Heres to the Old Ones.

Recently, my seven years old laptop burned it's graphic chip because of the weather. 

最近，由于天气突然巨热，用了7年的笔记本电脑花了屏，彻底申请了退休。

So I went to Apple's 5th Avenue flagship with my old dying friend, where they broke the sales record per square foot in the world.  I looked at those stylish stuff with tears in my eyes, waited for their comforting smile and told me: "No worry, we will take care of you!" But the well-trained genius didn't even open the computer's cap. They were like: Hey, would that going to kill you if you could just buy a newer version of our product? 

我含着眼泪，抱着最后一线希望拿着电脑到了第五街这家号称单位平方面积里销售额最高的旗舰店，希望那些帅帅的天才们能帮我做点什么。但对方久经训练略带歉意的表情仿佛在说：嘿你这是什么年代的老古董，买台我们最新的轻薄SSD硬盘视网膜屏幕的会要你命吗？

It was my second year in college, I got my first computer, a self-configured PC, second hand from a friend. It was slow and it had a problem with the contact finger on the memory stick. What happened was when I turned on the computer, the main board often sounded alarm, ocassionaly, and on the screen there was a line said: Keyboard error. The curious thing was it didn't happen every time. Back in 18 years ago, I already learned the machines could have temper.

我上大学二年级时才有了第一台电脑，由于是别人送的旧货，不仅速度慢性能差，还有一个极罕见的接触不良的毛病。那台电脑经常在开机自检时报警，并提示说“未检测到键盘”，莫名其妙便没法进入系统。久病成良医，从那时起，我便对电脑这个东西有了“我得小心伺候着”的心情。每耗费“巨资”攒了一台电脑回来，便日日夜夜对着傻笑。除了开机前沐浴更衣烧柱香，摸一下台灯（除静电）才敢碰机箱；运行时时刻关掉多余的程序以节约系统资源；关机时则要连说三遍老婆辛苦了老婆晚安老婆明天见。做足了各种宠溺的仪式后，才能安心入眠，不然就怕电脑突然给脸色看。

My college room, bed were on top,  desk were down below. In those years, we only had CRT monitors, which looked like television. And we all use desktop computers because no one could afford the laptops. So if you walked to our rooms, specially in summer seasons, you would have seen every one sitting in front of their "Naked" computers, we took off the shell of the computers and put an extra ventilation (normally for humans) on it, to spread out the "heat" of our sexy babies. 

那时的大学宿舍，上铺是床，下铺是写字台，那个年代液晶显示器还未普及，每个人都还用的是硕大的CRT显示器。每到夏天，你就能看到每个人旁边都是一个机箱壳拆掉的裸露主机，有的人甚至不舍得自己吹电扇，24小时对着机箱猛吹。

In 2011, the year Steve Jobs passed away, I commemorated him by purchasing this 15" Macbook Pro, my first Apple product, with my two months salary. Since then, I became a royal Mac user- the one who is not going to sleep outside of Apple store for the new released product, but who loves too much about every single detail and never wanted to upgrade.

乔布斯去世那年，我用两个月的工资缅怀了他，买下这台15寸的Macbook Pro, 从此变成了MAC的忠实用户。

So since then, my days of re-installing the system every 2-months passed away, as well as video games. I used my new baby making lots of illustrations, keynotes. It did helped me developing my career. Click HERE to see "The theatre of shadows" illustrations that I published on Mengya Magazine. They were all made by the help of this computer.

从那以后，我便再也没有过整天重装电脑的日子了，借助这台电脑，我用它发表了不少插画作品，做了无数Keynote讲义，赚了不少钱，只是游戏不再玩了。点击这里，可以看到我为《萌芽》杂志绘制的封三插图系列《影子剧场》。

I always have strong feelings with the objects that I used: old phones, chaires, pens or sneakers. After I started using Mac, I found myself falling in love with the MAC OS system. I even didn’t want to upgrade the system after Moutain Lion. Not because I didn’t like the new super flat interface and those fancy new apps. It’s just I hate to say goodbye to my old system. Sheldon was always right about these: Change is never good!

我向来对使用过的物件会产生感情，用过的手机，穿过的鞋，打过的球，坐过的椅子等等。自从用了Mac之后，我开始对操作系统也产生了感情，所以自Moutain Lion之后，我一直没有更新操作系统。每次看到苹果最新的发布会，耳边总是想起谢耳朵的名言：Change is NEVER good!

