Candy Yumi

Redjuice panel @ Comic Fiesta 2013

December 27, 2013April 25, 2014Candace

Love Guilty Crown? Obsessed with gorgeous character designs and mecha art? Admire beautifully illustrated backgrounds and scenery in detail? Then be sure to continue reading to find out more about one of our favorite illustrators, Redjuice!

This is the first time I’ve ever seen someone draw live, and with the addition of my first time witnessing someone drawing live is non-other than the amazing illustrator Redjuice himself, I feel blessed! ; w ; I know many out there would probably expect to say that I’m a fan of Redjuice’s works just because I’ve watched Guilty Crown, unfortunately, I didn’t even know that Guilty Crown’s original character designs were illustrated by Redjuice. I actually found out about Redjuice after admiring all of EGOIST’s albums’ cover artwork. And well, I did not go crazy over EGOIST during my hype for Guilty Crown but after Psycho Pass started airing so you could pretty much conclude that I’m a pretty new fan. That aside, ever since I found out that Redjuice was the magic to the amazing character designs of Guilty crown’s Inori, I pretty much had my eyes glued to Redjuice’s deviantART , admiring all his mecha character designs.

These are some of the many questions answered during his panel session at Comic Fiesta 2013! I missed the first half of the panel so I’m pretty much amazed that within a short 30 minutes duration, he had already sketched something presentably beautiful.

As parts of my voice recording wasn’t too clear, I’ll just skip the question and add the answer to a ‘facts’ section below! Thank you so much, Redjuice, for coming to Comic Fiesta once again to share more about your tips and tricks in illustrating! and thank you so much to Redjuice’s interpreter!

What motivates him to keep drawing?
He relies on music, however he thinks that the most important part is do you like drawing. If you love drawing, he thinks that you can continue drawing no matter what. If he ends up drawing too long and gets tired and sick of it, he’ll just sleep it off, wake up the next morning and start fresh.

Where do you get your inspirations for mecha designs?
Apparently he likes looking at concept art for movies. For example, Pacific Rim. He actually purchases concept art books, he also likes movies like Tron legacy. On top of using concept art books, for him when it comes to drawing concept designs, he actually finds drawing military really difficult. He tends to use a lot of references, he’d look at pictures as well as purchase art sets as part of his materials as references for his military base mechanical designs.

Tips in drawing backgrounds / sceneries?

He does think that it’s difficult for people to draw scenery by free hand as it’s actually rather complicated. However it helps if you have knowledge / skill in perspective. Therefore, in order to draw better backgrounds, he advises to read up more on how to draw from perspectives.

How do you get better in drawing anatomy? (human body)

He suggests to start off by getting more familiar with the human anatomy. Asides of that, he uses tutorial books too. An example would be from the publisher Loomis. The title of the book should most probably be best translated as Drawing anatomy for dummies, he uses these tutorial books as references to draw anatomy better and he personally has a lot of these books for drawing anatomy alone.

Process he enjoys the most when doing illustrating?

Previously he mentioned how hard it is to see the final image of his illustration so when he’s able to slowly see the final product, he’ll feel great. That would be the process he enjoyed the most.

Tools of trade at the moment (Comic Fiesta 2013 Redjuice’s panel)

Hardware – Cintiq 22. The dial helps him control the brush size when he spins it around (it immediately helps increase/ reduce the thickness of the brush size etc). At home he has a 24inch one. He thinks that it’s easier to draw on larger surfaces since the screen is larger for him, that way he’s able to see more things when illustrating.

Where does he think his forte is at?

He thinks that his forte would be character design but in colouring. Unfortunately, when he sees other very talented artists that are really good in colouring, he get depressed haha.

Will you still be doing livestreams in the future?

Yes, he does plan to do so every now and then, so stay tune to his ustream!

Does he have plans on finishing today’s illustration? (the illustration being draw live @ Redjuice’s panel)

Yes, even after the panel is over, he would actually try to finish it, as for when, he could yet to confirm it. This shows how much time he uses to perfect a piece of art.

