♦ alice / 君 / toronto / queer asian artist
♦ illustration, character design, visual development
♦ inconsistent art style + slow updates + multifandom: originals + misc anime/manga + games. i just draw what i like + here for a bad time!!
♦ commissions & freelance inquiries: alicenpai(@)gmail(.)com
my art | my ocs | about my stories
lost and found children | the magician's protegee
carrd
answered asks | tutorials
twitter | my art/moments on twitter
store (opens seasonally) | print shop (always open)
instagram
side blog
anonymous ask box
Hello! I just wanted to double-check if you're still in the process of shipping orders from your last store opening?
hi!!
apologies for the delay, i'm double checking orders and trying to ensure that the process of going from canada -> usa will go smoothly, everything will be shipped out in the next few days! (besides taiyaki charm orders) it's my first time sending mail to the US after the tariffs were implemented last year so just doing a bit of extra care on my end. thank you so much for your patience!!
hi, I was wondering if your utena shaker charms are sold out for good, or if you are planning on restocking for the future? thank you :o)
i only have one!!! it's a display copy so keep in mind i ripped off the protective stickers, but there should be no imperfections. i forgot to buy special clasps for the rest :') i might open my store again in the spring(?), the rest of the utena coffin shaker charms should be ready then!
hi, I was wondering if your utena shaker charms are sold out for good, or if you are planning on restocking for the future? thank you :o)
i only have one!!! it's a display copy so keep in mind i ripped off the protective stickers, but there should be no imperfections. i forgot to buy special clasps for the rest :') i might open my store again in the spring(?), the rest of the utena coffin shaker charms should be ready then!
🎉 https://alicenpai.bigcartel.com/
GREETINGS GAMERS... my shop is open for the first time in a year! if anyone has spare time to share, i would be so grateful 🙇♀️ im afraid the socmed numbers game has not on my favour this year ..
open from monday dec 15 at 10 PM EST to sunday dec 21 at 11 PM EST. i may close it later, just depending on whenever items run out!
you can use code POSTCARD20 to get 20% off all postcards, including clearance ones!
all prices in USD! US + EU + UK + CANADA SHIPPING OK!!! US bound orders have customs already included in shipping, don't worry, no headaches!!! 🫡 (buying charms & other products originally from china is A-OK!)
(also if there are any canadians who wish to order something - DM me if you want!! to avoid USD conversion + paypal/bigcartel fees!
Hello, i hope you don't mind a random ask and please feel free to disregard this, I don't expect a response as life is busy and this is admittedly a bit of a big ask and the most repetitive question any artist is asked ever so zero pressure !
I just wanted to ask if you had any advice for someone who is,
a) quite artblocked and trying to find their spark again, drawing their favourite things doesnt seem fun anymore
And/or
b) an intermediate artist who knows fundamentals but doesnt seem to be going anywhere/unable to apply them
I was given the advice of "if possible try ask an artist you look up to to offer some guidance" and I figured id try while I'm feeling a bit brave as your work has inspired me for god knows now, many many years!!
Apologies in advance for the huge ask! Once again zero pressure to respond and I hope you're keeping well.
hi!
these are really good questions and made for a rather long post, more in the cut.....!
⭐👇⤵
question 1 - art block
i felt art block constantly during the pandemic. granted, it was a confusing time for all, creating art whilst in a confused and isolated state must have been hard on a lot of people. i think i wrote a lot more about it (maybe in some digital diary entries?) but here's what i briefly wrote in a blog post:
"2020-2022 were rough years during the pandemic… i wanted to stop drawing so many times. i always say this, but during that time i went back and touched base with things i used to love as a teen, such as old anime (fma, pandora hearts, etc) that inspired me to pick up a pencil in the first place, and it helped to revitalize my love for art. and then i discovered drawing and studying fabric and i could never go back! i think my art is now more inspired by fine art history than cartoons hence the more realistic drapery…"
so the gist is that i found my old spark, what inspired me to draw in the first place, and ignited a new one. finding your spark might not come back right away. i certainly needed some time to absorb everything and just let myself be content doing NOTHING so that i could recharge. it certainly wasn't fun picking up a pencil the first few sketches upon returning.
also not trying to be a nagging parent (or therapist) here, but, our mental wellness impacts our ability to create. life struggles, spite, etc can be a great motivator, but there's a certain point where it dampens your motivation and when it gets too damaging. you gotta iron out those wrinkles first... it's definitely hard to take this advice, even to myself, but don't be afraid of the pain that'll lead you to change for the better.
also sometimes when your life is a bit too sedentary - physical blocks can lead to mental blocks. exercise is really good for artblock... you don't have to do anything strenuous HAHA like even going for a walk to the park, pacing around the house, walking on the spot, walking up and down the stairs, simple dumbbell exercises (it doesn't even have to be dumbbells it could be like. a small bag of rice or flour), light stretching! it gets your blood flowing and your mind too! (take this advice as a grain of salt don't injure yourself taking my advice please)
i also feel art blocked or demotivated when i've produced a lot of artwork during a range of time, e.g. especially after a huge con, or after con season in general. when you feel this, it's important to take a break and do other things. it's also important to know when to space out your breaks during the day/week/etc so that you're not overexerting yourself (if possible).
