Two -- count 'em -- TWO art posts in a row!  ... Don't worry.  I won't make this a habit.

This is straight up 2B pencil on smooth bristol.  Chapter one sample illustration for the book I'm working on:

Also, a photo of me and my l'il bumpkin from a day ago:

Sure is dusty in here.  Phew!  Hi, whoever is poking their heads in here.  I am still alive, actively updating my twitter account (of course!).  Don't worry, you haven't missed much.  I only started tweeting a couple weeks ago.

I have finally gotten around to uploading a drawing, and here it is!  It is a china marker study for a larger piece I plan on doing.  I really enjoyed using the china marker, it is very forgiving.  :)

Those are all characters in my latest book project (except the demons are kind of random).  Yes, the dolphin is included!  I really love drawing them and they're so much fun to write.  I'm still tweaking and perfecting my manuscript before sending it anywhere, so don't hold your breath!  It'll still be a long while before it sees the light of day.

In other news, our son Juni is doing great.  He is now 4.5 months old, and his personality is really starting to show.  He's curious, very observant, and likes to be with people.  Maybe all babies are like that, but this is what I've noticed about him!  You can see recent pictures of him on the flickr account I share with Kazu, if you'd like.

Obviously, I won't be updating this website all too often.  I still want to give the whole thing an overhaul.  I even have a design set up!  But finding the time between writing my book project and taking care of Juni in order to update my website is unrealistic.

For now, please add me if you use twitter (username: @Merofi), and I will continue to post sketches when available.  See you there!

Above is a watercolor of Tabby waking up in her bedroom (again).  Thinking about doing another one of Philip in his own room waking up, just to show how similar they are.  I'm not sure how helpful doing these drawings are, however.  They certainly aren't helping my writing!  :/

Speaking of which, I'm back in outline mode, taking summaries of draft 2 and 3, highlighting which parts I liked and which parts I thought were boring.  On Khang's recommendation, I've been using a website called bubbl.us, and it's been pretty indispensable so far.  If you're struggling with outlines, I highly recommend it.  It's better than using the old notecard-on-a-corkboard method.  It's easy to rearrange your ideas, you can color code everything, very flexible way of organizing your thoughts.

I'm also 3.5 months pregnant.  This is our first child and my first time dealing with pregnancy.  It's the most amazing thing that's ever happened to me, and I feel more healthy + happy than ever.  Really!  I haven't had much morning sickness or anything (yet).  The baby is progressing well so far, and I feel very lucky to be a woman and be able to experience this.  I've never felt so close to Life before. 

It makes focusing on my book difficult however, because all I can think about is being a mom.  If I don't finish this book by the time Little Amzu is here (temporary name) I'll probably move onto a shorter, simpler project and put Rema on the backburner.  I feel really close to a decent final product, but it's been taking me way longer than I ever could've guessed it would, and momma's gotta make some kind of income eventually.

Hello blog!  Long time no post.. isn't that how almost all my posts start?  I've been distracted by life these days (who isn't?).  I'm just popping my head in to mention that my friend Shadi has just got his first iphone game approved as an iphone app!  If you have an iphone, you should definitely check it out in the app store.  It's called Last Cannon, has great gameplay, great sound, and awesome graphics.  Check it out:   http://www.shadiradio.com/toys/lastcannon

You can also read his entry on the subject here.  It still amazes me he was able to make this game so quickly with such a miniscule "staff".  Shadi's also the one responsible for coding my blogging program.  He's a programming machine!