EVACOMICS BLOG

I think Mari is getting sick of this Odd Japanese English series :P

When I tell people I draw comics in Singapore, they often think it is for kids and say they want to buy my book for their kid or friend's kids. My speaking slot at a local book festival was also assigned to a day where they focus on authors and artists who write and draw children's books so parents can bring their kids on that day and see which books to buy. Although of course, I don't mind kids reading my book, I hate it when people classify comics as for kids only. I hope with my comic strips about different cultures and yoga, adults will also fall in love with reading comics and understand that comics are not just for kids and teenagers only, it's for everyone.

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?

This comic was inspired by a Japanese acquaintance who told me that she mistakenly gave SG$300 to her colleague's wedding without knowing that she could just give $80-100 instead. So yup, do find out from local friends if you ever invited to attend a local wedding! And if you are invited to a wedding in Japan, you can check out my guide here !

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...

Somehow I cannot tell if the instructors really forgot or they wanted to train us...hmm...