Sonia's Journal

Aha, found out about this thru my twitter friends. Here be a youtube clip from the regional news coverage of the event. OMG, comics aren't just for kids, SHOCK HORROR. Let's play Spot Who You Know XD

Okay!! Here are some details about the event sketches I'll be offering at Thought Bubble!

£5 - A5 CARD - BRUSH PEN + ACCENT COLOUR

Please choose: CUTE , COOL, SEXY, PRETTY
Then choose: GUY or a GIRL



(Samples are: Cute girl, Sexy guy, Pretty girl, Cool guy)
(If you want to see them larger, head to my deviantArt page)
http://fyredrakemagick.deviantart.com/

Et VOILA!! I draw something nice!

I may ask things like:
"Oh, do you like your guys with long or short hair?"
"Sexy ladies - are you a bum or boobs person? XD"
etc.

I don't do portraits of people, only requests of characters.
I will only do a fanart sketch if you have a reference.
I can refuse a request if it doesn't appeal to me.
I will not take on anything which is too time-consuming.

Something I did for a Gaia commission ^^

So every year Dock runs this crazy artwork swap where we draw each other in silly outfits. Last time I got in on one, this happened:
Halloween 2007 - dock.livejournal.com/214122.html

This year, he gave me this:

Me as Sherlock Holmes

And I in turn gave him this:

Dock as a flasher XD

If you would like to see what he drew for everyone else this year and what they in turn drew for him, please check out his journal: http://dock.livejournal.com/263595.html

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!!

Some quick sketchwork I did to use as our avatars on FFXI forums and sites etc.

Wanted to promote a brand new anthology by Fehed Said! Launching at this weekend's London MCM Expo :3 I contributed one of the chapters in this book. See if you can spot it ^^



A girl trapped in a box, a boy chained to a rock and a friendship between a child and a flower. These are just a few of the themes that storyteller Fehed Said explores in this collection. Joining Fehed Said, the acclaimed writer behind SLG's Clarence Principle, and Sonia Leong, the award winning artist behind SMH's Romeo & Juliet is a sterling lineup of the UK's best new talent. Featuring artwork from Nana Li, Wing Yun Man, Chloe Citrine and Faye Yong.

"It was such a varied mix of stories" says Said. "When I was trying to come up with the title for the book, I wanted to find a connection between them all. Evidently, the critical moments in each piece came up as the protagonist's talked with strangers."

Nana Li was the artist for 'Box', and sums up that story as: "It's a short and dark story, but I think the ending will leave a tingling sensation in the spine." The same could certainly be said about the reading experience of this title. From the morbid fairy-tale style 'Malignant' and the sweetness of 'Flowers'; this anthology showcases a variety in storytelling and artistic talent.


Due for release on 24th October 2009 at the London MCM Expo and available to buy online from the Sweatdrop Studios website -

http://www.sweatdrop.com/

A cute marker commission I just completed, character designed by my client:



Hope to see some familiar faces tomorrow in Leicester! ^^

Penciled with non-photo lead & mechanical pencil 0.7, inked with Muji, GFKP and Pentel Superfine brush pens, coloured in Photoshop (although mimicking a marker style).

This is Michael from my little concept comic, which I will hopefully be able to start drawing next year :3 He gets pissed and calls forth his angelic sabre/cutlass!! XD

Yes, it all sounds very weaboo and tried and tested but I promise that I have a few twists up my sleeve XD

Ahem. Anyway, 2010 will be the year of the brush pen! I've recently been inking with this then toning digitally and I like this style muchly. I also think it's a good way to differentiate the look of my future comic from the ultra clean and pretty gothic manga titles out there already XD

Just wanted to unwind and test out some brush pens from Faber Castell.

In other news, I'm off to the Birmingham International Comics Show tonight. Crossing my fingers for good business ^^ See you when I get back.

Or Pretty-boy extraordinaire. I doodled this in my notebook over the past week after I borrowed the first book from Morag, uploaded it today as I'm scanning some stuff.



Shall I just say that this character is ridiculously appealing to me. Daemon Sadi is one of the main characters from the Black Jewels trilogy, written by Anne Bishop. A very cold, cruel but beautiful man.

I only wish I thought to add his black cigarettes to the picture, damn! *sneaks one of my own sobranies in*

Anyway, I've tried to draw him how I pictured him in all his descriptions, and in a pose he is very often seen in.

And for those of you who don't know him... well, just treat this is some pretty eye-candy man flesh. After all, that was his job for 1,700 odd years...

Just found out the good news from emmav !!

Comic Book Tattoo: Tales inspired by Tori Amos won an Eisner Awrd for Best Anthology at the San Diego Comic Con!

Congratulations in particular to Rantz Hoseley who really put sooooo much into this anthology and to Tori Amos for her support and giving us such inspiring songs to work with. It is an awesome book filled to the brim with tons of talent and I am so proud to have been a part of it.

