tina tae

old drawing: maybe october 2011?

2012-02-11T13:50:00.000-05:00

I'm making a book! I'm making a book!

2011-09-20T08:33:00.000-04:00

quit work to be a full-time creative!
feels good! yipee :o)

shopgrrl

2011-05-04T02:53:00.003-04:00

ahaha, and this one comes with a snippet of writing i just found:
'...this biweekly paycheck is the shiniest carrot in my sight and
i hover in close proximity, making sure there is nothing to disrupt its cush landing, should it
ever decide to fall into my grubby little rabbit hands. crunch crunch,
do you hear my gnashing teeth, can you sense any desperation in this action at all?
it's not terribly unusual.

i think we all do this in our various metropolitan holes...'

yay bunny motif--happy year of the rabbit everyone <3

bitch please, buy a dress and get out.

2010-09-25T01:16:00.004-04:00

I don't have all day.

This retail stuff is getting to me, I save the smiling for the customers and I go home grumpy and anti-social (--well, even more so than usual); my facial muscles are getting into the habit of dropping when people leave the store (there should be a smoother transition, I think. the current motion feels severe); and more than likely, I'm getting primed for something wonderful bi-polar.

fudge.

I read on facebook that one of my friends is living in Iceland with her (I think)-native boyfriend.

Fantastic, right? I thought New York was such a good idea. Maybe it's time to think of someplace else.
And look into visa/work options.

(hah! certified doodlebug! at your service!)

Is it just me, or is September kinduv a downer month?
AC told me it might be residual going-back-to-school blues...

There will be candy in October. That's something to look forward to <3

p.s. A lot of my customers have sugadaddies. good thing they're pretty--
p.s.s. Does not seem worth it when sugapop asks for sale stuff. You know, like cheapy sCrap

one last cigarette before going to bed

2010-09-19T05:51:00.016-04:00

it's the final craving of the day, the last act before turning off the power, the motion

but instead of finding peace it's just sheer anxiety. the crush of the mini-moment

squashed big picture.

everything has no purpose, nothing is directionless, all is indecision,

the light is really too bright

but flipping the switch, and it's too dark to see the cigarette.
really a sour filter end is the biggest spoiler. so then what

the light goes back on, but then, there needs to be music

but of a very specific timbre. there's a song for this ki--

ah the music begins, and then a genius thought:

'the back light of the computer will be enough to see by,'

we sink the light.

but just as comfort in familiarity should give way to peace.

monotony

like an unbearable repetition
makes every nerve so restless. like

something will burst if nothing is done.
the army of bad king Boring, banal, routine
Cubicle, Taupe and polite bannisters
suit-sets, tribeca paunches, placemats,
grossly-found dumdums, diapered horses,
half-dead goldfish, eyeballs rolling drunkenly about

blow 'fuck me' (pow!)

it's the end of the world.

ahaha.

the cigarette is put out,

the computer shut closed.

it's good to be imaginative.

i lay in the dark, watching the static.

a massive pulse shooting lines through empty

mushy head

2010-09-08T23:53:00.000-04:00

wuts shakin girly

2010-07-08T02:03:00.001-04:00

duh.

2010-05-25T04:44:00.006-04:00

"you just need to do what you love to do. the money will come."

said by a foreign customer that didn't seem to like me.

thank you! come back again!
the ditzy shopgirl needs reminding

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

i had the day off, yep

2010-04-16T05:55:00.000-04:00

just me, so I made big plans-

please, employment god,

2010-04-01T13:46:00.003-04:00

I do not want to sell clothes for the rest of my life.

Please help me to become an illustrator.

and please help my friends become writers (mostly).

and for everyone else that lives a life unfulfilled,

please help them too.

but I guess, please start with me?

-prayer from a newborn babe

alala just got fired!!

2010-04-01T13:37:00.000-04:00

oh my sainted leggings, what am I going to do?!

bad for business, i yam i yam!

group poop submission!

2010-04-01T13:13:00.014-04:00

come on girl, get it together

2010-03-25T23:33:00.003-04:00

can't stop eating bunny-shaped marshmallows.
my heart hurts.
the cornsyrup fluff is overcrowding it. owwow

another fragment

2010-03-12T06:55:00.005-05:00

...

blank, but somehow scratched

mussed slate

and I clap the erasers together

all of that

going up in the air, spreading into the corners.

I open the window to let it fly out, so it does not touch floor

this is essential, I think

*this scrap has been hanging out in the bottom of my bag for the past week.

i like it enough to not throw it out, but i don't feel like finishing it
.float on

waiting on this video?!?!

