Blog Moved Back!

We were over here for the last year: www.akumuink.com/blog

But since I've changed over to Wordpress, Blogger has updated their whole look to fit our needs better. I also came back because I felt so alone over on Wordpress. Hopefully we'll get more interaction/comments in here.

Japanese Hardcore Band

Last night I couldn't sleep so I was determined to get something done that I've been wanting to do for a long time. Find some new Japanese music that was heavier than what I've previously heard in the whole JRock/Visual Kei scene. As that didn't translate to the heaviness I am used to with American hardcore. Check it out this band is called CrossFaith.

Why Are You Screaming?

Ooh! I really like the new look to Freddy. I really like how he speaks improperly due to the burns on his face. As much as I hated Transformers, Michael Bay knows some great editors that make all his trailers look pretty awesome. Don't F this up please.

"Hopeless" Akumu Ink Comic Strip

I've been working on this for the past few days trying to get it just right. Dora and I went to Dim Sum this weekend with some great friends who keep mentioning that we should make an Akumu Ink book. Although that's ways a way, I was inspired to do this little comic strip featuring our The Storm and Lost Soul characters. Let me know if you like this :)

Story and Illustrations by Akumu Ink.

American Apparel Pickup

This is a photo Dora took while waiting in the car as I was picking up something from American Apparel's warehouse.

1,000 Facebook Fans

Last month we celebrated our 2 year anniversary as well as reaching 1,000 fans on Facebook! Quite exciting to see how far we got in only 2 years. It's been a crazy ride and we expect a lot more as we go forward. I am working on a bunch of new projects all Akumu related. Finishing up those huge canvases, working on sourcing new Akumu products that you would love as much as we would, and creating a new line within Akumu Ink which will be a lot of fun when that launches. So for now enjoy the newest 1" pins to add to your collection.

Turning Japanese?

I saw this over at ToysREvil's blog. Apparently it's for "Pop Life: Art in a Material World" art exhibit in London's Tate Modern museum. I like it! Appearances from Takashi Murakami and my man Nigo! Directed by McG, and featuring Kirsten Dunst cover the song "Turning Japanese" by The Vapors.

Looking at Old Comics

I was looking through some old works I did. Felt these shouldn't be forgotten because not only does old artwork tell a story within the actual image. But the art itself tells a story as to where I've been, where I'm from, as my current artwork shows where I'm going. Here is a post from 2008 of a similar body of work as the one below. All these pieces were done within a year's time. Right before meeting Dora and starting Akumu I was going to begin working on a comic about a band that was touring in Japan and somehow a girl from the audience was to fall in love with the American guitar player. The whole idea was to revolve around the idea that they couldn't communicate through speech due to language barrier so they had to find ways around it. I was later told that this concept had already been done, so I never went through with it.


The first comic here is based on this lame story about 2 kids from high school falling in love. I never had a proper script or idea as to the direction of the story and kept trying to rework the storyline and characters. It ended up being more of an exercise/practice than a comic worthy of anything.




































The second comic page was for a 6 page anthology but the writer and I didn't see eye to eye on the story and we never made it passed this first page. I had come up with all these attractive character designs that I did on napkins and scraps of paper while at bars and restaurants, but the whole thing fell apart and was never looked back on.




































I'm happy to look at these comic pages because I'm always impressed when I did something well, sometimes I can't believe I would have come up with a body posture, or a scene layout, or a facial expression. But what I don't like is how unnatural the whole feel of everything is. I did these in a program called illustrator and it shows. It's something I easily chose to stay away from in my current Akumu works. Sometimes the fact that things aren't perfect make it better. Anyways, hope you enjoyed this trip into my past. I'll have to eventually create some new stuff!

Hottest Korean Idol

Do you have a preference between Lee Hyori or BoA? Please no negative comments. These girls are both hot and talented Korean singers.

A little history, Lee Hyori has had a really good last 3 albums. She was sued by Brittany Spears agents for plagiarizing one of her songs.

BoA is a mega talent and the acronym of her name means 'Best of Asia'. BoA has had countless number one albums and never fails to create great pop songs. The video below has her performing with the infamous Verbal of M-Flo and Teriyaki Boyz fame sporting his latest project Ambush Design rings. Amazing talent in that video!

Let me know which one you prefer or if you have a link to your more preferred Korean or asian idols ;) I know I've never posted something like this before but I'm hoping to learn about your favourites and if you know any new music that I can add to my playlist then I will be forever grateful.

This Week

So we're working on doing something really big with Akumu Ink, we'll keep you posted if this really goes through but if it does it would mean more Akumu merchandise!

This week will begin a new project within Akumu Ink. We will be working on starting a separate line within the brand called 'Little Monsters'. This will be a cuter style which will be printed on baby clothes as well as our current shirt styles and sizes. This new line will in NO WAY affect Akumu's current look or style, or production. As I said it will be separate, meaning these items won't be sold directly on akumuink.com either but on it's own 'Little Monsters' page.

As an artist I feel that creating and being productive is the best outlet for me. I want to continue to build Akumu's dark and sometimes abstract style knowing I can have an outlet for cuter ideas without it stepping on Akumu's toes. For example the 3rd and 4th pin packs that I released.

Back From Vegas

This week was great, I spent it with my friend Jason from Red Corner Apparel in Vegas. We met up with some great people including La Carmina and Yukiro, and Kynt and Vyxsin from Amazing Race. Although the whole trip ended up being more work than play (working from 7am to 5am the next morning the first night), Jason and I were able to take the last night off to go 'wild'. Unfortunately that didn't turn out the way we planned, First we got drunk using the 'free drink coupons' the hotel gave us. Then we tried to walk to a burger place that seemed so close from our hotel room window, but it required us to climb an overpass and live a few near death moments. But it was worth it, the burgers were great! Then when we got back to the hotel we watched a full 20min of America's Best Dance Crew hosted by Mario Lopez before falling asleep fully dressed with our jeans and shoes on....All this occurred between the hours of 8pm and 11pm too which is the worst part :P We weren't meant to party in Vegas lol. Oh well, maybe next time! Anyways, it was a great trip and even though we worked hard we had a lot of laughs and that's what matters most!

Leaving for the Week

I haven't been updating recently, things have been pretty crazy. I'm preparing to go to Las Vegas again, this time not for a convention but a tradeshow. The biggest tradeshow aimed towards streetwear and apparel. We're hoping that this year we'll get into more boutiques and possibly chain stores. As we always mention the more we do well the more new items we can make for you guys :) So we're excited to see how this will turn out. I'll be going with my friend (best salesman I know) from Red Corner Apparel, and supposed to meet up with La Carmina once we're there. So if you're in the area and you want to meet all or any of us we'll be around. Let you know how it goes!

Here's the latest painting progress photo: