Tea Party and Manga

Shirt.Woot customers can vote for
my entry "Tea Party v.2."

I entered a Shirt.Woot contest for the third consecutive time. The theme was kawaii (cutesy and adorable).

I 'm skipping out on the next weekly contest. Whew! I tried some new techniques such as fading out the side of a scene on a shirt and alternating warm and cool colors in main areas.

I guess I got really into the tea party scene, especially after reading manga about cafes and bakeries. 

Cafe/Dessert manga has become one of my guilty pleasures. After reading about takoyaki at a New Year festival, I tried some at Genki Living. Takoyaki is like a ball of bread with octopus bits and veggies. I would order it again. :)

Takoyaki

This type of manga genre can be very simple, but I think it makes the attitudes more pure and heart-warming. The heroines usually want to create happy moments for others and have strong determination. I stopped reading Kitchen Princess when the plot got complicated and tragic.

Kitchen Princess

Using the Little Details

Click for a closer view of listed areas and details.

Johnny Cupcakes did a great job on the ice cream packages such as the sense of volume. Also, look at the suggested pressed lines in the ends. You get a sense of texture, making the image seem more tangible.

I appreciate that little detail because I do not enjoy reading descriptions that stray from the story too much and disrupt the flow.

For example, in I Robot: To Protect, the amount of detail given to food annoyed me most during a conversation. The narrator stated delight in the person on this date, but her attention was more on the food. Each described bite felt like a tree in my way as I tried to follow the conversation's direction.

Therefore, I try to describe to illustrate a character's feelings or to set the tone. If I describe to help the reader imagine an object, then giving tangible details like Johnny's pressed lines help the reader remember having felt the object before. Kudos to you if your readers feel as if they have held that object without having touched or seen it before.

The only thing I would change in Johnny's image is to make an edge of the package bend. This detail makes the representation less perfect, but more familiar. He wanted perfect symmetry though. Plus the package bend can draw your eye away from the main content.

Thank you to my sister for the Snickers ice cream bar at this moment. Now for ice cream that I can actually experience.

When You Eat With Others

Hello. A few weeks ago I visited some of my college friends and remembered a literary observation in high school.  My senior English teacher said that characters who ate together are connected with harmony or communication. Think of scenes such as the political dinner in The King and I where food is used in attempt to create harmony. Also think of fictional meals with disconnected characters which is shown by a character not touching his food or a disruptive, early departure from the table. Interesting demonstration of the relationship between characters.

Because I can get cranky without food, I try to include it in get-togethers or at least eat beforehand. In addition, people are usually comfortable talking at meals. One reason could be that your attention is divided from eating, listening, and talking so you are not concern only with the impression you make.

During my visit, I met some girlfriends over sushi because it was fun last time and the place has excellent deals. Afterwards, I continued talking to one of my friends over yogurt (more food). In our long talk, I remembered about connected characters eating together and my persistence to include food in a meeting with a different friend the next day.

Then I realized that when you eat with others, food is more than an activity you share. Because food is a need, you are sharing a satisfied need. If you're comfortable sharing a personal aspect such as a need, then you are more comfortable sharing about yourself as well. I think the yogurt helped opened up the conversation more between my friend and me. =)

With characters that eat together, you can also see the passion between them. My teacher had mentioned sexual tension portrayed through two characters gorging themselves at a dinner. One unsatisfied need is shown through the satisfaction of another one, but at the same level of intensity.

If you are interested in more metaphorical interpretations, then I recommend How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster.

Banana Sculptures!

I still have to blog about dystopia but here's something that I HAD to share:

It's a real banana, and there's a few more here. =)