I'll admit, since the semester ended I haven't done much in the way of fashion or illustration. I started working on some patterns and a muslin for a costume, but once I discovered that tuck darts in an empire bodice look really bad and there was entirely too much volume in the skirt, I took a break and haven't gone back to it yet. I also started sketches for a few illustration groups because I wanted to experiment with alternative holiday colors to the typical red and green, but I haven't gotten very far with them. I do plan to finish them before classes start again, though. Even though I won't have the holiday spirit or that immediate anticipation of the holidays to fuel my inspiration as much now that the holidays are mostly over, I'll at least have more time to work on things now.

Speaking of which, happy new year! I have been making my resolutions this morning. Among other more personal goals, I have resolved to work harder, keep drawing, not get burned out on my work, and keep the blog/site updated, which is really what led me to this update. I also wanted to look back on the previous year and think about some of the things that happened in 2011 that made it such an important year to me.

Probably one of my top experiences in 2011 was my trip to Italy in June. I spent an entire month studying abroad in Florence, and while I was there I was also able to visit Rome, Venice, Siena, Chianti, and San Gimignano. I visited museums and galleries, took hundreds of pictures, ate so much gelato and pasta and other great food, and, most importantly, broadened my horizons. Although it doesn't feel like I had nearly enough time to go everywhere and see everything and at times I even felt uncomfortable being so far away from home, I wouldn't trade that experience for the world.

Another part of 2011 that I particularly enjoyed was being able to attend Otakon for the third time. I dressed up as Sailor Neptune (one of my favorite Sailor Moon characters), met with Peter S. Beagle (who is only my favorite author of all time) for a second time, and even attended a panel with legendary Japanese composer Nobuo Uematsu. I might be getting a little old for anime conventions, but I always have a great time meeting people and taking pictures and just taking a vacation from my normal life. It is also the only time I get to see one of my best friends, and we always have a great time together seeing everything and fighting over which of us gets to buy the other presents.

I was also able to visit my dad in northern California and spend time with him and my stepmom and her family during the summer of 2011. By then I was getting tired of traveling that summer but it was generally a good visit and a nice change from the hot weather on the east coast.

My spring and fall classes were also a very enjoyable part of 2011, even though they didn't take place in beautiful Florence. For the first time, my class was able to design garments that would be eligible for our school's annual fashion show, and both of the garments I designed and made in the spring were chosen. I also enjoyed my fall studio classes, and particularly my portfolio class, which provided me with an opportunity to redesign and update my website for the first time in over three years.

The last event of 2011 that made the year uniquely awesome was the Dir en grey concert I attended only a few weeks ago. Since I've already written about it I won't go into detail again, but that concert was the cherry to top off an entire year of great experiences.

But those are just a handful of my best memories of 2011 and by no means a complete list of all of the great things that happened. 2011 was amazing and will be difficult to top, but hopefully 2012 will be even better, assuming the world doesn't come to an end.

Labels: new year

This weekend I traveled to Baltimore to see a live performance by Dir en grey. Dir en grey is a Japanese rock band that I first listened to about ten years ago. One of my friends introduced me to them, along with a handful of other popular J-rock bands of the day like Malice Mizer, Luna Sea, and X Japan. Their music was shockingly different from what I listened to at the time and I was afraid to listen to them at first, but Dir en grey quickly grew on me. I fell in love with them and the unique sound of their music, and the rest is history.

Before I get into the actual concert and how amazing it was, I probably need to clear a few things up. A lot of people think it's weird that I listen to Japanese music, especially since I'm not Japanese. My music tastes stem from my interests in anime and manga, so it has just always felt right for me to listen to Japanese music. I don't have anything against American music; I just like to listen to a lot of weird obscure Japanese and Korean bands because their sound is so different compared to American music. Not to say that Dir en grey is obscure anymore, since they're starting to become popular over here.

This concert was the first (and hopefully not the last) time I saw Dir en grey live. They performed in a club called Sonar (smaller even than The National here in Richmond) and the show opened with a band from Toronto called The Birthday Massacre. I was very impressed with their performance because their music was good and they had great energy.


Here are some of the few decent pictures I managed to take. I had a pretty good place near the stage, but unfortunately I couldn't see their drummer or keyboardist for the most part.

