In other news

I am fat.

That is all.

Domo Diaries: Traipsing Around NYC

After getting in at JFK... Penn Station was the first stop

Headed straight for one of my favourite bookstores where I ran into ...... Domo!!! ^_^

And Inuyasha!!

So I bought  a couple of books

And one or two manga

And then I got me a Domo-kun!!!

Isn't he cute??

Sessh baby!! Your beauty cannot be quantified

Look at all the cute little Domo-kuns

I took Domo with me on the subway =D

And to Buka... for lunch

Domo approves of Buka.. yes he does

Oh, I met this nice guy there by the way

I'm so happy Buka identifies as a NIGERIAN restuarant and not an African restaurant.

Oh yes.. he does approve.

to be continued......

My Apologies

I'm taking a much deserved break and am in Colorado for a convention so I have been MIA for more than a week

I damaged my replacement phone and hotel internet costs a fortune so I have been completely unplugged

It's alright though... it's really nice here

My room is really nice and I'm having lots of fun

Although unfortunately, my mess follows me wherever I go

Going to Manhattan tomorrow and I'm gonna stop by at Buka for some pepper soup.

I'll update fully later with lots of photos I promise.

A Little While Ago

I bought a book to help me understand better how to draw in Manga style

It's called The Monster Book of Manga (girls)

and it pretty much shows all the main Manga archetypes and how to draw them (note: beginners can't use this)

I decided to try out the first archetype today : The Japanese schoolgirl.

Admittedly, I'm happy to be drawing but also frustrated that none of the drawing books I have been able to find ever show you how to draw black people. Basically, as things are right now, ALL the manga and comics books out there on manga style pretty much just assume that everyone in the world is white or Japanese. It is so annoying because there literally is no instruction out there on how to draw Africans (except of course, for stereotypes).

Anyway.

With all my drawing exercises, I've been trying to perfect drawing Nigerians by adjusting the instructions slightly (e.g. making the noses wider, making the lips bigger, the hair natural, etc)

so this is what I did with this Japanese school girl. I turned her into a Nigerian school girl.

And then I started thinking: The Japanese schoolgirl in manga is seen as a national sex symbol, so why not try it out with a Nigerian school girl.

Inking the pencil work

The Monster Book of Manga

As you can see.. the original was a Japanese school girl, which I'm modifying to create a Nigerian schoolgirl

Hair all done

I gave her braids because Nigerian girls have to have their hair braided for school.

In most schools they are not allowed to wear it loose.

(Note: That's her natural hair... all of it  - yay to propaganda!! ^_^)

P.S. Drawing braids is cruel and unusual punishment. It takes so long... T-T

So I changed the satchel to a backpack (or school bag as we call them in Nigeria) since most Nigerian school girls don't run around with satchels. They all have backpacks instead.

Drawing all the little lines for the check uniform would have been a nightmare so I did them in pencil but didn't ink.

To anyone who went to school in Nigeria the check daywear uniform is instantly recognizable and used throughout the country as secondary school daywear so I thought it would be a good choice for my archetypal Nigerian school girl since that uniform really is rather iconic

Signature added. Yay!! I also gave her sandals instead of loafers like the Japanese girl has because Nigerian girls wear sandals to school not shoes.

All cleaned up (except for the uniform which I'm not cleaning to preserve the 'check')

The hard part... colouring and shading with Copics (^_^)

School sandals coloured

Yellow is one of my favourite colours.

Haha!! If you went to Loyola and were in Xavier House, you had to wear yellow check!!

School bag coloured

Copic Porn  ^_^

Now to erase the paper and add a background

All done!!

And there it is.. 

My interpretation of the Nigerian Secondary School Girl as a Sex Symbol

I did a new drawing... and broke my finger

Lineart

I'm trying out a new more angular drawing style

First layer of colour.. yay Copics!!

Second layer of colour on the legs.. 

Second layer of colour ... full body

Third layer of colour... and her afro is red. ^_^

I got bored of using grey for hair 

Plus I still don't have any black Copics  =(

Signature added

I think the colours are pretty muted for what I usually do

Sorry my shadow fell on the drawing

Ogodo beats panties any day.

^_^

Oh... and I broke my finger playing Super Streetfighter IV on the PS3

May this week be awesome!!! ^_^