Cassiopeia

I love space! Cassiopeia is one of my favorite constellations so I just started daydreaming and did this! It was fun.

Magical Super Girls

I've been feeling particularly uninspired lately. I was thinking about doing some fabulous illustration but then realized I had no idea what I wanted to draw (I'm still not sure really). So I kind of went back to basics.

I started thinking back to some of my first characters. Mika is certainly one of my most significant creations. To anyone but me I'm sure this might be hard to imagine. Look at the outfit, that hair! What was I thinking!? I can only assume I was still recovering from 90s fashion when I decided she needed to be in pigtails and a red latex ensemble, with purple hair no less.

I came up with her around 2000 and I was 11. She and her cousin Kiku and best friend Sandy were a trio of crime fighting super teens! Because what more can an 11 year old girl ask for in a story? Kiku was supposed to be they typical "badass" type, Sandy was the ditzier pretty girl, and Mika was the loyal and fearless leader! I realize now that this was far from original.

Their back story makes next to no sense when I start trying to remember it. Mika and Kiku are an alien race (I think I called them Catixian) who were born on Earth (Hawaii specifically) to their immortal alien parents. Oh and of course they never grow old either (I was completely against drawing "old people" at this time). Somehow Mika's seemingly normal friend Sandy is discovered as a witch! So they all team up to stop evil! Mika later discovers she's a clone or something (I really don't understand where I was going with this) and has extra special super powers (obviously).

Even though Mika is kind of ridiculous I was so passionate about her. I drew those three (especially Mika) several times a day everyday until High School. I don't know where all that passion has gone! I'm not saying I'm not still passionate about illustration but I just don't feel nearly as excited about it as I did then. I just wanted to try and figure where I lost some of my enthusiasm.

I'd also like to present you with this inspiration map: 

Mayuka from Tenchi the Movie 2 was definitely the start of it all. I guess I just loved her design (for whatever reason) and modeled Mika after her. 

The Sailor Starlights must be where I came up with the costume design. I always loved how leggy they were.

Sabrina is the most awesome teen witch I know! I was so excited to watch Sabrina the Teenage Witch whenever I could. I'm thinking it came on WB which was a channel I didn't get so I was deprived of it for the most part. But when I did watch it I fell in love with the idea of witches. Halloweentown always got me excited about witches too!

Britney Spears was one of my idols around this time. Oops...I Did it Again was THE song around 2000 so I can only assume this is why I thought red latex was an appropriate fashion choice.

Sasami from Tenchi Muyo! was one of my most favorite characters. I was especially into Magical Girl Pretty Samy. Crime fighting super girls were kind of my thing (they still kind of are). I liked Sasami and Ayeka's little green symbol on their foreheads. I decided in Mika and Kiku's case that it was a sign from their alien heritage. Thinking back on it I wonder how I imagined it looking in real life. Like a tattoo? Like paint? Like a birthmark? I'm really not sure.

Saiyans inspired me to make them a super alien race. I don't think they were a dying race though. They had this whole family tree of still living family members living on their home planet. Why their parents moved to Earth I don't know. Maybe I never thought that far ahead.

Sailor Moon. All roads lead back to Sailor Moon. If I look back to any of my old drawings there is a little bit of Sailor Moon in all of them.


I hope I didn't bore anyone too much with my overuse of (parentheses) and telling of characters from days of yore. I really enjoyed going back to these characters and thinking about where they'd be now and what I'd do differently. I recommend it to all artists!

The Guild

I love The Guild and I just adore Felicia Day. I'm so happy a new season has started! Can't believe it's already on Season 6. If they ever need a children's book (for some bizarre reason) for The Guild, I'm there!

In fact I love The Guild so much I want this costume for Halloween. If I didn't already have a fabulous Princess Peach outfit for this year I would have already bought it. There's always next year though!