The Birthday Massacre played a handful of songs (I wish I'd remembered all of the titles) before they left the stage to start preparing it for Dir en grey. It always seems to take a very long time to clear the stage of the opening band's equipment to make way for the main act. This concert was no exception, and in some ways it seemed to take even longer this time. My mind wandered, and I started to worry about things the way I always do when I have too much time to think about nothing in particular. I worried about the concert, about whether I'd be able to even see Shinya at the drums in the back, about whether I'd be able to tell Die apart from Kaoru and Toshiya because I hadn't seen many pictures of them lately (it's embarrassing but I'm still more familiar with their old visual kei looks), about whether I'd be able to hear them clearly because I was standing right next to the speakers.

Then suddenly the stage lights went out, my heart nearly stopped, and everyone in the audience screamed as the music started and Kyo walked out to the center of the stage. And as the lights came back on, all of my worries were gone because I could see Shinya through a window formed by the speakers and other stage equipment next to me, Die was standing no more than ten feet away from where I stood and I could recognize him as well as Kaoru and Toshiya, and I could hear their music playing with Kyo's vocals. And not only did I hear their music; I also felt it, in my head, in my chest, in my stomach and hips, and even through the thick soles of my boots. It was an amazing explosion of sound that vibrated and reverberated throughout my entire body for almost two hours. During that time I felt so happy and at peace with everything that it seemed almost as if the past ten years I spent listening to them were all leading me up to this one experience in which I would be able to stand in the same room as these five wonderful, talented, and beautiful individuals. And then during their encore, I think Toshiya pointed at me, and that made everything even more amazing.


I regret not taking more pictures and not getting any decent pictures of Die or Shinya, but to be honest, I probably wouldn't have enjoyed the concert nearly as much if I had spent the entire time photographing it.

As far as the actual songs went, they played both new and old, and I didn't recognize all of the songs because I still haven't gotten the new album yet (I know, I'm a bad fan). After a while they started to blur together a bit because I was standing right next to the speaker and probably willingly suffering some permanent hearing loss. I particularly enjoyed "Rotting Root" and then "Dozing Green" in the middle of the setlist, and when they came back for the encore they started with "Kodou," which was just awesome because it was one of my favorite songs from Withering to Death. Here is the complete setlist.

In other news, I'm almost finished with my classes for the semester, and hopefully the concert will serve as a good source of inspiration for some of my future designs. Both Dir en grey and The Birthday Massacre were really well-dressed for the event and I particularly enjoyed the drippy ink-like prints on some of the t-shirts worn by the members of The Birthday Massacre and Toshiya's man-skirt. Shinya was also wearing a very nice white shirt, but unfortunately I didn't get any good photos of him during the concert.

Labels: concert, dir en grey

Maybe I'm doing too much with this group, but I just couldn't resist using them for a new layout too. Everything feels fresh now, and I really love these colors.

Almost all of my projects are due within the next few days, so that should be interesting. I'll try to take some pictures of my eco dress if I have time before the critique tomorrow.

Labels: website design

This is a sample of the fashion album booklet I made for my most recent illustration project.


It came out looking pretty good, but I may have to have it professionally printed or find some better quality paper for my own printer. I also had some issues in trimming the edges and making them line up exactly, so maybe I need to figure out a better method of doing that with my exacto knife. I've always wanted one of those fancy paper trimmers though, so maybe that would be a good investment for printed presentations like this.

Edit: Standard illustrations are up. Click either of the below images to see the collection page.

Labels: fashion, portfolio

Finished my cocktail dress:


It doesn't fit the dress form because our model is smaller than the dress forms. It looks great on her, though!

It was a challenge to work with these stripes because they just don't line up perfectly, no matter where I put the pattern pieces. Maybe that's why the fabric was so inexpensive; $5 per yard is really cheap considering the prices of other fabrics I've used this year; even the lining and the satin I used to bind the edges of this dress were more expensive.

One of these days, I need to find a model to wear my garments so I can get better pictures of them.

Labels: cocktail, fashion

Here's a work in progress image of my current illustration project.
I still need to make a few little changes here and there as I continue to work on them.

And now a larger version of the left group of girls.

Hopefully I'll survive the week. All of my major projects are due on Monday.

Labels: drawing, fashion, portfolio

Off to a good start, anyway.

Labels: drawing, fashion, portfolio