10 New Pins

So yesterday we released 10 NEW pins. Honestly I was a bit disappointed with the reception of them on facebook, but what can I do?

I was rewatching this ridiculously violent Japanese horror movie called Suicide Club (Where like 100 girls stand side by side on the metro platform and all jump together in front of the train) and I thought how cool it would be to have something cute that like one of those Japanese school girl could wear but it still being violent or monsters. Like along the lines of our Never Say Die and Sip of Death shirts. But I could never come up with anything new, so I asked a friend of mine who I used to work with to help me out on this one. My friend Jon is a children's book illustrator and I've been asking him for a long time to do something with us.

So I hope you like them :)

Toys For Everyone!

So I think we left the availability open long enough now for all our return buyers to get their hands on the limited edition "The Vampire" paper toy. So right now we're opening the flood gate to everyone who picks up a package. Simply buy any one of our three packages and get a FREE paper toy. Here is a great pic of the toy:

What I'm up to

Working on a bunch of new stuff these days. I've been so not creative for so long that I surprise myself sometimes. I worked on a bunch of new designs last night which I am really excited about working on further.

Also working on a 2009 catalog for all you potential wholesalers out there. If you know any stores near you that would like to carry our stuff please ask why they don't have Akumu Ink in their shop. We're hoping to be in more stores in 2010, that would help us so much in expanding our line with more items at great prices.

Also working helping my friend printing his boxing tshirts (In no way is this affecting the future of Akumu Ink, I'm just helping out my friend). His latest shirt came out great. Here's a picture of the actual boxer wearing it. He'll be fighting this weekend and the event will be on HBO, so if you watch it and see the shirt, I printed it ;)

Refused "New Noise"

Saw this video for the first time in a long time 3 days ago. One of my top videos that got me into the scene. Love the style and the energy. I saw this video back in highschool and felt like this was the closest thing to punk rock that I could relate to being a kid from the suburbs. I couldn't really relate much to Rancid or even Blink 182. But this had that underground feeling that I was looking for. Crank up your speakers cuz this song and video rocks:

Sketch 2

Forcing myself to sketch weekly is a great exercise. It's crazy how far I've fallen behind since I've left school. Sketching used to be so much more fluid for me a few years ago. Even my shading is kinda crap, it's going to be great if I can keep this up and produce better Akumu artwork because of it. For future 'Sketch' posts would you prefer if I included or removed the actual photo that I sketched from?

American Apparel or not?

I have a question for all of you: Do you care if we use American Apparel tshirts?

I'm proud to use American Apparel (a quality fabric made in the USA, with genius marketing behind it) but I'm curious to know what you think. If our shirts felt the same and were cut the same as American Apparel but were a no named brand would you mind? I'd like to know where your heads are at on this matter so we may offer you the best product for you.javascript:void(0)

Tim Burton Interview

I'm aware that I didn't post a sketch last week. Shame on me :( last week was very busy, but I'll make sure to sit down and sketch today. But for now check out this great interview with Mr. Tim Burton. They show a bunch of drawings he's done from when he was a child to now. I love how he mentions when he was a kid teachers and grown ups would tell him not to draw the way he did, I had the same thing!

Detailed Horror

I saw this on the Kanye West blog. It's friggin' amazing. So dark but soo detailed. This sculpture is 35.5" x 36" and called "A Tribute to the Madness of Beethoven." Made by an American artist by the name of Kris Kuksi, check out his other works here.

Red Corner Apparel

I know I haven't updated during the past few days. I've been helping my buddy with his tshirt line Red Corner Apparel. Different from our line his shirt line is based on up and coming boxers. He used to be my manager at my old day job and he actually quit a few months before I did to also follow his dream. Only recently with me leaving my job have we actually joined forces so that I would help him print his designs. If you like boxing, or know someone who would like these shirts check them out as I will be the one printing them ;)

Weird Video

Have you seen this weird video? I'm not a fan of Lady Gaga, but this video has razorblade glasses, creepy black jester hats, creepy anorexic backbones, and effing awesome gold jaw bone masks. Not to mention the last scene when she's laying on burned bed with a dead guy. This video is way more terrifying than anything Marilyn Mason has put out in a long time. So what if the backgrounds are white and she wears a crazy dress made out of crystals? I really hope that gold plated jaw bone mask comes into style, cuz I would totally start wearing that.