Do you still draw traditionally or do you do everything digitally?

There are times where he’ll go fully digital though there are also times where he would choose traditional especially during times where he can’t get the right equipment needed. For example during character designs for an anime, the chances are the studio itself doesn’t have the equipment, that’s when he’ll make do with paper and pen.

Some fun facts!

- He use to surf and he likes to cycle

- He listens to Livetune / Hatsune Miku. When he is close to deadlines, he’d listen to certain soundtracks from fighting stimulation games, its fast pace, because of that he’d be able to stay focus and keep up his deadlines.

- Usually when he’s illustrating, he would actually think of his colour combinations. After colouring part of his illustration, he would actually think about the balance of the colours to see whether he’d need to change the colouring or perhaps he’d need to match other colours to the illustration to balance it out. But given to the time restrictions (during the panel), everything is going by feeling

The panel was held on day1, but my day2 ended with me going over to On The Go, outside Traders hotel for coffee as a happy fangirl after getting Redjuice’s & Yuegene’s signature! \ O u O /

Typed this at 2AM so please excuse any grammatical errors. If you’ve voice recorded the panel and noticed any points that I’ve made a mistake on, please contact me at

candyumii@gmail.com

ciao ciao!

——x—-

Comic Fiesta 2013 - Onnies Media Interview

December 25, 2013April 25, 2014Candace

Being able to attend an ACG event after a year of hiatus is already something I’m very happy for, having my application to be Comic Fiesta 2013’s Official blogger accepted was surprising and actually being able to even meet my absolute cosplay idols, that’s a major bonus that I would’ve never pictured. After reviewing the voice recording several times, here’s your chance to get to know more about Onnies! She’s a really cute and bubbly girl to talk to so even though I came for the interview completely unprepared, I was surprised that I was able to pull out a couple of questions up my sleeves. A disclaimer, as this was a group interview, not all the questions are asked by me, but instead I’ve compiled a number of questions asked by other interviewers as well.

How many years have you been cosplaying?
Around 7 years , 2006-2007

Besides of Thailand, what other countries have you been to attend events?
Myanmar, Cambodia, Japan, Singapore, Vietnam

Favorite country to attend events?
Singapore’s AFA

What do you like about it?
It’s quite happening in Singapore.

How did you pick up cosplay as your hobby?
When I was young, I liked playing games so when my gamer friends are not playing games, they become cosplayers. But now my friends have quit cosplaying and I’m the only one still perusing this hobby.

Among all of your cosplays, which is your favorite cosplay?
Junko

What do you like about her?
She’s a powerful and strong lady character.

Since you’ve participated in cosplay competitions in the past, how do you go about deciding which series to cos and cosplay to do?
I will choose one that I like and has passion for

So recently you’ve became viral on the Internet, what are the best and worst parts of it?
The best part would be the part where I am very happy seeing my hard work becoming popular but the worst part is when the media asks me questions that aren’t regarding towards my cosplays, but the best part is that I’m happy.

You’ve done both male and female cosplays, how do you cosplay both genders so well?
I am not exactly good in cosplaying male characters. haha

So you prefer female characters?
Yes

How do you choose your photographers? Do you have any expectations?
Most of the photographers are my friends, I allow them to photograph me because I know them personally.

After cosplaying for so long, which cosplay do you find the most challenging?
Final fantasy’s lightning. I’ve never worn any armor suit before this particular cosplay so it was quite challenging.

After cosplaying for 7 years, what gives you the passion to continue cosplay and not get tired?
I love watching anime and I’ve never quit

Since you’re a fan of anime, which anime would like to recommend to your fans?
Kill la kill

If you’re stuck on a deserted island, which weapon would you bring with you?
Black rock shooter cannon.

Why?
I could kill a lot in one shot.

