Mikiko Otaki's Art Blog

Will be Back ??/??/20??

2011-07-01T02:20:00.002+03:00

Thank you for stopping by! I'll be moving from a continent to continent in the next month, so I'll be taking a break from blog post. I'll be back as soon as I settle into my new life.

Caterpillar and Alice

2011-05-23T16:13:00.001+03:00

The caterpillar scene from "Alice in Wonderland." My goal was to keep it as simple and conservative as possible.

Red Hood and the Wolf

2011-05-23T16:11:00.001+03:00

An illustration of the Little Red Riding Hood and the wolf for a children's book project. Ink with digital coloring.

Hip Hop Comics

2011-03-27T09:21:00.001+02:00

Ganbare Nippon

2011-03-22T10:12:00.000+02:00

My heart goes out to all the victims of Earthquake and Tsunami, and for all these people who are enduring harsh circumstances...

Jellyfish t-shirt design tight sketch

2011-03-03T15:54:00.002+02:00

Graphic Novel Project

2011-03-03T15:49:00.003+02:00

Human swordsman character design

2011-02-23T18:36:00.002+02:00

For an iPhone game.
Trying to get better on digital painting...

It's February and the weather is perfect in Israel...

2011-02-21T13:57:00.000+02:00

Sketch for T-shirt Design

2011-02-20T11:12:00.000+02:00

For a billiard place.

Sketches for T-shirt Design

2011-02-12T19:33:00.000+02:00

Character Sketches

2011-01-12T17:42:00.001+02:00

Happy Lantern Week 5

2010-10-17T11:33:00.000+02:00

Concept Illustration for "Red Moon"

2010-10-09T14:40:00.005+02:00

I have been working on another short story, "Red Moon," and this is one of the concept illustrations. It's a tragic love story inspired from Hans Andersen's "The Little Mermaid." I have written a rough script, but I need to do more rendering before I can start drawing, as I feel this story is not yet ready to begin.

Happy Lantern Week 3

2010-09-30T20:59:00.001+02:00

Sample drawing from page 5

Making of the "The Sars"

2010-09-22T19:16:00.005+02:00

Thumbnail sketches for pages 1,3, and 9

Tighter sketches for pages 1,3, and 9

Finished ink drawings for pages 1,3, and 9

Completed pages for pages 1,3, and 9

One day, an image of a lonely character walking through an isolated, dim path through woods came to my mind. And on its horizon, an unfamiliar, unfriendly cityscape lied ahead of him. I think I was a bit tired and a bit discouraged from my work, just like this character. Everybody have a moment like that; when you're a little hesitant to keep going. So this is a simple story about a man who, at the end of a tiring day, sits down in a little despair, but eventually gathers strength to face yet another day, another challenge.

I wanted the drawing style to have kind of soft and worm feeling, and generally pencil or charcoal is ideal to such effect, but since I am terrible at keeping pencil lines clean, I experimented with the BIG ball-point pen. As a result, I think it gave the drawing bit of softer edge, more than the dip pens I usually use.

The finished drawing was done on Aquabee Manga paper (8.5 x 11) and in addition to the ball-point pen, I used the Pentel brush pens and Zebra dip pens.

My intention was to keep this comic as hand-drawn as possible, but I needed the effect of clear, transparent gradation for the night sky, so Photoshop helped me out on that. At the end, the gradation effect might have collided with the 'soft' feeling I was going after, but it's a lesson for another project.

Please click here to view the completed pages.

Short Comics, "The Stars" Page 9 and 10

2010-09-14T19:53:00.002+02:00

Here is the last two pages for "The Stars." Next week I will post the entire creative process of making this short comics.

"Happy Lantern" Week 1

2010-09-09T17:41:00.003+03:00

I am very excited to share the new short-comics, "Happy Lantern." It's a coming of age story of Nicholas, a 12 year old boy whose creative spirit sometimes does not coincides with the world around him.

These are the first four pages, and I will post the finished art pages once I have nice amount for you to read.

At this point, I've written the complete script, and drawn the entire thumb nail. I'm planing this story to be around 28 pages. I'm aiming to make this comics as hand-made as possible, with occasional help from Manga Studio software on shadows. The drawing was done on Aquabee Marker Paper (8.5 x 11), with Pigma Micron pen , and Pentel brush pen.

