POP ART RETRO-ISH

Oh yes very 'Across the Universe' (but I already did one titled that) or Yellow Submarine but it's not beatles. It's Peter Max! I started this long ago, when I first bought his artbook off amazon.com, but only completed it recently when I discovered it wasn't finished. Acquired taste for the colour combination =P. Made in markers & bgd in photoshop.

COVER ART

This is the cover art draft for a book called 'Yearly Harvest' by Ryan Callaway. The back cover has a summary if you are interested in what it's about (not finalised though!)

ANIMALS INSPIRED ART

Not exactly new work... and I wil be revamping the main site soon, it is rather in a mess!

THE BRILLIANT GREEN

This is a performance from one of my favourite bands, The Brilliant Green. Time Magazine rated them as one of the top 10 bands in the world outside the US (surprising to some). Their albums are usually released in autumn-winter which is a good indication of their musical style. They draw a lot of inspiration from the Beatles and play tunes ranging from pop-rock to whimsical rock. I can't say the lead singer Tommy (Kawase Tomoko) has the strongest 'live' performance abilities, but this video above demonstrates that she actually sings better with less noise and being seated lol, rather than go off-pitch in some of her TV performances (which is, by the way, much better than the lip-syncing she has to do sometimes).

This one is one of their old vids I like because she finally looks her age. This vid about 6 years old. And she gives off that sexy vibe, rather than the cutesy she is known for. The concept of the video is a little thought-provoking too.

For the past 6 years Tomoko was concentrating on her solo releases 'Tommy February 6' and 'Tommy Heavenly 6' which are both short term projects but turned out to be massively popular. I am so glad Brilliant Green is back again finally after a 5-year hiatus. You wouldn't believe the horror when I first saw Tommy February 6's debut on Music Station but I've kind of warmed up by now. I've always liked her gloomy sombreness in the band but well, it was a very strategic career move anyhow. And her good prediction that an 80s synthesizer revival was coming up (she did it way before any of the revival artistes did, I think). The below video demonstrates my point:

I won't even delve on her Heavenly6 persona, just that it is rather Avril Lavign-ish which I'm not into. She is 32 this year I think, amazing how she seems to look younger than a decade ago!

NEW CHARMS & JEWELRY SHOP!!

Yes I've been rather busy lately! Do visit my new slop (blog shop) ! It's got sum vintage stuff I like making ^_^, also I'm supplying limited charms for pple who like making D-I-Y jewelry.
Vintage & kitschy charms
Retro Beads
Handmade accessories
LEMON KITSCHARMS


The special price of $12 is for deviantart members, returning customers of my artwork and community friends, thank you!

YUZU FINALLYY! INTRODUCING 2 VIDS

Finally someone managed to post Yuzu's music vids on youtube! It's only a week old I hope it will remain for longer time.. Previous attempts to post their videos never lasted more than 3 months, I mean c'mon Senha!!! Give us a break we can't afford your pricey japanese msic video imports (well i do own 2 sets of the same tho, the VHS and then upgraded to the DVDs costs me 160bux for the vhs and 80 for the DVD, but then I am afterall one of their biggest fan lol) I haven't bought their stuff for 2 years though... shame on me! I thought they were getting too pop but then I saw their new song and it was back to good ol japanese folk songs!!

Anyhow I just HAVE to share my fave song!!
'Itsuka' by Yuzu (1999)

The new folk song I was talking about, I'm just ecstatic when I saw this video! It's 5.30am now ^_^ My other NEW fave song!
明日天気になぁれ (Ashita Tenki ni Naare)

INTEGRITY FASHIONS + TROPICAL FRUIT PUNCH

INTEGRITY FASHIONS will be having their summer collection trunk show on 30 June 2007 (Sat), with it will be one of my artwork 'Tropical Fruit Punch' that's debuting on a line of cute baby doll tees! Integrity Fashions' motto is 'Fashion for A Cause' and as promised, 20% of all proceeds will be donated to charity. Go check their website for more details! WWW.INTEGRITYFASHIONS.COM

THREADLESS SUBMISSION

Well that's what I've been up to lately. Pls give me a nice rating if you like the artwork! Threadless is an online T-shirt designing competition, and they sell cool t-shirts (winners of the compettion), it is free to register and join! I have another version of this artwork without the limit of 5 colors, maybe I'll post that when I feel up to it... EDIT: Yay! Not bad score, thanks to everyone who voted!

NINJA STUFF

This animation is just crazy!! hahaha it's so hilarious i can't stop looking at it!! Click on the image to see the full animation!
NINJA by ~ulebule on deviantART

Anyhow I own a Tenchu fanclub on Deviantart as well. Currently I am hosting my 3rd contest there. Prizes are included! I made an advert to promote the contest (for members only). So if you love Tenchu and you're a member of Deviantart, toss the clan a note to join! TENCHU-CLAN.DEVIANTART.COM

COMMISSION

This is a comission I made for Dana Harvey of Seatbeltbags.com some time ago:

ART UPDATES 8 MAY

I've decided to embed the blog into my site's updates page, so you can view this blog on lemonshortbread.com or at the lemonshortbread.blogspot.com if you want to view it on its own.


Rockman (Megaman) is one of my fave 8-bit characters of all time! Check out this cool famicom advert of Rockman 1!


Earth Day was on 22 April:


I'm trying my hand at real painting though I'm not used to it at the moment...

AIKO IN PERFORMANCE

Aiko is one of my favourite female singers. She has got a sunshine personality to match her cuteness! Love her voice and she's got a pretty unique style of composing songs.
This is my fave song of hers called 'Ama no Gawa' / '天の川' meaning Milky Way (Celestial River):


'Eriashi' / 'えりあ し' :


Aiko being her exuberant self tossing plushies to her fans:

AWARENESS FOR CHINA BEAR RESCUE

WWW.ANIMALSASIA.ORG

Help the moonbears towards the road of freedom! No words can express the horror, pain and abuse these magnificient creatures are currently going through for the highly sought after bear's bile used in chinese medicine. One cannot help but weep for these endangered beautiful bears, many of whom are missing limbs from being caught with traps in the wild. Incarcarated, undernourished and suffering from trauma in coffin cages for as long as 20 years, they have a huge piece of metal tube pierced through their abdomens without anaesthetic nor sanitation and not being allowed to move, to draw liquid bile from the gall bladders 24 hours a day.

It is just horrendous. Are human beings only capable of destruction and exploitation? Are we made of stone? It is not as if there are no herbal alternatives to bear bile. I am just plain disgusted!

Currently there are more than 7,000 bears imprisoned in these torture farms, and China Bear Rescue (according to the website) has led 219 bears to freedom, their main objective to shut down bear farms in china forever. It is amazing that these sunbears are able to forgive decades of severe abuse by humans as shown by their recovery and playful nature in the rehabilitation centre, making the success story even more poignant.

Show your support to China Bear Resue by spreading awareness to discontinue the use of bear farms and bear's bile in asian countries. It doesn't matter which country you live in to show support. You can make donations to the organisation even with US$5.00. Visit the bear donation catalogue HERE

++Pictures are taken from the animalsasia website++