Photos: Toronto

I was in Toronto (my hometown, woot!) at the beginning of May visiting family & friends and took some photos while I was there. (I have more pics in my Toronto Flickr set here.)



Below is Z, my brother's roommate's kitty. He's such a hyper little guy who likes to jump off couches and walls (seriously, lol!). This is one of the only pics I took of him that was in focus because he's always moving around!



And as a bonus, here's a list of my favourite places I like to go whenever I'm in Toronto:

• The Labyrinth - THE BEST art book store in Toronto, specializing in animation, illustration and manga books. I always try to visit this store whenever I'm in Toronto so I can add more books to my art book collection. :) Dan (who owns the store with his wife) is super awesome and also a college buddy of mine! :)


• Magic Pony - THE BEST urban toy store/gallery in the city. They sell collectible toys and host awesome art shows.


• Tealish - THE BEST loose leaf tea store EVER. I'm a big tea drinker (part of being raised in Canada I think), and I will only drink the best tea! lol. My favourite flavour of theirs is Earl Grey Cream which is absolutely heavenly.


• The Real Jerk and Island Foods - both are the best Jamaican roti restaurants in the city.


• Rasoee - Very, very yummy Indian food, especially their butter chicken!

Urban Vinyl + Plush: Custom Mini Skully Show

On Saturday May 16th, Chuckwa will be hosting a custom group art show to celebrate the release of Urban War Fair's new vinyl toy Skully. I will have a custom Skully and a Skully-inspired plush deer in the show!



This is my second vinyl toy custom (my first custom was a Nathan Jurevicius jellyfish painted at a workshop hosted by the Magic Pony in Toronto. Actually come to think of it, I also painted a Snorse but never got around to finishing it, so that one doesn't count. :P). I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to do with the blank Skully at first, but I knew that I wanted to use pink and blue paint and keep part of the white base showing.



I have to admit, the contrast in Skully's eye sizes threw me off at first. Some of my early sketches had an eyepatch over Skully's large eye, and at one point the eye became a huge heart. I was working long hours at the time and my personal inspiration was not flowing like I had hoped for this project. Strangely enough, my final design ended up evolving into what it is as I sat down and started to paint it. I haven't used acrylic paints in almost a year (holy crap, has it really been that long?! o_O), and re-connecting with this medium again really made me conscious of both the paint's flowing liquid form and design potential. I literally had to get in touch with my paint and paintbrush again in order for the inspiration to come back. I was instantly inspired to create a freshly dripped look throughout my Skully's design. I wanted the star and the left eye to look like a glob of paint had dripped on the custom and accidentally (and coincidentally) made the star and circle shapes. After I had finished painting the drips, it felt natural to give the large eye sight since the small eye was blind. The large right eye was directly inspired by retro styled cartoon eyes (like Felix the Cat, etc), and the smiling mouth was added to make it look like a cute and friendly skull. :)



The final look reminds me a bit of the Pac-Man ghosts mashed up with a pink & blue marshmallow from my favourite cereal in the world: Lucky Charms. I ended up naming my Skully: "Delicious Drip".



I also made a Skully-inspired plush deer for the show. I didn't have any trouble with what I wanted to do for the custom deer, probably because I make deers so often. I knew that I wanted to make this deer look slightly different from the typical deer I sell in my Etsy shop, and I wanted to choose a colour combo I've never used before.



I wanted this deer to be edgy and stand out so I went for a bold pink and black for the body. I also wanted to give her a punk look with a fur mohawk. I went to my local fabric store and hand selected the best white fur I could find (I was actually quite disappointed with their fur selection in general, so one of my goals is to find good fur in various colours). The white fur is pretty nice, I like how long it is, and it can be spiked or pushed back/forward. I gave her a white nose to compliment her white hair.



