hoping for a perfect 10

Wow, it's already a new year. I think we all can agree that 2009 was a big year for milestones.

I could really stand to improve upon my speed-doodling, so here are a few of my personal 2009 milstones in speed-doodle form:

10. Worked a job at college;



9. Turned 23 years old (hoy, it counts! I've never done it before, right? And I won't be doing it again, either, heh)



8. Graduated from college;



7. Got a NEW job;



6. Bought my first car . . .



5. . . . learned how to drive it . . .


. . . Er, I have the sense of direction of a carousel horse.

4. And got my driver's licence . . .


. . . My navigation skills have improved, by now. A bit.

3. Had surgery . . .



2. I had never been to a funeral in my life. This year, I attended three funerals within the span of three weeks;


My grandmother (she loved owls, which was appropriate, since we often looked to her, as the matriarch, for Athena-like wisdom)


My great-uncle, who was buried with full honours at Arlington Cemetery


My former schoolmate, who played the cello, had a biting literary wit, and died quite unexpectedly at the age of 23.

Two of my uncles also passed this year, as well, but I was not present at their funerals.

. . . Additionally, I lost two beloved pets;


"Pinstripe"
2008-2009


"Niisan"
1996-2009

1. . . . And welcomed a new pet into my life.



0. And I finally had my name legally changed.



HONOURARY MILESTONES:

- I've always fantasised about having a mohawk, and this year, I finally did it (but you can see it in all of the pictures, here, so I didn't think it needed another one)
- I'm moving out of my parent's house. I'm not quite finished, so that is why it is an "honourary" milestone. Still fairly big, though.
- Hosted my first Burns' Supper (for Scots, this is a fairly big deal)
- Went to New York for the first time.

HAPPY 2010, everyone. Auld Lang Syne and all that jazz!

All dogs go to heaven

A few hours ago, my dear doggie passed away. It happened so suddenly . . . I can only hope that this means he did not suffer.

I called him 'Niisan' because it is a Japanese word for 'brother', and considering I am an only child, he really was something of a sibling to me. Thank you for sharing your thirteen years with me, my brother. I love you so very, very much.

West meets East

Today was me da's birthday, and I spent the better part of today making a card for him. Here's the watercolour painting I did for it;

(my father's Western zodiac is Sagittarius and his Chinese zodiac is an ox)



Heh, I meant to make Saj a great deal hairier, but I ran out of time. Avast and alas and alack the day. But this was a nice visit back to the realm of traditional media I have been neglecting for a long time. I hope it doesn't show too much . . . HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LANCE-PANTS!

Going green(house)

More from the O&A gardening adventure kit;

My pencil rough for the comic (PAGE ONE):


Some colour:

SItting in an English garden, waiting for the sunflower

Crikey, I can't believe we're already into December. This year has been quite an eventful one . . . or is that just me?

Anyhoo, the official launch date for Otto and Anna is now 1st February, 2010, and my boss has kicked things up a notch. We're going to be releasing eight new Adventure Kits instead of the initial four, and I've got to say, I'm super excited ^_^ One of them deals with planting flowers, and we've done the whole thing in a sort of art deco/fruit crate art/poster style.

Here're some designs I came up for the seed packets that will be included in the kit;

The original plan was to have a poster in the kit, but we have since decided against that. However, my boss liked some of the elements in my designs for the posters, and he wanted to encorperate them into the design for the seed packets.





Final pencils;



Final, full colour designs: