EVACOMICS BLOG

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

In Japan, cats can become station master and dogs can become store keepers! Don't think this can happen in other countries... *sweat* http://edition.cnn.com/2015/08/24/travel/new-cat-stationmaster/ http://www.boredpanda.com/dog-opens-window-shiba-inu-doge/ *I will be signing my comic strips from now on to prevent theft of my artwork with my credits removed.

Last comic strip based on my trip to Indonesia last month! The chili is deadly!!! (Singapore is in between I think)

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.

I was really amazed with the tight security at shopping malls in Indonesia. They even check vehicles when you drive into the driveway or carpark. I felt almost as safe as airports... I wonder if it happens in other countries too?

I was recently terribly busy helping out in my alumni's event and doing an urgent commission work so there were not many new comics besides the regular Monday ones. During those alumni events, I networked with many strangers who had never heard of my comics. The most popular comment was " Can you draw me " and " Can you give a talk at our school ". But when I asked if I can sell my books there and if I will get speaker fees, the replies were mostly irritating: " Oh sorry, you cannot sell your book during the talk... We are tight on budget, so can you consider doing it for free ? Think of it as promotion ". The irony was after chatting for some time, it is revealed that they do have LOTS of money. Well, not for me that is. FREE TALK + NO SELLING OF BOOKS = FAT HOPE I did lots of free talk last year and sold my books there. That was how I managed to clear 1,000 books all by myself within a year. But the downside was I became so busy preparing t

Happened to me while I was waiting for a cab at my hotel in Jakarta. Would have chased that well-dressed office lady if not for my luggage...

Actually I was wondering if I should remove the nipples in the first panel for fear that Facebook or Instagram might terminate my account. But if I removed it, the comic will not accurately portray the absence of censorship and freedom of artistic expression in Japan. So in order to preserve my message, I decided to upload this comic to my blog and my  Patreon  page only. How publisher censored nudity in Indonesia If you read my post earlier about my visit to Elex Media, my publisher in Indonesia , you would know that I was impressed with their "censorship" department. These guys actually replicate elements from the original drawings to cover up the sensitive areas: such as falling leaves, cans on the floor (to censor magazine covers next to the cans), or speech balloons. As you know, there is A LOT of nudity in Japanese manga, so there is actually quite an amount of work to do. How publisher censored nudity in Singapore Maybe because our market here is very sma

I am helping my friends advertise their Le Cricket 15 pcs stainless steel cookware set (cat not included). This set is very good as housewarming gift, wedding gift or even as a Christmas present! It's designed in France and comes with innovative detachable handles. Handles come with 3 months warranty against manufacturing defects. It is detachable so you can just detach the pot and put inside the fridge (saves space)! #AuntieApproves Here is a quick intro: It is made of almost indestructible and durable stainless steel that can be cooked over gas stove, electric stove, induction or oven! Set includes, 15 pieces: 3 pots : 18 x 9 cm pot, 20 x 10 cm pot, 24 x 14 cm pot 2 pans : 18 x 4.5 cm pan, 25 x 5.5 cm pan 5 Lids : 18 cm glass lid, 20 cm glass lid, 24 cm glass lid, 18 cm PE Lid, 20 cm PE Lid Spaghetti spoon, Soup Ladle, Slotted Turner Detachable Handle – 2pc How to Order: Retail price: SG$160  ( SALE PRICE: $96 at 40% off!!! ) Self-pickup or pay add

Singaporean VS Japanese!

 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!

Just came back from Indonesia and realised that it's actually much worse than Singapore... But other than the smoke and jam, I love Indonesia a lot! Indonesians are so helpful and friendly! Love the food and price too! Hope to go Indonesia again!!!

Seriously, I love my new Manduka Eko mat a lot. It's made from rubber and has excellent grip when my palms and feet are both sweaty~ And I made a square one for instagram too: Nevertheless, I still think it's muscles!

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

So if you say "demo" to a Japanese, he/she will think of the protest...

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...

Do you prefer your bill to face up or down while eating?

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!

I think Singapore is in between? P.S. Patreon Ewww-san is inside eating with Kelvin! Special thanks to all lovely patrons and http://www.patreon.com/evacomics !

And this is my new mat (Eko mat) from Manduka! It's made of rubber so I had to use a mat restore to effectively clean and maintain it :) My first yoga mat!!! Can't wait to practice on it! (After I reply tons of work emails first....) #yogamat #manduka A photo posted by Evangeline Neo (@evacomics) on Jun 29, 2015 at 3:24am PDT When the instructor is very flexible, I do feel as if I am attending an acrobat class, it's challenging but fun :P Luckily I exercise, otherwise I think I will be pretty fat now... A photo posted by Evangeline Neo (@evacomics) on Jul 3, 2015 at 12:37am PDT

I tried to eat the proper way but the ingredient (neta) always fall off! Also it's very common in Singapore that we mix our wasabi with soysauce and then dip the sushi inside.... I think that is not the "proper Japanese way" to eat it, but it's so normal here nobody cares!

This comic was a special request from my friend who recently discovered that all her charms that she bought in Japan "doesn't work" anymore.  Of course, I was the one who broke the "secret"... Japanese shrines and temples practice this way in order to get continuous funding to maintain their facilities. On the other hand, Chinese temples gather funds by accepting freewill donation (also called incense money) from devotees and visitors praying for good luck, health or wealth. The charms bought from Chinese temples will also last a life time, as long as you maintain a good heart and do good deeds. Extra money from collection will also be donated to related charities annually to continue benefitting the community. On a side note, priests and monks are also very different in Japan, it is more like a job there. They go to work at the temple/shrine during the day, and go back home to their families (yes, they can marry!) at night. Some even go drinking or visit

In Singapore, people will try to take not of the car number to buy lottery... I'm not sure if it happens in other countries too... HMMMM.... *I am not liable if you bought 1738 and did not strike lottery. UPDATE 17 June 2015: Oh my, my numbers did come out! So if you bought iBet, you won $6...

That's what I think after visiting a very old University campus in Japan and was surprised that the toilets were sparkling new and renovated. Whereas a new campus in Singapore that looks marvellous on the outside have their toilets poorly equipped and dirty... P.S. I originally planned to have another comic strip but unfortunately it is not a good time to post today. Patreons are able to log in to look at the comic that I cannot release online but reserve for my future publication.  https://www.patreon.com/evacomics

It's great to be a cartoon character!

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...

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

The perception of very far is very different between these two countries. I would say half an hour of train ride is far and one hour is very far in Singapore because the average train journey here seldom exceeds an hour~

Frankly speaking, I can never remember what's stapler in Japanese, but now I can because of the HOT KISS! :P

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.

For some reason, I always have problems catching a cab. Even apps like grabtaxi and calling the call centres won't work. I love how easy it is to get a cab in Tokyo, but the price is really jaw dropping...