Then I sketched out the Skully logo by hand on a piece of paper, cut it out and used it as the pattern for the symbol's final design. Then I hand-embroidered the black eyes, nostrils and red star onto the mini Skully and glued it onto the deer's body. I added white dots on the reverse side to keep it consistant with my regular deer symbols. I named her "Skully Deer" after the toy she was inspired by. I really like how the mohawk turned out, so expect a few more punk-styled deer in the future! :)



Delicious Drip and Skully Deer will both be for sale at the Custom Mini Skully Show. :) The opening reception is on Saturday, May 16th at Chuckwa (in Fullerton, CA) and the show will run until June 4th. Unfortunately, I will still be in Canada during the opening, but I plan on checking it out when I'm back in LA. There are going to be a lot of great customs there by a lot of talented artists, so I suggest you stop by if you're in the neighbourhood! :)

Drawings: Random Sketches

One of my Summer goals is to try and make a serious effort to start drawing on a daily or weekly basis again (I haven't been that dedicated to drawing since College). Basically I want to keep drawing, no matter how lame the drawing looks or how uninspired I feel. I figure if I keep it up, I just might get something good out of it, and maybe I can put the good drawings into a sketchbook someday. This is what came out of my drawing session today (I haven't drawn in a while, so please bear with me...):


Dorothy & Toto
When I get some time, I'd like to clean her up & add colour to her in Photoshop. (It's not a bad crop -- I didn't have enough page to finish her toe... lol. >_>)


Rose Lady
She's just a random sketch of some lady. (The composition was completely unintentional, but I like how it turned out.)


Kittehs
Lucky (my kitty) is the tuxedo cat on the top left, Crookshanks (my parent's kitty) is on the top right (I apologize, I have no idea WTF happened -- her feet are drawn SO BADDDDD!!), and some foxy kitteh striking a pose is on the bottom.

Photos: 2009 Re-Ment Calendar

Back in September '08 I was contacted by Re-Ment International about using one of my images in their 2009 Fan Club Calendar. I was so flattered that they asked me to be a part of their calendar because I love collecting and photographing Re-Ment's cute miniature toys. The calendar was made for the Los Angeles Re-Ment Fan Club meeting in November. Re-Ment sent me a copy of the calendar but I had already moved to the USA by that time. Last week when I came back to Toronto I was finally able to see the calender in person. My photo of the Marching Card Soldiers from the Fairy Tale Tablewear set are pictured on the month of April. Here's my photo of the 2009 Re-Ment Calendar:


The Marching Card Soldiers represent April in the Re-Ment 2009 calendar.

And here is the original photo:

Marching Card Soldiers by Emily

I buy Re-Ment from Ebay, Etsy, and in specialty collector shops like Valley of the Dolls. :)

Animation: 2nd G-FORCE movie trailer is out + project is over

The 2nd trailer for G-FORCE is out! I have a shot in the trailer when they're in the pet shop. :)



Back in November my ex and I put everything we owned into storage, drove across the USA in our Honda Civic from Toronto, Canada to Los Angeles, California with only 2 suitcases, my sewing machine + supplies, our laptop and our kitty. It was hard to decide what HAD to come with us, since our car is pretty small. After a bit of bickering over what comes and what stays, we were off on our 5 day adventure.


Somewhere in Arizona on the 5 day drive to LA.


Our route from Toronto to Los Angeles.

We moved into a (way too small) studio apartment in Marina Del Rey. Our bedroom, kitchen and living room are all in the same room. I've never lived in an apartment this small, but the 5min walk to the Pacific Ocean is totally worth it. :)


Sunset over the Washington Pier in Marina Del Rey, CA.

My sewing/craft area took a huge hit on size and is located either on the side table next to the sofa, in about 4 different Rubbermaid bins, partially on the floor, or on the kitchen bar. (I'm not going to take a pic of it because it's sooo embarassing, lol.) A lot of our Canadian friends who are living here and work in the animation industry also live in our apartment complex, so it's nice having a bunch of friends close by. (A lot of Canadians head south to work on big caliber projects because this level of work is not always available back home.)

Animation wrapped up on G-FORCE last week, and the movie hits theatres on July 24th. I can't believe how fast 5 months have flown by! The schedule has been pretty intense with 6 day weeks and 10-12 hr days since January. We haven't bought groceries in months because we're never home to eat anything. Our Sundays ended up being chore day. We'd do the laundry, I'd sew more deer, go for a walk along the beach, try to get some sleep. It was hard only having 1 day off a week, but it's been SO much fun being a part of this production and bringing animated guinea pigs to life. I've made a lot of wonderful friends (who helped make these long hours fun and worthwhile!), learned more animation techniques, but mostly I feel so thankful to have been a part of this movie.


A co-worker and I tin foiled our Animation Lead's desk during the last week of work. :D We tried to cover everything we could using 6 rolls of tin foil.