2010-03-12T06:32:00.000-05:00

aww.. ciggie comics

2010-03-12T06:29:00.001-05:00

"pack o' love" from A. to E.

super cute!

so snap-happy

2010-02-25T01:05:00.004-05:00

maybe i was just overly-thrilled that it wasn't raining on my walk to work, but it thought everything looked extra nice (truly!)

blogspot doesn't show colors so hot, but the pinks and greens were really quite attractive.

there are some nice lights where i live

2010-02-20T23:55:00.021-05:00

this last one is manhattan. cute, eh

winter days

2010-02-20T14:15:00.001-05:00

storyboarding

2010-02-18T09:00:00.000-05:00

is tough. wow.
sorry film kids--

also, so much for d. hertzfeldt ambitions.

Privacy Block

2010-02-10T22:51:00.017-05:00

So someone asked me why I had blocked this blog for awhile and I said that it was because I didn't want to scare away potential employers, etc. I wanted new gigs, jobs and I didn't want HR or a simple google search to undo everything..
I sat like this for a few weeks, but it became a little bothersome to hide for the sake of a potential freelance job. --especially when I figure I'll be doing freelance gigs for the rest of my life!
I guess it can't be helped. HR will always flip and I will always hold a lousy day job (thanks AA for having me!)

I ran into an old friend the other day and she said, "there's always time to sell out."
I answer job questionnaires like a nightmare employee: "It is OK to drink alcohol on your break as long as you do not come back to work drunk. Agree/Disagree" "Agree." who doesn't want a drink to get through that last half of the day. just, take it easy
--but then, who takes advice from a raging alky
Remember the old steak-and-martini lunch days when everyone came back to work stewed, only to light up two packs of smokes in the same windowless building? that was Wall St. professionalism. yeahh

holy moley collabs with alex chiu!

2010-02-09T12:50:00.004-05:00

These were drawn last year in the spring when Alex and I were still in San Diego.
I was in my last quarter at school and Alex was freelancing like a gazillion projects, but we still managed to meet up to collab a few times. He's one of those rare personalities that wants to include as many people and backgrounds as possible; and throughout the year, he has been a dependable bright spot to keep me inspired to draw (-thanks! :o) ) I think he's wandering around socal now with his lovely Ann, making friends, zines and art. How cool! I miss them.

An Artsit for hire.

2010-02-09T12:28:00.015-05:00

Why catn anyoen spel 4 shti.

Really, it's annoying.
There are so many gigs on craigslist that say that they are 'professional' writers looking for artists to illustrate whatever projects, but--isn't it problematic that they can't place two *perfectly spelled* sentences together? Craigslist is obviously not the most formal jobsite, but still, those few extra revisions over the course of four sentences really do make all the difference.
Normally, I wouldn't care, but I find it slightly ludicrous that I submit a cover letter, portfolio, and resume to a character-string e-mail address and sloppy block of text, actually hoping to get the job.. / You understand my bitterness.

peace out, the whatsit.

my landlord's baby

2010-02-05T01:39:00.013-05:00

cries all night..

It doesn't bother me because I'm already up

but my guess is that my flatmates aren't sleeping a wink

-especially the one that complains about my boiling water too early in the morning (7 AM is fair, right?)

just an update

2010-02-03T04:13:00.019-05:00

i work at american apparel now.
and I feel a lot better than I have for the past couple of months!
so hopefully, i'll draw happier things :o)

this is a concept logo I drew for an advertising kid. the client is MillionTreesNYC.

I met up with the ad kid a couple times last week, drew like 40 sharpie comps and learned a bit about advertising.
It seems like a rough market--the ad kid is on-call All of the time and apparently there's no job security.
A lot of older, famous art directors are currently out of work because there are so many young recruits to work cheaper, longer (duh)--and apparently the nature of advertising is that a brilliant campaign can be thought-up overnight. The "Got Milk?" idea was apparently scribbled on a diner napkin and then presented the next day as a wild-card pitch. The person who thought it up is supposedly worth 5 million today.
Brainstorming ideas was fun, I thought. But I could see the ad kid getting frustrated when we didn't generate anything 'worthwhile' (not that we had high standards) for ten-minutes..

It's interesting to see what finally sells as a campaign. Of the ones I drew, the worst of the lot.
--but the ad kid says that the most successful campaigns tend to be "a little dumb."
That's fine?

some old stuff

2010-01-17T16:57:00.024-05:00

necklace: coral, lapis, pearl on mermaid flank doorlatch.

-and a nudiedoodly.

I think I notice backsides more that I live in bedstuy :o)

wall in my first room. little sketchies but more importantly--necklaces!

