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this weather is AMAZING.

(that’s josh’s hand, of course.)

i am a total sucker for all of these stormtrooper figure photos.

American Beauty by Mike Stimpson

from recollections in black and white

this reminds me of how i absolutely adore simpler art with shape and form (i.e. gomoku akatsuki, edayan, etc.) in comparison to detailed, but flat art (shojo manga in particular, yoshitaka amano’s work as well.) being able to envision and effectively convey form in a few lines and colors (sometimes with no shading or color at all!) is more impressive to me than filling a page with aimless detail.

many people think that naoko takeuchi was one of my early influences, but honestly, it wasn’t her illustrations that i liked — i much preferred ikuko itoh’s and kazuko tadano’s from the sailormoon anime. same proportions, but so much more solid, and without all the anatomical weirdness. i also loved masahiro ando’s work in that series, i think i may be one of the few who do as i always hear from other fans that his art is “ugly” or “too cartoony”…i thought it was adorable, and it had shape!

p.s. apple, you disappoint me. i was hoping for an actual tablet PC of some sort, and instead, it’s an $800 e-reader that can’t view flash. good luck with that one.