Category: Welcome

I’m back!

Sorry I disappeared for about what, a month? The last few weeks were quite hectic. I had finals during the beginning of December and truthfully, it was the final project for Japanese class (a language class) that really took quite a bit of my time. We had to create a children’s story and have at the very least 10 pictures to go along with it. I made sure to take care of the actual story first so as to not have problems later, but I failed to take into account the pictures. This became a problem, after all I was planning on drawing them all out.

It was a rather interesting experience since it was a new experience and fun but also quite hard and really stressful. Working on it was making me feel sick throughout the whole experience. I had to work on it as soon as I woke up and took only breaks to take care of things like eating and other living necessities. In a way I got a glimpse at the life of what a mangaka has to go through every single week. And, I seriously have a whole lot of more respect for them. To be fair, the work I did was still mediocre in the end (this is what happens for trying to draw it all in 5 days) but still presentable. What’s funny is that I was planning to color them too. Boy was I wrong!

Anyway, it’s been just a little over a week since I entered winter vacations. Although I did decide to take about five days off to just stop and take a moment to just have fun, I had to quickly get back to work. I do feel bad for not updating this space for this whole time though. I truly apologize. But worry not, since I was documenting my work so that I can speak about it in days to come. I have quite a lot of work that is to come. It’s quite daunting actually, but I’ll make it work.

Next semester I will not be going back to school. I decided to invest my time and money for the sake of artwork. I don’t remember if I already mentioned this before but I have been accepted by two anime conventions at the beginning of the year. They are Anime Land Wasabi and Colorado Anime Fest. I still have to take care of some things so that I can say I will 100% be there (it has to do with taxes, I will explain later since new artist have to know this), but I shouldn’t have any problems taking care of that.

Having said that I am currently working on the products I will have available at my table. I will write about that later. Truthfully I just wanted to give a bit of an update about where I’m at and a little glimpse of what’s to come.

Hasta la proxima,

Nube Obscura

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Recounting Nan Desu Kan 2016 – Day 3 The END Some More Cosplayers + Results of the Art Show an Art book Bought Plus a bonus Saturday Story

It was Sunday now, and I was exhausted. Truthfully I really didn’t want to go back. But I still had to go pick up my artwork, and my brother and friend also had to go to the live auction. Thinking back this was my first time in a live auction.

So we headed back downtown at around 11 in the morning, truthfully I was really worried about the outcome of my artwork, did I sell anything at all, did people even like my artwork, did people take any business cards? hhfffuuuu…

Whatever the case, I would find out soon enough.

But before that, here are the last pictures of cosplayers I took for this year.

Definitely one of he best Final Fantasy X-II Rikku cosplayers I’ve seen live. And it’s pretty rare to see an Akemi Homura from her initial state as a magical girl before she became so jaded.

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Let me see, the one on the left is from Black Lagoon right (haven’t seen it, is any good?)? The one on the right is obviously San from the amazing Mononoke Hime film by Ghibli. And for the one in the middle, well actually she was cosplayer that really caught my attention. She’s cosplaying Ryoga from Ranma 1/2, an anime that is rather rare to see cosplayed these days. Although I saw various Ryogas this year, is Ranma 1/2 making a comeback with the newer generations?

Before I forget, there is a story to this one (I wonder if you will find it interesting though?). So I was really looking forward to take a picture of Ryoga. But I noticed that all three of them were friends. And as I asked Ryoga for a picture I noticed that they all started to part out of the way. San really looked a bit bummed, so I asked her if she wanted to get in the photo as well and also took that opportunity to ask if Revy (I think that’s her character?) if she also wanted to be in the picture. I’m really glad I asked them because the photo came out better that way. They all look happier together, but also gives a good contrast between all three. I really like the pose of Ryoga who is most likely lost as usual.

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Steins Gate

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So… this picture was taken while me, my brother and friend were waiting in line for the live auction. I noticed that this really cute cosplayer was in front of us also waiting for the auction. So I of course went to ask for a photo. I believe she and her younger sister are cosplaying Black Butler right? Is the younger sister as well? Anyway, looking at the photo the sister is really not pleased is she? She does not aprove. ffhmmm… Oh well, the cosplay was really good so I had to ask.

