JAPAN365

drawing-a-day project for 2011...

smooth BLACK BOOK cover BABY!

Black_cover_preview

this is it...

book is proofed! and it is a hefty volume.. spine an inch thick.
within a week it should be rolling off the presses.
thanks so much everyone for waiting.. 

will advise with online outlets for purchase of digital and hard cover copies as soon as they become available.

I appreciate your support, and have decided that 10% of lifetime sales ought go back to Japan in donation form to an organization doing good work towards informing and inspiring a healthy future for all, Japan For Sustainability.

leaking JAPAN 365 page layouts!

...putting together 365 captions, introduction, acknowledgments, gathering quotes and foreword, buying barcodes, having everything translated into Japanese and edited, and now designing (thx Christina in California!) WE are really getting somewhere!
The book in PDF form is slotted for completion in Mid-April, at which point we will send for proof copies for final edits, and then printing printing PRINTING!

Thanks for the wait, and for now enjoy the pages to follow I am very proud to share with you as previews...


(download)

どうもありがとうございます! おおきに！（Doumo Arigatou Gozaimasu! Ookini!) Thank You Very Much! Thanks!

To everyone who supported this JAPAN365: Drawing-A-Day project financially, by way of donating to claim a postcard or book perk, your trust in my artistic endurance and faith in my ability to produce is what propelled me through the most difficult days. My humble appreciation and enormous thanks go to:

Laura Ornelas, Minori Ogawa, Lindsey, Denise Driver, JoAnna Chin, Mariel Reyes, Jessie Steinberg, Coleman Riedesel, Julien Turcotte, Cindy Phung, BE Photography, Micah Steffenson, Christina Tran, Ciane Brewster, Marcus Bowers, Daniele Prati, Ruby Ku, Christie Zangrilli, Mark Henry, Hazel Cruzado, Christina Vattathil, Shogo Horiuchi, Astrid Boutry, Flourent Grouazel, Ian Schranz, Steve Slack, Kate Guillemette, Leanne Valenti, Joyce Shek, Romeo Bruni & Family, Karina MacDonald, Katrin Ahnert, Norinaka J Matsuya, Robert Lam, Harold Sears, Elizabeth Donohoe, Katie Benedict, Jordan Kramsky, Melissa Hunt, Doran Bostwick, Veronica Meewes, Kelsey Hinkel, Marc Greyvenstein, Robyn Elliott, Adam Wright, Lee Hampson, Nicola Gell, Aralyn Hughes, Ashley Marshall, Melissa Milford, The Reynero Family (Mike, Yoli, Dezh & Kalob), Penny Cameron, Lorenzo Orselli, Assumpta Power, Elaine Oblath, Sarah Dyer, Kenneth Soares Jr., Killian Power, Dezmond Pagen, Amadeus Moisl, Jake Wright, Park Wonmi aka Winnie, Emily Koller, Vicky Quilty, Coleman Riedesel, Tiffany Moreno, Sue Stenton, Clodagh Power, Katelyn Nguyen, Liz Thomas, James Hart, Jennifer Krafft, Meredith Wheelock, Kiki and Takeshi Yoshida, Jessica Roberts, Sanka Jayasuriya, Kyle & Sandi Lowder, Yosefina Kim, and Michael Dixon.

And special thanks to the Donors who invested in the Hardcover (please check your name is it will be printed in the book!):

Jeannie Wu, Alexandra Almaguer, Betty Clark, Warren Lam, Melissa & Jeff Purser, Yuki Takata, Amanda Burdin, Paul Henry, Matthew Little, Cary Fujikawa, Romeo Bruni, David Foster, Jeff Matsuya, Arien Muzacz, Sindi Gaxiola Tran, Colin Moon, Timothy Wilkinson, and Alex Maciulaitis.

And to the generous Art Lover Benefactors who claimed Original Drawings:

The Chou-Esteban family, the Esteban-Pretel family, Millie May for Ernie & family in Aomori , and Tony Vu

And to the lone Patron of JAPAN365: G. Andrew Grzymala!

Of course, to those who could not support financially, but spread the word to friends or family, took a look, posted a comment, shared a link, sent a postcard, talked to someone about this cool picture some guy drew of Japan, many thanks go to you, too.

I will do my best to make sure the final product is worthy of your kindness.

J

 

365!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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i have contained my excitement long enough.. here's the last friggin' drawing of the year!!!

and fittingly, it came with challenges all its own.. I had gone to kyoto city, met with a bunch of couchsurfers, and the day was winding down and i had yet to do a drawing. so i find myself in a smoky bar, people chatting with (more like AT) me at this point, spilling drinks, drumming on the already wobbly table, high-fiving, hugging, throwing darts by my head, and i am sitting there, unconsciously bobbing my head to bad justin bieber songs and hip-hop reggaeton, sketching furiously to finish before the year is rung in. I figured i would do a fun piece, not off photo or even life, just a freestyle, graffiti/kanji of "yoi o toshi o" which is simply the spoken "happy new year!" 

there are just two easy kanji in it, along with hiragana, and yet I must thank Yoko for verifying the kanji as I'm still very much a beginner when it comes to reading and especially writing kanji. The only other significance lies in the bells (which my girlfriend Yuki pointed out are very much western-style bells, and not exact renditions of authentic japanese temple bells, forgive me) and a little buddha dude, probably resembling the indian buddha more so than any japanese monk, my bad again. anyway, it was a relatively quick, fun and energetic (aka sloppy) "良いお年を！" piece, that is a fitting end to the year's madcap drawing escapade. ( I'm still planning to draw one more for 2012, that I just couldn't pass up, and because I think I may have neglected to draw anything for Tokushima prefecture, please forgive me! but it's a humorous and perhaps emblematic scene that may have been questionable as the year's last, not that there was ANY pressure on #365 or anything..oh no.. but yes please check back in a few days to see..)

