My wife’s family (who are native Chinese) and I went to grab some breakfast at McDonalds while on a day-trip this morning. Upon sitting down, a middle aged woman said to my wife and her parents very maliciously, “Can’t you all speak English?”

She continually glared at us and shook her head on occasion when my wife’s family spoke in Chinese to one another. I was shaking with anger for the rest of the meal, and asked my wife to take her family out ahead of me. I told the woman calmly that she was a racist pig, and an embarrassment to all Americans.

I feel dumb about it now. It was little more than a way for me to vent my anger when I responded to her. It’s not like it will change her. It makes me feel ashamed when other white Americans behave this way.

We are all a little racist sometimes, but it has a different meaning when someone specifically informs you that they despise your ethnicity.

Well, anyway, don’t tolerate racist behavior from people.

I’m on vacation, and its time to start sketching! I’m surrounded by Chinese family right now, so its sort of having an impact on my subject matter…

Ni no Kuni is a fantastic game. Namco, Mistwalker Studios, Level 5, and Monolith Soft have continually lifted my spirits in the RPG development world, while Square-Enix continues to fail miserably with the Final Fantasy series.

Also, look at this cat. LOOK AT HIM. He is the third evolution of a thief-like cat familiar (basically a pokemon) named Purrloiner. His second form is named Cutpurrse, and his final form, the one pictured, is called…

…are you ready for this…

Puss in Boats.

He is NEVER leaving my party.

I’m still refining cartoon versions of my wife, our silly cat, and myself. I really wish my hair looked that tame every day!

My wife’s parents are visiting from China right now! Her mother is a REALLY good cook, and we are eating like kings. She wants to make 饺子 (Chinese dumplings) tomorrow, and I’m super stoked!

I’m trying to design some comic versions of myself, my wife, and our cat. Cats are difficult!

I was tagged in one of those 10 facts posts… so here we go!

10 Facts About Me:

Hey everyone, it’s been a while!

My wife and I have been in the process of buying a house, preparing for her parents to visit from China, and dealing with a massive workload from our jobs. Not to mention that I’m trying to cram in studying for Chinese class!

But, it’s all good. I just need to spend a little more of my free time drawing instead of playing Ni no Kuni (which is hard to put down!).

I have picked up a couple of new followers who are also artists, and I’m really happy to see the network of tumblr artists grow! I look forward to seeing all of my artist friends’ practice sketches and big projects alike!

I ran out of nibs for my Intuos 2, so I figured it was a good opportunity to return to some traditional media that I haven’t visited in a long time. Also, I wanted to see what it was like to try writing some hànzì with ink!

I excitedly called in my wife afterwards, who is native Chinese. She showed me how to do it properly… and I clearly have a LONG way to go.

Dunban! Man, I’m still riding the high from the awesome ending of Xenoblade!

An unfinished painting of Vladimir that I forgot about. I should probably do more stuff with this kind of perspective… good practice.

A sketch and some Chinese hànzì practice I found while cleaning my desk at work…

Lip drawing practice!

A bunch of glossy lips from various sources. This was a lot of fun!

There had been a Darkstalkers Create a Character Contest a while back, and this was my entry. I didn’t win anything, but it was fun designing a character that might fit into the Darkstalkers Universe! Here’s the description I included:

Character Name: Vasila The Wise

Monster Type: Witch

Fighting Style: Weapon/Short Range Magic

Physical Desc:

Height: 158 cm
Gender: Female

White hair down to her thighs. Wears a red shawl, and a dress to her knees with a rooster emblazoned upon it. Wields a giant pestle and rides in a mortar.

Weight: 54 kg (mortar is 230 kg, and pestle is 120 kg)

Additional Info:

Vasila is the daughter of Vasilisa the Beautiful, a woman who was freed from her abusive step mother’s grasp and later married to a great Tsar in the 1600s by the workings of the ancient hag of the forest named Baba Yaga. On the day of Vasila’s 13th birthday, the Tsar’s monarchy was overthrown in a bloody revolution. Vasilisa the Beatiful and the Tsar were killed, but Vasila managed to escape. She fled helplessly into the wilderness in the wake of the destruction of her family’s kingdom, only to find Baba Yaga waiting for her in front of her chicken-legged hut in the depths of the forest.

She asked the old hag who she was, only to see the hag disintegrate into dust before her. All that remained was an enormous mortar and pestle and a single blue rose. When she touched the pestle, the dust began to swirl into a whirlwind, surrounding and enveloping her. Darkness and ambivalence seeped into her veins, and centuries of knowledge were etched into her memories. Her humanity forever altered by the dark magic of Baba Yaga, she continued on in the role of the forest hag.

In present day, she appears to be in her late twenties. She wears the mask of an old crone when dealing with humans in order to maintain a desirable level of venerability. She antagonizes humans that enter her realm, but occasionally reaches out to those that are pure of heart. She claims to preserve her age by drinking a tea made from blue roses.

She is largely uninterested in the affairs of the Darkstalkers, but she appears to have a soft spot for Anita. Her immense dark power and wisdom have attracted the attention of those that wish to bring about a new battle for supremacy…

A 3-hour portrait from a photo reference. I’m really happy with the colors!

I think this is a Japanese swimsuit idol named Rina Aizawa… but I’m not entirely sure.

I’ve been meaning to do some Tales of the Abyss fanart for the longest time, so here it is!

Luke and Tear have long been one of my favorite couples in RPGs. It’s not hard to like any couple that’s suggested in Abyss though, because the characters are so well developed across the board, but these two play off of each other’s traits so powerfully by the end of the game.

Please forgive me for not finding a way to include Jade in this picture.