::Tadaima!::

Ncha! Hi, Arare here in Japan.

Here is some of the stuff we have done so far and don’t forget to check our flickr page too:

Wednesday 21st : arrived. Meet little brother and Tomo… ah, good to be in Tokyo again.

Thursday 22nd : Wandered the streets of Shimokitazawa getting lost and found and going in circles. Eat Mister Donut and buy knick knacks. Got ready at around 6pm and head into Daikanyama for the opening of Chance 10 Gallery Lele where innocentgirl’s portfolio is on display.

Friday 23rd : Public holiday here in Japan so woke up late and wandered down the street for coffee with little brother. So funny when we took him to the station and there was the big brother waiting. Ha, ha, ha… surprises be of much goodness. Then it was all day shopping, eating Mister Donut, playing in game centre’s and exploring Shimo again. Gyoza restuarant dinner, drinking at an Okinawan bar and late night karaoke. Got home around 3pm climbed into the futon and went straight to sleep.

Saturday 24th : Woke up early again and the apartment was getting real squashy with four people. It was like playing human tetris! Big brother came with us to Roppongi to visit the Mori Arts Center. The exhibition “Roppongi Crossing 2007: Future Beats in Japanese Contemporary Art” was pure brilliance… lots of fun interactive stuff! We even went in a wind tunnel that replicated what Hurricane Katrina might have been like. Then it was off to Kawasaki to meet a friend of younger brother who has a new baby… I wanted to take the baby home but they wouldn’t let me… strange, ne? I was dragging my feet by this time…. so much walking and really cold as I was still wearing my summer yukata but then younger brother took us to an all night crepe place run by a really cute old lady with eyes that go in different directions. How clever!

Sunday 25th : The skylight above my futon is waking me up early every day and the novelty of this has begun to wear off now… but it’s and up and getting ready for the ‘freaks’ (what big brother calls them) at Harajuku. He, he… I even got a photo with them. The best part of all was the trip to Kiddyland where innocentgirl bought me a winter coat… so cozy now and I even have ear muffs! We also checked out Design Festa gallery and saw live painting and drank a really yukky coffee.

Monday 26th : innocentgirl and big brother take me to Akihabara where they visit a maid cafe. ‘They are such otaku sometimes!’. When I introduce myself to the maid’s they go crazy with love for me… we got a picture taken and we learned how to speak otaku… ‘moe, moe!’ Then we spend the afternoon eating bento in Inokashira Koen in Kichijoji, so lovely. On the way back we visit Nakano Broadway… more otaku stuff, innocentgirl looks for more Arare goods but can’t find any… ‘I’m really rare!” We decide to head to Chiba to visit Jun at his bar, Jun can’t believe its really me and has to pinch me to make sure… more surprises! We meet a real crazy plumber with a broken finger who keeps hugging big brother and looks drunk but he explains to us origin of otaku and for the first time I really understand it! We stay in a hotel… I am thankful our room doesn’t have a skylight.

Tuesday 27th : Big brother shoots lots of video’s in and around Chiba port… I don’t exactly know what it’s for but some kind of art project I suppose. innocentgirl and big brother talk alot about that kind of stuff. The train ride takes us past Tokyo Disneyland and back into Tokyo again. We head on in to see some exhibitions, the one in Daikanyama and another in Hatsudai at the ICC. This one is way cool!
Big brother is leaving tomorrow so he goes home to pack all his items while I head off to meet the Cotton’s or Martine’s bday party in Shinjuku. They all came as a surprise for Aunty Marty who turns 40 on Wednesday! Happy Birthday!
Meet big brother and little brother on the way back and have a drink at a bar called Ma and Ka’s…. big brother is still packing when we get back, he’s so funny how he’s always crazy rushing. He has to take a train at 5am!

Wednesday 28th : Wake up really late… yay! Sleep is good. innocentgirl catches up on emails and stuff while I go done to get a bento and coffee for lunch. It’s fun to just sit and listen to the Tokyo sounds outside, kids running home from school, neighbours talking and shop keepers spruiking. We have a nana nap together and then head on in to Shibuya for Tokyo Dr. Sketchy! Crazy fun but innocentgirl forgets I am in the bag and sits on my head while she draws…. I forgive her though when she tells me she won a prize for her sketch and my head doesn’t hurt ’cause its made of plastic anyhow. Tokyomade goodies were being handed out and we meet Deanne who runs the site. Very cool goodies… check it out!