Based on your opinion, Which part of a cosplay should be focused on?
Emotion, in expressing a characters feelings

Considering your fame, what is your greatest memory? One that makes you smile and remember?
I do not have many memories but it just shocked me that the crowd’s reaction to me during the guest cosplayer introduction was really happening and loud because before I got on stage, I had been wondering whether anyone from Malaysia actually knows me. So it was something unexpected and it is one of the most memorable memory for me now.

Future plans as a cosplayer?
I do not have plans to open a cosplay shop but I do hope to get into the anime field. Asides from that the costumes I’ve made are meant for me myself only.

Are you planning to join any competition / winning a competition in the future?
World cosplay summit, I would like to step on the stage but nothing is confirmed yet.

3 words to describe yourself?
Crazy, cheerful, sleeper

Do you have any words of encouragement to new cosplayers and your fans?
Normally I would say if you want to cos then just cos, don’t be shy and just go for it.

Any cosplay costumes that while making, you end up giving up, how do you overcome it?
Almost every costume but in the end I’ll still finish it up.

What is the most time consuming prop/costume you’ve ever made?
It doesn’t take long, just troublesome.

Which?
Queen Esther from Trinity Blood.

What’s the most important makeup item/ cosmetic you will need for your majority of your cosplays?
False lashes

Fav brand?
Dolly wink

When you’ve just started cosplaying, how do you learn how to do your cosplay makeup?
Magazines. Although the makeup looks featured in magazines are more natural and wearable looks, I prefer wearing lighter makeup yet being able to pull off the character’s appearance.

Cosplay idol?
Reika-San haha. I am also glad that I was able to see Stay in Comic Fiesta because the first cosplayer I came on the Internet is Stay.

After attending cosplay events from many countries, what are the differences in the cosplay culture in each country?
Most Thailand cosplayers only go for popular mainstream anime series but for Malaysia and Singapore, there are many cosplayers cosplaying characters from all sorts of series. I had been to places with many different types of cosplays but at the same time I had also been to places where all the cosplays look similar and that would be quite dull. Because over here, normally everyone chooses their cosplay to what character that they like so everyone would be different. This is mainly because thailand has events every week and I’m unable to attend all the events, on the side note, most of them are small events.

Any country you’d like to visit that you’ve never visited before? (non-cosplay related)
France

If you can give yourself a gift during Christmas what would it be?
To be able to eat as many cookies as I want without getting fat.

One thing that you could make yourself improve in your cosplay?
Diet, but I’m not capable of doing it haha

☆*:.｡. o(≧▽≦)o .｡.:*☆That sums it up for Onnies’ media interview! I’ve changed some of the choice of words to make it albeit more fluent but if you spot any grammar issues from the interview, do point them out by contacting my email below! If any mistakes are spotted, I apologize beforehand as the recording wasn’t that clear so I had to fill in some blanks here and there haha.

candyumii@gmail.com

stay tune for more interviews and event coverage from Comic Fiesta 2013!

Comic Fiesta 2013 day1

December 25, 2013April 25, 2014Candace

To start off, I honestly have no idea where to start but let’s just start with how I spent my Comic Fiesta 2013 shall we? So during day 0 I spent my day wrapping gifts, my initial plan was to sleep at 10PM and wake up at 5AM to get ready for day1. I ended up sleeping for two hours when my alarm rang. It’s okay, excitement, something I deal with /every/ day 0.

Well let me first thank mommy for fetching me to KLCC to attend comic fiesta 2013, despite having so little sleep that night, you still fetched me to all the way to KL, thank you! ; w ;

I reached the venue at approximately 7.45AM, met up with papa for briefing, collect my official blogger pass and made my way into the hall only to find myself lost. With all the time I had, I’ve decided to use that time wisely to memorize the floor plan which I did haha. well…sorta.