So instead of buying a new slim retina ssd Macbook, I bought a 2012 Mac mini with a quarter of the price. It’s a second hand one in good condition. 

所以，我的Macbook Pro坏了之后，我没有去买一台新的视网膜超薄的来替代（缺钱是主要原因），而是去二手店用了四分之一的价钱买了这台2012年的Mac Mini.

I fixed the small problem of the ventilation (same issue like my 1th computer: the contact problem). Then it runs well. I can do most of the works by this new friend, except video recording and editing. So I think I might not be able to do the process video recently.

这台Mac Mini在经过我略微的改装之后（扩大至16G内存，修复了CPU风扇），还是跑的好好的。只是由于显卡的性能上限，录制和剪辑视频的活暂时做不了了。

Now Apple is such a giant brand with such an incredible product line, it might not have the sentimental heart for it’s “vintage products”. But you know what, some one still cares about the old ones.

如今的苹果如日中天，可能早已不稀罕自己过去的产品了，但有人还对你们巅峰前那些有开拓性的产品念念不忘呢。

A commission acrossed time and space. 一张穿越时空的订件。

Someone told me that she wished to hang my drawing on her new home's wall. Then she send me the photo of the repainted wall and size (luckily, no deadline). The size was 15X19 inches, it was the largest size that I had been commissioned for the last 3 years. I was so excited and got to started immediately.

有人对我说，家里新装修完的墙上希望能挂上我的画，并发来了墙的照片和尺寸。画的尺寸是40x50厘米。已经三年没有接到这么大尺寸的订单的我，激动的立刻开始构思。

As a fan of SimpHoo and CoolNoodle, my client certainly have no problem about seeing my 2 characters standing on New York street. I had a lots of fun by drawing these sketches:

下单的这位是辛普猴和凉皮喵的粉丝，所以自然以这俩宝贝为主角，和我居住的纽约为背景为主题。想到纽约的街景，想法就一张接一张冒了出来。如下是最初的草图。

These are the snapshot of the city where I lived: The street side of Soho, the studio of SimpHoo, upperWest twilight, laundry downstairs, and the iron bridge on east 125th Street. 

这几个场景都来自我居住的城市：口香糖满地的Soho街边人行道；辛普猴的工作室内；上西区街边入夜时分；楼下的洗衣店和东125街铁桥下。

My client chose the last one without any hesitation. Her comment was: I can smell the spring on it!

客户毫不犹豫地选择了最后一张，她的回复是：仿佛能从这张画里闻到春天的味道呢。

But client is always client, she also showed her "dislike" about CoolNoodle's orange short. It wasn't about the color, she just simply didn't like the style of the short. To me, the reason I put this short on her was because I need a complementary color to POP-UP girl's blue Knicks jacket.

但是客户总是客户，她对凉皮的橘色紧身短裤表示了“不喜欢”。偏偏这条橘色短裤是衬托其蓝色纽约尼克队棒球服的重要色彩元素，如果换成其他的色彩或是款式，就会减弱对比色的力量，也凸显不出凉皮喵浑圆紧实的臀部。

2nd round sketches. 第二轮草图

So I tried another round for the combination:

于是，我又试了下面三个不同的搭配。

This time, the client chose the 1st version with denim short. Actually I like girls wearing that too, especially the low-rise and you can actually see the lower half butts. I didn't draw that at the 1st time simply because I drew it too much. BTW, I really don't like the the high-waisted loose short!

这一次，客户很干脆地选了第一张穿牛仔短裤的版本。其实我也喜欢牛仔短裤，一定要低腰能看见屁股下半个圆的那种，第一稿草图没用牛仔短裤唯一的原因就是因为画的太多了。顺便说一句，今年流行的那种松松垮垮的高腰牛仔短裤真是太难看了！

Further sketches, confirming the tones and color combination. For the first time I tried this "curve perspective".

进一步，确定构图，黑白灰和色彩关系的两个阶段。第一次尝试用了一个“弧形”透视来框住背景中的铁桥。

When you have the same taste with your client, things always get easier. But I had to find a way to solve the complementary problem. I tried this: Adding a yellow traffic light on the left and choosing a more cheerful posture for CoolNoodle by raising her leg and turning her head toward the camera. And that did make the difference.

