John's Art: Miami Vice x Rilakkuma

It's one of those dream collaborations that never happened and probably never will but seeing as drawing Rilakkuma is so fun, I brought it to you.

Due to a shoulder injury on Monday, I've been having trouble staying near my computer for long periods of time which means that I can't make any new artwork, despite being on Spring break. I made this one the good old fashioned way, with my back to the wall in rehabilitation mode, using markers and coloured pencils, sketching out the idea in pencil beforehand. I also put this onto a nice presentable piece of square card. Makes for great presentation :D

Shoulder feels great today. Should be back to 100% by tomorrow (^_^)b

Heeeere's Jonny!

Besides the post below about changing visas etc. I thought I would just let everyone know that I have not abandoned this blog. Maybe I should blog more about my life in Japan? Does anyone even care about that? shoot me a mail or comment please! Anyway, here is an update on more important things.....

• I am still working on my book. I know, I know! I have spent so long on it!!! However, I have finished the basics for Chapter One and have more of an overall direction worked out as well as new places and characters. I hope to have some new stuff for you soon. Next step is to flesh out Chapter One and finally get round to drawing the damn thing! :S
• Working on t-shirt designs. Some recent talks with one of my friends, it reignited my passion for this project. I continue to work on it so I can bring you something you are gonna love. If you don't do these things properly, they just ain't worth doing :P
• I have some stuff to work on for the PTWOR guys. Probably that will come first

I'm a busy man these days. Well, im not TOO busy I guess but I have had to sideline my projects quite a bit. Will update whenever there is something to update (^_^)

John

Life in Japan: Changing from Working Holiday Visa to Working Visa Part II

This is a follow up to my previous post here and following an email query from someone who stumbled across my site.

First of all, I'm so glad somebody was able to come across my story!! :D and hopefully saw some hope within. To answer their question publicly......

YOU CAN CHANGE FROM FRENCH WORKING HOLIDAY VISA TO WORKING VISA WITHOUT LEAVING THE COUNTRY AND WITHOUT COE!

A close friend of mine was able to do so actually. His company gave him the necessary papers (I guess 'change in status of residency' papers?) and he submitted his application form at the immigration office in Shinagawa. 10 days later, they contacted him to let him know that he could come change to his working holiday visa immediately.

However, I can't promise that this would be the case for everyone! In fact, I should still imagine that the COE still holds some weight. I can only assume that it is a much stronger guarantee that your paperwork will go through for the visa.

I hope that all the help and information I have presented so far was useful for some of you out there. I'm not sure how much more I can tell you about all this but if you ever want to ask me any questions, please feel free to email me about it. You can find my address on the right hand side of this page (^_^)b

John

John's Art: Skyfall - Daniel Craig as James Bond

New years resolution - Increase size of G-shock collection. I wanna get some kind of action figure, hokuto no ken perhaps, which can hold and display all of them for me

Best of 2012

Best song is an eeeeeeasy choice! 

 
  Ya know, best movie wasn't hard to pick either...

Bamboozled

So i bought myself a pen tablet for my computer! One of my resolutions is to make my artwork better and another is to pull myself away from drawing with a mouse. The former is definitely possible. The latter makes me and my mouse very sad indeed :(

By the way, lots of love goes out to Punching The Walls of Reality for believing in me and commissioning me to do their logo and some artwork for them last year. They have some really entertaining podcasts so if you have time please check them out.

Onward into the future!

So those scars turned out to be permanent :S

2012

Somehow I've managed to land on my feet. 

I'm cat-like. 

In the sense that I'm cute (I'm entitled to this opinion) and the whole landing-on-my-feet thing of course. What I mean to say is that somehow everything turned out OK in the end but literally it did feel like I was falling at one point. Nothing was working out for me, I failed a bunch of big job interviews and it seemed like I was going to end up as a teacher here in Japan going nowhere and hating my life because of it.

Sure, I was having fun partying and doing the occasional tv extra job. Heck, I got to meet Ken Watanabe and David Morse in the process. Ken even spoke to me briefly (Ok John, calm down). I still felt like I had failed.

And then a number of things worked out really well. The hotel where I was living offered me a part-time job to pay for my rent and I managed to get a job teaching just before my visa ran out.

'Teaching? But you said you didn't want to......'

I know right? And I'm perfectly aware that I am talking to myself and answering my own questions here but let me explain......

I was very fortunate. Regardless of how the other teachers there might feel about their jobs, it is a great place to work and I work with some really great people. On top of that, the students in my class (all 25 of them) are wonderful and make every day worth it. Some of the things they say and do are just amazing.

So yes, I am a teacher. But i love this job i really do. Make no mistake, I still insist that I don't like teaching but I just ended up with one of the better jobs around.

Oooh and I'm in great shape! I have worked out most days of the week since around April/May and seen tremendous results. I'm so proud of my body right now but it really is a WIP that I will share with you when its closer to being finished...........:P

John's Art: Kenshiro

This was actually meant for something bigger but seeing as how that isn\t coming together anymore, i figured id just put this one out there. Hope you like it!!

John's Art: Major Lazer - Free The Universe

After seeing the tracklist for 'Free The Universe', I felt inspired to make some more Major Lazer fan art and I even managed to get it finished over the holidays. Merry Christmas everyone!!