Wikipedia entry (contains lots of info and full list of creators)
Amazon.co.uk listings
Amazon.com listings

This is one of the most awesome branches of BORDERS I have ever known. They've been stocking a good amount of Sweatdrop books (and they've sold out!!!) and as of next week, will have lots of the latest titles from us!! (as we've had to re-stock them!)

http://leicester.borders.co.uk/store/leicester/20

They also hold little mini manga events which myself or other members of SD attend. The next one is scheduled for 17th Oct (so for those excited the week before Expo, let loose some of your excitement there!), watch this space for more info on that.

Thanks to Becks, Danny and all of the awesome staff for such a wonderful opportunity for SD.

So if any of you ever wanted to buy our books from a bookstore rather than online, Leicester has them!

But I needed to show you this picture NOW!!! BORDERS made an endcap display out of all of my books!!!! UWAA!!! ♥

In between work, I've been uploading Aya♥Takeo to a couple of new communities in case anyone is already there and finds the watch/follow systems convenient for keeping up to date with the weekly pages ^^

Smackjeeves: http://ayatakeo.smackjeeves.com/
(50 pages are up, 5 pages everyday until it catches up ^^)

deviantArt: http://ayatakeo.deviantart.com/
(Also contains all other artwork to do with Aya♥Takeo - illustrations, sketches, etc.)

Livejournal: http://community.livejournal.com/ayatakeo/
(Links to illustrations and pages 1-123, but will display page 124 onwards. Will also have news)

The other places you can catch Aya♥Takeo online:

Official site: http://www.ayatakeo.com/
(has the e-shop, some concept sketches as well)

Drunkduck: http://www.drunkduck.com/AyaTakeo/index.php
(is up to date with current site!)

Kidjutsu: http://www.kidjutsu.com/title/aya-takeo-0
(if you want to read in volumes, this is the place! Vol.1 is up, Vol.2 is being revised)

Remember that you can also pick up the printed volume in full colour from the Sweatdrop Studios store! We accept credit cards, paypal and ship internationally ^^ http://www.sweatdrop.com/products/ayatakeovol1.php

And finally! Aya♥Takeo got an awesome feature in Issue #61 of NEO Magazine this month! Love Stuffing vol.1 was also pimped in the article "Suddenly Sonia"!! I attach a scan of it below:

Hi everyone! Glad you liked that last page... hope you like this one too! It probably seems a little slow moving from your point of view, but I'm trying to think about how it would look like in print as well - if I could have done a double page spread, I would, hehe.

As you can tell, I totally indulged in trying to make this super pretty XD

I won't post pages on here all the time, just the ones which seem like nice eye-candy on their own ^^

---

Aya.Takeo is a full-colour online manga updated every Sunday. Artwork by Sonia Leong, story by Lloyd Prentice. Launched at Anime Boston April 2007, will run until April/May 2010, volume one available in print, published by Sweatdrop Studios! Official website is http://www.ayatakeo.com/

*bites finger* This is one of the scenes I have been looking forward to drawing for TWO YEARS. I hope it pulls your heartstrings as much as it does mine...

If you follow the webcomic, you will know what I mean. Anyway, I've decided to pimp it in particular because I spent ages on it XD

For any newcomers to my journal:
Aya♥Takeo is a full-colour online manga updated every Sunday. Artwork by Sonia Leong, story by Lloyd Prentice. Launched at Anime Boston April 2007, will run until April/May 2010. You can buy volume 1 from Sweatdop Studios here: http://www.sweatdrop.com/products/ayatakeovol1.php Official website is http://www.ayatakeo.com/ and you can also read it on DrunkDuck ^^

Just dashing in to say... Love Stuffing vol.1 is now available for purchase from the Sweatdrop Studios online shop!!



GO BUY

http://www.sweatdrop.com/products/lovestuffingvol1.php

BUY EEEET

Hmm. Artwork which sells for thousands of dollars which are essentially portraits of BJDs. Photo-realistic portraiture be it of people or objects, I've got nothing huge against, although I find it a bit... I dunno, unimaginative at times?

But where several commercial/brand photos were used without permission?

You decide:
http://miaowkitten.livejournal.com/23975.html

Wai, thank you so much to everyone who said hello and who bought/flicked through/got high off my works!! ♥ I had a really great time at the show. It was lovely to meet up with lots of familiar faces again and to wander around the stalls and pick up some cute things!! Saturday was horrendously busy and Sunday I was blind most of the time, haha - so sincere apologies if I didn't manage to make it around to your stall or if I forgot to buy your work / ran out of cash by the end of the show - I WANT YOUR STUFF, HONESTLY!!! I even forgot to buy some of Sweatdrop's releases, and I was behind our own frickin' table!! Next time, Gadget! Yes, I will make a point of buying everything I need from the very beginning at AyaCon.

Much thanks go to the Expo organisers for putting on a great show and to Emma for the work behind the scenes.

