Yea, I'm always waiting until the last minute... =D

So, this is my entry for the NYAF Mascot Contest. When I first heard about the contest, I was in the middle of going through my friend's (who is Japanese) online photo album of her trip to New York City . And being the tourist that she was, she took photos of just about everything she encountered in her trip. Her energy and spirit was what influenced my piece.

When I think of New York, I think of the many tourists who come to visit each year. They buy lots of souvenirs, take lots of pictures and just have a great time. When I was doing research, I found a lot of images of tourists around NYC. It's one of the most popular American destinations and it seems that everyone wants to go there. I wanted to create a mascot with that in mind.

I went back to my specialty (chibi!) for this contest. Her name is Miwa, after my friend who posted her trip images that greatly influenced me. She is a young, happy-go-lucky, pink-haired gal enjoying her visit to NYC. Her sweater features the Big Apple (as most of you know, Big Apple is NYC's nickname) above the silhouette of the NYC skyline.

This was created with Copic markers and Sakura Micron pens. It was then scanned and then additional work and editing was done on Adobe Photoshop.

I really like how it came out.. way better than I expected. I think this is one of my better works.. =D.

I've seen all of the entries so far and they all look great. Good luck to everyone and I can't wait who makes it to the Top 10!

Oh, BTW... this is my second account. My main account is ThePockyGirl. I created this additional account for this contest (stupid me for putting up other artwork before posting the NYAF Mascot piece)... =D