Welcome to my world. I'm a interactive designer working in the Seattle area. I love anime and have been an anime artist for about 4 years now. I love meeting new people and commenting on work. I also love receiving comments and criticism too. I want to be a better artist and The Otaku is the place to do that.

Convention season is over, for now

Whew, and Sigh . . .

Its finally over. The two conventions in Seattle were Emerald City Comic Convention and Sakura Con. Together they boasted over 25,000 people in attendance and (I believe) brought in more than a million dollars. As I'm sure many of you know who read my posts, I've been preparing for these conventions for the last 4 months now. The challege was that they were back to back one weekend after the other. I made over 350 prints with 30 variations, 150 copies each of the two issues of Hypergate Studios' Comic book Artemis, teaching materials for my photoshop panel, and 900 business cards. I worked 11 hours the first weekend at Emerald City and 35 hours this weekend at Sakura Con, (Friday Included). I am beat tired, exhausted, excited, happy, ect. ect.

It was an amazing experience. I was at the Artist Alley at Aki Con this last November and that was all the experience I've had being in an Artist Alley. Both of these cons are at least 10 times larger than Aki Con and they were back to back. Its the first time I've been to a major con as an artist and though I didn't have many fans starting the cons, I think after meeting some of the wonderful people at both, I may have some now. I will spare you the details of the leads the company made but as an artist I have been asked to be a possible guest professor at two schools, sell my art work in two theme specific stores, I've been favorably reviewed by a major online publication and gained the opportunity to start doing professional commissions for some wonderful people who were intersted in my style.

It was the best possible outcome you could get being a new artist at a MAJOR con for the first time. I feel accepted, welcomed, and justified in my work. Months/Years of practicing, planning and working for the posibility to be considered a professional illustrator amongst so many other more talented artist seems to be more of a reality to me now.

These conventions are over now and the amount of work I had to put into it to be prepared seemed impossible but now that its over I feel like its just the beginning. As tired as I am, I am still energized and excited to keep pushing forward. It doesn't feel like being considered a "professional illustrator" could happen but more that in time being considered a "professional illustrator" will happen; so long as I stay my course.

To everyone that I met at both Emerald City Comic Convention and Sakura Con, it was my pleasure. A special thanks to all those of you who bought a print or multiple prints from me, and an even more special thanks to those who took a chance on HGS' comic book and helped out a local company realize a part of their dream.

If you wanted a print but didn't get one or are interested in having my draw something for you feel free to contact me here, at hypergatestudios.com or even through email. I can make sure that you will get what you were looking for from the conventions.

All that I can say is thanks again, this has been unreal!

~The Space Cowboy

Conventions Back to Back in April

Hey everyone!

I'm a relatively new artist when it comes to the convention season but as I understand it, Convention Season is upon us. For those of you who don't know (which can't be many I talk about it all the time), I am a partner in a company called Hypergate Studios. HGS (Hypergate Studios) publishes a comic book called Artemis that has been my love, my pain, and my brain child since about eight months ago. We are launching our second issue this month and will be at two conventions! I'll be at both Sakura Con
and The Emerald City Comic Con representing HGS.

On a personal note:

I'll be in artist alley for both conventions. You can come up and say hi if you like. I'm selling a lot of prints from my gallery below as well as doing DIGITAL COMMMISION WORK right there in front of your eyes and at a discounted rate! Thats right, I am going to take 2-3 commissions at each convention and create the work digitally. We will have a monitor set up facing the crowd so you can watch as I work! Commissions will be on a first come first serve basis. We can print or email the final work when its done, I'll work that out with the client at the con. So if you've ever wanted me to draw something for you this is a great chance at a discounted rate or if you've ever wanted a print of any of my work (That Sexy Hinata Picture) its an awesome opportunity to pick some up!

On a professional note:

I'll be at these cons with my partners and we will be selling HGS works too. Posters of Artemis, comicbooks, signatures you name it. At Sakura Con we might even be giving a panel on photoshop and comic books. Look for Photoshop and Comics 101 in the Sakura Con Schedule. One of the benefits of having our power set up at the con too is that we should be able to answer photoshop questions for you too if you want to swing by the booth and ask us.

Whatever your reason for coming out we are very excited to be at these two cons and look forward to meeting new people! Hope to see you there!

~The Space Cowboy

Sakura Con and Emerald City Comic Con

Hi everyone!

Sorry its been a while since I've updated my journal but I suppose that everyone starts like that. So moving on. I want to announce that I will be appearing at both Sakura Con (in Seattle April 10-12, Washington State Convention Center) and the Emerald City Comic-Con (Seattle April 4-5, Also at the Washington State Convention Center). I'm very excited and grateful that I get to participate in these extraordinary Conventions as an Artist in the coveted Artist Alley.

At the conventions, you can expect to meet me in person and the staff of Hypergate Studios, the business that publishes all my work. We will be offering prints of content found on this site not available in the print shop as well as issues of Artemis. Also we will be debuting the sequel to Cowboy Bebop, Bebop Redemption, a fan produced graphic novel/manga at Sakura Con! This will be for sale for the first time at Sakura Con, so don't forget to stop by our table in Artist Alley.

For more information feel free to contact me here or via email at [email protected].