Happy New Year 2017!

2016 has been a very tough year for me because I underestimated the time required to finish my second book and the financial stress affected my health greatly. I am glad the book was done and conventions were over, so I have some vitamin M to feel less stressed and improve my health. I also finally cleared the debt I took to self-publish my first book 3 years ago and resumed taking in commission work again. Therefore I am very sorry that I don't have time to do the colorful weekly comic strips and kept on uploading the black and white ones...

I am now planning for the 3rd book: Eva, Kopi and Matcha 2, which is a compilation of the comparison comic strips with more countries: US, Malaysia, Vietnam and Indonesia. I was debating if I should do a kickstarter because the current arrangment with my publisher is to contra my rotalties (in depreicating Malaysian ringgit) and use it to buy back books at a discount to sell by myself in Singapore. It's quite troublesome with more and more books to lug around and I don't have a car nor partner to help me (uber, grab, gogovan and lalamove all costs money). I do sell online but orders were bleh because of the high postage cost and I cannot list below the bookstore retail price. The returns don't quite justify the 7-8 months of hardwork, though I did use the books to get a few commercial deals.

I am not sure if you noticed, but I'm running out of comparisons. After all, I have been drawing this topic for 4 years and no longer living in Japan. So I am also stopping this series after I finish 3-4 more strips for the book. I'm currently uncertain what will continue, it could be daily life, yoga , artist life or about business setting (cross cultural communication). I am always inspired by Peanuts (Snoopy and Charlie Brown) and Dilbert, so the new comic strips could be along this line, or trial and error on a wide range of topics to see which one is more popular. I was even thinking of doing a non-fiction book about my cursed publishing experience, and see if it will do better than my comic books (because many bookstores don't support comic books that are not their own brand).

Anyway whatever happen, I am very thankful to you who are still sticking around and to fans who bought my books and supporting me on Patreon!

Last but not least, wishing everyone "pecked" with good luck, wealth, love and good heath (very important) in the year of the rooster 2017!!!

*Patreons can login to download the wallpapers for desktop and mobile.

Evacomics as VIP at Comic Fiesta, KL 2016

It was my privilege to be invited as guest speaker for Comic Fiesta! I had an event on Saturday so I could only join the convention on Sunday.

Visit Tohoku Japan seminar: the Four Seasons and Driving

I was invited back to the Japan Rail Cafe last Saturday (17th Dec) to learn more about Tohoku region and car rental! This time the speaker is a very well-travelled lady, Jane Tsuchihashi, from Malaysia but married to a Japanese. She travels frequently between Singapore and Japan, and often drives around herself, so she is very knowledgeable about Tohoku and driving routes.

Tohoku literally means North-east and it consists of 6 prefectures: Aomori, Iwate, Miyagi, Akita, Yamagata and Fukushima. Niigata is commonly regarded as part of Chubu (Central region) but is closely linked to Tohoku transportation system. For my full introduction of Tohoku, you can read my earlier blog post here.

JR TOMATO LAND Live Tour (sponsored by Norinchukin Bank)

The seminar started off with an introduction of JR Tomatoland at Iwaki city, Fukushima prefecture. We connected with them via live video to watch how they pick tomatoes. Unlike other farms, you can just drop in anytime to pick tomatoes yourself!

Comics: Arguments

There are many people who are arrogant and rude that no matter what you say is useless (for example gathering what they read online VS what a doctor told you...). I used to argue back when I was younger but now that I'm so busy, I no longer bother anymore and just walk away, after all it's a waste of time arguing with these people.

Cheap and scenic travel to Tohoku region, Japan

I was invited to attend Tohoku Japan seminar organised by Tohoku Tourism x JAPAN RAIL CAFE. The seminar was shared by Hungry Bird (on my left) on her travel experience to Tohoku held at the newly opened cafe last saturday. Despite living in Japan for 3.5 years, I have never visited Tohoku because when my scholarship wanted to do a study trip there, I fell ill and couldn't go 😭...

About Tohoku

Tohoku literally means North-east and it consists of 6 prefectures: Aomori, Iwate, Miyagi, Akita, Yamagata and Fukushima. Although Niigata is commonly regarded as part of Chubu (central) region, its transportation is closely tied to Tohoku so I will introduce it as well.

Getting There

There is no direct flight from Singapore to this region, so the best way is to fly to Tokyo and then take the Shinkansen (bullet train) up. Foreigners can purchase a JR East (Tohoku) pass for SG$250 that allows unlimited rides on JR lines and Shinkansen for any 5 days within 14 days of purchase. However to travel to Niigata, a separate JR East (Nagano+Niigata) pass is required. You can purchase these passes from Japan Rail Cafe!

Why Tohoku?

• CHEAP! According to Hungry Bird, Tohoku is not as densely populated as other regions so this means everything is not as expensive as Tokyo!😍
  
• PEACEFUL! Less populated means you don't have to compete with anyone to get your best scenic shot like other tourist locations! Yes you know what I mean when you want to take a photo of that beautiful temple or scenery but people just kept on flooding into the picture...
• BEAUTIFUL NATURE! Because of the sparse population, much of the natural landscape is untouched.
• RICH CULTURE! There are some spectacular festivals held annually with its tradition passed down for many generations.

Comics: Getting old...er....

I'm not sure if it's different with people at the other side of the globe... But I can no longer drink cold drinks because it irritates my sensitive nose and makes recovery from cold/flu impossible. How about you, is there something that you can no longer eat/drink as much?

Evacomics at EOY Cosplay Festival 2016

Because I thought I wasn't getting a booth at AFA, I applied for a booth at EOY. When I first came back from Japan, I was offered a table to sell my artwork so I was interested to know if it's going to be different after 3 years. (Blogged about it here)

Comics: Using Wet Napkins

Something I noticed when I was living in Japan is the way people use wet napkins. In Japan, they use it before a meal to kill of germs and bacteria before eating but in Singapore, we use it after a meal to clean off food remnants. So how about you? Do you use it before or after or not at all?