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Haven’t yet seen Gravity Falls (ridiculous huh, I should get on it). But I know I will soon and will most likely like it judging by what I’ve heard. So I took this opportunity to ask for a photo since they looked the part quite well. I really like this photo.

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Last cosplayers I took a picture of. I wonder from what series?

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So that’s all the cosplayers.

Also, here are some pictures of the convention on it’s last hours. On Sunday, things really die down compared to Friday and Saturday huh?

Line for the live auction. If you can see at the far left you can see a Krillin cosplayer. That’s actually a girl who went all in to make a great Krillin cosplay. Was planning to take her picture but lost sight of her after the auction (there was also a really good Android 17 who talked to her at one point, truly an opportunity lost).

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And to think these lines were at one point all packed, sometime all the way to the 7th row. These lines are for he Dealers Room by the way.

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Last one. That lady looks as though she is coming for me, in an aggressive way, hahahaha.

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Now then, before I get into the live auction and the picking up of my artwork, there is one more story I would like to tell.

So the day before (on Saturday) we had the AMV Contest, as we do every year. We go in after being in line for about an hour. We manage to get seats, but somewhere in the middle sections. We set our bags, prints and a Gun Buster action figure my brother bought from the Dealers Room. After a couple of minutes where people got situated, the room becomes dark and the show begins.

But sadly this year was rather disappointing compared to previous years. If anything most of it was rather basic and truthfully a little dull. But there were a couple of exceptions. The Evangelion one for the category x (which means it couldn’t fit in any other category like comedy, action, drama etc.) was really good. It was this rather stylized video that looked like it was from the 50s-60s? It was like a propaganda film for the communists except Evangelion themed. There was actually a reaction from the crowd for this one. Did I even mention the AMV Contest last time (on the post for Saturday)?

Wait… I got sidetracked. Back to the original story. So this was the longest run of AMV since this was their

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During the showing, I had the unfortunate luck of sitting behind a couple who decided to keep their tall hats/caps on. This meant I couldn’t see the screen completely or sometimes at all. Man was that irritating, I was actually surprised by how much of an impact this was having on me. But anyway I had to put up with that for almost all the duration of the contest. But suddenly one of them decided to leave and I could finally see the last five videos without obstruction?

By the end me and my brother had completely forgotten about what we brought with us. But I made sure to make them noticeable so that I would just pick them up as we headed out. My brother grabbed his backpack and we headed out. Fast forward a couple of hours and we are already getting back to the parking lot to go back home for the day, we are now far from the convention. That’s when my brother remembers. He doesn’t have his Gun Buster action figure with him. It’s not in his backpack. He starts panicking and realizes that he left it somewhere in the convention. We try to think of places we went to, trying to figure out when was the last time we saw that figure. That’s when we figure it out, we had it last in the AMV contest. My brother by this point was fuming and was rightly disappointed in having lost it so quickly.

I tried reassuring him that someone probably took it to lost and found. He on the other hand had already given it up as lost. But I had hope that since convention goers know about the hardships of getting money saved up for this one time in the year, that they would value morality and take it to lost and found.

Ok, so now we are back to Sunday. We are lined up for the auction, I take a picture of that cute Black Butler cosplayer and then I remember about going to lost and found. About half an hour is still left before the auction, so I convince my brother into going to lost and found to get that Gun Buster. He really didn’t want to go…

So we go to lost and found and he asks the staff if they were given an item on Saturday. He describes how it looked but the lady we were talking to was not reassuring us. In fact she said she was almost sure that there was nothing back there. But said that she would check anyway.

My brother wasn’t really expecting anything by this point. But after a couple of minutes the lady came back with the bag and box that contained the Gun Buster. My brother by this point was surprised and overjoyed. As was I. It was a NanDesuKan miracle!… Now that we had the Gun Buster we could finally head back to the line and await the auction.

So finally it was time for the auction. While we were waiting the staff was getting artwork into the room that would be used (it was right next to the Art Show room). I didn’t see any of my artwork in the piles being brought into the room while I was in line. I was hopeful that some artwork was taken inside while I went to the lost and found. But I quickly found out as I entered the room that surely enough I didn’t manage to get any of my artwork into the auction. My heart sunk at that moment. I can’t deny that I was really disappointed. I felt as though I had failed…

But such is life.