Due to my tight tight schedule, I wasn’t able to hang around the stage nor snap photos of many cosplayers, sorry! m(_ _)m so here are just some highlights of day1 for you guys to savor! Day 2’s post will be up soon, as well as the posts regarding media interviews with all the guest cosplayers and Vofan, Cosplay Forum panel & Redjuice panel! So stay tune, I’ll try my best to blog everything within the week! Take it as my Christmas gift to everyone Although my schedule was tight, I regret nothing because thanks to the opportunity given, I had a great time interviewing the guests, attending panels, joking around with people and such. Asides from that, I’ve also met many new friends as well as my long lost tomodachis ; w ; There is however one thing though, for the friends that I’ve met at Comic Fiesta itself…I don’t exactly…know…or well…remember their name..? ._. I’M REALLY SORRY Q A Q

look at this empty hall waiting to be filled up by early bird ticket holders!

and here they come!

Then later on I checked out Redjuice’s booth to ask if any EGOIST CDs would be sold, nope, none. its okay haha I still managed to get my hands on some Inori prints during day 2.

That’s when I’ve decided to head over to Coffeetiam and wait til sales start. Guess what, I was the first customer /// v /// I mean I wouldn’t be if the two guys didn’t be like ‘ladies first’ haha. So thank you!

I got myself 3 of Yuegene’s posters and 1 set of Stay’s postcards.

Look at this amazing poster wwww ; v ;

Overseas cosplayer goods on sale @Coffeetiam~

Our CF merchandise were also sold here @Coffeetiam!

Here are the busy booth owners setting up

Gashapon! gashapon! wwwww Speaking of Gashapons, Non gave me two gashapons that I had been dying to get but then I had no idea how wwwww, thank you so much T v T Hopefully we could meet up someday! Either you faster come to Ma-re-shi-ya or I need to go down to singland again!

Alright back to Comic Fiesta, because I absolutely did not want to miss Redjuice’s panel, I checked out the panel room first. I admit, I’m not observant, even though I’ve downloaded the floor plan, I still had no idea where is where, so thank you fellow Felyne!

Spotted this at the entrance of a staircase, the banner clearly tells you the day / guest / and time of the specific panel.

And to those that did not manage to make it into the panel, here’s how it looks in the inside. It was to be honest more grand than what I pictured, plastic chairs pfft. This actually did look like a formal interview session sorta thing. As for those that did not manage to participate in the panel activities, I’m sure the committee has their reasons as well as thinking up for an improvement for the upcoming Comic Fiestas. I mean, sometimes if you look at it in another way round, it’ll be easier for the committee to control whatever situation that pops up.

Now this is a booth that alot of my friends went crazy about, Culture Japan haha. Its so moe-filled, how can people not like it? coughthoughi’mmoreintoikemenandbishiescough

Soon later I made my way to hall 6 (was it? The hall for people that are here to purchase on the spot tickets) to meet another two of my long lost tomodachis~ Ash-chan (oh seme dear /// v ///) as well as another one of my hyper friends Carris <3 It was nice having a short chat with them and some of the others working at the ticketing hall before I was shoo-ed off for my own safety of not being trampled. YES. Because my shoes were already hurting at 9.30AM in the morning, I slowly walked back into the hall only to find myself picking up my pace when I see a crowd of people running behind me! Everyone so early so high. *thumbsup to all the energetic souls for overtaking me, I felt like a tortoise!*

So are you holding one or two of these or are you holding the early bird tix? Or perhaps…You have a pass? *wiggles brows*

Later on after settling some CODs and handing out some presents, and meeting Zeasonal! ; w ; omgdinowaifuwhyyoutempmetomeetherIshyshy, I dashed for the panel room to watch Redjuice’s panel. Well too bad it was full, I went over to the stage area instead of wait for the guest cosplayers introduction.

Before it was time, I managed to hear one last song from a band playing for the opening press! As some of you might already know, I love bands. Like really, if the music is catchy and fun, I’ll instantly click to like it so one thing I absolutely LOVE about Comic Fiesta are the band performances, they’re just epic!

okay now jeng jeng jeng~ Guest cosplayers introduction! First up on stage is the cool and handsome and ~~hungry(yes,hungry haha)~~ cool, Yuegene Fay from Thailand!