So, did you see me? Let me know! This is how I looked like on both days:

Saturday: Abel Nightroad, Trinity Blood (I shall retire him for a few years, now)



Sunday: Kamiya Kaoru, Rurouni Kenshin (OMG, 2001 cosplay rising from ashes)


And now for a quick round up (as I seriously need to get some work done)

Saturday - heaving!! Saw lots of SD forum members, yay! And lots of other independent creators, yay! And lots of cosplayers I knew, yay!! And lovely lovely lolitas from loligothUK/teapartyclub, yay! And a chance to chat with other industry folk yays!! (Seriously, I can't name names, because once I get started, it's just gonna be GIANT. If you fall into any of the above categories, know that I ♥ you and that I truly care about/appreciate you). I mostly worked behind the table though, but had a lot of fun doing so. So yes, thanks for chatting to me, you lovely person you. Yes, YOU. Had a nice dinner as well (filthy conversations aside).

(But we were getting SOOOO annoyed with the random idiots that wanted to use our Artist Alley supplies and paper and pens etc. to WRITE stupid signs. Hello, the provisions are for people who want to enter the competition, not your personal sign-making stand? *thwack* I really enjoyed hearing how dock was resolute in one case of idiots, when he found out what they wanted the stuff for, he just took it back from them and said NO. Cue some name-calling, but any more than that and they wouldn't have stood a chance against him, haha.)

Sunday - much more relaxed! I even got a chance to chill and have some lunch with my gorgeous, gorgeous cosplayer friends. Chocolate oddities from Bruges for the win. But again - apologies if I blanked you or didn't recognise you, couldn't wear my glasses with my cosplay! And curses for running out of cash right at the end and having to pack up quick!! And OMG, visit from parents and siblings!! ♥ See you next weekend!!

Now that I've finally had a chance to breath from non-stop working over the past few weeks (seriously, I was turning around several rounds of 30 pages every 3-4 days) I'll bring you all up to speed with stuff ^^

Thank  you to everyone who wished me Happy Birthday, on the Sweatdrop Forums, on LJ, on Twitter, on Facebook, on my phone, by post and in person!! It was mega-appreciated and although I couldn't get back to you all to thank you all individually (I pulled at least 14hrs of inking on my birthday!) it brightened it me up and kept me going.

So! What have I been up to? Well, done a few events here and there, but right now I'm gearing up for heading to the London MCM Expo this weekend! I'll be crossplaying Father Abel Nightroad from Trinity Blood one last time before I retire him for a bit (and cosplay the bad guys, and more females XD). I'll probably only be in his outfit on the Saturday as Sunday morning the husband has to head off in the morning, so can't really help me get dressed... I may just bring another surprise cosplay out from the closet for Sunday, ohohoho.

LATEST BOOKS FOR SALE AT LONDON MCM EXPO
Just a reminder of the latest things you can pick up from me at Expo! First off, the beautiful, lovely shiny reprint of Once Upon a Time... is available to buy!! Come on you know you want it.  £5.99 for a digest-sized 160 pages of shoujo angst!! Secondly - probably one of the shiniest things to come from any independent publisher... Aya♥Takeo volume 1! Full colour throughout, large format B5 size and 64 pages compiling the first year of the webcomic. £8.99 and it is yours.



LOVE STUFFING VOLUME 1: ADVANCE VIEWING COPIES/SAMPLES AT LONDON EXPO!!
OMG, it's done!! The printers will finish it within the next 2 days!! SQUEEE!!! But sadly, overland shipping from the continent will take a little while, so the books will not arrive until after the Expo. BUT - a few advance copies are being couriered to me - so that anyone can have a flick through and check out the samples! I can set up a mailing list for you all, so that you'll be informed the moment it's available on the Sweatdrop website so that you can order them ASAP!! £5.99 for 192 pages of romantic comedy fanservice!! Available to buy online from NEXT WEEK!


GIRLS FC CHILDREN'S BOOKS
A couple of months ago, I was asked to illustrate the covers of a series of really charming books for girls about football. I really enjoyed the first book, read the draft text from end to end and loved it. Perfect for 9-12s, very character driven and fun. If you'd like to check them out, follow the links to amazon from clicking the pics! (btw, I am definitely the illustrator of the covers, I think some older info got left on one of the books XD)

These books will be out officially around July/August. I'll be illustrating the next set of them as well, look out for more in future!

RANDOM
Have a random meme from me - 16 and Now:

Oh, look what we have here.

Many images from the book 500 Manga Characters which I co-authored with my colleagues from Sweatdrop Studios.

Whilst the images from the CD provided are royalty-free, perfectly allowed for non-direct profitable use and alteration/colouring... no credit/reference was given and in several instances, the user has just posted up the lineart as it is. Now THAT is a little bit stupid.

I wouldn't have minded at all if she had simply said where the lineart was from. I've posted a little bit and reported some of the lineart-only instances, but I really need to get back to work now XD

kthnxbai ♥

(EDIT: Oh noes, all gone. Looks like she got the message XD)