A couple of minutes in after everyone had settled in, the auction finally started. And truthfully I had a lot of fun seeing people try to outbid each other or seeing some apprehension to bidding at all (for some artwork, the bidder/s were not present). I won’t deny that some artwork I could not find the appeal, but despite that, many of them could even make it all the way to the low 100s’.

The auction made it very clear what kind of likes and dislikes certain bidders had. Heck, there was this piece with a girl that had a tattoo on her back and right after the auction started a guy made the bid go from around $25? all the way to $100 right out of the gate. Other pieces had long bidding wars that eventually reached the 100$ mark that kept going slowly till one or the other folded.

My friend went to a bidding war on two pieces, a Dratini scarf and a Sailor Moon scarf from the creator of the Mimikyu plushy he bought on the first day. Sadly he dropped out as soon as they each reached the 50$ range.

My brother also went to a bidding war for a Raven in a cat costume digital print but lost that one. He also bid on a Madoka art piece (the original art piece) that was drawn and colored with color pencils. It is a really beautiful piece and it also pops out giving it a really cool aesthetic.

This is the Madoka drawing my brother won. I really like it. The artist is really good. His control of color and color pencils is definitely at a high level. Sadly I don’t know his name, otherwise I would let you guys know so you could check him out.

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He had originally planned to just go for 50$ but it eventually surpassed that. Then my friend offered to help him out up to a 100$. But again it eventually went over. I was actually surprised my brother decided to go even further. I forget how high it got, but it was over 125$. My brother had won it. He seemed to have a bit of buyers remorse for a while. Bidding can be quite scary…

Now, one of the pieces that went to the live auction was a Mass Effect piece done by the artist that makes the artwork for the convention. I believe her name is Stephanie Kao. Anyway remember that cute Black Butler cosplayer? Well this was the piece she wanted. But as expected it started rising quickly. She started getting flustered until it eventually went too high for her. I felt really bad seeing her face turn from worry to eventually defeat when she had no choice but to give up. I noticed that a guy sitting next to her started who was bidding on the print was trying too console her. I wondered…

After a couple more pieces it all ended. This meant that the winners of the bids had to go back into the art show room to pick up their art and pay for it. Since my brother won one piece, I decided to tag along to see if my artwork got any changes.

This is what I saw first.

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All the artwork was moved, walls and all. Three of my pieces that were in the bottom right were missing and replaced with 4 other pieces of some other artist. On top of that there was also a ribbon and certificate right in the middle. I took a photo (the one you see above) and approached to see what happened. The ribbon and certificate said I won 1st place in the 3-D artwork category. Although I thought that was cool, I was really more amazed that I sold three pieces.

But that joy didn’t really last long. One of the staff members kicked us (me and my friend) out since we weren’t there to pay for artwork. So we had no choice but to step out and wait for my brother (this was the moment I took a photo of the Madoka art piece and of the Gravity Falls cosplayers.

It was also during this time that I once again saw that cute black butler cosplayer coming out of the Art Show room, holding very appreciatively and caringly the Mass Effect print from the auction. She seemed really happy. It was another NanDesuKan miracle!…

Okay, I’ll stop now.

After my brother paid, he finally popped out of the room and told us that there was veteran that was in the auction who bought the Mass Effect piece for that Black Butler cosplayer. What a cool guy huh? I’m guessing it was probably that guy that I mentioned before.

At this point we really didn’t know what else to do. In fact we felt like going back home by this point. But we had no choice but to wait till 4 pm, the time artist were allowed to pick up their artwork.

By this point it was around 2:45 so I had to wait a little over an hour. After thinking about it for a bit we decided to head over to the dealers room and see if we could get some last minute deals on some of their items. Now that I think about it, was it on Sunday or Saturday that I got that artbook? Hmmm… Anyway, either on Saturday on Sunday I did buy one item from the dealers room. And that is this:

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My brother bought the other two books that go along with this one. It not only contains all the amazingly beautiful artwork from Evangelion but also artwork from other series as well. Yoshiyuki Sadamoto is a genius, his works are so amazing. I wonder if I could even catch up to him? I’m really glad I got this book, not only can I just enjoy looking at the artwork but I can try to reproduce them so that I can learn from them (this is how I learned when I was younger). I’m really looking forward to it.

