The Siren's Call

So I'm working on my own little comic project called "The Siren's Call."  I hope to publish it by APE in a split-feature with a yet-untitled work by Eve.  Anyway, I figure I'll post maybe 1/4-1/3 of the comic online as it comes out as a sort of a preview.  These may or may not be the final pages, as while I'm posting these, there are a few panels I may need to fix, and I'm thinking I might have to change fonts to something more legible at a small size.

Monster updates

So I have been (as of late) a bit unsuccessful in doing the 30-Day Monster Girl Challenge, but I'm back on the bandwagon.

So far I'm on Day 9 - Demon, and I finally managed to do a piece I'm actually happy with.  Granted, the rest I've been hammering out as really, really, loose sketches, and I actually took a bit of time with this one and am glad I did.

Others that I don't absolutely hate:

Octo-Maid:

Mermaid:

Slime:

I think while I want to keep practicing my more realistic, concept-arty style so I can get better at it, I really do enjoy this looser, more graphic approach as seen in the Demon sketch.  Eh, perhaps if I ever get as fast doing more rendered stuff as I am with the graphic stuff, I'll make the switch over.

In other news, I did another illo for the M+S blog which I'm pretty pleased with:

And I'm working on a new comic idea (titled  "The Siren's Song"), hopefully in time for Zine Fest, as well as some new tie designs (maybe in time for APE), and a new shirt idea or two. Yay!

Some new work, life update

Hey everyone.  So it's been a busy past few months (isn't it always) and I apologize for anyone who ever checks this that there have been no updates recently.

Anyway, I'm working on my application for a residency program here in SF, which I'm really excited about, and I'm also just working on producing more work for the Halloween show at Big Umbrella Studios.  Hells yes.

Spectrum Live was pretty cool, and it was nice to try a road show for a change.  It makes they much less scary, and some of the advice given during the panels were awesome.  It sucked that we just barely made booth back, so it was like we just went as attendees, but a lot of people didn't even make booth fee back, so I guess you have to count your blessings.

Anyway, I've been fortunate that I've been able to do a lot of live painting recently, both at SF RAW showcases as well as Hyphen's 10 year anniversary party.  I think I got a hook up to paint live at the Power to the Peaceful concert later on, which would be pretty awesome, and I'll be live painting for Urban Bazaar's 2 Year Anniversary doing a painting demo.  Fun!

Soo, here is some new stuff I've been working on. Yay!

I have a lot more acrylic paintings that I still need to photograph (about 5-7) so hopefully I'll get that taken care of soon.  Huzzah!

Also, I'm working on a visual development project with Eve.  It's super exciting and I feel really fortunate to have a lot of interesting projects to keep me busy over the next few months!

Oh yeah, and I'm working on a Marketing for Artists book!  Crazy!

New work! huzzah!

So I finally updated my website with a bunch of new images, and since I've been painting like a madman for Spectrum Live, I've got 8 new paintings and a few illustrations up.  You can check it out here: www.rickkitagawa.com.

I've also included a few of the images here for your viewing pleasure.

"It's In the Blood (C.K.)"t - acrylic on canvas board 

"Silver Tongued (I Didn't Lie)" - acrylic on canvas board

"What Did You Bring Me? (I Want It Now)" - acrylic on canvas board


To see more, head over here!

Degeneration

So I'm experimenting with this new style, primarily of people's face melting off.  This piece is going up for a charity auction.  How grand!

Also, I'm sorta extremely exhausted from this week of tons of deadlines happening right now.

Okay, back to work.

Woof

It's been a long last few weeks, and most nights I don't get to bed before 3:30 am, and these past few nights have been 4:45-5am nights.  Ug.  

ANYWAY, a few things:

1.  Happy birthday Eve!  

2.  Happy 7 Year Anniversary Eve!  Looking forward to many more adventures to come!

3. I'll have my art up in Bluejay Cafe (Divis and McAllister...right across from Big Umbrella) as of tomorrow afternoon (I think).

4. You should check out this WritersCorps event that I'm organizing!  March 15th at the Contemporary Jewish Museum (Mission @4th) from 6:30-7:30pm.  Best of all, it's free!

Cool, brain not working now.  Going to sleep.

Heritage

Hey all.  Here is a super short flash fiction piece I wrote for the creative writing class I'm taking.  The assignment was to make a 1-page story.  Hope you enjoy it!
Edit: Plus, an illustration!

Heritage

The swollen meat pie sat in front of me and the sweet smell sickened me.  My stomach twisted itself into a ball and I held my arms and clenched my teeth, fighting down the mounting bile.  My eyes began to water, and my father smirked.

“It’s time to embrace your heritage, my son.”  His hand fell upon my shoulder like a boulder, and my resolve weakened.  “Don’t worry.  It was no one that you knew.”

I stared into my father’s silver eyes, and I felt my will disintegrating.  I suddenly found my hands clenching the knife and fork.  I turned away from my father and looked down towards the pie.  I could feel a primal urge overtaking me, and I began to salivate.  

“No!”  I slammed down the cutlery.  “I may be of your blood, but I am not your son!”  

My father laughed a cold, hard laugh.  “We shall see, won’t we?”  


With that, he abandoned me in the tower room, locking the door as he left.  I sat up and walked over to the six-foot high windows and pulled back the velvet drapes.  The snow thrashed outside, and as I peered down into the inky blackness, I wondered how much snow would be needed to break my fall from such a height.  I flung open the latch and  the icy wind forced its way inside, causing me to gasp in shock.  The roar of the wind was deafening. I took another look back at that steaming, vile pastry, and I clutched my chest. I turned back towards the window and stepped towards it.  

It couldn’t have been more than an hour before my father returned.  As he entered, he surveyed the open window.  He closed the window, and I saw him smile.  I silently cursed him and the blood that ran in my veins.  He slowly walked over to me and took the empty plate from my hands, every single, succulent, delicious morsel having been licked clean.  I wiped some caramelized blood from my lips, and despite it all, couldn’t help myself from wanting more.