Short Comics, "The Stars" Page 8

2010-09-07T11:35:00.002+03:00

It is Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year this week here in Israel, and now that the long, hot summer is over and the weather is changing for better everyday, it truly seems like a beginning of new cycle. "Shanah tovah!" to everyone, for a good and sweet coming year!

Short Comics, "The Stars" Page 7

2010-09-01T12:00:00.005+03:00

Here is the newest page for "The Stars." This short-comics will be completed in three more pages, and once they are, I will post its creative process.

With the cooler, kinder breeze blowing in the evening, I can feel the end of the summer... Here in northern-Israel, this summer was almost brutally hot, but we're lucky to have a beautiful beach near by, and dive to the sweet Mediterranean Sea kept my head and mind refreshed during this hot hot summer.

Short Comics, "The Stars" Page 6

2010-08-26T15:11:00.001+03:00

Short Comics, "The Stars" Page 4 and 5

2010-08-17T08:33:00.000+03:00

Page 4

Page 5

Here are new pages for "The Stars." Please click here to see the previous pages.

T-shirts designs

2010-08-13T21:11:00.002+03:00

Doodle

2010-08-13T21:09:00.001+03:00

Just a quick exercise for my hand...

The Invention of Dr. Nakamatsu

2010-08-13T20:53:00.001+03:00

Dr. Nakamats is a Japanese inventor who holds the world records for invention at more than 3300 patent. In this documentary, director Kaspar Astrup Schröder captures his uniqueness, charm, and dedication towards life as an inventor. I watched this movie on TV this week, and I was fascinated throughout the film. I assure you that you have never seen someone quite like Dr. Nakamats. Here is the Youtube clip posted by Casperworks.

Short Comics, "The Stars" Page 3

2010-08-03T17:13:00.003+03:00

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer. Here is the newest page of "The Stars."
Please click here to see previous pages. Stay cool!

Short Comics, "The Stars" Page 2

2010-07-27T17:57:00.003+03:00

Please click here to see the previous pages.

New Short Comics, "The Stars" Page 1

2010-07-20T14:50:00.006+03:00

"The Stars" is a 10-page short comics about a traveling salesman and the epiphany he has at the end of a tiring, disappointing day. New pages will be updated every Tuesday.

Jaffa

2010-05-18T12:39:00.000+03:00

This week I had an opportunity to visit Jaffa, an ancient port city next to Tel Aviv. Jaffa is one of my favorite places in the world... Walking through its streets makes you feel like you're lost in time.

New Paintings

2010-04-27T16:01:00.005+03:00

The goal for doing these paintings was to have fun, and to not to be over concerned about details or accuracy of the subject matter. In fact I wanted to look at references as less as possible. It's like having a sweet juice for your brain, mind, and soul to work on pieces with a lot of freedom.

Character Drawings

2010-04-13T13:50:00.000+03:00

These drawings are for my science-fiction graphic novel in a development. I have this one idea I want to do in this novel, but except for that I so far only have sheer images of characters and flashes of landscapes this story would take place. Since a story is an organic being, I can't force it to grow faster than its natural growing speed, so it will be interesting to see how this one will develop over time.

Tel Aviv Museum of Art

2010-03-30T15:18:00.002+03:00

It's the Passover week here in Israel, and I took a day off to visit the Tel Aviv Museum of Art for the first time. During this holiday, all the admission is free, courtesy of Bank Hapoalim who is sponsoring the exhibitions, which I think is quite neat. It's a great opportunity for everyone to stop by at the museum and enjoy the art, and it was nice to see a lot of people out there.

The museum actually have respectable collection; it was great to see works of great artists like Magritte, Kandinsky, Max Ernst, and of course my favorite, Dali.

Tal Mazliah, the winner of 2009 Rappaport Prise, had an huge collection exhibited, and they were a lot of fun.

I've been hearing from people that they also have a glass museums in this area, which I could not check out today. I've heard great review, so I would definitely come back and check it out as soon as I get the chance.

If you get a chance, I recommend the trip to Tel Aviv Museum, for a quiet tour to enjoy art.

Tibetan Folk Tales

2010-03-22T17:18:00.006+02:00

I love eastern mythology, and lately I've been captivated by Tibetan folk tales. It's filled with exciting fantasy tales, and it has such a kind philosophy underneath. I'm getting lots of ideas and inspirations for my next graphic novel. I highly recommend the wonderful book by Fredrick and Audrey Hyde-Chambers, the collection of authentic Tibetan folklore.

