EVACOMICS BLOG

There was a publication on Tuoi Tre, which I was told is one of the biggest daily newspaper for youth in Vietnam this morning. Here is a quick translation by Doanh Nguyen from  Vietnam IPR Infringement  to update my readers: ------------------------------------- Foreign author requests Muc Tim magazine to compensate 2,300 USD. http://tuoitre.vn/tin/van-hoa-giai-tri/tac-gia-nuoc-ngoai-de-nghi-bao-muc-tim-phai-boi-thuong-2300-usd/991168.html Surrounding a series of incidents where comics on Muc Tim magazine was found to be originated from a foreign author's work made online community tumultuous. On Oct 25, talking with Tuoi Tre, Mr. Nguyen Khac Cuong – Muc Tim’s Chief Editor, said that after he was informed of this incident, Muc Tim magazine found that these comics have been sent from a reader collaborator for a comics corner of an entertainment sector in Muc Tim. Muc Tim magazine discussed with the author Evangeline Neo, and then cut off royalties to that reader and tr

I was alerted on 4 September from a fan in Vietnam, who wanted to verify with me if I had given permission for this magazine called "Muc Tim" to use my comics because they had been appearing for several issues. I was shocked and replied no. Because I don't understand any Vietnamese, I posted the above on my Facebook page to seek help to contact the publisher to settle this issue. After fans bombarded their FB page, they were forced to reply me the next day with a gmail account from someone with an unknown job title saying it was a technical mistake and their head is on vacation ... My lawyer friend told me it doesn't look right and I should demand their editor contact me through a proper company email. So I requested and their editor contacted me to ask for my bank account information to transfer my royalty and said they will also publish an apology on issue #37. I gave them my account number and asked how much they will be paying. At the same time, fans were

Sorry for the lack of updates this past month! I was paralysed by the selling of the cats... I had to reply tons of emails, messages, comments all over my many social media channels (FB, Instagram. Blog, Patreon), coordinating transport from warehouse to temporary holding then to my house and shop, labelling, packing and mailing the cats, etc. etc. There was simply no free time at all to draw new comics and I learnt: Despite me posting several times on FB and Instagram to ask people to buy, nothing beats a good story about how difficult it is to make them.  After posting this article: " Why Matcha cat cushions were so difficult to make ", sales soared and I sold around 150 cats compared to only 30 or so initially... Other things I also learnt selling online: Don't use bank transfer if a flood of orders come in because people don't put their initials when they make payment. Therefore it is difficult to cross-reference which payment is paid by who. Also sp

It wasn't easy to clear 100 cat cushions last year. I sold through my homepage, during my talks and I rented booths at conventions. The books were freakin heavy and the cats were freakin bulky. You combine the two and it's a seller's worst nightmare. Finally after 3 months of struggle, it  was finally sold out  during Anime Festival Asia in December. ...and I thought my nightmare was over... But whenever I take Matcha (yes that is the name of my cat) out to conventions, people kept asking for it. Strange that: When I have plenty of stock, people don't want to buy. When I have no stock, people want to buy. WAT DUHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

With nothing to sell this year, I went to Singapore Toy Game and Comics Convention, aka STGCC 2015 (12-13 Sep) as a media visitor to check out the exhibits, the artist alley and crowd. One-day pass costs $19 and two-day pass costs $28 , increased from $25 last year. Kids below 5 can enjoy free admission on Sat and kids below 12 can enjoy free admission on Sunday. Unfortunately this information was not well conveyed as many people I spoke to did not know about this.

 And the first people I met was Wackymons and folks from Elex Media!

With my last bit of time before flying off, I went to visit Elex Media, my publisher, which was located 30mins away from the hotel (with jam included). From left: Rena my future editor, Intan my promoter, Whindy my managing editor in charge of liaising with me. The only publisher that I visited before was Chuang Yi, back in 1997 during their prime. They closed down last year, probably due to decreasing sales and high production cost in Singapore. I remember their office was very small and had less than 8 people in the office. So visiting a much bigger publisher was an eye opener.

Thanks to Draw Slowly and Mark Koh , I was able to share booth with them to Popcon Asia!

Saved some money and ready to get your first Cintiq but don't know which model to get? Then my experience might help you.

Work began in April after persistent requests from fans to do LINE stickers. I first did a focus group on  Patreon  to gather feedback and Kurone Shizuhi, a very hardcore LINE user, suggested the most changes (Thank you Shizuhi, Reventon and Jerome!) After finalising the chosen 40 stickers, I inked it and sent it to my assistant to colour. Then it was returned to me a week later and I continued to clean up the lines and tweak the colours for another week or so (on and off). I finally submitted on 18th May excitedly and announced on my Instagram:

I posted this video last week on my Facebook wishing all my Muslim friends Happy Hari Raya and many asked me what materials I used and how long I took to make it. Actually the concept was thought of a week beforehand and the drawing took slightly more than an hour to complete. However learning how to use iMovie on my smartphone, selecting free music from YouTube music library and then figuring out how to transfer the music took like a whole day...

