~The Encounter~

Title: The Encounter
Total no. of Pages: 25
Type: Romance
Time: 2012
Link: The Encounter

"The Encounter" is originated from my dream and has been planned to be a story of 25 pages comprising of 5 chapters, where, in each chapter, you can follow the story of the female protagonist. Names were not given to my characters in this story, and I have no intention of doing so. Once, or more than once in your life, you must have met someone whose actions or words affected you, either positively or negatively, and you changed. This story is about encountering a person who made oneself to change, without forcing one to. (Read more on Ultimate Otaku Fanzine Issue No. 4)

My first published manga in a weekly local Mauritian magazine called “Animu Jump”, and it is a non sponsored project led by Christelle Barbe (a.k.a suicidollxp), also one of the organizers of Animu Expo 2012 and one of the many talented Mauritian artists that I admire. There aren’t many professional mangakas in Mauritius, but there are loads of potential ones, and Animu Jump is providing such opportunity for them to step into this world, either as hobbyist or as a professional mangaka-to-be. I find it a good initiative to have started this project, and I invite all interested people to join this project, either as readers or as one of the contributors to this magazine, why not?~

But since I am not currently in Mauritius, I haven’t had the chance to see my published manga in real and had asked my sister to buy the issues for me.

Can’t wait to see them in real!

P.S. There is a major flaw in “The Encounter”, not exactly the graphics part but… Can anybody find it out? A free drawing from me if you got the right answer~> w <

~New Buddy: Intuos 5 S Touch~

Introducing to you my new buddy!

Yeah! It’s Wacom Intuos 5 S Touch! (>//<) Initially I wanted to buy Intuos 4, but saw on their official website that this model has ceased production, thus, I have decided to buy my new buddy!

Opening my early birthday gift…

 

Oh~! Nice to meet you~!

Below we have the stylus and its holder, inside the holder you have a selection of changeable stylus tips!

So beautiful~But I need to buy a plastic film to protect its surface…I have over-scratched it, niaaaaa~! Yet I am happy to welcome my new buddy to my little world~! Hope we can becomre more and more creative!

If ever you are wondering about my previous Bamboo Tablet, well, it’s still here! (> w <)!

~Gone to Taiwan! The flight and airport experience~

Oh yeah~! So I am currently in Taiwan!

Why have I gone to this country? Well it’s because back in the year 2010, I had started learning a Corel Painter course in June, but I hadn’t been able to complete it since I’ve got only one month to stay at that time. Now, since I have already graduated from the University of Mauritius and before I got engaged in a job, I preferred to at least complete this course while I still got the free time.

I have been lucky too, got a free air ticket in the business class from Mauritius to Singapore and Singapore to Taiwan with my uncle who travelled a lot. So, it’s a great experience for me!

At 8 o’clock in evening, I took the Air Mauritius flight to Singapore via Malaysia.

And yeah, I watched Ra-One, the indian movie! > w < Was kinda childish but I watched it till the end…during the mean time, dinner was served.

The dinner wasn’t that bad, but I didn’t like the microwave taste of it…Loved the spring roll though!

A shot of the business class seats, they’re really larger and spacier than the economy class ones. The back of the seat can be inclined to a nearly lie-down position to make sleeping more comfortable.

Me at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in the above photo.

An incident happened to me when I arrived at the Changi International Airport. One of my luggages was soaked in wine when it came out of the conveyor belt. At first we thought it was wet due to the probable rain water, but it had such a smell that my aunt advised me to open the luggage and check the contents. Lucky that I did! I had loads of t-shirts in the luggage and one third of it was stained by the wine, purplish color was visible on them. Immediately, my uncle reported the problem to the airport and asked for damages, as we were certain that some of the stains would not go away even after laundry, and it was really the case! 5 of the t-shirts still had the stain and even after clean up the luggage bag still had the bad smell. But how much damages had we claimed, I have no idea!!

We stayed at Ritz Carlton Hotel for a night, enjoyed a simple lunch and a birthday celebration dinner for my uncle, and headed for Taiwan the next day.

Changi International Airport is really spacious, with beautiful and modern look, and loads of duty free shops!

Welcome aboard Singapore Airlines, introducing to you the Business class seat!

The difference of Business Class and Economy Class is that, apart from the price and size of the seat, the meals are better, more delicious and the dishes are served one by one.

The satay was simply finger-licking good! The slightly sour salad sauce combined with the asparagus was “toppo nett”~The cod from the main dish was delicious~and the mint-choco icecream along with the passion fruit topping was the perfect combination! During this flight to Taiwan I watched Underworld and MIB during which I fell asleep, hehe.

Well that’s all for my flight experience to Taiwan! During my stay in Taiwan, I’ll gradually introduce places that I visited or found interesting, or maybe some photos of the food (which will mostly uploaded on my FB later on) that I had enjoyed!

~New Love(s)~

Hello everybody~! I am wondering if you are wondering why I have been drawing slowly these past two weeks! If you are, well, you will find out the answers in this blog post!

As the title suggests, I’ve got new loves!! Yay~!(?) Actually, they’re my new dogs, two of them adopted from PAWS and one found at my dad’s work place. Before that we had one male sterilized dog, named Puro (isn’t he handsome? > w <).

On June 24th, he’s got three new companions, all female~(Puro, don’t you dare touch them, they’re still kiddos!)

The dog in the black is named Heihei (Hei = Black in Mandarin Chinese), she is very very affectionate with loads of saliva. She loves jumping on people, and licking you even if you are not holding food.