Character Sketches for a short comics

2010-02-22T10:46:00.000+02:00

Character Sketches

2010-01-20T17:05:00.001+02:00

Character sketches for a new comic series.

Back to the Production

2009-12-18T17:22:00.002+02:00

I took a couple of moth break from my graphic novel production due to family and personal reasons, but now I'm back and it truly is great to be back. It has been such a challenging process for a couple of years, but I feel I'm finally getting close to finishing it.

Great-great Grandfather's art pieces

2009-11-15T18:13:00.001+02:00

My Great-great grandfather (my grandfather's grandfather) was a Noh-ga and Butsu-ga artist. Noh-ga is art for Noh, classical Japanese musical drama. These sketches are portrait for Noh actors. Butsu-ga is "painted representations of buddhist deities", and it refers to all paintings that have some relationship to Buddhism. According to my grandmother, these were done around 1930's. I wanted to share these works here because they are absolutely stunning.

Amsterdam

2009-11-09T13:30:00.005+02:00

It was great to arrive to Amsterdam after 12 hour flight from Japan. It felt like I was back to a normal world. However, going from Japan to Netherlands is like going from a midget land to a giant land. I had no idea Dutch people are so tall.

People in Amsterdam knows how to chill. I've never been to a city where it has such relaxed atmosphere. It was a great stop over to go between two extreme countries; Japan and Israel. A walk in the Vondel Park was extremely enjoyable, as well as window-shopping at these funky stores near Dam square.

Only thing it was tough for me in Amsterdam was the food. It was especially tough coming from Japan , a food heaven. I mean how many toast and sandwiches can you have?

Have checked out Van Gogh and Rembrandt Museum. It was great seeing their original pieces.

JAPAN

2009-11-08T18:39:00.005+02:00

There is no other place in the world where it is more suitable to say, “We're not in Kansas anymore” than Japan. You're in Oz, Alice in mirror image, spirited away into bizarre Miyazaki world, wherever it is, this place is extremely unique, and is disconnected from the rest of the world.

Japanese succeeded to create an extremely efficient and organized society, where a train arrives on schedule without a minute of delay, a shipping service called Takkyu-bin offers you an excellent and reliable shipping service, a cashier gives you an exact change at any time. I was amazed with how functional everything is here, but after awhile it does start to feel like you're living in a robot society where everything is controlled and organized. I started to miss the chaos and craziness of Israel. I even missed how Israelis don't wait in line, which usually drives me crazy.

Sketches for chapter 2 and 3

2009-09-16T16:26:00.001+03:00

I've been working on tight sketches for chapter 2 and 3 for my "Tung Tree" Graphic Novel. I'm aiming to finish them before I'll go on to an adventure in Japan this month.

Since this is my first novel, each production step is anew and engaging. I'm learning so much from every procedure.

These thumbnail/ sketching process used to take me so much longer a year ago, but now I can work on them a lot easier.

I will be going to Japan for the first time in four years. It'll be a great family reunion, and I have two weddings to attend to. We'll be stopping in Amsterdam on the way and on the way back. I've always wanted to go check it out, so it's quite exciting. Can't wait to go to Van Gogh Museum. If you know great places to visit in the city, please email me and let me know!

The image shows process from thumbnail to inking, and shadowing on computer.

Anton Chekhov

2009-09-10T21:51:00.000+03:00

Since I read about him in Haruki Murakami's “1Q84,” and have heard in general that he is one of the true masters of writing, I have been reading Anton Chekhov this past couple of weeks. (BTW, I am extremely dissatisfied with “1Q84,” but I won't talk about it here.) I expected Chekhov's stories to be depressing, boring, and difficult to read, but it was actually a pure joy reading his stories. They are extremely enjoyable. They are worm, and depicts human nature of caring and loving. Some stories such as “Death of a clark,” “Chameleon,” and “Tragic Actor” are really funny, as Chekhov points out human elements that make us so vulnerable and imperfect, but lovable at the same time.

His stories show me that there are great conflict, tension, human drama with intensity in our daily lives. It's surprising to realize that a moment of an ordinary person's life can be more dramatic than, say, an alien invasion, or a volcano erupting.

I've enjoyed all of his stories so far, but I particularly loved “Difficult People,” and “The Student.”