Next out was Stayxxxx! from Taiwan! 大爷你好～

That’s it. My life as a con-goer/MIA Cosplayer/fangirl is perfect already. I had hardly fangirl-ed over cosplayers, hardly ever going into any major depression because of not meeting certain cosplayers that came to Malaysia/Singapore for events but these two…these two are like exceptions. Let me leak out a little secret, before I’ve even started WATCHING anime and READING manga (obviously thats the time where I have no idea what on earth is a cosplayer), I had already looked up to these two as super gorgeous models. And the thing is, how they look in real life is exactly how they look like in their photos. —-Enough for my story, blog feels later.

Following up is Xrystal from Singapore! A former 2D artist went 3D *cheers*

Last up to hit the stage and wow-ed the crowd is Kill la Kill’s Ryuko~ I mean, Onnies from Thailand!

Later on after seeking assistance from a another very helpful committee member, I learned the many things that I was given the opportunity to do which includes attending media interviews.

However, before my first media interview, I got the chance to participate in Redjuice’s panel. There were seats reserved for the media and so I was wow-ed by his live-illustration session and I’ve also picked up a few tips on drawing. Don’t worry, although I’ve missed half of the panel, I’ve voice recorded the other half! I’ll write a separate post for it some time later! Right after that, I’ve rushed to Onnies’ media interview. I’ve already reviewed the interview and typed everything out, so it’ll be out in a couple of hours. I can’t believe I’ve been typing this one blog post 2 days ago and I have yet to complete it. @_@

After interviewing Onnies, it was time to interview Stay! I admit I didn’t do so well interviewing Onnies as I was only able to ask two questions that had magically pop-ed up in my head during the interview. It’s my guts and I was really nervous too, pronunciation as well as feeling unreal. But don’t get me wrong, Onnies was really bubbly and cute so most of you that knows me personally will know how big of a coward I am. Which is why my entire CF, I’ve lived on one saying, YOLO. Though the other media attendees did a fantastic job on their questions as well so I’d say the interview was pretty fun to know more about Onnies.

During Stay’s interview, it was much much easier for me. I had to admit, sounding very unprofessionally here, I died a little due to my inner-fangirl mode, awestruck. Crazy that I signed up as an official blogger to be able to snap better stage photos, I ended up having the opportunity of spending my day interviewing my absolute idols and I learned more about art too! Although I have not been drawing lately or close to at all except for sketching my dream Kaoru, I still have basic knowledge on CG okay :s So carrying out an interview/morelikeconversation with illustrators is no problem! /who am i kidding, I was still crazily nervous. Anyways, Stay’s interview will be up soon too! Just most probably the last since I want to make sure my chinese translations were alright.

After that if I’m not mistaken, I went to meet up with some new tomodachis again before rushing for the panel room again to attend the cosplay forum featuring Yuegene, Stay, Xrystal and Onnies. Seated next to them are their translators! ; v ; much thanks to them!

If you’re wondering what happened in the panel, remember a few days before Comic Fiesta we were allowed to send in questions to the special guests? Yeah, what happens is that they will screen through the questions, and our lovely humorous host will ask our guests to answer them. Either my questions are common or the committee really loves my questions cause I’m surprised that all three of my questions were answered. Well I prefer to believe the latter.

One of the questions I’ve submitted was on emergency makeup. You know a few small items that you could hide in your costume or prop that you’ll need to carry everywhere! Be it your press powder/eyeliner(especially those liners that fade easily and smudge, oh the horror). And that press powder by M.A.C Cosmetics is something Yuegene magically pulled out.

Last but not least to end /my/ day 1 (which doesn’t involve staying for the extra live cause I was really … really…really…tired), here’s Yuegene at her autograph session! I bet many of you that got her signature and met her up close can’t sleep that night hahaha

That’s it, ciao! Stay tune for more! :3 The list below will be the blog posts that I’ll be adding on later, so I guess it’s some sort of preview? in no particular order though.