Anyway that’s all for now… bye bye cha!

::Ready, Set….. Design!::

::Me in the green room waiting to go on, Oat Montien to my left, Michael Birchall to my right, Daryl Prondoso walking through and Dave Follet’s knee. Photo courtesy of Cut and Paste::

Last weekend I headed up the Emerald City to participate in Cut and Paste. It was a weekend of intense nerves that had me wired as well as enormous fun and happiness at meeting some extremely talented and beautiful people….. such as:
Matt Huynh – winner
Morten Rowley – finalist
Haline Ly – semi-finalist
Daryl Prondoso – Audience winner
Dave Follett
Michael Birchall
Oat Montien

The best bit, I won myself an awesome new Wacom® Intuos3 9″X12″ Tablet, just the piece of hardware I need for making some nice, new, happy pictures!
Thanks Cut and Paste and thanks Sydney friends for the couch!

I will be stepping back for a bit from the blogging in the coming weeks but that’s not to say less will be posted, instead I am going to let Arare chan do the talking since she has more authority on the subjects coming up, she’s tugging at my sleeve now in anticipation!
Until then … bye cha!

::Illustrious::

I meant to blog this as it was happening but seemed to have got myself caught up in some kind of worm hole that spat me out two weeks later instead…. so here it is now, it is certainly no less relevant to what’s been happening of late so … Illustrators Australia had their first ever seminar ‘Connected’ to launch their new book ‘Illustrators Australia Book 10′.
Held in a gallery on Little Collins St in Melbourne, the line up was a selection of brilliant Australian illustrators, art directors, agents, accountants, etc and then ‘little ‘ol me’. I spoke in a segment entitled “Gearing up for the Future: Part A” (Beck Wheeler spoke for Part B). I managed to write around 4000 words on all things self-promotion, internet, networking, online marketing and diversifying. However I found myself dumping the notes and just rambling. When met by silence during question time I was worried I had bored them all to sleep, however I later found out that the audience had been overwhelmed by the enormous amount of information I had squeezed into my talk, including a small segment of my analysis of otaku and how it applies to the web.
The seminar was a brilliant 48 hours for me and I found the other illustrators such as Nigel Buchanan, Beck Wheeler, Phil Small (Watermark) as well as the presentations about copyright and taxation for artists (scribbled notes like a madwomen during those!).
The audience themselves was full of talented illustrators and I got to put some faces to names I had seen in my travels online.
The last segment, “Talking Shop” was by far was the most illuminating and wonderfully positive for me, chaired by Ned Culic, Participants included Robin Cowcher (The Age) and Jeremy Wortsman (Jacky Winter Group – Illustration Agency) and Matt Clare, who were available for questioning, with discussions involving, stock imagery versus hiring talent, the market in Australia, self-promotion online and where the industry is going.
I took away lots of new thoughts, and much optimism for the opportunities that can be had by all. As I always say “Let’s be making happy pictures!”.

Another seminar that caught my eye, but is too far away to attend is “Illustration in the Age of Anxiety” it’s a new mini symposium, held at Parsons The New School for Design Illustration Department in New York and is focused on how the current cultural climate is affecting the field of illustration. ‘Illustration in the Age of Anxiety’ looks at how illustration handles times of unease and anxiety in our culture, from the atomic anxiety of the 1950s to today’s wars and upheaval. Featuring one of my fav’s, Tara McPherson.

Then, much closer to home, I am featuring some new works in a group exhibition in Johnson St, Collingwood at Per Square Metre Gallery. Curated by Bernard Romerona and my lovely friend Eveline Tarunadjaja (who is a wonderful illustrator herself and has lots of beautiful works in the show). The show titled ‘Cups and Cuddles‘ features the work of other lovely ladies such as, Catherine Campbell, Crystal Hartley, Lilly Piri, Maricormaricar and Nobuko Washiyama.

Please feel free to head on down on Saturday the 10th of November for the opening, or at least drop by between the 7th to the 18th for a peek.