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Magic Fingers
Category: Slice of Life
Ramen and a Movie
“Jinya Ramen” Austin, 2018
こんばんは。How’s it going? Today was a day of leisure, with a little bit of DIY at home. Everyone slept in late today except for me, since I tend to wake up pretty early even on the weekends. But I enjoy having my morning coffee and watching YouTube or drawing before the rest of the family wakes up.
For some reason, Koa asked to have “real” ramen this weekend so we decided to check out a ramen restaurant that we haven’t been to before. It was just myself and my two sons together today since Mariko was out at a lunch party, and then off to a girls’ movie night. So it was boys’ day and that began at Jinya Ramen Bar. I’ve heard mixed reviews of this restaurant, but Mariko said the one ramen that she had was good so I was excited to try. She did mention that the other ramen that her friends ordered were not good, and I’ve heard similar reviews from native Japanese.
We each got different types of ramen, plus a side of gyoza and fried chicken. I’d have to say the ramen was just ok. Not bad, but definitely not one to recommend when there are better ramen places in Austin. But, I’m glad we checked it out so that we know where it stands compared to other places!
After lunch, we returned home and Koa and I took apart Mariko’s Kitchenaid Epicurean stand mixer to clean out the old grease and relubricate it. That was a messy job, but it went without a hitch. DIY mission accomplished!
To finish off the day, we went to see Solo: A Star Wars Story. I thought it was great! So many cool tie-ins to the original trilogy and I loved the action. The story was pretty good too, and we finally get to see the spice mines of Kessel and the famed Kessel Run, which is definitely not what I was expecting. After a disappointing (to me at least) Last Jedi, I was hoping to like Solo, and I was not disappointed! I can’t wait for the next Solo movie.
“At the Theater” Cedar Park, 2018
I hope you had a nice Saturday!
またね～
New Illustrator Discoveries
As mentioned in last night’s post, I worked on a new illustration, this one was a combination of many sources. Sort of like sampling from different songs to make a new one I guess? The face is based on my previous illustration, for the body and clothes, I looked at some models at Old Navy’s website. The torso and legs are from two different models because the photo of the first model was cropped at her thighs so I found another full body photo from a different model and I think they matched up well.
I learned a couple new Illustrator techniques which will help not only with these illustrations, but in my professional work as well. The knife tool is handy for cutting shapes for shading and the blob brush is excellent for laying down solid color (actually creating shapes quickly using the stylus). A technique that I enjoyed was to use the pencil and smooth tools to create nice lines on one layer, then use the blob brush and eraser to create color fills on a layer below. It’s fast, clean, and can be very precise! And separating the stroke from the fill gives a lot more options for the stroke layer.
Lastly, I spent some time learning how to create custom fill patterns. The illustration above has a super-simple polka-dot pattern, which seems like it will be an important step to creating more interesting illustrations.
To see all the sketches I’ve been working on, you can check out the Flickr album “My Sketching Journey”, or my Instagram account barron.sketches which I created just for posting sketches, watercolors, and stationery items.
Start of the Weekend
“Yakiniku Time” Cedar Park, 2018
こんばんは。How’s it going? The first day of the long weekend we have here in the States was a hot one! The thermometer in my car showed 95° F, which seems a little on the warm side for the month of May, doesn’t it?
Anyways, today Bay and I went shopping for some gifts he needs for his school, then to REI to pick up his birthday present (a Hydro Flask which was on sale), the to the Jerry’s Artarama for some art supplies, and finally, we stopped at Kinokuniya again. It was a pretty fun outing, and the only thing I bought for myself was an inexpensive oscillating fan for the home office. It makes sitting at the computer a lot more comfortable, especially since the computer is on the ground near my feet and it gets pretty warm – nice in the winter, but not great in the summer.
Later, I worked on an illustration on the computer before dinner, which was a yummy yakiniku (Korean-style grilled meat) meal. It was so good, but the house smelled like a Korean BBQ restaurant afterward. 😁 We enjoyed three types of meat: marbled beef, sliced pork belly, and spicy sausage. The pork was especially delicious. For dipping, we like a simple sauce of sesame oil and salt. Simple but perfect taste to complement the pork.
To finish off the day, we watched the movie Jack Reacher: Never Go Back. It was an ok movie, but there was nothing special nor memorable about it.
I hope you had a nice Saturday!
またね～
Hang Out
“Music Mural” Austin, 2018
こんばんは。How’s it going?
This evening I went with my sons to the new Korean supermarket, H-Mart, to buy some dinner at Donkey Mo’s fried chicken restaurant. The market has a pretty nice food court area with a small stage for live music. And it looks like they have a line-up of local musicians just about daily. It’s pretty cool! And also, there’s a little beer bar that sells bottles for only 99 cents.
I think Koa liked the place and he said it might be cool to hang out there with his friends and listen to some music (and probably eat wings!). It’s too bad that it’s a little far to bike to, but I’ll be happy to drop them off since it’s not a long drive.
The chicken at Donkey Mo’s is pretty good, but I think they use a little too much batter. It’s really filling but you feel a little icky because of all the grease. Still, it’s tasty and not too expensive. We bought four orders of chicken and four sides and the total came out to be about $42.
“Music” Austin, 2018
“Food Court” Austin, 2018
I hope you had a nice day!
またね～