Anyway, after a while I got tired and bored so just sat down for the duration of the time remaining outside on the hall. Eventually my brother and then even later my friend popped out. My friend went to pick up these statue sets of I believe 3 ot 4 that were all about Rurouni Kenshin. He had bought them the day before but only got to pick them up on Sunday.

It wasn’t long till I would be allowed to go in and pick up my art at the art show room so we headed down and waited once more till I was allowed inside.

After a couple of minutes we were allowed to enter. I noticed a table in front of the entrance with artwork. But I ignored it and went straight for my section. All the walls were moved once more and were pushed to the back of the wall. I went ahead and made sure I really was missing three pieces. After taking all the pieces down and tying them up so that we could carry them without problems. I also looked at the card holders to see if I had people take any of them. After packing them up in the box I did notice a bit of a dent, so at least a couple of people took some. But not anywhere near as I hoped. Was it because of my artwork, the prices or did they just not know they could take any. I really didn’t know. I’ll have to make it a bit clearer (by adding a sign that says “please take one”) next time and see if it changes anything.

With that done I went to the table that was in front of the entrance. And sure enough two of my art pieces were there. The Godzilla one and the Alice one. This meant that I sold three. My artwork was good enough that people bought three pieces! I felt that it was a good accomplishment.

I grinned a little and felt it was now time to go and collect my money from the staff. They had a table right next to the entrance. A line of artist collecting their pay waited patiently for their turn. It was eventually my turn. And it was at this moment that the situation went from heaven to hell. Apparently I only sold one…

Eh?…

But, three pieces had either bids on them or a sold marked on them. No, even as I asked to make sure, I was told that I only sold that one piece. The Alice piece was not paid for so it was left behind, and apparently the Godzilla piece that had the tag with bold letters that said sold was also not sold. So I was given my money, I guess I only sold that Samus piece which was missing…

By this point I wasn’t really paying much attention, I was frozen and was just going with the flow. All I could think was, I failed… When I was handed the money I was about to go away and pick up my artwork. But I was stopped and told that that there was something else they had to give me. It was about the first place certificate and ribbon. Aside from just getting some recognition for my Oathkeeper piece apparently I also got a free weekend pass for next years NanDesuKan. And as amazing as that is, I was so numb that I didn’t feel anything. I just faked a smile and said thank you.

After all that I went to pick up the other artwork at the table and added them to the piles I already tied. I’m sure my brother and friend could see my displeased and disappointed face but said nothing (which I am thankful for). We distributed the frame piles amongst each other and I carried both Keyblades. The day was over and we could finally head home.

The End.

 

Or was it?

As it turns out, the next day I received a text from a number I didn’t know. It turned out to be one of the staff from the art show. Apparently one of the staff members friends had bought the Godzilla piece but didn’t get the chance to pick it up. There was two problems. I was told I had to take it with me, and I was only paid for one piece. After counting the money I noticed that I was only somewhat paid for the Godzilla piece and not the Samus one. And even then, I wasn’t paid the full amount.

So all that information was disclosed as we went back and forth. That’s when the staff member started noticing all their mistakes. So as it turns out I managed to sell two pieces (the Alice one was bid on, but since the bidder didn’t pay for it, it wasn’t sold). So after the staff member checking with the higher ups and checking the paperwork, we made an arrangement for me to get the rest of my money and the member would also pick up the Godzilla piece that the friend had bought.

So I may not have sold as many pieces as I had wanted, but hey, it’s two more than zero. And I got a pass for next year.

So what did I learn? I probably won’t be taking many of the originals anymore, most people probably won’t care unless you are giving them away at ridiculously low prices. This means that I will be taking prints and back them with foam board to save on cost, that way I can also start the bid at low prices. I’ll also take some decorations to announce that it is my section and to make it stand out. I’ll also add some signs to let people know to take a business card.

This was a rather painful experience, but was also very informative. Hopefully the choices I make for next year bear some fruit, otherwise I will have to rethink some more things. Of course aside from those changes I mentioned, I will also make even better art. Art that will surpass the hesitations people might have had due to the prices.

Hasta la próxima,

Oh wait, it’s the 16th of September.

