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Description
Growing up, manga art has always been one of my grand passions.

I remember there was a time when I, as a 12 yr old, aspired to become a great manga artist/anime director. Names like Akira Toriyama, Hojo Tsukasa, Hayao Miyazaki were among my greatest inspirations.

Yet even though I was inherently talented in visual arts from an early age (drew my first self-propelled rocket launcher at the age of five, with a high degree of believability), I didn't start taking art seriously (as a profession) until after I entered a community college (as a "failed Asian" who didn't get straight A's to get into UCSD) and started taking my first "real" art class - Art 101 at Miracosta Community College in Encinitas, CA.

So - forwarding almost a decade later, this piece was one of my forays into the world of manga - and concept art.

Although "later on" in my life, I was privy to be accepted to - and survived through - one of the most prestigious design programs on earth, my Product Design background did not equip me much in human anatomy. I learned no nuthin' 'bout drawin' or designin' human characters - let alone a manga character - until much later in my artistic life.

Like many incredible artists, everything I learned about.....anything, was self-taught. So this was my first digitally painted manga art; my first time getting familiar with Wacom tablets (no Cintiq), layers, blend modes...etc.

It was unfortunate that the skill of telling a deep, rich story behind my artwork wasn't in my mind. I was merely in the mode of practicing some really cool poses I came across from a manga pose reference book, picked one pose, and wanted to put it in a setting - and fashioned it in a costume that was near and dear to me.

This scene is loosely about a female Mossad-trained "katsa" (lit. ktsin issuf - (intelligence) "gathering officer") operative living in Taipei, Taiwan...doing God knows what in a bid to advocate for Israeli interest in Asia. I don't know, but in my imagined world, Taiwan and Israel have some kind of a hidden, mutual interest in working with each other.

I placed her in Taipei, Taiwan because it is my hometown; and I decided that she'd be Israeli (or somehow working for Israel), because, for some inexplicable reason, I'm obsessed with Israel and the Jewish culture. Perhaps there's a little bit of Jewishness in my own blood.....?

There is an eerily realistic essence to this art. At the time of this illustration, I saw that this "fictitious" connection between Taiwan and Israel was pure fantasy. I thought this merely reflects my deep love for both of these small, yet technologically influential nations. I thought that in reality, Taiwan was fairly insignificant in the world of geopolitics (no one knew about this island about a decade ago), and Israel had little reason to be an intimate partner with my homeland at any level.

Little did I know that much of this "fantasy" is now a reality.

Taiwan, much like Israel, has become "a cup of trembling" for nations around the world, more so than ever before. Taiwan's geolocation, confrontations with a belligerent Communist China, and their domination of the world's semiconductor productions mean that microprocessors from iPhones, cars, and F-35 fighters all depend on this speck of earth.

Giants like the TSMC have certainly put this tiny island at the volcano's edge of geopolitics. Furthermore, due to Israel's lack of high-tech mass-production capacities to build products of her own design at a competitive cost, the Startup Nation finds herself an unofficial, yet robust ally, in Silicon Island.

This art, almost in a premonition manner, seems to be built from an intricate background of global intrigue.

Description
Growing up, manga art has always been one of my grand passions.

I remember there was a time when I, as a 12 yr old, aspired to become a great manga artist/anime director. Names like Akira Toriyama, Hojo Tsukasa, Hayao Miyazaki were among my greatest inspirations.

Yet even though I was inherently talented in visual arts from an early age (drew my first self-propelled rocket launcher at the age of five, with a high degree of believability), I didn't start taking art seriously (as a profession) until after I entered a community college (as a "failed Asian" who didn't get straight A's to get into UCSD) and started taking my first "real" art class - Art 101 at Miracosta Community College in Encinitas, CA.

So - forwarding almost a decade later, this piece was one of my forays into the world of manga - and concept art.

Although "later on" in my life, I was privy to be accepted to - and survived through - one of the most prestigious design programs on earth, my Product Design background did not equip me much in human anatomy. I learned no nuthin' 'bout drawin' or designin' human characters - let alone a manga character - until much later in my artistic life.

Like many incredible artists, everything I learned about.....anything, was self-taught. So this was my first digitally painted manga art; my first time getting familiar with Wacom tablets (no Cintiq), layers, blend modes...etc.

It was unfortunate that the skill of telling a deep, rich story behind my artwork wasn't in my mind. I was merely in the mode of practicing some really cool poses I came across from a manga pose reference book, picked one pose, and wanted to put it in a setting - and fashioned it in a costume that was near and dear to me.

This scene is loosely about a female Mossad-trained "katsa" (lit. ktsin issuf - (intelligence) "gathering officer") operative living in Taipei, Taiwan...doing God knows what in a bid to advocate for Israeli interest in Asia. I don't know, but in my imagined world, Taiwan and Israel have some kind of a hidden, mutual interest in working with each other.

I placed her in Taipei, Taiwan because it is my hometown; and I decided that she'd be Israeli (or somehow working for Israel), because, for some inexplicable reason, I'm obsessed with Israel and the Jewish culture. Perhaps there's a little bit of Jewishness in my own blood.....?

There is an eerily realistic essence to this art. At the time of this illustration, I saw that this "fictitious" connection between Taiwan and Israel was pure fantasy. I thought this merely reflects my deep love for both of these small, yet technologically influential nations. I thought that in reality, Taiwan was fairly insignificant in the world of geopolitics (no one knew about this island about a decade ago), and Israel had little reason to be an intimate partner with my homeland at any level.

Little did I know that much of this "fantasy" is now a reality.

Taiwan, much like Israel, has become "a cup of trembling" for nations around the world, more so than ever before. Taiwan's geolocation, confrontations with a belligerent Communist China, and their domination of the world's semiconductor productions mean that microprocessors from iPhones, cars, and F-35 fighters all depend on this speck of earth.

Giants like the TSMC have certainly put this tiny island at the volcano's edge of geopolitics. Furthermore, due to Israel's lack of high-tech mass-production capacities to build products of her own design at a competitive cost, the Startup Nation finds herself an unofficial, yet robust ally, in Silicon Island.

This art, almost in a premonition manner, seems to be built from an intricate background of global intrigue.