I’m popping in to show you at least a partial preview of next month’s designs. Taka has been busy non-stop with work since he got back on the 15th so he needs a little more time to refine the sketches for January’s Pretty Winkers before I feel comfortable showing the sketches, but they’re almost there. I myself have been just awful as far as health goes, but I have managed to vector my designs and almost finished the colors. My cold from late November turned into post-nasal drip (wee!) so I spent almost all week of my post-market recovery laying in bed coughing and fatigued. I got my diagnoses from a doc last Tuesday and I finally felt back to 95% or so this Tuesday. I could tell my post-nasal drip/cold was finally going away because I suddenly had more energy to stay up late, sketching new designs (there’s quite a bit), and finishing grading pins (though I just got yet another new batch in right before Christmas… HAAALP!) >_< So good news for everyone is you’re going to be having some very hefty packages going out in the next couple weeks. You can see what production/QC stages are if you want to check out this page on our site to get an idea of what’s coming your way, ‘cause it really really is a lot!

PRETTY WINKERS: SG

Ashitaka is almost fully complete, I just need to maybe tweak some colors and add some screenprint for his eye, Yakul’s fur, and some additional shading/details. I’m pretty happy with how Ashitaka turned out. My biggest struggle was deciding whether I wanted his hood up or down and balancing his sort of positive outlook in contrast to San, without making him look too happy. I was originally going to do a more village like setting from the Emishi tribe he is Prince of, but I decided that since Lady Eboshi’s design will have a more town-like background I wanted to do the forest where Ashitaka’s curse was lifted, plus I really wanted to get some of the Kodama in there since I wasn’t really going to be putting them into Lady Eboshi’s design.  I added the forest butterflies after seeing a screenshot of Ashitaka scooping water in the forest and I though it was a nice counterbalance between the wicked wormy curse tentacles. Throughout the story, Ashitaka is trying to keep a balance between humanity and nature and I felt like this balances both the despair and the hope that Princess Mononoke teaches of.

THE RETURN OF YOKAI CLUB!

January marks the return of the Yokai theme! By far our most popular theme besides our 2020 launch year of Japanese matsuri and celebrations, we chose yokai because a) it’s really easy for Taka to whip up monsters since he loves them and draws dragons/folklore/animals constantly for his clients, and b) we always intended to make more yokai pins after concluding our club theme in 2021. So many customers wanted more yokai, but we never ended up having extra time to make more, so it feels like going back to a club theme will help us get those other designs finished!

The first yokai design of 2024 will be the Gashadokuro which is a giant skeleton spirit that eats people and in some accounts is made of the skeletons of fallen soldiers of battle. The most famous illustration of the gashadokuro is by Kuniyoshi.

PRETTY WINKERS

Taka is at work right now, but I will be nagging him to finish up his sketches tonight and hopefully have Sailor Moon Pretty Winkers preview for you tomorrow. If unable to get them tomorrow before charges go through, the characters are Casual Usagi & Eudial. Thank you for your patience with us always. I myself am working hard to be more timely, and expect the club to be more consistent in 2024 with new production partners I can rely on and with Taka phasing out of Pretty Winkers with the completion of the series of pins. I’ll be working on a survey for you all to help me decide the future of the Sailor moon theme as we transition out of the winking collection. Considerations I have rolling around in my head are doing some sort of kawaii chibi full body designs or else more like an action panel (not like from manga/anime scenes) but like my own original artwork/poses of the characters in a square or rectangular frame. Would love to get your thoughts on this either when I put out the survey or if you feel like emailing me your ideas too!

Anyway, I hope  you all have a lovely rest of your evenings and will enjoy a relaxing and hopeful happy new year!