESCAPE HER CLOTHES AND WALK AWAY.

Please reference the images in my previous post... That is what she is supposed to be doing.

I thought that maybe she was jut doing her slide forward thing, but if you look closely... That is a semi-legit walk cycle (with zombie hands and crazy legs) that I did not set.

Is anybody else frightened?

Can someone (Dan) please tell me how this happened?!

Note: The background didn't show up, and I just remembered that I might've rendered the wrong scene where a lot of the background stuff is set on an invisible layer.... But that still doesn't explain this auto-zombie render.

Emiko

All Sorts of Updates.

2009-04-28T10:09:00.000-07:00

First of all, the humor publication club that I'm in got nominated for the EVVYs, which is apparently a big deal at our school... but mostly a giant wank-off for Emerson College.

Oh well, still exciting! Seeing as how only a year or so ago, we carried the proud banner of being one of the most tasteless, offensive group of individuals on earth.

So congrats, my fellow Hyenans!
Responsibility for this award clearly falls on my drawing of a toaster giving birth to a littler toaster.

Anyway, here is my semi-final version of my little nude Aztec goddess.

Final stretch of school...
Ironic that the last semester of my Emersonian life is the one filled with the least amount of hate.
I guess it's a strong way to end.

I'm gonna miss the shit out of my Hyenans, VM403-ians, Craig's classians, and Anya's Chyna-studies class....

<3

Emiko

Other People's Stuff

2009-04-24T07:49:00.000-07:00

My friends Jordan and Daniel are in a comedy troup called Swollen Monkey Showcase or some shit, and for one reason or another (work), I was never able to make it to any of their shows... :(

But I do get little peeks at their video, and I love this one. So I'm posting it.

You're never too young to have early 90's nostalgia.

On top of that, this haunting melody and rhythm has been stuck in my and my soul for the past few days.

Emiko

New Bestiality Design

2009-04-22T20:52:00.000-07:00

I'll make this available on cafepress once I'm not doing other fun things.

Emiko

Emiko's How-To Guide #1

2009-04-22T19:30:00.000-07:00

Eat What You Want!
Lose 4 lbs. in 5 days!

Step 1:
Wait until 2 weeks before graduation to panic about finishing everything on time.
(Patience is key)

Step 2:
Try to cram everything in at once so that you won't have time to eat. Indulge in your everyday 4:00 pizza from your local eatery.

Step 3:
Cut down on sleep drastically. (4 hours max)

Step 4:
Catch any or several strand(s) of flu virus that is going around Emerson. Inhaling on campus will probably do the trick.

Step 5:
That's it! The sickness will most likely decrease your appetite (increased nausea and consequential vomiting a plus!), and the fever will induce sweating, which we all know is a good thing.

"I've lost 5 lbs in just a week, thanks to this
great new diet!"
-R.L. Stein

"The best part about this diet is, I can just
sit around surfing youtube, and the sweating
does all the work for me!"
-D. K.

Tune in next week, as I show you all the essential elements that go into writing the perfect Law and Order SVU episode!

Emiko

Bestiality shirt, now available!

2009-04-20T18:39:00.000-07:00

You didn't think I'd do it, but I did:

http://www.cafepress.com/esbueno

Get your own porpoise boy today!
More designs will be added.
Also taking requests (What kind, you ask? Well, get creative!)

Emiko

Hey guys, remember this?!

2009-04-19T17:45:00.001-07:00

I hadn't realized that I didn't post this on here yet...

Anyway, here's an early drawing assignment that we had to do in Anya's class.
We basically had to turn this 2D drawing into a 3D one.

The assignment:

My rendition:

The whole class hated me for this.

Emiko

Danspiration.

2009-04-17T11:28:00.000-07:00

My ridiculously talented friend, Dan, has finally started an expose-yourself blog!!

http://somethingofinteresttoyou.blogspot.com/

YAY!!!
It's about time! He's so disconnected from the digital world (No facebook?! What is he, Jon?!).

His shit is GOOD, people.
The only thing he can't do is come up with a short and simple URL for his blog.

Look at him, with his fancy-pants personalized blog template.