Viva Mexico!

Next time I will show you guys the next project that I’ve been working on.

-Nube

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Recounting Nan Desu Kan 2016 – 3 “Exploring, more Cosplayers and… A Burlesque Show!”

Now that my art was finally set up I was finally free to go explore and look around the convention. But we decided in the end to just wait a couple of more minutes so that they would allow us to buy some artwork right after the opening time. My friend really wanted to buy a Mimikyu yarn doll which look absolutely amazing (he didn’t waste his time bidding, he just bought it out right which I really believe was the right decision). Aside from that he and my brother went ahead and placed some bids on other artwork.

Meanwhile, now that attendees were allowed in the room, I took the chance to observe people. I wanted to know if my artwork would attract people first of all, and then see how long they lingered around looking at my work. People definitely went to go to look at my artwork (but really they went around looking around the room, so no big deal), so how about lingering? It was never the same, some did stay a bit longer but others just gave it a quick glance. Actually throughout the day I came back to see if there was any changes to the movement of people and of course if there were people who bid or just outright bought my artwork. But more on that later.

Once I did decide I looked enough, like usual we really didn’t have a plan of what we wanted to do this year, so we just walked around looking around. While doing this though I had to be mindful of the time because in a little over an hour I had to head out for a bit so that I could take care of another obligation at the house.

In any case, we went about walking first to the Artists Alley where we consider a must go every year. This year there was definitely more variety in the type of art and artists. Usually we see a lot of familiar faces and artwork, but this time there was artist I never saw before. Some were definitely starting out this year. This definitely made me hopeful for when my chance to appear in the Artist Alley would become a reality. Saying that, sadly there was only two artists that caught my attention this year. There were some artists that I had bought art from before, but this year they weren’t really offering anything new.

After looking around a bit, we decided to go to the bank to get some money. Before that I decided to go look at my artwork really fast before heading out. Once outside of the hotel, that served as an opportunity for me to go take care of that obligation I was talking about. Boring huh… Fast forward a little I made it back a little over an hour and learned that right next to the hotel about a block away there was a festival called “A taste of Colorado”. My brother and friend had bought tickets for food while I was gone, so they decided to go get something to eat there (they were starving, as was I, and had to wait for me to get back… sorry guys). As soon as we arrived we were greeted by security who were checking everyone’s bags. When it was my turn I opened all my bag pack compartments and as I was given the ok to enter. But then I was suddenly grabbed by the security guard looked directly in the eyes and was told “Don’t take out your marijuana out here you hear me, keep it packed in”. This annoyed me since I don’t smoke anything or even drink. Anyway, how was the thing? It was ok, I guess.. The food was really overpriced. I got one Korean taco for about 8$… What the heck. And wanna know the sad part, that was the only food I had all day by this point  (it was already 5 pm…).

After that most enjoyable experience, we went back to the convention. My friend wanted to check out the Dealers Room. But before that, I wanted to check if there was any activity for my artwork. That’s when I noticed that as soon as people saw the prices they just hurried off… Well, that was a great sight to behold… As I observed, I acted as a normal attendee and walked behind the moving line that went around the room looking at the artwork. Once I got to my section I looked at all the tags and noticed that they were all empty. That sure felt, awful. But as I looked closer, one of the pieces on the bottom did have a bid! So people were willing to give my artwork a try. The piece was the Samus Aran artwork.

This one:

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That calmed me down a bit, but I knew it could still be the only one I sold during the weekend. That’s when I decided that coming to check throughout the convention would just be a waste of my time and that it would only sour my experience. So I decided to just let things be and come back when I had to pick up my artwork on Sunday.

My friend and brother had already headed up the stairs to the dealers room so I went ahead and tried to find them. There was a line so I had to wait a bit, but luckily it moved rather quickly. As I got in a message was being played that announced that the dealers room was going to close in 5 minutes. I found my brother and friend and they were surprised I was even allowed to enter. It seems that they were just scouting the merchandise in order to decide what they would get on Sunday. Among the items were some Evangelion art books that my brother really wanted and some JoJo figures, specifically two Dio figures.

As we left the room my friend was looking at the schedule and noticed that a burlesque show would start in about an hour. We’ve never been to one before. And truthfully I never really had an interest in ever going to one. But this was included with the entrance and we were curious to know if it would be anime based. So we all said, what the heck let’s go.

