Latest News: April-May 2025

I graduated last month, so my PhD is over and done! I'm also going to Thailand in May for a holiday. I've also submitted 2 short stories to the publisher Viz, and while both were accepted, the editor thought one had better potential, so that's what I'm working on doing the storyboards for right now--a fantasy action-romance. The problem is the other story, which was actually a simplified version of "The Dreaming" v4-5. Doing this simplification process was a huge challenge for more than one reason, because after I submitted it and was accepted (if not approved, since I'm doing the other story), I went back and re-read all the layouts I did for "The Dreaming" v4-5 and realised... they weren't good. One thing about turning a 500pg story into a 50pg one is that you're forced to cut off all the boring bits and focus on the most exciting and emotional parts, and after I did that in the short story (and am happy with the results), I found that the long form version is... full of talking and exposition. The thing is, it's not a problem with the PLOT--the plot remains as intriguing as ever. It's a problem with EXECUTION. I realise that the plot for "The Dreaming" v4-5 is still good, but the WAY it was being told was NOT. The story as it is now sets up a mystery, but the revelations come at the end of the story when it should come at the midpoint. I've already storyboarded 250 pages of it, but having done the short story version, I now realise it needs to be completely junked and started over. So I'm back to square one on this--on writing paragraph summaries for a plot outline. However, I'm concentrating on the approved short story first. In other news, the Viz one-shot stories are now all available on Bookwalker, a Japanese ebookstore, and you can read mine here.

My short mystery manga "The Mystery Cases of Sister Holmes" is now up on Viz for you to read online. I worked with former Shonen Jump head editor-in-chief Hisashi Sasaki to produce (now at Viz's One-shots program), and you can read it here or on BookWalker.

All 3 volumes of "The Dreaming" is now available in print/ebook, via Amazon and Barnes and Noble.
It's also available to read onine from Global Comix, a wonderful creator-friendly e-comic site! Covers and revisions are listed here!

Free Reading: A short mystery story "The Mystery Cases of Sister Holmes" (67p) on Viz

Shark Chewing on an Aussie Surfer

Posted onJanuary 12, 2012September 30, 20132 Comments

This week I’m halfway through the tones of Small Shen, and also adjusted the release date of House of Odd to March 20, 2012, which is the date it comes out on Amazon. It now even has a Kindle edition (on Amazon).

In other news, I get to show you my Shark amigurumi, shown here chewing happily on some unlucky Australian surfer (with tasteful amounts of blood).

This pattern is originally from here, and I altered the original to make the shark a bit bigger. So it can fit a surfboard and surfer in its mouth, ofcourse!

Step 1: Crochet the top half of the shark in grey, as with all amigurumi

Step 2: Crochet the bottom half of the shark in white, then sew the 2 hemispheres together, leaving a space for the mouth.

Step 3: Crochet the fins and tail, and sew it onto the shark. I used size 14mm safety eyes (huge).

Step 4: Crochet the legs and surfboard, then stick them in the shark's mouth while sewing the shark's mouth together. Due to the stuffing inside, this took a while

And here we have the final Shark, from a few more angles to capture the bloody moment:

Twisted Tales: Dorothy (Teaser Trailer)

Posted onJanuary 7, 2012September 30, 20132 Comments

I’ve talked about Twisted Tales before, a collaboration between my musician friend Yunyu and myself. After a long wait, the first single to “Twisted Tales“, will be released in February 2012.

Ah… here we be.

So I proudly present to you the trailer for the first single off the new album project Twisted Tales… Dorothy. It’s a subversive take on the tale of Wizard of Oz, where Dorothy discovers that her magic shoes will no longer return her home, as she is a cosmonaut lost in space in this story.

Twisted Tales is an international collaboration between Yunyu, myself ( flying my New York Times #1 bestseller Manga Artist flag) and awesome animation collective The Commonist.

It is an exciting Music, Manga and Animation album that asks the question of what happens when Fairy Tales come to live in our modern universe.

The music video for Dorothy will be released at the end of this month. My own art contribution to the single will also be online in a few week’s time. Meanwhile, enjoy the Dorothy Teaser Trailer!

Groovy Cumbia – CD Art

Posted onDecember 29, 2011September 30, 2013

Happy New Year to you all! The end of 2011 is approaching very quickly, and just yesterday I managed to finish all the inks for chapter 1 and 2 of Small Shen! Up for January 2012 will be the tones for those 2 chapters, and then onto chapters 3 and 4.

Today I’ll be showing you some art I did a while ago, for a Latin-American music CD. The font was already chosen before I started, so I decided to go with something bright and colourful. Using a brush pen was definitely the right choice for this, since I don’t think a G-pen (with its fine lines) would have stood out amongst the bright colours.

Here’s the original computer files, click for a better look:

Happy 2012!!

Fruit Custard Tart

Posted onDecember 22, 2011September 30, 2013

It’s nearing Christmas, so I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! I’ll be working all through the holidays until I finish the inks for chapter 2 of Small Shen, which will probably be next week.

So this week, I leave you with the last of my felt cakes – the last one I had in the line of kits I bought. It’s the Fruit Custard Tart!

Step 1: Here's the last kit I had in the series for felt cakes. I think this was meant to be a mobile phone charm.

Step 2: Take everything out, check that it's all there. Usually I have no complaints with Japanese kits.

Step 3: Sew the base and the strawberry on top. Make all the little berries.

Step 4: Add the berries onto the top of the base, then start sewing the custard bits together to surround the base.

This is the end result. Pretty complex compared to some of the other felt cakes:

Queenie Chan

OEL Manga, Comics & Everything Else Global