Sonic and Europe: Mission Complete!!

So it looks like I made it back in one piece. I have actually been back for a while now but it has taken me a little while to get back into the swing of things. So that's why I haven't updated this blog or DeviantART or anything like that since I have got back.

"How was your trip?" "Did you meet that Sonic guy?" This is basically how all my conversations since I have been back has started. So I thought I would answer those questions here.

In one word the trip as a whole was "Awesome!" I enjoyed every second of it and I am so glad that my best mate Dave was the guy that I did it with. Dave is definitely a trooper putting up with my snoring (which I never knew I did). In one month we did a lot of travelling. We went to London, Paris, Barcelona, Rome, Venice, Milan, Zurich, Berlin and Frankfurt. And during all that travelling we had so much Pizza.

Greatest day of my life!

Obviously a highlight of my trip and probably my entire life was the Summer of Sonic convention in London. 2011 just so happens to be the Blue Blurs 20th Anniversary and Summer of Sonic 2011 was basically the biggest birthday party I have ever been to. Being a massive Sonic the Hedgehog it was so awesome being surrounded by 2000+ people who are just like myself and wanted to show how much they loved this particular video game character.

That's a lot of Sonic fans.

One of the best things about the day was is that I finally go to meet many of the guys that I work with on Sonic the Comic: Online! face to face. It was so awesome to finally put a face to the name of the people that I have worked with over the last few years. These guys collectively put together the best online comic there is, so if you haven't already go check it out! www.stconline.co.uk I'm not just saying that cuz I work on it either, the people behind this comic are amazing.

Takashi Iizuka and Yuji Naka.

At Summer of Sonic I rocked out as Julien K took the stage! I giggled like a school girl when I realised that I just Streetpass Yuji Naka on my 3DS! I was in awe of Tracy Yardley!'s raw drawing talent! I had an awesome coversation with Ian Flynn! I freaked out when Jun Senoue from Crush 40 took a photo with me! I then rocked out again when he took the stage and performed Live and Learn! and I was absolutely speechless when Takashi Iizuka and Yuji Naka signed my merchandise right in front of me!

Yes I had a good time.

Myself and Crush 40 member Jun Senoue.

And the hilarious thing is. This was only the 2nd day of my trip. The rest of it was just as memorable. So since I have taken up so much of your time I'll get through the rest of the month quickly. One of my major highlights was the food. European food is sooo good. Whether it's baguettes from Paris, pizza or pasta from anywhere in Italy or paella from Barcelona. It was all so rich with flavour. Until I went to Italy I never knew how good mozzarella actually is. This trip has ruined restaurant food for me back home.

Delicious

Another highlight of my trip was just the scenery. Europe is beautiful. And the crazy thing is that all the countries are so close to each other but they all have there own uniqueness to them, that you can clearly tell that you are in a certain country. Rome was amazing as the country just seemed to build around their heritage. You would walk around the city casually and then realise that you are at the Vatican or the Collesuem. Barcelona is probably one of the most laid back cities. Everyone just chills. Venice oozes romance. Every second being there made me wish I had brought my girlfriend along. And the scenery when travelling through Switzerland is just absolutely breathtaking.

This ain't right.

I could actually go on forever about my trip. But I guess the main point I want to get across is that it was Awesome! If you have never been before, go. You will have the best time. Eat the food, hang out with the people and go party.

See you on the flip side!

Holy Crap Summer of Sonic!

That's about the easiest way to sum up how I feel right now. One week from now I am going to the best Sonic the Hedgehog party in the world. SUMMER OF SONIC!!!

Last year as I was watching the awesomeness that was Crush 40 performing at Summer of Sonic 2010, I made myself a promise that for Sonic's 20th anniversary, I will be there. Nearly a year later and guess what? I'm actually going! Next thursday I am going to hop on a plane and travelling to London to what I imagine will be the greatest convention I will ever go to in my life.

Yes. Yes they are and so am I.

It is certainly going to be a special day for me. There are 3 people who have made my list of "people I must meet before I die" Ryan Reynolds, Akira Toriyama and Yuji Naka. Next Saturday that list goes down to 2 people. But meeting Yuji Naka is not the only reason it will be a special day. Over the last few years I have collaborated with wonderful and talented people to help bring the world Sonic the Comic Online! This will be the first time I will have met anybody who works on the comic in the flesh and I can't wait. We'll have our own table promoting the comic and doing something special on the day aswell.

But Summer of Sonic is only the beginning of the journey. I haven't saved all this money to travel to London from Australia and party for one day. No way. After I conclude my time in London I will begin travelling Europe with my best friend, where Paris, Barcelona, Rome, Venice, Geneva, Berlin and Frankfurt are on the itnerary. This is going to be epic.

So yeah. I'm a tiny bit excited.

Art Process: Batman & Robin

I believe that the process of art is just as or sometimes even more interesting than the art itself. So I thought I would take you on the journey of how I go about doing some artwork.

So.... Here we go!

Yet again I was bored at work and drew another picture. If you haven't already guessed by looking at the title it's a picture of Batman & Robin.

 

Just drawn in a regular sketchbook I use two different pencils:

1. A clutch pencil containing a 2mm non-photo blue lead.
2. A mechanical pencil using 2B 0.5 lead.

The reason I use the blue lead is that I can be super rough with my sketching and not having to worry about constantly erasing my work. Since it's a non-photo blue lead removing it once scanned is extremely easy. After doing my rough sketch and layout with the blue I then go over it again with my 2B pencil. Since all of the planning has been done it's simply tracing over my work and there should be minimal correction.

Next up are the flats! Flats are the base colours for your image. As you can see here there is no shading or highlights and everything looks really bland. It's always a really good idea to flat everything in the picture before moving onto the shading and tweaking. That way you can get it all done in one big swoop and the light source is fresh in your mind.

I also cropped the picture a bit to make the compisition a little more interesting and remove all the things I didn't draw in my sketchbook.

[This Post will be Updated when I have completed the next step]

Childish Gambino, got that swaggah!!

I have been absolutely in love with Childish Gambino as of late. His ill rhymes, sick beats and crazy cool swagger. I can't get enough.

So I'm going to share it with the world.

Listen and love cuz this beat is hard!

If you like what you hear head off to http://www.iamdonald.com/ cuz you can download all his tracks 100% free plus it's all legit!

You're welcome,
Jin

Welcome to my blog!

Welcome to the artistic flavours of jin & juice. Having a blog seem like the hip and cool thing to do so I started one. Here i'll post stuff from all over the joint, though you will mostly see my art stuff you can expect my thoughts on movies and comics and stuff about my life in general. So let's be done with the sappy introduction and get straight into the good stuff.

Boredom is a powerful state and it's amazing what you can achieve when you are that bored. Whilst I have been working and we have had no customers I have been able to just do some sketches in my sketchbook. If you follow my deviantart you would recognise these.

I'm pretty stoked with how both these pictures turned out, but I am been copping a lot of steam from my mates for not adding some graffiti. We'll see, if I can be bothered I might make some changes.

And quickly before I head off, I saw the Thor moive on April 21 here in Australia. And it was awesome!!! Hoping to go see it again soon, cuz it was so boss.

Anyways lates,
Jin