It wasn’t a surprise when we found out that there was already a long line forming outside of the main  events hall. There was still an hour of waiting to go, so we decided to play cards in the meantime. Eventually though the line started moving and letting people into the hall. At first we sat somewhere in the first section of chairs. But just a couple of minutes of sitting down in these ok seats, we heard some very magical words (well aren’t I exaggerating?), people could actually go ahead and sit on the floor right in front of the stage. We just had to sit 8 feet away from the stage. My friend and brother were unsure but I tried convincing them. Eventually it got to the point where it was the usual, if you go I go. That’s when I decided to just stand up and start heading in that direction, they of course followed). If I’m going to watch this I might as well go all out, no? I really don’t plan on going to another burlesque show since that kind of stuff doesn’t interest me so I might as well make the most of this experience.

So we find a place that was in front of the runway but sort of at an angle which we thought would make things a bit easier to see. But right before the show started we noticed something, there was two guys sitting exactly in front of us and right next to the stage. They were the photographers for the event and they were completely blocking our view. My brother more than anyone was really annoyed. And it became even worse once it started, just as we feared, the photographer on our end really was blocking most of our view. I had to look to the side just to get a glimpse. What made things worse was that people had already filled the spaces all around the stage so we were pretty much stuck there as the first performance went on.

Almost having given up, I noticed that there was a space just enough for two people to sit right in front of the stage. It was almost as if it was there just for us. I told my brother about it and again it went to the “if you go I go”. So I just slid my cellphone to let people know I was moving over there and slid over, my brother followed (of course we did this as nothing was going on so as to not bother anyone).

These were great seats, right in front of the stage where we could see everything and were not obstructed. My brother decided to take video while I took photos (no flash, since flash is not allowed). As we thought, the show was indeed anime based (except for the first one which was Velma from Scooby Doo). Lets see, it was Velma, Articuno, Speed Racer, Espeon, Him (from Powerpuff Girls), Harley Quinn, and I’m not even kidding best for last Eevee (I may have forgotten one or two more acts, if so I apologize). In between some of the acts they also had contests where members of the audience could participate. They had contests such as filling and popping balloons by thrusting into one another, a strip tease show ( no worries, it was prop clothing on top of their own personal clothing) and musical chairs ( version I didn’t quite understand, the participants had to sit still while the burlesque members sat on them trying to disqualify one another).

On top of that they also had members of the burlesque show going around the audience getting tips. The funniest moments were probably when Speed Racer was asking for money. When he was in front of us my brother decided to tip him. As he was handing him the money Speed Racer offered the jar, but my brother went further in. Speed Racer thought my brother was aiming for the bandanna around his neck, but no my brother had a goal! He was aiming for his underwear, and when Speed Racer noticed this he presented. I couldn’t stop laughing. Just a couple of minutes later Speed Racer was crawling in front of my friend and actually pass right over him as he was heading to a girl right beside him. The look on my friends face was priceless.

That’s what I liked most about the show, more than anything it was just a lot of fun and laughter more than anything. I was worried since there was an 18+ age limit for entrance. But aside from them taking off clothes all the way to either lingerie or swimsuits it wasn’t too lewd.

Now I’d be doing a disservice if I didn’t add some pictures so here are some tasteful one’s (sorry I didn’t take pictures of all performances).

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The host was Espeon, while Eevee acted as co-host and was also in charge of picking up the props and clothes after every performance.

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This was one of the three contests where members of the audience were allowed to go up in stage. And on the left you can see the guy who was blocking our view at the beginning of the show.

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Espeon also got to perform.

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Eevee having to clean after every performance.

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People being picked for the next contest.

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And now the best performance! Did I mention Eevee was my favorite?

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Ahem!.. I will leave that for now.

But before I go, here are the best cosplayers of day one:

Does anyone know from what series she is cosplaying?

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And this one?

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Some Evangelion love. I really loved their cosplay.

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No but seriously did I mention how much I loved it?

