 Samurai Process.
posted: February 8, 2010
I had realized I forgot to post the creative process of the cover for The Beautiful and Grotesque, a collection of short stories by Ryunosuke Akutagawa, one of the most celebrated modern Japanese authors. So, here it is. AD: Albert Tang (W.W. Norton) and Rodrigo Corral (Rodrigo Corral Design). The book will be published from W.W. Norton this year. 
The process started from rough ideas. I gave them four different scenes from the longest story in the book: The Robbers.
I think the only art direction I got is that it is an adult fiction and the cover should not look like a young adult book. I always repeated that in my head while working on ideas as well as coloring process. 
They picked one of them, and the next stage was to make the wrap around sketch for the cover. 
My secret weapon and amazing reference book for this project: "勇者の装い Samurai Armor Design" from PIE Books of Japan, bought at Kinokuniya Bookstore Bryant Park branch in New York. It is a wonderful coffee table book and makes a great gift too. 
As you can see, sketch with gutter space is printed out to the size I would draw, and traced onto watercolor paper using light box. The rest is just tedious drawing process using ink and brush for hours till I am done. 
black and white drawing is done. Next step is coloring on Photoshop. 
screenshot of Photoshop process. As you can see, I ended up multiplying arrows to give image more depth and contemporary feel to the image. 
This is the final wrap around cover image. 
There were a few color variations to choose from. I actually liked this fuchsia version too. Intentionally chose the color that is not in traditional Japanese color scheme to give it contemporary feel. 
final front cover. I love this unexpectedly contemporary design. I am so happy they didn't take the expected direction of making it look very Japanese. Design: Rodrigo Corral, AD: Albert Tang             20 comments |
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Tonight, Tonight.
posted: February 5, 2010
See you all tonight at the Society of Illustrators?
surprise or no surprise, lots of Drawger members are exhibiting their works as well as some receiving medals. Those of you who are not into paying $$ for the party, the show is open to public (free) until February 20th. I am super exicited to receive a medal along with my highschool class mate and unbelievably talented Tatsuro Kiuchi, who is flying in from Tokyo! 
We Will Rock You.
posted: February 3, 2010
I grew up with an older sister so when I was in elementary school I was already familiar with such Queen albums as A Night At The Opera and Sheer Heart Attack. Yes, long before the famous News of the World album became the super-mega-hit. Somehow, my social savvy sister got backstage pass to Queen concert in the 80s and invited me to come with her. I don’t know why I didn’t. I probably was too young and maybe midterm exam was more on my mind than Queen. Stupid me. My sister came back with tons of photos of Freddie and Roger and rest of the band members eating yakitori in a small restaurant during the after party. And that was the last tour Queen had in Tokyo before Freddie Mercury passed away shortly after. Illustrators all have our ‘dream job list’. In the beginning, we get excited crossing one out at a time. After a while we realize it is OK not to cross everything out and eventualy forget about the list. But once in a while, out of the blue things on the list come back and surprise us with excitement. Needless to say Freddie Mercury was on the top of my list, but I thought the day would never come because it has been so long since he has left this world. Siung Tjia, Creative Director of ESPN The Magazine, is a friend, but most of the time we talk about Chinese movies we love and Korean food we want to try for next lunch, so I assume he had no idea about my dream job list when he called me. Well, thank you Siungl! This was such a treat and a PERFECT assignment. And designer was Lou Vega. The story was about America’s No.1 Stadium Anthem. Of course, it was Queen’s We Will Rock You written by Brian May. The article (and illustration) is in the latest issue of ESPN on newsstand now. 
rough layout first, then to a sketch, then to revised sketch with larger crowd and prominent stadium. 
For me, Freddie is all about THIS costume. It was long before We Will Rock You, but I had to put him in this outfit. This shocked me when I was about 10 years old... 
gathered a lot more reference of Freddie (when he was older). I noticed he holds the microphone in a specific way, so I mimicked that in the final illustration. 
black and white drawing before Photoshop stage. Black india ink on watercolor paper. Original size about 18.25" x 22" 
final image. I worked extra hard on this (not that I don't work hard on other ones). Ah, flash-back of the missed last concert and Freddie in yakitori restaurant photos while working on this.... 
details of the crowd. Metallica and Village People also made the list. 
final layout. Siung Tjia CD, Lou Vega AD/design. ESPN The Magazine Fan Issue is out now. R. Gregory Christie Interview
posted: January 7, 2010
It was the longest interview I had so far and probably one of the most inspiring. Greg talks about his passion and mission to right the wrongs of American history by finding the buried Brown People heroes, giving encouragements and advise to aspiring illustrators especially those who are minorities, and shares a funny story how he ‘fell into’ children’s book world which was not his initial plan. Because of the limited space I had to cut it down to essence of the whole story in the magazine, but for English-reading audience, the whole interview is now available on Illustration Friday, thanks to Penelope Dullaghan the woman behind Illustration Friday. So thank you to Greg and Penelope. 
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