So thank you so much for watching JAPAN365, thanks for your support on IndieGOGO, for buying books and postcards, for spreading the love, for watching the video. Thanks again to Manateemann and John Alcera back home in TX for getting that together perfect and fitting for the bitter end.

I hope to have the book done in a few months time, at which point I will definitely post on here where you can buy online and tell your friends who may have missed their chance to claim a book through IndieGOGO.

And who knows, if the book gets good response in 2012, there is a great chance I will be back at it in 2013, another daily romp documenting through drawings, some other country, city, region or theme with a drawing everyday, J365 ball pen style (that is if i can't get a wall-a-day to paint - any ideas where that could actually happen??)

Happy New Year to you and remember to realize your dreams, a little each day. Then watch them come true, I'm tellin' you! That is if the world doesn't end... ;P

364 - Dragonfly

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photo inspiration from the 1000 best photos of Japan scenery photo book.. this one of Lavender fields in Yamanashi prefecture near Mt. Fuji..

The dragonfly has apparently inspired many artists and poets throughout Japanese history, and thanks to a very nice blog http://haikuproject.wordpress.com/ by Melissa Allen, many were compiled together nicely already! I would like to re-share a few here that I personally enjoyed, and want to thank Jay Otto for an excellent close-up photo capturing a real red dragonfly in exquisite detail.

togarashi hane o tsukereba akatonbo
"red pepper
put wings on it
red dragonfly"
-Basho, translated by Patricia Donegan

tombo ya ni shaku tonde wa mata ni shaku
"dragonfly
flying two feet
then two feet more"
-Issa, translated by David G. Lanoue

"dragonflies
the soft blur of time
in another land"
-Rick Daddario

"the dragonfly
etching circles in the air
never asks itself
why do I write" (or DRAW, in my case!)
-Melissa Allen

"Oh, Catch it!"
"I heard they eat their own tails."

When I was a child, living on an air force base in Okinawa, it was a common belief, among the elementary school set, a dragonfly would eat itself if you caught it and fed it its own tail. I looked online and didn't find any references to this notion, so maybe we were all sniffing the good Japanese glue.

Anyhow, even though we constantly snagged lizards and grasshoppers and cicadas, I never saw anyone ever catch a dragonfly, as common as they were."
-Steve Mitchell

363 - San Francisco Japanese Tea Garden

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The oldest public Japanese garden in the United States (since 1894) is in San Francisco's Golden Gate park. Originally created as a “Japanese Village” exhibit for the 1894 California Midwinter International Exposition, the site originally spanned about one acre and showcased a Japanese style garden.  When the fair closed, Japanese landscape architect Makoto Hagiwara and superintendent John McLaren reached a gentleman’s agreement, allowing Mr. Hagiwara to create and maintain a permanent Japanese style garden as a gift for posterity.  He became caretaker of the property, pouring all of his personal wealth, passion, and creative talents into creating a garden of utmost perfection.  Mr. Hagiwara expanded the garden to its current size of approximately 5 acres where he and his family lived for many years until 1942 when they, along with approximately 120,000 Japanese Americans, were forced to evacuate their homes and move into internment camps.  When the war was over, the Hagiwara family was not allowed to return to their home at the tea garden and in subsequent years, many Hagiwara family treasures were removed and new additions were made.

Today, the Japanese Tea Garden endures as one of the most popular attractions in San Francisco, featuring classic elements such as an arched drum bridge, pagodas, stone lanterns, stepping stone paths, native Japanese plants, serene koi ponds and a zen garden.  Cherry blossom trees bloom throughout the garden in March and April.
-excerpted from japaneseteagardensf.com

361 - no man's land..

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from National Geographic December 2011 issue..

"A lone animal rights activist walks along the Fukushima coast. The power plant lies just over the hill, less than half a mile away. Weeks after other tsunami-hit regions were cleared of debris, cleanup crews hadn't yet been dispatched to this area because of radiation levels. Despite stiff penalties for illegally entering the zone, some animal rescuers defied restrictions as they sought to aid pets and farm animals that had been left behind."

Help me make it happen for 'JAPAN365: Drawing-A-Day Project' on IndieGoGo

Hey Friends and Family,

Happy holidays! I hope they have been good so far, and that you are looking forward to the New Year (of the Dragon) with wide-eyed optimism. If not, let me know how I can help your dreams start to come true!

Just to clarify, and if you have not had a chance to check back in on my Japan365 project lately (done in T-minus 5 days!), I am in fact giving away drawings now (to save from having to burn too many leftovers) with every BOOK PERK claimed on Indiegogo here: http://www.indiegogo.com/JAPAN365-Drawing-A-Day-Project

That means, in a few months time, for just $35 (or 100 for hardcover & personal dedication signature) you can get my first published BOOK, an insight into the Land of the Rising Sun, bookmarked with 10 postcards, and an ORIGINAL ARTWORK! (Maybe when I am dead and gone it will be worth at least the $35 you spent on the book ;P)

Anyway, it just takes a second, very easy to do, and I promise stop harping you via email and facebook January 1st! (Unless you want me to, then I'll keep sending you updates..)

Lots of Love from J in Japan :D

\\

I'm writing to let you know about 'JAPAN365: Drawing-A-Day Project'


Take a moment to check it out on IndieGoGo and also share it with your friends.  All the tools are there.  Get perks, make a contribution, or simply follow updates.  If enough of us get behind it, we can make 'JAPAN365: Drawing-A-Day Project' happen.


http://www.indiegogo.com/JAPAN365-Drawing-A-Day-Project?a=237388&i=emal