Now, let me introduce to you, our curious queen, Diandian (Dian = Dot in Mandarin Chinese). She had two spots on her when she came to our house, that’s why we named her as such~She likes to run around, peeking over here and there, destroy stuff or mum’s pots of plants, and very very greedy! She’ll only come to you when you have food with you.

And lastly, we have our baby, Puipui (Pui = Fat in Taiwanese Hokkien) as she was a fat fat baby when she came home. She is most adorable and loves to jump on people just like Heihei, and eats up your clothes. She whines a lot but is always the first one to come out of the kennel when she hears us.

At first, Puro was mean towards them, so we had to separate them like above. Even by so doing, Puro still stays around the kennel and warned the pups whenever the latter intended to move into the kennel. When we tried to let them get togehter, Puro had bitten Heihei on her ears, while he ignored the pups, maybe he sensed enemity or fear of being replaced by Heihei.

Luckily after days of hard work, or more exactly, stick-threatening Puro, they can finally play together without fighting each other. YAAAAY~! So now they can all sleep in the same kennel without us having to worry.

 

But why have I been delayed? Well, ever since I finished my tertiary studies I’ve been at home helping mom out and drawing~So the responisbility to take care of the pups unquestionably fell on me!

Since the day they came to our house, I’ve been releasing them for exercising and playing, as well as cleaning up their messes, and feeding them in the evening, and throwing chasing them back to the kennel. But it is really worth the time spent with them, they’re so cute till I die~~~~~~~~~~~~~~!!!

Once they’re back to the kennel, I can finally get into the house and before I can do anything, I have to wash my hands at least thrice to get rid of the dog smell. And sometimes I get so tired that I just sit down and do nothing till my energy’s back.

Having pets at home is really fun! But one must make sure that they are happy living with you, play with them, feed them and clean them up regularly. Be a responsible friend, do not breed them unless you’re a professional breeder, as the puppies are as fragile as the newborns. Love them~

Do you have pets at home?

~Concentration Level~

How far are you concentrated when you start to draw?

I…actually cannot concentrate for a long duration, specially during the day! Why? Well, I have to help around and can only have a “peace of mind” when my mother is taking her nap! Haha~Or, sometimes when it’s too silent, I tend to make loud noises or tease my poor sisters, if they are present.

But during the night, right after doing the dishes and having a good hot shower, my concentration level rises. This is why most of my artworks are completed during the night, and mostly, midnight. It is the time where my parents are watching a movie or playing their online games, where my sisters and brothers are either asleep or doing their own works, where I am free from being called or having to move away from my work.

I enjoy my nights very much!

~Art Theft/Copyright~

What is art theft? What is copyright? Well, the Internet exists if you’re really interested! Hehe~!

In Mauritius, there is the Copyright Act 1997 (downloadable here) and under this act has formed the Mauritius Society of Authors, the MASA. What’s upsetting is that the MASA seems to be more oriented towards the protection of art of music and written works rather than catering for all sorts of art forms.

Anyway…

Wow, I did not expect my art to be downloaded and re-uploaded in other sites by other people! As I thought that my art was not good enough for people to do so…For instance I found one [Original v.s Re-uploaded] and one of my dA friends found another [Original v.s Re-uploaded].

Does it bother me? Yes and No. Yes, because my artwork has been uploaded without actually crediting or linking back to me, or at least notifying me about this reproduction and No, because I’m glad that people do like and appreciate what I have drawn, and the two I found did not use my own works for commercial activities, rather a simple sharing. But till now I have not done anything since I did not find it necessary.

So, how should you deal with such issues?

• First, you can notify that user who has uploaded your work to at least credit or link back to your profile, thanking the person for having appreciated your work.
• Then, if it did not work, you would simply have to report the user or to the administrator of the website about your rights being affected and request the image/photo being removed.
• In worst cases where commercial activity is being involved, you should have recourse to the law.

How should you protect your works?

• Digital signatures and watermarks are the most common ways to give a piece of identification to your works, so that they can be at least traceable when found elsewhere.
• But, the best way to protect your work is of course NOT to upload them on the Internet, as well as protecting your privacy…(I find it funny sometimes when people complain about their privacy on the Internet, specially social networks, being infringed. But, on the other hand, it’s the 21st Century hey!)

Loving a work? What would be the appropriate steps?

• If you like the work of an artist, unless you have commissioned or bought their work, it is always more polite to ask the artist if you can download their work if you wish to keep a digital collection.
• If you wish to share your love for the artist, it is always better to link directly to the artist’s profile/website/artworks rather than uploading them again in another storage space.
• And if you do, it is suggested to credit/provide a link back to the artist, to avoid further legal issues! Seeking artist permission is also advised.

A more appropriate attitude towards art thieves, how?

• Why be angry with someone claiming your artwork to be his/hers? Anger will only make you grow even more wrinkles…Bear in mind that, what they have stolen, is a past work, and what they cannot steal, is your unlimited imagination and growth in skills! They’ll only lag behind!
• No need to feel depressed or sad either! They stole it, means that your artwork was worth stolen (haha), and means again that they saw value in your artwork! Although they are doing it the wrong way to show their appreciation!
• Simply leave a message/comment on the art work about the proper ownership or once again, if you have the means, have recourse to the law!

In simple words, RESPECT towards the artists you like is the most important!

P.S: How do YOU deal or will deal with such issues?