I got my (unofficial) team shirt and mug the other day. The design was drawn by our Animation Director. Usually when people hear about the upcoming movie G-Force, they assume we're talking about the anime tv show G-Force: Battle of the Planets from the late 70's. So as an inside joke the G-Force characters from our movie are dressed up like the anime G-Force characters. :)

Although I'm happy that the long hours are over and I finally get to sleep and have some time off, I'm also a bit sad that this project is over. But on the positive side, it means I can take the summer off to focus on my plush toys, which I'm really excited about! I have a bunch of new projects, new ideas and new products to launch, so I can't wait to get back into things again! However, my plans will have to wait a bit because I am currently back in Toronto visiting family & friends. :)


The CN Tower viewed from Wellington West & Blue Jays Way.

Completed: Pierrot Plush Doll

In my last post I mentioned that I had a custom doll in progress. Well, he's finally completed, and here he is! Introducing my first male plush doll: Pierrot. Pierrot is based on the sad French clown mime. In the play Commedia dell'Arte, Pierrot loses his love Columbine to Harlequin. Pierrot is trusting and naïve, and as a result is always being tricked, used and laughed at. Quite the tragic character! The black & white costume and pathetic character both appeal to me, and I think are a strong part of Pierrot's overall look.



I generally like to blush cheeks, but this time I decided to make them more obvious. I used large pink circles and obvious stitching so the cheeks would really stand out, in keeping with the style of traditional mime makeup.





As with every unique doll plush I make, I first start with a sketch. I ended up using the bottom left design, but I might end up making the other sketches someday (I especially want to make the dude with the hat!).

In Progress: Plush Doll

Here's a little sneak peek at a special project I've had in mind for a while now. He's almost finished, and should be ready by next weekend. I don't want to say much more, so more details to come! :)

Etsy: 3 more Deer in my shop!

More new deer have been added to my Etsy shop! A new style has been added this time around:



Crimson Tea Deer likes to act in musical stageplays with dramatic lighting and angular German-Expressionist-inspired sets. She wears a hot pink feather boa as she sings and dances under a spotlight in front of the crowd.



[On the left] Peppermint Tea Deer loves the winter. She likes to build snowmen, go snowshoeing and she likes to eat icicles. After her outdoor winter adventures she goes inside to sip on some hot peppermint tea.
[On the right] Miss Blueberry Pie Deer likes to go antique hunting at the local flea market. She loves buying old furniture and decorations to restore and re-paint.

Photos: Urban Vinyl

One of my blog goals is to try and post more photos because:

• I love photography
• I have over 5,000 pics in my Flickr account
• I'd like to showcase more of my creative outlets on my blog

I decided to start the first photography post with a few pics I took last year of my Urban Vinyl figures. I love their strong sculptural designs and how colourful they are. (UV figures are also known as Designer Toys. They are limited edition toys made for adult collectors by low brow artists, illustrators and graphic designers.) I love being able to own a limited edition piece of art from an inspirational and favourite artist. :) Enjoy!


Adios & Ciao Ciao


Baby-Eating Crocodile


Steiny (Taipei Toy Festival Exclusive)


M.A.C. Fafinettes


Gloomy Bear


Yajyu-Maru (Little Boots)


Kuku & Kiki

All photos were taken with a Canon PowerShot SD600 digital camera.

Etsy: 3 More Deer In The Shop + Custom Commissions

This weekend 3 more deer trotted into my Etsy shop:



Chocolate Caramel Deer likes to collect stamps and postcards from around the world. She puts them all in a scrapbook she made herself.



[On the left] Marmalade Deer likes to have tea parties with her deer friends on Wednesdays at precisely two o'clock in the afternoon. She serves chocolate cupcakes with rainbow sprinkles for dessert. Yum!
[On the right] Lime Soda Deer loves running through freshly cut grass while holding a huge shiny metallic pinwheel. Lime Soda loves the summer and having fun.

I was also asked by some customers to do a few custom commissions. Here they are:



Fifi La Crème loves to sit at her favourite coffee shop and sips on a café au lait as she people watches from behind tinted oversized D&G sunglasses. When she is finished her drink, she drives away on her Vespa towards the Louvre, where she works as a tour guide.

Red Velvet Cake Deer likes to collect vintage picture frames and paint them all kinds of bright colours. She frames her baby deer's hoof paintings and hangs them on the wall. She is so proud of her baby deer.

I have 3 more plush deer that should hopefully be completed and listed in my shop next Sunday. :)