question 2 - fundamentals
oh, to be honest i'm not the best person to ask for this ... if it isn't clear already my fundamentals aren't that strong LOL i don't do a lot of studies in my personal time (i did during school of course, but i don't have a lot of time for personal art anymore)...
here are my points for applying fundamentals/doing studies:
1. i think what a lot of people lack when doing studies is being mindful. you can do 1000 studies, and that's fine and dandy, but you need to NOT mindlessly copy the original work, and you need to constantly reflect on your studies. unless you do that, you will feel stuck doing studies.
- keep notes on the side of your studies, what worked? what didn't? what can you do better next time?
2. ask for help - try to look for art groups, discord groups, etc. that focus on giving feedback! you can learn a lot on your own, as long as you're open minded, but guidance can help speed through improvement.
3. what i do in place of studies, is i incorporate references into my art as much as possible - even when i come up with the poses from my imagination, i try to look for reference photos afterwards from a similar angle, or i'll put a mirror on the table. it's kind of a given, and it feels redundant for saying this. but in a contrived sense your "fun" art becomes your studies.
draw your ocs based on a reference photo, look in your mirror and draw your fav chara emoting a fun (or sad) expression, anything!
- do you like drawing animals? great, turn that cat reference photo into your fursona or a warrior cat!
- do you like drawing ships? great! look up refs of hugs or whatever, drawing bodies interacting and intertwining is difficult but rewarding!
- are you interested in drawing cars? great!! draw cars fanart! draw f1! whatever! capturing all of the changes in planes and light is crazy hard but it's such an amazing skill to have!
- are you crazy like me and enjoy drawing fabric and only fabric, and don't care about depicting slick hair or gem-like eyes like regular "anime influenced" artists? go look up those photos of fabric girl 😻
if you're lazy or you lack time, you can simply train your eyes to be more "observant". i don't do art studies often but i think i'm quite observant? i'll make up for it by intensely "studying" works of art. if i come across a new illustration, painting, sculpture, i'll ask myself, what do i like about it? is it the colour, composition, concept? what's one thing that's unique/new the author used, that i can learn from? and i find just interacting with your favourite visual art pieces in that way can train your eye to be more observant of techniques and subject matter.
types of fundamentals i recommend:
life drawing
- i will say though that life drawing is one of the things i miss most about school, so if you have access to life drawing, try doing it more! online LD works, but you really have to see the models in person to understand how the body takes up space, you don't get that same sense working through a screen.
- prioritize quicker gestures, 5 minutes or less, as quick gestures will really hammer in the shapes and flow of the body.
- we did realistic styled life drawings in year 1+2 in school, and in year 3 and 4 we still did, but we branched out into stylizing LDs as well. this is a really good way to 1- have fun and 2- test your fundamentals by breaking those rules. (this is how i approach colour a lot too)
still life
- still lifes are also fun and i enjoyed those a lot. i don't put stuff on my desk lol my desk is too small. i draw from photos. i don't copy the photos exactly (you can if you want), but it's way more fun to inject some life and your own style into the drawing. i really enjoy still lifes from karen o'neil, they're deceptively simple.)
i hope these help! cheers to your art improvement journey!
hey! i hope you draw otacon again, nobody else quite gets him right like you do :)
aw that's sweet thank you haha! otacon is my favourite.. i love how his introductory scene is literally comic relief AND IT'S ICONIC, but the more you learn about his story, it gets more and more tragic and complex. he's a representation of mental fortitude and it's honestly the perfect mirror to snake. anyways yeah stan otacon. i just finished consuming the 3rd game recently and once I have.. time again.... I'd like to draw some more mgs 💪 I'm really excited for peace walker btw :0
after an entire year (yes i intended to finish this for halloween 2024 to match with my halloween 2023 drawing)… it's finally done 🧍……..... so happy halloween month ft. the Lost & Found Children kiddos!
names in clockwise order, starting from 1 o'clock: Flynn, Nate, Terence, Noa, Trent, Jack (sorry, the animals are unnamed, it's just part of my goal to learn how to draw animals and to just incorporate them more into my art whenever i can)
WIPs, & commentary under the cut 🦇🎃🍬 more art of them
trying to balance all of the deadlines and cons and life stuff this year really took a toll on me….. LIKE it's not that i didn't have fun, summer was a BLAST but now i'm like. oogh. my social battery for the rest of the year… o|-<
my dream has always been to debut some type of comic or zine at tcaf (toronto comic arts festival), but i've always struggled with school, work, and cons taking up my time away from developing my stories more, esp when i do merch full time nowadays, but i'm gonna try to do a career full time within the next year so i don't have to rely so heavily on merch.. please pray for my girlfailure ass!!!