So, inspired by Dan, I made a quick banner for my blog as well (Check out banner, Michael!).
I'll try to whip up some background image too, but later when I don't actually have stuff due.

For now, you will live with this beautifull pure sheet of white and go look at Dan's blog instead!

Emiko

For My Captain, Oh Captain.

2009-04-16T12:01:00.000-07:00

I'm planning on making a T-shirt for Jon, The Prez and Wanker In Command for the humor publication club I'm in.
It's ok for me to post this on my blog because he is a neanderthal who doesn't really know what the Internet is.
This is an idea I've been concocting for a little while now and is now finally going into fruition.

If you ever find yourself doubting how sick of an individual I am, you should look at this entry and feel the flames of burning shame.

Front

Back

The Grandest of Pianos

2009-04-16T11:42:00.001-07:00

The Grandest of Pianos | Upload Music

This is the music I'm going to hopefully use for my final project...Please excuse the poor quality. It's my first time, and I'm a bit nervous. Can we keep the lights off?

Been working on it off and on for about a month and a half. Honestly, don't know how I feel about it because my brain's been fried and I'm sick of hearing this.

There are a couple of problems here:

-I haven't really edited it, so the beat is sometimes off... Being the typical blood type O that I am, just the thought of this bit of detailed work is nauseatingly exhausting.

-Rough transitions, which might be good for animation purposes though... I mapped out the different scenes with the different sequences in my head. This is difficult to do since I have little to no video actually rendered :P

-It's only about a minute and a half long, but I'm sure I can stretch it out if my movie turns out to be longer.

-Don't know if it really fits the mood of my movie. It did when I played it in my mind...

I'm going to continue adding synth beats and cutting in some dialogue audio as well... This is the very basic foundation of the actual song.

Also, I'm not much of a music writer. I started this because I was super gung-ho about this project at the beginning of the semester. This was before school started draining me and my discovery that Garage Band is a piece of shit and that I don't really know/care to find any other music software :P

Hopefully I'll come up with a plan B when the realization of how implausible this is dawns on me.

Emiko

The Beauty of Web 2.0

2009-04-14T12:24:00.001-07:00

Ok, so let me just be That Japanese for a second.

I found this video of a very popular Japanese software called 初音ミク(Hatsune Miku), which allows users to create music digitally, and have this digital voice sing by assigning pitch and pronunciation. A lot of people play around with it by having this little Anime girl sing some of their favorite songs.

The result is a very talented man making this original creation:

Ok, so the voice is annoying... But the appeal of this software is that it can reach pitches that are extremely difficult for humans.

Anyway, this song became a hit... The creator is now making a full album using only this software, but that's another story.

The core fans became enamored with this music, and created this collaborative piece:

Am I the only one who thinks this is amazing?
I absolutely love it.

Fuck Caillois and all those other old farts.

Play creates love and art and business... Without it losing the charms of play.

Emiko

Re-lighted and ready for (refr)action.

2009-04-12T15:48:00.001-07:00

Played around s'more with lighting and mental ray.
I guess the computers are back on track since last week.
I didn't realize how glowy I made that fake head on the ground look... Oops. I just wanted it to be metallic, not magical!
Can't wait til I implement the moving images on the TV screen to the left though.

Is anybody really good with mental ray dgs shader?? I've been fiddling with this thing all weekend but I can't get it to look un-fuzzy but with crisp reflections. Frack!

Anyway, Now I gotta finish up my little coy.

She's a lot less naked than the one inside the glass.

Emiko

Wacom and Photoshop are great and all...

2009-04-09T19:51:00.000-07:00

But nothing can beat pencil and paper.

Jellyfish 2.

Emiko

Jerryfish.

2009-04-09T17:09:00.000-07:00

Exploring different brushes and brush manipulation in P-shop.

My first installation of a jellyfish series I hope to adopt.

Done in about 45 minutes.
Most of it was spent on trial and error.....

Emiko

Paul Revere's Drunken Wild Ride.

2009-04-09T12:15:00.001-07:00

The 100% historically accurate depiction of Paul Revere's nightly drunken rides through town as he yelled "DING-A-LING-A-LING".

His public display of his ding-a-ling was forever remembered in Bostonian history as A Great (but not really) Injustice.

Emiko