Besides offering spa packages and selling skin care products, Ikeda Spa also occasionally  organises workshops to impart beauty tips or things Japanese to customers. Today, we got to try making our own masks from ingredients that you can easily get from supermarkets!

Contrary to what one might believe, we artists like anybody else, need to eat and drink to survive (FYI, water in Singapore is pretty expensive too). So I post commissioned comics on my FB from time to time but sometimes readers just can't tell that they are commissioned work (i.e. we work with what clients want). If you come to think of it, it's not possible to survive by posting 100% free webcomics all the time right?

I was invited by the Japanese Association of Singapore to share my comics to Japanese expatriates living in Singapore to help them adjust to their new life here.

I met this young student at ITE Central during my presentation with Wacom this morning. He was very enthusiastically taking photos before my talk so I thought he was the student photographer. Later on, he even volunteered to be drawn into a comic character for my live 15mins demo (seen above). After my presentation, he asked very politely if I have time to talk. Seeing that he was holding a few notebooks in hand, I figured that he must be an aspiring comic artist and wanted to ask me some questions on how to draw or how to make it in the "industry" (it's in quotes because I don't think we have a substantial local comic industry to talk about). So we chatted a while and he showed me his comics that he did some time ago as well as some recent work too. I could see a huge improvement but he credited that to a manga-drawing course that he was attending. His passion reminded me of the time when I was just a student who did not care whether or not my drawings could earn

Well since I was commissioned to draw comics to promote Ikeda Spa's Geisha Facial, I decided to go down on Tuesday to give it a try with some of my spa credits! Before the start of treatment, the facial therapist interviewed me about my skin condition and concerns, including any allergies. Basically the 90min treatment consisted of: Massage around the neck, shoulder and scalp with essential oil Facial massage and scrub Steam Extraction (ouch!) Uguisu no Fun (Nightingale poop) mask for 15min Toner, moisturiser and sunblock I was worried about the smell but they added rice bran into the mask and it smelled great! :P The whole treatment was super relaxing but I wish I didn't drink so much before the 90min treatment... Anyway I could have requested the therapist to stop anytime and she will bring the yukata for me to change so I can go for my toilet break. I had nasal congestion, eye strain and aching neck and shoulder pain on that day so it was a complete relief after

After my Mr. Lee Kuan Yew tribute drawing went viral last month (with around 828,000 people reached, 31,000 likes and 3,500 shares), I was contacted to appear on Channel 8 news because they wanted to do a feature about the social media response towards Mr. Lee's passing.

This was my second trip down to KL to meet my fans and this time was organised by MPH Distributors ( first trip was Comic Fiesta ). I was extremely impressed on how they marketed my event by connecting me to as many major press (theSun, New Straits Times and theStar) as possible and getting materials for the bookstores to promote my book signing.

I received these fun markers last week from Chameleon Pens and was excited to try it because you can do gradation with only one pen! The last time I used markers was 10 years ago using COPIC markers. So my skill was very rusty and had to make do with my moleskine sketchbook. It would be better to use smooth marker papers so it is easier to blend and the ink won't smudge to the bottom pages. This is a 17min of my first impression and demonstration on how to use these markers. It was really fun like a science experiment or cooking a new dish :P Pro: Do gradation with only one pen. Colourless blender will not stain other colours. Fun experimenting on the mixing. Con: Takes a bit of time to figure out which side is the mixing chamber and brush nib, so might not be suitable for professionals who want to work fast. Lighter tone only last for a small area, not suitable for covering large area of pale tones. Outliner pen provided too thin for my usage. But can be com

My friends and I originally planned to pay our respects to Mr. Lee yesterday when the wake was first opened to public, but we were shocked and confused about where the queue starts from. So we planned to return again today to spend the whole day queueing (and one of them took the whole day leave instead of half a day). But because I was the one with flexible time, I went ahead first at 9am and was surprised that I could finish by 10am before any of them could arrive! With ample time and good weather, I decided to draw my tribute to our Ah Kong (Grandpa). Actually I didn't plan to draw anything until a fan messaged me to request for it while I was having breakfast and checking out the latest queue updates. My original concept was to draw Singapore River and the shophouses because that was where we saw the incredibly long queue yesterday and Ah Kong liked to take Ah Ma to stroll there. But I later changed my mind when I sat at Clarke Quay because he is now at Parliament House a