Sana Takeda

A Japanese artist currently working mainly for Marvel, Sana Takeda came to my attention for her collaboration with writer Marjorie Liu on the series Monstress. It's an intrically drawn, stark tale of power and pain, supernatural forces and a particular barbaric type of slavery, and is an extremely compelling read.

This review, in particular, struck me and deserves to be shared: “That tenuous space between survival and terror is where Monstress lives. It’s a comic book with mud in its blood, unafraid to be a swirling epic as well as a ghastly dark fantasy.” – Vox

Acquainted With The Night

by Robert Frost

Yasunari Kawabata

The first Japanese author to have received the Nobel Prize for Literature, Yasunari Kawabata is a name I had regrettably not heard before today. Having read and thoroughly enjoyed his short story "The Grasshopper and the Bell Cricket", I purchased his "Palm-Of-The-Hand Stories" - a series of short stories written over the span of his career - and greatly look forward to reading them!

I picked up also the collection of short stories "A Tranquil Star: Unpublished Stories" by Primo Levi (an Italian writer) and "Ecstatic Cahoots: Fifty Short Stories" by Stuart Dybek - an American author whose excellent article "The Surprising Power of Stories That Are Shorter Than Short Stories" introduced me to both previously named writers. In it, he discusses the dual visuality of haiku in their original form, speaks of poetry in fiction, and wraps up the article with the beautiful finishing lines: "Even though we all write on computers now, I still think of writing as words on paper. And when you write a story or a poem, it just illuminates. Meaning shines through words like light through cut paper, beaming out into the night, and projecting its image onto another person’s heart."

Enhanced Illustration by Bill Wright

Interested in mixing traditional and digital illustration?
Last year I attended a short course at Central Saint Martins under Bill Wright, and he's now offering the same course as an online class - for £25! The live course continues to cost £550, and with the online course you get everything I got at the live course. I cannot emphasize enough what a steal this is - Bill is an excellent instructor, bringing in self-made videos, Adobe Certified Expert assistants, a thorough knowledge of both illustration techniques and the business of selling your work, and a willingness to impart all his knowledge in a clear and concise way.

Sound interesting? What if I said that you don't need prior knowledge of how to use Photoshop - or any technical knowledge when it comes to illustration? You'll get great tutorials for both, as well as a group of international and diverse artists working and learning alongside you. If you already know one - or both - then that's great, too! I already knew how to illustrate and use Photoshop before taking the course, but still got great advice, learned about working in different fields, met some very talented people, and created new and fresh art.

The online course isn't as time-limited as the live one, and you'll get a series of lessons (with written discussion, assignments, illustrations and video links) over a period of 7 weeks. Have a poke around his website (eshortcourses.uk) and the facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/groups/156679341345879/), and if you have any questions or want to sign up, send him an email under billwrightmail@gmail.com. Go for it!

Colors of the World

Hey there! So I've had a project in the works that I debuted on Monday: Colors of the World! It's an artistic project exploring different cultures around the world, looking at traditional arts, textiles, patterns, culture, language and much more. Each month I'll be working on a new culture or country, posting a photoshoot at the beginning of each month and following it up with blog posts over on the website, so check it out! It's in its beginning stages still, but by the end of the month there'll be something of interest for everyone, and I'd love to have your feedback and support! Here's the LINK, and a sneak peak...

British Museum London

I'll be heading back to London again soon (nearly exactly one year after my last visit), so I thought now would be a good time to share some of my favorite photos from the British Museum. Taken in wildly different exhibits, here you have everything from the Netherlands to Greece!