I couldn't bear to make more to sell though. Business is not my strong suit.

unrelated, but big news when I didn't have a job:

a big box of noorungji from my mom!

I think a couple days later, I got my first response from one (of the fifty!) applications I'd sent out in the week.

this was actually supposed to be for a show but i never turned it in (because I messed up..)

but it was drawn during my time at the kaffe and it reads:

"please do not tell your fucking exhaused barista to have more coffee."

ordinarily, I would have thrown this away--but it's actually one of the few things I made in my first few months in NY and it was a pretty happening job..

this creative tantrum actually makes me happy to look at now--i think i'm in a better place.

these are really pretty. i had a quilting kick back in november

this was attempt number two for that show, but i messed up again and just ended up quilting onto the canvas.

go away

2010-01-01T15:56:00.004-05:00

blah blah blah you sound like a bug caught in a jam jar
strawberry stickies have got your wings in a bind
and you mumble a befuddled sort of apology.

I guess you begin to eat through the sweetness surrounding
but when the lid lifts,
good heavens, can you fly

absolutely not,
you're bursting to the eyeballs with
sugary preserves.

you scoot yourself out on your six little legs
and stopping to rest every four millimeters
realize you've lost sight of -

the vision

2009-12-31T00:54:00.000-05:00

I will make a chapbook

and try my hand at comics.

yep

scrap #2

2009-12-30T15:26:00.003-05:00

scrap #1

2009-12-30T15:15:00.002-05:00

so you watching or what

2009-08-17T23:13:00.001-04:00

off the fat o' the land

2009-06-28T19:34:00.002-04:00

i don't really know

2009-03-30T00:54:00.001-04:00

conversation

2009-03-29T00:24:00.001-04:00

dark note

2009-02-16T00:20:00.004-05:00

flipping funny fish

2009-02-09T05:45:00.002-05:00

getting beat. color and w/out

2009-02-07T06:32:00.002-05:00

just a question

2009-01-21T19:36:00.003-05:00

(can you really do it alone?)

w. also may 08

2009-01-21T18:00:00.000-05:00

vi. neighbors
loving
neighbor

do not leave
lemon cream

cake on my
doorstep, do

not bring
sweets

when you hear
my house

shouting
down the street.

such sympathy
for hard times

is unnecessary

and the cakes
that you leave

will be
habitually

stepped on.

w. april 08

2009-01-21T17:52:00.000-05:00

v. last night
last night

betwen the second and third cup
of spiced drink

I told you that I did not love you

and you responded coldly
that both this table
and I

were made of glass

that I really did not mean to say
what was whistling on the stove

that I did not

take out the trash
mean to
shut out the morning air

keep the fumes
of last night's burnt milk.
so I nodded my

head this last morning

and resolved to throw it out.
that scraped pot.

w. from may 08

2009-01-21T17:14:00.001-05:00

iv. birthday
there is so much color in this pool.
the perfect azure
is appealing
until one steps out
in a souvenir hue,
with fumes of chlorine
clotted memorably
in the back of the nose.
of course, it's necessary
to decontaminate
the water,
and its efficiency is such
that it kills upon
contact.
thoraxes
float on the surface
and are difficult to ignore.
legs get caught in my hair
and proceed to climb skyward.
I try
my best
to drown them.
they are ruining
my party.

writing from march 08

2009-01-21T16:54:00.000-05:00

I was driving back from Utah
and it was wet. Raining,
hollering, we played word
games, back-and-forth
and Sally Sue hollered from the back
that she wanted to play,
waking up Michael James. And he complained
that he hadn't been able to sleep because Aaron
had caught cold and snored loudly
all night. Aaron, now flushed pink,
announced that he was hungry
and Mika poked his ribs saying he was too.
Jannika saw an exit sign
and said that she wouldn't mind using the restroom.
I nodded vigorously as we pulled up to a joint
flashing "HO EMADE PIES."

collaborations with alex chiu!

2009-01-03T14:39:00.001-05:00

mania cover

2009-01-03T13:33:00.002-05:00

lamentation

2008-12-14T16:50:00.003-05:00

please' ta meet ya

2008-12-10T14:45:00.001-05:00

stoned fox/ hi rabbit

2008-12-07T21:56:00.001-05:00

elefaint!

2008-12-07T21:52:00.004-05:00

& after coloring fun:

would-picker

2008-11-07T01:22:00.001-05:00

seahorse pop n' baby

2008-11-07T01:20:00.002-05:00

bandit

2008-11-07T01:16:00.002-05:00

bird

2008-09-22T07:37:00.003-04:00

big brotha bun

2008-09-22T07:30:00.001-04:00