French Interview

We were interviewed earlier this week by a Montreal horror blog "Sinistre Blogzine" that we met in Toronto at the Festival of Fear. It's a great blog that updates you on all Horror news and events. The entire interview is in French thanks to Marc the interviewer for translating everything and making me sound smart. Although I can speak fluently in French I have the skills of an elementary student when it comes to expressing myself in the French written language. They have this great concept of posting a 13 question interview on every Friday the 13th. So here you go, check out the Sinistre Blogzine here.

Buy 'Of Horror' Get FREE Toy

Ok I'm opening this one up to everyone who orders from us today FRIDAY THE 13TH oooh!

EVERYONE who buys Of Horror I on tshirt OR hoodie gets a FREE "The Vampire" paper toy. Only today, after today it's closed back to only returning customers who buy the packages.

Whether you buy a package that includes the Of Horror tshirt/hoodie, or you just buy the Of Horror tshirt/hoodie as a single item, you will receive the free paper toy.

Buy This Today:

























Get This for FREE:

Sketching Again

Sketching is like a muscle that needs to be excercised. The more you excercise the stronger you become. Being home now I need to force myself to get back into the habit of drawing something daily to strengthen my skills. Here is a sketch I did of Korean singer BoA. I can't remember the last time I just sat down and spent 15-20 min sketching up something like this. I felt extremely rusty, but as time goes by I'll get back into it. Hope you like it. Would you like me to post my sketches weekly?

No More US Shows :(

If you found us through one of the US conventions we did over the summer then let me warn you. We will not be returning to the US for any more conventions in 2010. Unfortunately we've metaphorically bled financially due to the last 3 shows we did. The Canadian customs officers decided to "teach us a lesson" and pretty much rendered it impossible for our little company to be able to afford to go back and forth through countries.

So just to let you know, if you saw and/or bought from us at a US convention we will not be returning next year. So your best bet is to get your Akumu Ink fix here through our webstore.

If any of you know of any interesting conventions other than tattoo or anime conventions within Canada that we should consider let me know :)

Shirt Closeups

I'm always trying to update the look of our shop to give you a better idea of the product you're purchasing. Sometimes we post items on different shirt colors without showing a preview cuz no one has ordered it yet or someone did order it but I didn't get time to take a photo because it had to be shipped out imidiately. Well here is one older shirt "When A Cat Smiles" and one newer shirt "Death's Embrace" vneck with some updated shirt closeups for your viewing pleasure :)

Christmas Shipping Dates

Thinking about getting something from Akumuink.com for Christmas? Here's an approximation of your ordering deadlines for things to be sent in the post. Don't forget to give us at least 2-3 days to print your order before we can ship it out to you.

Cancer Bats wearing The Storm

Great way to start the day today. The boys from Meet the Storm just did a show the other night with Canadian punk rock band Cancer Bats. I don't know how it went down but the boys gave singer Liam our The Storm tshirt and he wore it on stage that night during his performance. Thanks Cancer Bats and thanks Meet the Storm!

Steampunk Museum

Check out this video about the Oxford Steampunk Art Exibition, from October 13 2009 to February 21 2010 at the Museum of the History of Science, UK.

Great Japanese Movie

Looking for a photo of 'Friend' from the movie '20th Century Boys' I landed on a new blog that answered all my questions. It's like a renting asian movies for dummies guide. The layout is great showing the movie cover, then an English synopsis, a rating of the movie, and finally a trailer of the movie. Simple and clear. Here's the link to the blog.

So now let me tell you about this great movie I watched because of that blog. It's called 'Love Exposure' and it's a 4 hour story that deals with sexuality and cult religion. What I love about Japanese movies is their lack of censorship to how the director wants to express his vision. There's some messed up scenes, but this is nowhere near a horror movie. I honestly have no idea what genre this would be in but it was great. Took me like 3 days to watch it but it was like watching a really good short tv series. I recommend it if you're looking for something different with a great story line.

Fall

The leaves looked just like this last week before Halloween. Now they've all fallen to the ground leaving the trees bare. This is the downside to living in Canada. Every year I'm in denial that it's going to snow again. And we're not talking an inch of snow, we're talking about 3-5 feet of snow! But let's enjoy what we have while we have it, beautiful fiery coloured leaves. I wish I could hibernate like a bear, go to sleep and come back out in the spring when it's all over. Anyways here's some pics of my neighbourhood while I was walking my dog Tiny (I prefer calling him Mr.Tatas).

Another Toy Picture

Here's a nice closeup pic I took of the NEW paper toy.