I didn't forget!

I just didn't know what day of the week it was! No, for real...
Anyway, sorry I'm late. And here's yesterdays Like Totally.
Just a little note: This is the title page, and it might seem a bit odd when you read the story two pages in a week, but if you read it all together (like it's made for you to do) it's not that odd^^


Presenting Minami Imai ^-^
Thanks for reading, I promise not to be late next week!

Like Totally Teenage lovers page 3-4

Time for the next two pages of "Like Totally Teenage lovers"!
You might notice that the font have changed, that's just 'cause I kinda can't remember what font I used the last time, and I can't find it :p
If you happen to know the name of that font, please tell me. Also, feel free to tell me what you think of this one. I wanted one that's kind og freehand-ish, but also easy to read. Is this too "fancy"?



Yes, ehmm. I do hate it when I read a magazine and the machine text is just pasted on top of something. I'm talking about the panel where he reads the phone mail. Originally, ofcourse, it was written in angle with the phone screen, in Norwegian, but since I am now just editing on the computer and I'm too lazy and low tech to really learn how to do the angle-writing thing f^^; Hope you forgive me, and please notice how I have bothered to make the letters two size bigger for each line. See? I care!
Also, the * indicates the untranslated bit in the last panel. As I went about writing this in Norwegian, I aim at an audience who doesn't nesescarily inderstand Japanese, so everything of importance (like the language settings on his phone) I do in Norwegian. I can't stand when people just assume that the audience knows Japanese or French for that matter.
Anyway, I didn't want to go in and fidget with something that's so much part of the artwork, so I made a little shortcut.
Again, hope you enjoyed this, and feel free to look up the earlier pages by looking up the tag #likttly
More to come next week!

Wildcats

Yesterday I spent all day making this:
It's an idea I've had for a while, inspired by the fact that every decent (or I guess that would be indecent) gyaruo have leopard print underwear XD The leaopard print part is fabric, the rest is coloured in Copic markers. I don't know why I suddenly had the urge to use them, 'cause I thought I really sucked at it. Anyway, it turned out quite nice, even though I still have a lot of practice to do.
I had a very limited selection of markers:
Bought these a while ago, in Japan, and havn't used them much since. Now I'm seriously considering investing in a few essentials, like red and grey, and get serious about that practice, 'cause I just had so much fun!

On V-day it was my dads B-day, so I decided to bake him a cake.
Banana cake. Haha, poor banana.
Turned out really good, even though it's been a while since I've baked anything, and I've never been particularily good at it. But that's another thing that I love doing, so I have gotten a lot of practice :D

I've been getting various interesting mail from abroad lately, but when I got one from Peking University yesterday I was very very puzzled. Then I got really happy, 'cause it turned out of was from my friend Julie, in China (stealing stationary much?XD)
It was a Chinese Newyears letter, with a chineez moneyz and a super cute Year-of-the-bunny envelope. That one I'm gonna put on my wall. I can't wait 'till she comes home!

I also went to my comicing circle on Monday, even though it was freezing cold outside. I've decided to make a real comitment to it, sort of as practice? I havn't been late once since I came back from Japan.
Yeah... It's only a fase, I swear.
Cold weather calls for wrapping up.

I decided today was gonna be my day off, kinda. Since I'm kind of exhausted from yesterday. Can't guarantee I won't end up drawing anyway though :p
I'm trying to make myself do that damn phone call anyway. And then I'm going to meet Cat in Oslo.
Have a nice day, everyone.

A little sumthin' sumthin' for Valentine

Made a little Valentine thing, with characters from "Like Totally..."
I hardly ever do this, but I guess I should. Get some practice on drawing my characters, since I'll be back to drawing it from this week on, because I've finished the contest series^^
This little ditty has absolutely nothing to do with the actual story. It's the first time I draw these characters for almost three months but I think I've got them down.
Hope you like it :p
Happy merry V-day everyone!

A happy birthday party!

In the event that I suddenly don't know who I am or even who I want to be, I suddenly got the urge to use some left over hair colour I had lying around.
It turned out allright I guess. Not so good at the roots, because they've never been bleached, but I guess I don't really care that much at the moment.
Supergrin. Anyone can do it!

So this was Friday, and we were going out to celebrate Cats birthday. Kinda feel like we've been celebrating it all week XD
The party was taking place at the same place as we did Alex's party the week before, but before that I met up with her at uni. And let me tell you it is not easy to get anywhere these days! I opened my door and suddenly I was in the Norwegian highlands, the snow had been sweeped around by the wind and there wasn't even the slightest trace of a trail from the house down to the street XD
The trains too were in complete chaos, but I did get there eventually.
Cat carries an eyepatch in the purse, for some reason. And now, for some other reason, it's in MY purse. How did that get there and what am I gonna do with it?XD

Also had a lovely shot of Cat with the eyepatch on her nose (I smell a new Visual Kei-trendXD), but she didn't agree with me that the world wide web needed to see that picture. But I've got another great shot for the world wide web!
That's the birthday girl :D

Marjus(who kinda runs the pub we were going to) had told us we could come in a bit early and decorate or whatever, so we were there like half an hour before. Marjus, however, was not XD
But we found this:
Eivind had also been nerd enough to show up ridiculously early, and so all we could do was hang out at the closest grocery store.
Finally I remembered I had Marjus' number from when we were in the same class, so I called him and he said he was just on his way out. I think he was there at eight on the dot, which is when the pub opens XD
It's not a very frequented place (not yet anyway ;) so there was no line or anything. Which was great, because we were hoping there wouldn't be so many people we didn't know.
A few other guests did show up, but half the place was taken up by Cats birthday party. So many people showed up and the mood was so nice!

