el niño mariachi

This is a personal project:

it's supposed to be a children's book.

I delivered my character designs.

More will be delivered soon.

I keep feeding the writer

in hopes that he will

cough up the story.

So far it hasn't happened.

wear your dessert!

Some desserts taste so good

you might as well wear them

Churros con chocolate

so rare in Los Angeles.

Go to Churros Calientes

if you want some

Meringues...

if only they come in the size of pillows.

Pierre Herme's Ispahan:

rose macaron, Italian meringue,

raspberries, lychee,

rose petal on top.

Gateau St. Honore:

caramel coated eclairs

and whip cream

plus a little candied walnut

And by popular demand,

baklava.

So sticky.

the burds

 

pelican from Stearns Wharf,

Santa Barbara

 

he was quite a poser

but I believe he likes

to annoy people fishing on the pier 

 

So then there was this...

other bird.

I called him "brown seagull"

I am not a bird expert

baby james

Don't panic....

It's my brother's baby!

I haven't gone off

to have a child

This is his 2-month old face

 This was him as a newborn

(at 3 days old)

like any other day

i would say
such wonderful things to you
there would be
such wonderful things to do
if you were the only boy
in the world
and i were the only girl

she moves

it's alright, it's alright
alright
she moves
in mysterious ways

bolero: Jacques Fath vintage
bandeau top: Gilly Hicks
shorts: Banana Republic

fish terrorist

In my former life

I liked playing with goldfish.

The goldfish did not enjoy it

as much as I did

Boo.

two guns

nerd.

hoodie by Nerd Machine

pencil sketch
colored in Photoshop

the man in black

*at goorin bros, larchmont village

I keep a close watch
on this heart of mine
I keep my eyes wide open
all the time
I keep an eye out
for the ties that bind
because you're mine,
I walk the line.

island style

I've always wanted to draw a pinup,

but somehow never did.

Stands to reason the first one

should be special, no?

So here she is:

an island girl

for an island boy.

you must remember this

a kiss is still a kiss,

a sigh is just a sigh

and if you don't work on an illustration,

it's not liable to finish itself.

happy V-D, everyone
(Victory over Discontent?)

it's cold outside!

 

Milk

y u no bigger inside?

This banana n peanut malt was fab

but my arse was cold

and so was my throat

y I no buy something warm?

like um...

a fire?

the view from the goodfellas booth

 

There was no space in that Italian restaurant

for two pandas!

Except this one booth in the back, facing the kitchen

We felt like Joe Pesci and Robert De Niro

in Goodfellas...

 

I was Joe Pesci of course

(on account of my height)

but the panna cotta

was very smooth

and I was happy.

sketchcrawl january 2012 - union station, olvera street

 

Drew and Ian inspecting a portfolio

And yes... an Asian man with epic hair. Epic metal hair.

 

Union Station view toward the entrance

 

Union Station tower from the garden courtyard

Statue of Carlos III, King of Spain at Olvera Street

angry rice cooker

Based on a true story!

she was so fluffy

Oh honey, you can take my chair any day.

It helps that I was eating the most amazing egg salad sandwich when she asked me this question.

sita and the golden deer | sinta gandrung

First post of the new year is an illustration from the Ramayana: where Sita, wife of Rama meets the golden deer in the forest. This deer is pure evil and is designed to lure her away from the safety of her cottage and the magic circle of protection around it, so that the demon king Ravana can abduct her while her husband is away looking for the exact same deer... anyway I think that's the story.

I grew up with a Balinese statue of this where the woman and the deer were carved from the same piece of wood and she was almost kissing it. I don't know what happened to this statue. I think we didn't ship it to America.

My dad is getting a print of this for his (Chinese?) New Year's present, but he totally has no idea.

pub people

In an effort to loosen up, I tried drawing while having a pint.

First she was alone... She was so nervous, I thought she was waiting for a date.

Then her friends showed up. And more beer showed up.

Some people, however, seem slightly tense. Is it the sports on TV? Or the topic of discussion?

But overall, everyone else seemed to be having a reasonably good time. As was I, although I had to witness Barca slaughtering some random Russian team. Boo.