Pandabloggin' :: P.M.B.Q. Studios Blog

(Click on the above image to get a larger one for wallpaper use)

Finally saw the musical Wicked this year, before it left the Orpheum Theater in San Francisco.  The hubby and I really enjoy musicals, and it’s been awhile since we’ve seen anything new.  We’re glad to report that it was a very enjoyable show!  Solid story, a wonderful musical score, great performers…Wicked had it all.

I also think there is something to be said about putting a twist on a familiar tale.  We grow up hearing the story of the Wizard of Oz, so having that as an underlying “theme” puts everyone on the same page.  Compare that to something like “Rent,” where, despite a great musical score, the audience may not quite relate as strongly to the theme of the show.

As for Tea Club, it does sadly look like I can’t return to it anytime soon.  I still draw the characters on occasion (and I enjoy it!), but their story is simply on hold for now.

Been a while since I’ve posted…it’s been a busy year!  I suppose it’s always a busy year though.

My energy’s been pretty sapped for the past few months.  A lot has been going on professionally and personally, leaving not too much time to think or create.  Still, all these experiences and stresses contribute to my latest interpretation of artwork.

Tonight is the first time in a while that I’ve had a moment for inspiration.  Hope you enjoy.  I’m not quite sure what brought it on, but I did really enjoy Hayao Miyazaki’s Ponyo last year.  Also, the idea of a Diving Panda has been kicking around in my sketchbook for a long time, so it was nice to flesh it out a little bit.  I can see myself working this artwork into a t-shirt design for next year, too.

Hopefully I will have time soon to catch up on blogging…I would like to chronicle all my works and conventions that have happened in 2010!

When I first joined Facebook, I was really enjoying drawing stuff in Graffiti.  It was just something quick, fun and easy to do.

I haven’t looked at my gallery in a while, and decided to do so this morning.  There’s some fun content that I’ll be able to show here on this blog for the future.

Without further ado, let’s start with Fighting Bear

I’ve been really wimpy this past week.  It’s really not THAT cold here in the Bay Area, but I’m complaining about it. Yesterday I was working in my studio, and never warmed up…it was probably 70 degrees outside.  Inside the studio it’s probably a few degrees cooler.  Still, I thought about pulling out the space heater.  (I already have the extra blanket back on the bed.)

Despite my wimpiness with the weather, it has been inspiring me to put my characters in fall scenes.  Yesterday, I couldn’t concentrate on doing a regular Unemployed Pandas update, so did a Fall Ninja Panda picture instead.

Wherever there’s Ninja Panda, Samurai Panda is not far after, so here he is:

Personally, I really like the simplicity of this drawing.  As I sketched it, I didn’t want to add any more colors or render it more thoroughly. In fact, my current artistic exploration is to create things that look simple but say so much more.  (Not a new concept, I know, but it’s what I’m diggin’ right now.)

Also, I think everyone can see my strong influence from Stan Sakai. Samurai Panda is not exactly like Usagi Yojimbo per say, but they definitely do share their similarities. In my mind, Samurai Panda is not as skilled as Usagi, but still pretty skilled.  Psychologically I guess I put Usagi on a pedestal, similar to the way I put Stan Sakai on a pedestal ^_^;

I’d like to turn this into a t-shirt design, but I have so much on my plate right now that we’ll just have to wait and see.  We are trying to update the t-shirt store by Friday…will post when that’s done

Hope everyone’s enjoying Fall, wherever you are.

Sorry it’s been a while.  Just been busy over here at P.M.B.Q. Studios!

Here’s a sneak peak at an upcoming concept for Halloween shirts on Pandaline:

I’ve had the Vampire Panda character since the early 2000′s. He appears throughout many of my sketchbooks (which the general public often doesn’t see). I figured with the re-launch of my t-shirt store, it’s time to finally make a design with him.  I’ll be working with this image in Illustrator over the next week or so.

Also wanted to share a fanart that I started back in March. I finally finished it about a month ago. This is Crimson Viper, from Capcom’s Street Fighter 4.

Here’s a look at the evolution of the piece:

I started this when my friend Jimmy Tran posted some fanart of the same character. I thought her design was a little bit ridiculous, so I figured I’d draw something to make a little fun of that ridiculousness.

The concept of the drawing was to show the character getting ready to kick some @$$, as Street Fighters are known to do on a regular basis.  My visual idea was to really highlight her “assets.” I thought her little tie that was tucked within her “assets” was especially ridiculous, so I set out to emphasize that idea as well.  You can see that as I progressed, I changed my mind (I guess it was just too ridiculous for me, and it just didn’t gel that well with me).  I also wanted to practice my painting skills a little bit, and was hoping to go all-out on the rendering.

Months went by, and I lost a little bit of steam.  Finally, I just settled on the final version that you see initially.  Not quite how I imagined it, but realistically I knew I was not motivated to go any further on it.

I have to say I do enjoy telling the story behind the art!

While recently putting together a portfolio, I came across some old work I did back in 1998:

His name is Meddie, and he’s a character I created for my first job out of college.  He was to be a website host and “helper” mascot for a medical book website.  (Think of the Microsoft “Paper Clip” guy; that’s what we were going for.)

Even though we loved Meddie in-house, the focus groups found him too cute for their tastes and couldn’t take him seriously. As a result, he never got his public debut, but he did have many adventures in the internal company newsletter.

I’m glad that he can be back with P.M.B.Q. Studios, where he belongs.  We might find another use for him yet.