I should have gotten more pictures of everyone, but I was kinda preoccupied with talking to friends.
Since it's V-day on Monday they had a Valentine-game, where everyone was to pick a piece of a heart out of a box, and then find the person with the unique piece that fitted yours. There were some unlikely pairings XD
Aww, they even have matching shirts XD
I didn't join, I don't think I need more men in my life right now f^-^

And then it was burfday cake time!
Heidi (who by the way baked the amazing cake. Oreo)looked completely stunning that day, I can't say it enough. She swore she hadn't dressed up more than usual, but she looked so cool! Marjus, in the background, looks slightly psycho killer-kei here XD
One can only guess what she wished for. I think I know some of the things ^-^
I think it's a long time since someone invited this many people and it turned out so great!

Going home we missed the last train, but we caught a bus and it's so easy to loiter on the night buses in Norway we went all the way home to Jacks place for no money at all^^b
We also had an extra passanger, because Eivind suddenly didn't want to go home alone. Which made the sleeping situation a little tight.
Jack and Cilliee both slept in Jacks room, and then Kimmie was gonna be on the sofa and Cat, Eivind and I had to sleep head-to-foot in Cats bed. I guess we're all what you can call old friends, so it wasn't really akward, but I kinda felt like I was back to that time when you're just out of junior high, making new friends and having these massive parties where everyobody stays over and sleeps in heeps on the couthces and floor and everywhere XD
Seems like the last train home wasn't invented back then.
Go nostalgia :p



Speaking of ...."new friends"? I don't know.
The reason for me being fucked in the head lately is, ofcourse, the man... or rather the men, I guess.
Nuts is still being incredably frustrating. I get that he's a slow writer and way too busy all the time, but this time it's been more than a week since I heard from him. I hate this long distance thing, I mean even if I was in Japan now I'd be eating up my finger nails going "why doesn't he love meeee?!" even though I know he likes me. The problem is that I don't think he's really that INTERESTED in me. Being together is fun and cuddling up together, ofcourse, is nice, but I can't blame him for not seeing a future in it. Sooo, that fucks me up.
What saves me, and maybe fucks me up even more, is.... this other dude.
We've been sending mail since I got back, and I was thinking he was being awfully friendly, but for once my ego couldn't convince me he actually liked me, even though Cat kept going on and on that he did, it would just be too strange.
But he does, or he's "seriously interested", if you can dig it. Poor japanese tranlation, sorry:p
He's really nice, and kinda hot and he sends a lot of mail. Interesting mail, with like pictures an stuff:
Very interesting, I know, but it's things like these that keeps you in touch. This is what I ate today, this is the waether today, this is todays backstage.
And this is where he lives, I know, I should just shut up and marry the guy XD
Buuuuut, the thing is that he's a lot older than me (at least in my standards) and also he kinda sorta plays in a band I like, and that compromises a lot. Plus, I like NutsO__O
I have to admit I'm really flattered and really happy (and really confused) about it all, but it's not up for discussion. And still I catch myself thinking about all the reasons why it wouldn't work, as if I'm actually trying to convince myself to stay away. And it should be the other way around, right? Or maybe not?

Yes, it is Hell inside my head.

Like Totally Teenage Lovers introduction

I decided to start translating my comic "Like Totally Teenage Lovers". It's one I'm currently drawing and running on my Norwegian art blog as well. It's the first time I try running a comic before I've finished it (well, since I started these blogs anyway), and I'm pretty determined to do it right. The story and sketching is mostly finished (except for a few tweeks), and it will be at a total of around 80 pages, which probably don't sound like much, but to me it's the longest project I've attempted since I got serious. I try not to be too ambitious, seeing as I use a lot of time on my comics. A lot of time on drawing, but also on writing and sketching.
Unfortionately I've had to have a little break while I went to Japan, and now while drawing an entry for a contest. Most likely that will be done this week, and I'll keep drawing Like Totally next week^^

A little introduction
"Like Totally Teenage Lovers" is a drama, the main character is Akira Ishiguro, who randomly meets an old classmate, during another boring summer vacation. Various things will force him to grab himself by the neck and take some actions, and will make him think through a few things about himself and his life. There's also a little mystery involved^^
While writing it the title was "Babysitter", but it sounds kinda kinky and also lame in Norwegian, so I decided to name it after a line in a song by my favourite band, 12012. The song's called "Secret Festival", and don't bother listening for that lyric because it's completely indecipherable XD
The characters are not teenagers anymore, but the idea fits a lot of things in the comic, so I jsut fell in love with this title.
Story was thought out and mostly written over the summer I lived in my boyfriends apartment in Japan, and most of the simple dialogue was thought out in Japanese and then translated into Norwegian. To translate it into English I've tried to go back to the lines I originally thought out in Japanese, to make it less processed (or whatever :p).

