AnimeSpice here! It’s a brand new shiny year, and if you’re anything like how I was back in my school days, you’re probably dreading the return to class. Though I can’t stop or reverse time, unfortunately, I am already designing some interesting new items for 2016, some of which you could add to your new anime school gear.

This month, I will be releasing the Floating Sakura collection, a series of designer notebooks created by yours truly that incorporates water, Japanese cherry blossoms, and cute anime girls. What’s not to like?

I call them “designer” because really, this is a passion project of mine to create truly engaging anime-styled stationary. Not something mass-produced and recycled like Hello Kitty, but items with unique pieces of art each time.  I’ll be working closely with the print team, making calls on paper quality, coil colors, etc. to craft something the user would be proud to own.

There will be 4 notebooks to the Floating Sakura set, the latest notebook will be available in the next couple of days, so definitely hang around! If you want to subscribe to the blog to stay up-to-date with us, you can HERE.

Work in Progress

For the back cover of the notebook, I wanted to go for that origami paper feel. This is really my first time working with a Japanese style such as this, but it’s a very beautiful artform!

I began drafting up a couple of origami-inspired designs and building shapes in Illustrator (not necessarily my favorite program but the perfect go-to for creating vector forms.)

After Illustrator, I brought the shapes into Photoshop to start crafting the pattern. Take a look at the design layout sheet below.

Now that the designs are done for the back cover, what will the anime art on the front cover look like? You’re just gonna have to wait and see!

 

If you want to get a feel for the kind of artwork I’ve created in the past, and to see how I got started as an anime artist, I definitely recommend picking up a copy of my art book.

It received a great review by Otaku USA magazine early last year and I hope that it will inspire you as well. (Plus there’s a mini – tutorial in the back of the book.)

 

Thanks for stopping by the blog and adding a little anime “spice” to your life! Happy New Year and see you again soon!

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