Beautiful Girls: The Art of Yoshinori Shizuma

09Feb10

These illustrations are the work of Yoshinori Shizuma, a mangaka whose work was recently featured in the book 100 Masters of Bishojo Painting (絵師100人). The book’s available from Amazon and J-List, you can also check out his official site here.

Enjoy!

Filed under: Anime, Art, Japan, Manga & Comics   |  Leave a Comment
Tags: 100 Masters of Bishojo Painting, Art, beautiful girl, comic, illustration, Japan, japanese, manga, mangaka, moe, school girl, Shizuma Yoshinori, Yoshinori Shizuma

Pecanpals: Wooden Designer Toys

08Feb10

Peacanpals is a range of wooden designer toys  by husband and wife duo Nick and Candy, who work collectively under the name Noferin. While the use of wood for designer toys is unusual, the material compliments the character’s simple organic forms and gives the toys warmth and personality. Hand crafting and the use of sustainable rubber tree wood also gives these toys a lasting value unusual in the realm of popular culture.

Filed under: Art, International   |  Leave a Comment
Tags: design, designer toy, noferin, pecan pal, pecanpal, toy, wood, wooden

New on Threadless: Tastes Like Roses

06Feb10

My new t-shirt design on Threadless. I tried to do something different this time, please vote if you like it.

Hope you enjoy ^_^

Filed under: Art, Fashion, International, My own work, South Africa   |  Leave a Comment
Tags: cherry, design, ice cream, icecream, Katie Badenhorst, Katie Caromba, rose, t-shirt, tee, threadless

Learning Japanese: Tips and Tricks

05Feb10

As a huge fan of Japanese culture it was inevitable that I started to pick phrases like “Baka! Kawaai!” and “Sugoii!”. So it was only a matter of time before I decided to put my time watching anime to use, and try to learn the language. Almost a decade later I’m still learning and honestly I haven’t improved that much. Partly it’s because I’ve only studied on and off, but also because even when I did work hard my methods weren’t great. So how can you improve faster and easier? These are some of the things I’ve learned the hard way…

Filed under: Cultural Commentary, Japan, Traditional   |  Leave a Comment
Tags: advice, Japan, japanese, Japanese language, kanji, learn, memorise, nihongo, study, tip

Takuya Angel & The Kimono Rivival?

03Feb10

These beautiful images are from Takuya Angel, a relatively small fashion brand with a devoted fan following. Takuya Angel is unusual in that it combines elements of traditional Japanese and contemporary clothing. Pieces are adapted for a modern lifestyle using bright colors and unexpected materials like polyester, velvet and fur. Takuya Angel has also been influenced anime and manga, inspired by a fresh depiction of the past seen in series like Samurai Champloo.

Filed under: Art, Cultural Commentary, Fashion, Japan, Traditional   |  Leave a Comment
Tags: clothing, contemporary, Fashion, hakama, kimono, samurai, street, street fashion, Takuya Angel, Traditional

New on Threadless: T-Rex VS Shark

30Jan10

My new T-Shirt design on Threadless, also the reason I haven’t been posting much lately ^^’. Please vote if you like it!

Filed under: Art, International, Manga & Comics, My own work, South Africa   |  Leave a Comment
Tags: comic, design, Katie Badenhorst, Katie Caromba, retro, shark, T-rex, t-shirt, tee

Pic of the Day: Harajuku Lovers

21Jan10

The subject of Gwen Stefani’s Harajuku Lover’s is one that deserves a full rant, but I’m not really able to make up my mind about it at present. For now at least enjoy this sugary sweet image from her ad campaign.

Filed under: Fashion, International, Japan   |  Leave a Comment
Tags: advert, doll, Fashion, Gwen Stefani, Harajuku, Harajuku Lovers, kawaai, LAMB, Love Angel Music Baby

New on Threadless: Sayonara Tokyo

15Jan10

My new design, now on Threadless. A little homage to Tokyo with details like the Tokyo Tower, the Rainbow Bridge and Shibuya crossing… all getting destroyed.

Please vote if you like it!

Filed under: Art, International, My own work, South Africa   |  Leave a Comment
Tags: Japan, design, japanese, shibuya, Tokyo, t-shirt, threadless, Katie Badenhorst, tee, Katie Caromba, apparel, Tokyo Tower, Godzilla

Video Game Spotlight: Ōkami

04Jan10

Ōkami is a great action-adventure game developed by Clover and published by Capcom for the PSII and Wii. While sales of the game were poor, it earned praise from critics, loyal fans and the title of IGN’s 2006 Game of the Year.

Filed under: Art, Japan, Traditional   |  2 Comments
Tags: Capcom, ink painting, Japan, japanese, Nintendo, Nintendo DS, PSII, Shinto, sumi-e, Tiny Sun, video game, Wii, wolf, Ōkami

New Years Greetings

01Jan10

Or in other words “Happy New Years, please be good to me again this year”. I just want to say thank you to all the people who’ve visited this site over the last year, I can’t believe how many people come to visit my little corner of the internet.

Here’s how you pronounce the standard Japanese New Years greetings:

Happy New Year – Akemashite o-medetō-gozaimasu ((新年)あけましておめでとうございます)

Please be good to me again this year – Kotoshi mo yoroshiku o-negai-shimasu (今年もよろしくお願いします)

Teenagers sometimes shorten these into the colloquial “Ake o-me, koto yoro”, but using that in the wrong context could seem pretty rude.

Enjoy the New Year everyone! ^_^

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