EVACOMICS BLOG

This was my 4th time boothing at AFA and as you can see, with more books, the table became a little bit more cramp...

It was great to be back at Kinokuniya again. They had been hosting all my book launches these past 5 years. Initially I had a presentation showing some slides about the making of the book, but because I brought a no-brand adapter to try out with my iPad, it failed to work on that day. But nevertheless since I only planned to talk for max. 10min (it cannot be too long because there's still a demo, Q&A and book signing back to back with another artist), so I already prepared another version without the slides in case the adapter didn't work. But you bet I will be bringing my thumb drive and purchasing Apple-original adapters if it is a 30min long talk session!

I had a rare opportunity to interview Mr. Kohei Onishi 大西 恒平, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Shueisha Weekly Shonen Jump during the preview of the "Hello, ONE PIECE" exhibition. He is the 5th editor in charge of ONE PIECE since 2007 and has also worked as an editor before for various popular Shonen Jump titles like Gintama, Naruto, Death Note and Hikaru no Go. (Photo from right: Mr. Onishi, my assistant, me) The interview was originally conducted in Japanese with a translator. Q1: Besides Malaysia and Singapore, will you be having the exhibition at other countries after this? The exhibition will also be held in 6 cities in China, including Chengdu and Shenzhen. Q2: What is the key to running a long series like One Piece? Initially Oda-sensei was only planning to run the series for 10 years, but now it is already running for over 20 years. Shōnen Jump has a 20-page deadline every week so it is extremely tedious for the artist to keep up, especially for 20 years! Therefor...

I had the privilege to attend a preview of "Eiichiro Oda presents Hello, ONE PIECE Luffy is here!" exhibition at The Maritime Experiential Museum in Resorts World Sentosa. The exhibition runs from now till 1 Jan 2019 and costs $15, which also includes entry into the museum. The exhibition is divided into 4 parts: 1. Hello, ONE PIECE! The exhibition starts off with a greeting and overview of ONE PIECE to visitors. You can also spot an animated projection of Luffy, where the I is located (above my head), from time to time. There is also a photo-taking spot to fulfil your temporary dream of becoming the King of Pirates!!! (Yes you are supposed to raise both hands like Luffy!😂) 2. Hello, Luffy! Part 2 showcases the five keywords that defines Luffy through the manga pages. Some original manuscripts can be seen too. 3. Hello, Colourful World! Next is the coloured illustration section with high resolution reproductions of the originals, as well as a video...

Ok I'm back blogging again! Woho~ (Because I finished some projects and editing my new book) This time I visited the Japan Food Matsuri (matsuri means festival) at Takashimaya basement 2 hall to check out what they brought in from Japan 👊 The fair runs from 28 Sep to 14 Oct.

This blog post is to share my experience with people who have hernia and what to expect after surgery. Diagnose I felt a small lump that comes and goes on my right groin without any pain at the beginning of the year so I ignored it for several months. Moreover I was rushing my 4th book at that time and had no time to see a doctor. I was worried if it's something serious, I would have to take time off from the book and I would miss the deadline. But I continued to ignore the lump after I was done with the book because it comes and goes, and there was no pain. However it became worse after a replacement yoga instructor took over a class that I regularly go to in June. She made us do a lot of hip opening, stretches and core work and I felt pain a few hours later. My right groin area was in small pain whenever I walked. I couldn't tell if it was the lump causing the problem or tendon/muscles got torn so I went to see both a masseur and a TCM (traditional chinese medicine...

This year's Anime Festival Asia is quite different because the Creators Hub is tucked away at a corner. In the past, it's located at the back of the hall along with the commercial booths.

Very happy to return after a year to Kinokuniya to do my book signing again! 😊

My latest book "Eva, Kopi and Matcha 2.0" (aka. EKM2.0) made it on time for STGCC (Singapore Toy Game and Comic Convention) this year so I rented a expensive booth  table there. Because of that, I was also invited to be in a panel to talk about the local comics scene along with Dan Wong (A Good Citizen), Derrick Chew (DCWJ) and WaHa (CDS).

I gained weight after quitting gym last year and that extra load of fats refused to shake off no matter what I did 😑. So after Chinese New Year, I made a resolution to shed that 4kg (so I can eat more later) by doing yoga almost everyday and hiking once a week. I also stopped eating cakes (my favorite, sob...) for 2 months and ate salad almost every day.

Thanks to PurpleClick Media and DBS Business Class, I won a short tour around the Singapore Google office last Friday!

(Photo credit: 汉聪) I was invited to conduct a workshop to a group of student correspondents from a local press on 29 October last year. The objective of the student correspondent program was to train them to become future journalists. So in order to let them get some hands-on experience, the press would occasionally invite people to talk about our trade and be interviewed by them.

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 )

Congratulations to Yoga Inc. for opening their 4th branch at the new "Our Tampines Hub"! Yup, that means there are 4 shopping malls at Tampines now O_O.

Some of you were shocked to learn that I have stones in my ears but actually everybody has them. In normal circumstances, they stay inside a chamber with a membrane to keep them from going out. However when a person ages or suffer from a head trauma, these small stones may dislodge and float around in the ear fluid tubes that disturbs the body's balance system (aka vestibular system) and the mind perceives the room as spinning although it isn't, aka vertigo giddiness. The term BPPV means the vertigo is aggravated by certain head positions, comes suddenly and although it seems serious, it is actually not life threatening. However during a vertigo attack, it is very uncomfortable as the whole room seems spinning. BPPV is common among elderly and people with head trauma. So the only thing I recalled doing out of the blue was an aerial yoga session 2 days before and an attempt on tripod headstand the day before. I only felt fatigue on that day and suddenly woke up to a spinning r...

If you have been receiving all the posts from my FB and Instagram, you'll know that my book and cat cushions are now selling at all 6 Naiise outlets in Singapore. They opened a brand new flagship store at the Cathay's basement this month and they invited all suppliers to party!

Finally a yoga studio near home! I was enthusiastic and purchased Yoga Inc.'s special opening package of 5 classes to try out, sorry offer no more ^^;;

2015 has been a busy year for me, fulfilling some commission work (bulk orders like 8-15 comic strips) and giving talks from "Lessons Learnt from Self-Publishing" to "Visiting Tokyo". I was also kept busy trying to sell as many books and cushions as possible. Significant achievement in 2015 is my signing with MPH (how it came to this will be explained in another post), becoming their author and no longer self-published. I also went to Jakarta for the first time and saw my first foreign published book "Eva The Explorer", which is actually the same book as "Eva, Kopi and Matcha" but different language. My work was stolen by a Vietnamese magazine but it was eventually resolved favourably, leading to the release of of a Vietnamese version next year. I learnt a lot about freelancing practice in 2015. It is better NOT to do a one-year project for more than 8 comic strips because it is very difficult to plan time when Clients suddenly wants the co...

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.

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