i'm trying to focus less on small merch like charms and stickers nowadays (i already have so many of them), and my short term goal is to make more flat art like prints and sticker sheets, and you can count zines and books in the mix too. wish i had discipline… heh…………
i learned a lot over the course of the last 2 years in terms of illustrations. before, my illos used to be strictly you know, sketch -> line, colour, maybe a few colour adjustments at the end (but i rarely do that bc i find it doesn't improve my drawings all too much? i know photoshop i just dont really care about using it for colour adjustments), all with very clean brushes. it was missing something…
i think i've always struggled with garnering a stronger response to my art. i've noticed people react more strongly to stuff like doodles, rough sketches, closeups (LOL when your closeup/WIP gets more notes than the finished drawing) and more textured looking art a lot of the time, and more importantly, art that tells a story - or maybe i'm just projecting. but i realized my penchant for cleanliness and "characters just standing or sitting there" removed a sort of human touch and was the bane of my existence. one of my goals is to draw more group pictures, which is a horrible combination with my slowness, but i just gotta...
nowadays, my illust process is a lot more involved, i'm constantly redrawing and colouring and omitting lines, and i have a set of favourite textured brushes like watercolour, chisel brushes, etc. more than just… 3 favourite brushes now LMAOOO. below are my FAVOURITED brushes, i use them all sporadically (minus the watercolour brushes i like)
there's just too many..............
my process sounds a lot more tedious, and i won't deny it is, but i'm much happier with my drawings nowadays, something about the "roughness" of it all makes drawing much more satisfying. (well, the very few illusts that i actually do). and i hope that colours and objects pop more in my art, and that my art looks more sort of .. uniquely me now?
anyways, i've been reading more, i'm really into dracula & alexandre dumas (the count of monte cristo, and the three musketeers) as of late… hope yall have a very yummy october!! stay safe and healthy and have some fun/chill moments!!
lenticular sticker for @dunmeshizine 😋🐇🍛 when i saw that lenticular stickers were available to design i JUMPED on the opportunity, thank you again for having me!!! instead of doing the original dance in the manga, i wanted to make them look like they were on a 70s game show haha
leftover sales until oct 19!
meshi nouveau meshi deco clear sticker sheet !! 😋🍛🍲🍽
for @dunmeshizine, thank you very much for inviting me… the high caliber of works and the organization of this zine is unparalleled, def one of my most favourite zines to work with 🙇🛐 leftover sales until oct 19!
ill also have copies of the sticker sheet AFTER leftover sales end, at *mystery consignment store* in toronto from oct-nov, and at my next event - toronto game expo!
this version will be slightly edited to preserve the layout of my original sketch! not sure if dunmeshi is still popular so i'm still figuring out how many to print bc i estimate the bulk of my sales will have to wait until next summer's cons!
hello! i was wondering when the next online store reopening might be? totally fine if you don't have an estimate!
hiya! im not totally sure, i planned it for september, but with all of the funky things happening with US mail and tariffs right now, it might not be a good time...
i have to admit, me being from canada and having maybe 80-90% of my customer base in USA and not having that support will be tough on me, that's why i've been doing more conventions this year for the first time (and why i was just at anime NYC last week haha which was a BLASTTTTTTT)
i might open commissions for the time being (although i am very slow at drawing, and i'm not very adept or well suited for the commission life) but we'll have to see after i'm done a few deadlines !
Hello! Would you ever consider putting your Medalist art on inprint or any other type of art site? I really like your art style and I'm trying to get my friend a birthday present (it's already late so I'm not in a rush) and something Medalist related is what she wanted. Thanks for your time!
hi!! absolutely it's up on inprnt now! thank you so much for the support!!
been wondering if i should change my username...! alicenpai is a name i adopted when i was a teenager, from one of my close and most influential friends at the time. it's super catchy and an honest to god top tier username.
but i feel like i'm due for a name change and want to move on... "alicenpai" was created when i dabbled in only anime/manga but i've expanded my tastes and my art influences a lot since then (oh god if you were here for my first 2 usernames on tumblr.. you're a trooper...). i feel like the name simply doesn't suit me anymore! weeby usernames seem to be on their way out, and i feel like unconsciously it makes people narrow down my work to only anime/manga and anime-styled video games. as i want to expand more into more non-anime fandoms i feel like it doesn't suit my tastes (e.g. off, i want to do a knd and daredevil sticker sheet one day..)
with how scattered social media is nowadays (but it seems most people prefer instagram from the customers i've talked to in person during cons) i feel like making a change is easier now more than ever? (i used to use twitter primarily but it's kinda .. *hand gestures* like that now... i used to love it to chat and meet new artists.. sad)
i know 2 things - that 1. i'll never make another name as catchy as alicenpai. i've accepted that AHAHAHA and 2. at the end of the day it doesn't matter but it's important to me. will continue to marinate on this matter...........
