2nd Day of Comic Fiesta and The Comikers Awards

On the second day of Comic Fiesta annd finally the Comikers Awards Submission,

the second day is just as much fun. I've bought even more comics than I thought I would, adding more to my collection in just two days for this holiday.

I've even taken more pictures for sight-seeing,

Then, of course finally, the Comikers Awards Submission,

First the introduction,

Then the line-up for 17 ages and below,

and then the second group, 18 and above, in which I've participated,

I've managed to score... CONSOLATION PRIZE!

and believe me, IT FEELS GRAND. I never expected to be selected so feels pretty huge for me.

Met a lot of the artists and made acquaintances along the way so it was very much worth it.

also, i just want to thank my friends for helping me out during the making of the comic as well as helping me take pictures and stuff(lol)!

Works during the two weeks absence

 Although before I could update on my comics, let me just show you a bit of my works from the past weeks in when I was sooo busy with stuff;


these are my final paintings for this semester,

here's a composition sketch that didn't make it as a final painting but still liked it regardless;

it might be difficult to see from these pictures but here's what it looks like from above. This paintings are meant to pop-up or be in the form of 3-dimensional.

and since they are shaped paintings, they have much room for lulz, this is what my friends did to it after it was finished.

Comic Fiesta

That's right, ladies and gents, I've been to the local comic con and it was fantastic. It was super busy but still manageable. Toured myself around the very huge halls.. VERY huge halls and uncountable number of kiosks and booths filled with merchandises, comics, pretty pictures, games, girls and cosplayers of all shapes and sizes. Very colourful indeed, I assure you and was very well worth the wait.

Here are some pictures to show,

My all time favourite is still this fellow right here, simplicity and awesomeness right there;

Not only that, my contest comic submission was also displayed in one of the booths.

Other than that, I've bought plentiful comics waiting to be read during the holidays. Can't wait.

By the way, since I've finished all my final assessments except for painting assessment and one exam (pfffft) I'll try to start updating again as soon as possible.

Thank you and very sorry for the lack of comic updates! Stay tuned!

Sorry! still no update this week. I'm facing my final assessment and stuff this week so bear with me!

As soon as I'm done with it, I can start updating comics again and stuff.

Although I have bit of good news to shed a light on this weak update.

Remember that JATAYU comic I updated for a contest submission? Surprisingly, it made into the finalists. They won't announce who won just yet until the prize giving ceremony at 23rd December. So really, I am feeling very excited and anxious to see how far I've come.

And to be honest, I didn't expect it to be even selected. I thought it would be too fierce a competition to even enter since it was held for that international comic-con event so being selected is really lucky enough for me.. Or I'm just both excited and anxious since it's my first time attempting to seriously put my work in the real world.

Which was also the overall concept of the comic - The JATAYU comic wasn't merely a comic to 'test my skills and abilities in a competition'. It was more of an experiment of an idea that has been formed throughout my studies during degree studies in University;  how do you implement traditional art in modern day context? how do you revive traditional art and give it a present-day meaning so that people, viewers and readers can accept it?

The reason I made JATAYU was how do I create a Malay superhero in modern-day context? what IS the essence or values of a Malay hero? What kind of superheroes can I create out of it? What sort of heroes existed before it? To answer that question, I tried my best to refer literature and epics portraying such heroes such as Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa, Hikayat Hang Tuah and other forms of literature such as poems of Jentayu and so on.

Then, I studied and compared superheroes from both east and west and choose which appealed me the most. Everything from DC to Marvel, from Super Sentai to Jetman. I also studied local examples from the past from local comic artists who tried the same. From Azhar Abdullah to Zint to Pedang Setiawan to Boboiboy.

I first chose Kamen Rider Black because I was so impressed when my friends first showed it to me. Note that I've never watched much of Kamen Rider shows because I was never interested in them until they showed me the remake of Classic Kamen Rider the movie(lol, sorry forgot the actual title) and Kamen Rider Black. I thought I was the only one but a lot preferred the classic Kamen Riders because of what I can tell as the exceeding macho levels as well as implementing martial arts in their choreographed Henshin and fight scenes. Also, simplicity in their costumes is just pretty great on its own(especially when you have to put the helmet on your own).

So from that point, it became my primary source for reference but I didn't stop. It came to inquiry on what makes Kamen Rider so special? Why even a grasshopper? What makes Kamen Rider a good hero? From that on, I studied its backgrounds, the definition of Tokusatsu, its history, and the philosophy behind Kamen Rider itself. That itself would be too long to write down but basically I understood its relation and how I could implement it in my works.

I chose Jentayu because as reference to Kamen Rider's choice for grasshoppers and beetles, I chose a mythical and majestic bird that is much closer related to Malays in terms of history in literature and motifs in art as well as its strong fighting spirit yet kind at heart. Thus, forms JATAYU.