I'll try to post up every Thursday from now on^^
Sorry about any poor English that might come in the future, and commenting is much appreciated, all though just reading it (and telling your friends!!) is even more important to me!
Wow, that was a lot of talk. So I'll start out with the first two pages.

冬を愛する人は心広き人

A little drawing I started at Cats place this weekend. We finally got to sit down and draw together:D
If you ask me what it is I'll sayyyy.... "Well it's a Disney ganguro scene queen ofcourse, are you blind?" :p
It's something, and it looks kinda cute. Question is, who's gonna buy it? XD

In other news, I can tell you that yesterday it was snowing like a motherfucker here in Norway.
It's very pretty, and I'll admit that snow can be very romantic. When you're holding somebodys hand that is. When you're missing someone like crazy, who doesn't even have the time to send mails more than a few times a week, it makes you feel kinda hopeless and small.
Ever thought of that when you look up while it's snowing, the sky kinda seems even higher, just because you can't see where the snow's coming from?
Ofcourse, if you look up while it's snowing you'll get snow in your eyes, and your mascara will be all over your face.
That's what I looked like when I got on the train, going to my comicing circle^^;. because I didn't know it would be snowing so hard I'd need a hat. My hair was soaking wet too XD
No, I didn't plunge my feet into the snow to make it look dramatic, the street hadn't been mowed yet. And all this came in one night!
Funny thing is that the unbelievable seems to have happened! I've gotten used to the cold. My head gets wet and it's exhausting to walk with snow up to my ancles, but I don't get cold anymore. I am a viking after all XD
I'm not really as miserable as I look, I just didn't feel like posing so much out in the street alone :p

Catching sun fish under the moonlight

Here's a drawing I finished last week.
It's called "Midnight Fishing" in Norwegian. Made with pencil and colour pecils. One of my favourite techiques, as I'm sure you've notisced ^^

I decided to make this after having a little feministic discussion with some friends.
In Norway it's not so normal that a guy opens the door or pulls out the chair for a girl, and most girls in Norway (is my impression, anyway) wouldn't really like tham to. It makes them feel "disempowered".
Since I went to Japan however, I discovered I quite like being treated like a lady, and I don't really feel that men open the door for me because they think I'm too weak to do it myself or something. I have to admit that I like it that way.
But some of my friends don't agree, and I think that's ok too.
Bottom line is that I realize I draw a lot of fancy ladies, who do very girly things.
Partly that is because I think feminism should also be about being allowed to do "girly" things, without being called weak (as in not only about girls being allowed to do "boyish" things), but mostly because I think it's elegant and pretty.
So I thought I'd make a princess doing something more hands-on, still looking elegant.
I'm very happy with it, and it will be for sale at my exhibition in May :D

Hey can I sleep by your side

My latest art piece.
It's called "Skin and feathers" (in Norwegian "Hud og fjær"). It's an angel. I used to love drawing angels when I was in high school, I was so hung up on that song Chop Suey by system of a Down. You know "when angels deserve to die..."
This angel is pretty different from the ones I drew back then, but they all had kind of a sinfull thing about them XD
This will be in my exhibition in May^^

I'm still pretty damn sick, but the medicine mom brought for me yesterday really helped, and I had a good nights sleep.
I can not have milk though! I thought I would be ok because of the medicine, and I have to warn you, this will be kind of disgusting, -so I had cerial for breakfast, like I normally would and my throat got so slimy!
I've tried to stay away from dairy products all day, but I've instructed my sweet dad too well, and he's made me two cups of tea WITH milk^^;
Well, let's hope the medicine can fend it off. I also had some other good things happen to me today^^ And something slightly ... complicated. I guess you could just say I'm big in Japan...

Cards, anyone?

Made some cards a little while ago. Valentine cards or birthday cards or whatever.
The first one in made on a piece of a random Visual Kei-flyer I got when buying a CD, the second one is made on a paper gift bag^^ The last one is actually made on fabric glued on paper. I needed leopard print for the gyaruo XD

If anyone's interested I would totally make these on requests, for like £2.50 or something. I need money, so just leave a comment or if you know my adress, send a mail^^

Other than that I've caught what I thought was an old fashion Norwegian cold, with coughing and a stuffy nose, but after last night I'm not so sure anymore.
I had to really bad cought attacks where I actually had to get out of bed, and I thought my insides were coming up! And I scrathed my throut up on the inside, and it was bleeding a bit. I'm better now, finally got some sleep and my mom is bringing over cought syrup. I really don't want to go to the doctor!