Graduation, FML, Howl and Summer Finn paper doll

Oh my goodness an update is long overdue!

May was crazy, as Mays usually are at Soka. This year's finals seemed to be prolonged for an additional week--my last paper was due 4 days before the graduation ceremony! And I was an emotional wreck during graduation--that's another story all together. It was incredible watching my peers in 2011 walk the brand new, waxy floor of the Performing Arts Center in their gowns and blue sashes and from the seats I felt like I was walking beside them, too. But I've overcome my bitterness about not graduating this year--as a matter of fact, I'm quite excited and honored that I get to stay at Soka for one more year. I'm able to take all these courses that I otherwise would never have had time for. And guess who's learning cello next semester, too!! :D So I see my status as a "supersenior" a privilege. And hell, I am in no way ready to be stepping out in to the workforce.

So that's that and I'm at home in Japan now, with my darling family and my getting-kinda-senile-there cat. I've got this month in Tokyo to prepare for my big trip to Europe in July. I'm just in the process of finishing up commissions. 

Oh, also! I was recently asked to illustrate for fmylife.com! I was so thrilled so I jumped on the opportunity to illustrate my favorite FML:

Today my friends took my phone and changed all the contact's names to characters from Harry Potter. I have over a hundred contacts and no idea who I'm talking to. I've been texting Draco Malfoy for 4 hours now. FML

Here's what I came up with:

Click image to enlarge

So that was a ton of fun. And I was so amazed to find out that this got over 40,000 hits in two days. Thank you everyone at DeviantArt and Tumblr!! :D

And here are some more Howl fan arts I've done over the past two weeks:

「消えて行くハウル」("Vanishing Howl")

The Water Ring

Also, I finally finished a second paper doll. After posting the first one of Tom Hansen (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) from 500 Days of Summer, I got a great number of replies on Tumblr asking for a Summer version. So here it is! A Summer Finn (Zooey Deschanel) paper doll!

Click image to enlarge

Finally here's some Potter Crack I drew as a post script in a letter I wrote to a friend. 

Click image to enlarge

That's about it for now! Sorry this post was so image heavy! Good day!

Portrait for The Pearl

A portrait of Jenny Ohrstrom, SUA class of 2008, for the upcoming Pearl Memorial Edition! We're nearly there but man oh man it's getting rough. I've been struggling with recurring vertigo these past four, five days, making it very hard to work on anything... let alone draw on computer. Alas, the show must go on (but with periodic breaks on Netflix, now).

Some stuffs I've been working on...

I am determined to make
this SUA 10th Anniversary Pearl issue

nothing less than amazing.

A little sneak-peak of some side-article inserts
made of found-material collages:

Brazilian Wax

Breakfast Music no. 1

Breakfast Music no. 2

Earthtones

My addictions

So my class is making a fancy scrapbook to preserve our memories etc. on a tangible object and every senior was asked to submit one original page. The criteria was pretty loose. Stuff like how you'd want to be remembered and reflecting on good times and all that. Stuff that describes you. I basically saw this as an excuse to mash together all the loves of my life these past four years, from Angry Birds to llamas. So here's what I made:

Probably the rest of my classmates are gonna have pages full of photos with friends and inside jokes and all. Look how much of my limited social life made it to this page. Zero. lol Well, maybe YouTube.

Wine Mixer flyer

Yesterday was a downer day for me. I felt completely reluctant to do anything productive and my recent subscription to Netflix did nothing to help that situation. So I ended up watching three and a quarter movies yesterday:  Tangled (again), Everything is Illuminated (Russian film starring Elijah Wood), The Big Lebowski (again), and a part of Rango (starring the voice of Johnny Depp) on another online streaming site. I didn't have high hopes for Rango to begin with but 20 minutes was enough for me to shut it off. I don't need anything more than Willy Wonka and the Hatter to tarnish my image of Johnny. 

Hence, been studying most of the day today to catch up. I've got a pretty intense architecture exam coming up on Monday which I can never be overly prepared for.

I also drew this flyer for a campus event coming up. 

Thank you for your comments on the previous post! I'll compensate by posting my uninteresting* garb from the past two days in one dump tomorrow.

*Study days and moody days deserve nothing more or less than sweats and PJs. 

Thangs I wore

So I know it's pretty silly and obnoxious to be posting these afterward but I wasn't very much in the mood or state to share anything personal the past few days. After I got the rescue Japan drawing off my chest I'm feeling much better. So here's a glimpse of my wardrobe this week. I scrapped the idea of reporting the weather for each day--I'm in Southern California so there's not much variety in climate anyhow.

Monday, I was feeling pretty drained from two classes and an intense (but invigorating) student forum in the evening. All the while I was feeling stressed from the news on the nuclear plants in Fukushima. Here I'm sporting the That's Amore Dress in black from Modcloth and a golden swan brooch from Sprout Studio. Yay online shopping!

Lazy Tuesday. Feeling the forecast of an oncoming menstrual cycle so stocking up on dark chocolate covered blueberries and parmesan, garlic and herb flavored pita chips from Trader Joe's.

Today is Wednesday, which means lots of classes and yoga in the afternoon--all of which calls for cheep spandex leggings, a loose H&M tanktop and a baggy hand-me-down shirt from Dad. Course-wise, I had Symbolic Logic in the morning and Architecture in the afternoon. Instead of the usual lecture course, we were given a tour through the new Performing Arts Theater! It was my first time in and I was so stoked. I snapped away on my camera. FYI, it's a green building that's LEED certified for a gold standard!

And finally, look what arrived in the mail today! 

This is a bookmark by Lesley Barnes, a phenomenal and colorful artist, whose artwork was being offered in a giveaway at Deborah's adorable blog, Kickcan & Conkers. I couldn't believe my luck when my name was drawn and I'm so excited to sandwich this lovely bookmark between the pages of Alice Munro's shortstories in Too Much Happiness. 

That's all for now folks! I gotta dash to make it to dinner! Toodles!