Many would and have opposed this idea as the idea itself might seem cheesy or cliche`. I admit it actually is but that was also my experiment in how do you represent something that is considered cliche or immature into a well thought out work that could well be appreciated? I attempted to parody itself because I know that regardless of my efforts in making it special based on Kamen Rider, I could never beat or making it better than any kind of Kamen Rider since it has already been well established and well known, no matter what weapon, clothes or superpower I could have JATAYU to wield. I could only create a different method of presentation while giving it a local context to reflect the essence, values, society and look of a Malay hero in modern day Malaysia.  I still enjoyed the journey in creating this hero because I've managed to grasp what makes a hero tick. Even so, I still have a lot to learn in this particular field but nevertheless I enjoyed it.

Lastly, sorry for no comic updates today again! I hope you don't mind the long post but it may help in giving insights of how JATAYU was born and all.

PS: That reminds me. I made a video showing super speed inking process on how this comic was drawn so maybe I'll put that up later for show.

I'm on my last week of final assessments and exams so stay tuned! There will be JUSTICE!

Haven't updated much this week. I have to apologize for that.

Am dealing with finishing my final works for major and minor subjects but believe me, so far, I am able to control the momentum or in other words, able to finish the projects on time and on my own ability, thankfully.

And it'll be only two weeks left and after that, ends my fifth semester.

So, in conclusion for this post, I commit shamefur dispray for not being able to update the blog and the Liga Prajurit comic by this week but believe me, I am doing my best to finish up this semester as well as keeping the comic going after finishing finals.

Most likely that next week will probably without an update. Sorry!

Apologies and stay tuned!

JATAYU comic cover

Because a comic isn't complete without a comic cover.
(Done by referencing works by Ryan Stegman & Edgar Delgado)

I've just sent my comic submission last night at the last minute for the contest submission through email. Hopefully they'll get it by now.

So the announcement of nominees and winners would be around 15th December and will be announced in their sites, facebook and twitter. So, all is left is to just pray and wait. (Wish me luck!)

And since I'm done with this one-shot, I'll probably start continuing doing Liga Prajurit pages by next week. Stay tuned!

Jatayu Complete

Finished! Might retouch if anything that might be needed before putting this up for submission but this is it. All is left is making a cover page and there's that!

Hope you all enjoy reading!

JATAYU slight update

Slight as in I haven't properly finished it yet but I ought to show the progress anyway. I have redone a few previous pages except for backgrounds still but for now, here's a bit something for this week.

JATAYU

Last week, I said I was working on something different for the time being to prepare a submission for a local comic contest. So far, this week, I've managed to finish the pencilling for all of the 7 pages. Then, recently I've managed to finish inking at least 3 pages. Inserted the dialogues early to test the rather unusual writing I am currently trying.. So far LOOKS okay, unless noted otherwise.

I'll elaborate on the content of the comic later but for now, basically it's a HENSHIN-HERO!

this is the first time I ever tried such a concept so you may point and laugh because huehuehue

To all my viewers and readers,

For the next four weeks, I will embark on the most longest, treacherous race I've ever done so far in my life. (lol so far)

But still, no really, seriously.

Well, to make it easier to understand, let me start from the beginning~

On the 22nd of December, there will be an international comic-con event going down that I've been meaning to go since early semester. Not only that, they're holding a comic competition starting since this month recently till 15th of December, which is the last date of submission. And obviously, I've been trying to participate this competition in any way I can.

Now, the problem is that they've set a specific theme for each age group and for what I can enter is about 'revival'. Not only that, the page limit for submission is only 7 PAGES.

I have no problem with the first part as my current working comic still could suffice to relate to that theme but limiting to only 7 pages is next to impossible. Which is pretty sad because I thought I could've just submitted the 'Liga Prajurit' comic as my contest submission but eh I guess nothing is THAT easy, eh?

So the only solution is to either redraw the comic to FIT that 7 pages OR to start another 7-page one-shot from scratch. I chose the latter as my decision.

So since the beginning of this week, I've been painstakingly created the overall story, character design and concept while having to deal with some serious university stuff.

God wills it that I will succeed in at least participating because getting an entry isn't just to make a name for myself but as a test to if I am capable as I hoped to be able to sell my ideas, to influence and to inspire.

I will try to update weekly just as usual but there'd be most likely be lacking of the usual Liga Prajurit updates because I'd be temporarily working on this 7-page on shot under 4 weeks.. 4 weeks may sound a lot but when you're in university, it probably means only like 2-3 days of free time that I could actually use to produce such work.

So just to inform early that I would not update Liga Prajurit for next week and most likely for the next four weeks. I'll upload the one-shot comic once it is done.

Thank you for continuing to follow my work development and I apologize for anyone who may be hoping for the next comic's updates.

Liga Prajurit 7

The flow of the page is imperfect but for this time, it'll have to do.

focused primarily on experimentation of fonts.

Feel free to point out anything that might help in making this better. Thank you!