25 Essential Expressions meme!

(...say, can we make it 20 instead? -__-")

I've had this thing for a while but haven't got round to finishing it, so I figured I should just give up now and cut my losses XD

Here's my response to the 25 Essential Expressions challenge by Nancy Lorenz:



A little note on some of the expressions:


Pleased: I had a hard time distinguishing between 'happy' and 'pleased' so I settled for 'cheerful' instead, complete with the flapping fringe (which in Indonesian is normally called 'polem' or poni lempar XD)

Angry: Had I realised this list would contain a number of similarly 'angry' expressions, I would have softened this one a little... it feels rather heavy-handed for a simple angry face -.-"

Shocked/surprised: Those fists are just too cute! X3

Irritated: A valid excuse to draw the middle finger! Yay! :D

WTF?!: I didn't know how to draw this face without being redundant so... =.=" (ditto for 'fear', 'bereft', 'fierce' and 'sarcastic')

Triumph: A friend actually came up with a fun alternative for this one! XDDD

Bereft: What is bereft, exactly? *still confused* +.+

Flirty: I find this one brilliant, but you can't seriously be flirting with THAT face :P

Serious: Come to think of it, this one's probably more 'contemplative' than 'serious'

Silly: Silly enough for ya? XD

Hollow/blank: Not sure why but I sort of associated 'blank' with 'taking up the whole drawing space'...

Incredulous: Had to check the dictionary for this one, followed by some time in front of the mirror mimicking disbelief ^^;;

Rage: More CUTE than full of rage! XD


Final impression:
This is a great exercise for practising your prowess in mimics and expression. It's certainly not easy as it looks and I've yet to take up the challenge on utilizing a more realistic drawing style here! :D

s

The Fifth Columnist 1 half-time assessment :)

FINALLY, IT'S OUT! *tears of joy*

After several months of waiting (which felt like forever!), the release of Fifth 1 in the Indonesian manga market on Jan 13, 2010 came like a huge relief for yours truly. This has been my first manga release and to be honest, I wasn't quite sure what to expect.

Admittedly, one of the best things about having your work out in the open (ie. displayed in the bookstores right next to Masashi Asaki/Yuma Ando's Kunimitsu and Jun Mochizuki's Pandora Hearts! >,<) is the feedback you can expect from readers -- both the negative and the positive. These precious opinions are exactly what a manga artist needs in the quest for producing better and greater things.

So, without further ado, here's a very brief summary of the real-time and real-life feedbacks on Fifth 1 hitherto (as per Jan 22):

Plus points:

* Attractive cover
* Interesting, enticing storyline
* 'Fresh' espionage theme
* Distinct drawing style, not necessarily manga-esque but not typically Indonesian

Minus points:

* Finishing: inking is often sketchy, distracting and confusing

* Story is built up to take a clichéd romantic direction

* Puzzling backstory due to large number of non-present characters

* Content does not closely resemble cover

Then, on to some interesting points:

* A majority of readers consider Helix their favourite character because he's "cool" and "gentlemanly"

* One reader expressed fascination to Bishop's bust size X3

* One reader questioned artist's motive for using a Japanese-sounding last name (how observant! ^^)

* A couple of readers thought the cover drawing is reminiscent of Manhwa-style art

Response to feedbacks:

I will definitely try my best to consider all the above points when editing Fifth 2 -- which was originally scheduled for release in February but could now come out as late as March or April! One emphasis would be on making sure that all loose ends are tied and another could be on patching up/redoing some pages to improve drawing quality (oh nooooo...)

That's it for now, my humblest gratitude to everyone who has read/bought/borrowed the book and given their comments! ^^ Feel free to add your personal opinions below; constructive criticism is always welcome :)

s

Of personalities and looks, part 1

When designing new characters these days, I always refer to Myers and Briggs' 16 classic human temperaments, which I find to have been remarkably accurate to date. Basically the whole point is to categorise your character's personality based on these four distinct groups:

1. Extraverted (E) or Introverted (I)?
2. Intuitive (N) or Sensoric (S)?
3. Thinker (T) or Feeler (F)?

4. Judger (J) or Perceiver (P)?

As a result you get 16 possible types such as ESFP ("The Performer") or INTJ ("The Scientist"), whereby each type can have sets of wildly different interests, skills and motivations. I myself happen to be an ENFP ("The Inspirer"), or so I think -__-, which I discovered after taking this really simple test.

Now, though information on these 16 types are widely available on the net, variations are abound. Personally, I've always been coming back to the analyses found on typelogic.com, because not only does it describe to you what each of the 16 types is all about, it also offers some kind of type-relationship logic to help you determine how the types interact with one another in a corresponding manner.

For example, the ENFJ and ESTP types are considered to be "Supplemental" to each other. According to typelogic, this means "each can add to the other's strengths". The ISTJ and the ESTJ types, similarly, have a "Pal" relationship, meaning that they "work and play well together with a minimal natural type conflict".

But pair up an ENFP and an INFJ and you'll have a "Contrast", which will have these two types "pointing and counterpointing on each function" -- a great tool for setting your heroes and villains apart!

What's fascinating about this logic is that it seems to work for most of my created characters and even for myself. Let's derive an example from two characters in The Fifth Columnist, Bishop and Snatch.

Image 1: Bishop giving Snatch a friendly kiss

"Hello, Snatch. Long time no see!"

Needless to say, these two look like good friends and seem to have a good chemistry going on between them, though not necessarily a sexual one (for Bishop, at least ^^). After running some personality tests, I found out that Bishop is an ENFJ while Snatch is an ESTP... so "Supplemental" it is!

When you consider that these characters were created years before I started learning about the 16 personality types, no wonder it had me chuffed!

Since I was so excited about the premise of applying this type logic on all my characters and making their interaction more believable, I made the following graph in Excel based on the information found on the typelogic website:


Image 2: 'THE' graph

If this does not look geeky to you, I don't know what does! :P

Now, here is a subsequent question which will be addressed on part 2: Does your character's personality type affect the way he/she looks?
s