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So kind of funny story with this one… for those not involved anyway. I wanted to take a picture of this pair (Psycho Pass right?), but they were in the middle of a conversation. So I panicked a little and just stood there like an idiot. Keep in mind that this was a circle of friends talking together and then all of a sudden some weirdo just joins in and stands there not saying anything. Once I saw an opening I asked if I could take a picture of them, but I am pretty sure they gave me a look of what is wrong with this guy (I’m pretty sure I didn’t imagine it, and I wouldn’t blame them). I took their picture and was just amazed at how great their cosplay was. Especially Tsunemori Akane. So… as I went back to my friend and brother they quickly started asking and telling me what the heck I was thinking and doing. They recounted just how weird and creepy it was as they saw me approach them and just stand there… I was so embarrased, but what could I do? I really wanted that picture, but I also didn’t want to interrupt their conversation. After this experience though I tried my best to think more tactfully about how to approach cosplayers. If you guys ever see this, I truly apologize!

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Alright, now this one also has a rather creepy story. And to be fair it was all my fault. We had called it a day (thanks to me wanting to go home and eat something). But just as we were leaving the hotel I saw this amazing Satsuki Kiryūin cosplayer. I just couldn’t give up this opportunity. So I went up to her and asked if she would allow me to take a picture. She said yes and to my surprise even changed her shoes to the ones that corresponded to the cosplay. I was really touched she was willing to go that far just so that I could take a picture.

Just as I was leaving though some really creepy old guy looked at me and started saying something like “How nice, How nice” and kept repeating that over and over again in a really creepy and truthfully disgusting voice. As soon as I saw he was heading towards her I told my friends to wait a bit till I made sure this guy wouldn’t try anything weird on her. He started talking to her about who knows what, the cosplayer seemed to be answering some questions as politely as possible. After a couple of minutes the guy finally stepped away and came back to our street where he originally came from. He looked at me with this weird grin that really irritated me. But as soon as I knew he wouldn’t bother her, we decided to head home. If you ever see this, I’m truly sorry you had to go through that. If I hadn’t approached you and asked for a picture I’m sure that guy wouldn’t have gotten the idea it was ok to get close to you. Truth is I’ve seen guys act as though they work for some modeling agency and look sketchy as heck. So if that was his shtick I really hope you didn’t fall for it, there are some really despicable people out there.

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Well, that will be all for today. Man was this a long post. Sorry about that. But this does conclude the first day.

Hasta la próxima,

-Nube

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Star Wars art piece update V Final

Man, I have been busy these past three months like crazy, because of that I haven’t been able to work on this piece except every once in a while. But now I have finally finished it. Here it is.

Luke vs Vader XVI nu resizeLuke vs Vader XVII nu resizeLuke vs Vader Final III resize

Now that I have finally finished it I can start focusing on other projects. Now the question is, what will that new project is.

Hasta la  proxima,

XERO

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I’m finally back, and some more updates on new projects

It took me quite some time to finish some work I had to do for school and some other things. But I am finally ready to start work again. I apologize for disappearing again, but the research paper took much longer than I thought. Now that is finally done and I will finally be able to work on some of my artwork, and some other projects such as some armor for a cosplay set me and my group plan to take for next years anime convention.

Here’s a sneak peek at what I am currently working on. This is Camus’ armor from Saint Seiya. There are about four more armors I will be working on. So I will not be saying what they are and let you guys take a guess as to what they will be.

I had to take this pile that I had all jumbled up and rebuild it back into the armor. That takes quite a bit of work, but I hope to take the template and finally make the cuts to the foam and build the actual armor. I currently have two armor templates done, next will be to build the next two.

Camus ICamus armor IICamus armor III

What do you guys think?

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Strange fireballs in the sky. 11/1/15

No sound because there was really loud music in the background. Don’t want to risk getting flagged. Besides, there was no apparent sound coming from the lights, and if there was the cars and music made it unnoticeable.

I was ordering something to eat from a “lonchera” when suddenly we all (all that were waiting there) noticed some strange light going up high into the sky. It was illuminating it’s surroundings quite well, there were very sparse clouds at the time which were only noticeable because of the light emitted from this strange light. Then all of a sudden as it reached high into the sky it was later revealed that it was more than one. As can be seen there were four strange lights. I don’t know if you guys will be able to see it, but these lights looked a lot like fireballs. The strange thing is that they weren’t just falling down. But it seems like they were dancing, maneuvers maybe? It was quite strange. It felt like these lights were being controlled. My phone had broken recently so I had to use my dad’s who was right next to me. But since I wasn’t used to his Motorola I wasn’t able to capture the whole thing. If you look closely you can see the tails of the balls of fire?

Did any of you guys see these, or anything like it. And if so, what do you guys think it is?

By the way, I was looking North when looking at these lights.

Also, here are some photos I shot while setting up the phone to take video (click to enlarge):

IMG_20151101_181058860 IMG_20151101_181105286 IMG_20151101_181109072

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The Wind Rises – A Lifetime By Your Side

Not that long ago I created this drawing. In fact I’m pretty sure I put it up here and in DeviantArt. But now that I have my trusty scanner I was able to get a good quality scan of my work. On top of that I made sure to make some corrections to it, so it is now it’s final stage. This will be among the couple of artwork that will be put up in my gallery. My goal is to put it up by tomorrow (the power problem is still not fixed so we’ll see).

This was created for a contest, the weird thing is that one had to do so without having seen the movie (The movie was still not available in the States). So we just had the trailer to go from (unless you happened to live in Japan at the time and saw it there). Having seen the movie… I’m actually quite amazed at what I was able to create. It goes very well since this was part of the theme of the movie, which was about there relationship between Jiro and Nahoko (the main them was about Jiro designing planes). What I wanted to do for this piece was show the evolution of the relationship between Jiro and Nahoko over the years. One that was pure, and filled with their emotions for each other. I did not win the contest (though I did figure they would choose something more abstract which they did, plus it seems the judges valued the plane aspect more).

In any case, what do you guys think?

Tomorrow I will be uploading another piece that is actually finished already, it just needed a good scan.

The Wind Rises - A lifetime by your side

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Obscurus and Ame ‘Halloween’ FINAL + UPDATE

Materials (used only for the restoration) – Copics: C1, C3, C5, C7, W1, W3, W5, W7, BV00, BV08, V09, V15, V17, E00, E29, E31, E33, E37, E49, R27, YR65, Y26, Y28, R00, R27, R29, R39, RV11, Y11, Y15, Y17, Y21, Y26, Y28, YR04, YG03, G24, 100, 0

Sakura Gellyroll – White

I got a bit busy so I wasn’t able to add any updates of this drawing up before today, sorry about that. It is finally going live! But before that I would like to give some back story to this drawing. This drawing was first done about a year ago, I think… sadly for some reason I didn’t put the date in the back. In any case, this is the first drawing to go through a new project that I am working on. Thinking about it, it doesn’t have a name yet does it (the project I mean)? After thinking about it, I will name it “The Restoration Project”. I will be restoring a lot of my old drawings since I just didn’t have the abilities to draw out the full potential of my art at the time. This will only be done on the drawings that actually have a potential of course, this is so I can limit the amount so that I can keep doing some new material.

Now, as for the drawing it self. I have been giving hints of me writing my own story. What I have not said yet is the name of the story. So this will be the first time I will be making this public. The name of the story will be named “Between Light and Darkness”. As of now, I plan on writing this story in three parts. But I do have ideas of what can come after. What does this have to do with this drawing? Well this is a scene inspired by my story using two of the characters that will be in it. The girl is named Ame Makenshi and the boy is named Obscurus Nube. I want to make the story a bit original, but like most stories this has to do with a guy who has feelings for a girl. This scene is of them in a  Halloween party. Ame is getting a picture taken and Obscurus is caught in the background staring at her. I’m sure this has happened to most people at some point right? So what do you guys think? Does the drawing look better?

Obscurus and Ame Halloween

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Obscurus and Ame ‘Halloween’ + Update

I will be updating the website pretty soon, sorry I had to take care of some things on my end before I could come back to finish the construction of the website. I will be adding some more artwork to the “gallery” and updating the “prices“. So I hope you guys look forward to that.

Anyway I want to do something a bit different. I have a lot of old artwork that is actually pretty good, but I need to color it in better and polish it over all. So I will be doing that with a couple of drawings. We will start with the one below. Since it is October I felt it fitting for the season (more on the drawing later).

Hope you guys look forward to it.

-XERO

Obscurus and Ame Halloween

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