当你和客户的品味一致，总是能让事情变得简单许多，但要解决缺乏和蓝色对比的色彩问题，我必须得另想法子：通过在左面加入黄色的交通信号灯，并让身为韵律体操高手的凉皮高高抬起腿和转过脸面向镜头，点燃了整个画面的情绪。

By the way, no matter how I tried, I could never reach the vibe of the sketches on the final drawing. Sketches are always better drawing than my final ones. I was quite struggled until I saw the great masters of renaissance and impressionism. They are all the same, drafts are always their best works.

顺便说一句，无论我在画完稿时下多大功夫，都总是画不出这一阶段草稿的生动感。我也试过干脆不画草稿直接在完稿上开动，但完全行不通。后来我看到了德加、莫奈等印象派画家和文艺复兴的大师们的草图与完稿对比之后，心情便平静了，原来大家都是这样啊。

I think there are 2 reasons why the sketches are always so vivid, one is when you are making a sketch, you are starting from nothing, empty; second is the mind is aware of this is a "sketch", but not a precious final work. These two mind reason make the difference. The funny things is: Top 10 most precious calligraphy works in Chinese history, were all drafts.

草图之所以生动，可能是两个原因：1是因为画家完全对着空白在构建画面，2是知道这是草稿的事实，心思和手都是放松地在画。不去勉强掌控笔而恰恰画出生动的线条，这怕是舞蹈家、音乐演奏家、体育运动员、武术家、书法家和画家们共同的追求吧。中国古代十大书法珍品，通通都是草稿呢。

The 60% of the final size 正稿的百分之六十

Being as a slave of the "Ctrl+Z" for many years, I need an unofficial version before I screw up on the final paper. I treat this one as a preparation, and some test with my brushes and colors. I used Canson Mixed Media 11x14 inches Sketchbook. You can check the drawing video here.

由于这一次正稿的尺寸很大，常年被Ctrl+Z所奴役的我心里没底，于是便在约60%的康颂 Mixed Media 27.9x35.6cm 绘图本上先画了一遍，检验下构图和色彩搭配，还有笔和颜料的特性。绘制的过程请点击这里

Starting from pencilling 从铅笔开始的正稿

The final finally started! I used Canson Foundation Bristol 260gsm paper, with vellum surface.

正稿开始！使用的是康颂 Foundation系列的260g卡纸，左图是此纸裱在四开画板上的样子。

My client lives in Shanghai, so this drawing need to be rolled in a mailing tube. (Flat cardboard is also an option, but I was worried the long distance traveling will damage the cardboard)

客户远在上海，这张需要通过国际快递的画必须卷起来放在画筒里，所以必须使用足够结实的纸，和防水的颜料。

This scene-breaker is PiDan. Rather than CoolNoodle's rising leg, he was more interested in a foam brick under the drawing board.

抢镜的家伙是屁小蛋，比起凉皮高高翘起的美腿，他更感兴趣的是垫在画板下面的泡沫塑料。

The drawing process 绘制过程

The process from penciling to inking. 从铅笔到勾线

 I always color from the skin. Once the skin tone was set, I will have controls with other parts. 我习惯由肤色开始上色，这样最容易奠定整体色调。

Detail: The escape staircase, and the graffiti on the Honda Monkey.  细节 公寓上的消防梯，和摩托上的涂鸦。

BTW, The tiny little moto that SimpHoo was driving on was Honda Monkey Z50. It was once teen Michael Jackson's riding! While I was drawing it, I use a 1/12 plastic model as the reference. Every component was based on real.....plastic model. 

顺便说一句，辛普猴胯下这辆摩托是本田猴子。这一系列可爱到爆的摩托曾是少年时的迈克尔杰克逊的坐骑呢。我用手边的1比12的模型来作参照物，每一个零件可都是按实物绘制的！

Honda Monkey model unbox, found it on amazon.jp. The illustrated manual helped a lot when I have a reverse angle against the one on the box.

本田猴子模型，购于日本亚马逊，其中的说明书为找不到反方向的细节图帮到了大忙。

The finished drawing(right below) and the drafts.  

完成后的正稿（右下）与草稿们的合影。

The finished final drawing, before the shipping. 完成的正稿，寄出前。

I spent entire 7 days on this drawing. Plus the sketches and testing, it took me 2 weeks to finish it. And I spent hundred dollars on the supplies, package and shipping...

But how much did I earn from this commission?

此画的正稿从开始到完工，用了整整七天，再加上前期的草稿与测试，花了我整整两周的时间。用了我上百美金的材料费、包装费及运费。最后的画酬劳是多少呢？

The payment was $0,

酬劳是0刀,

plus, thirty years of friendship.

和30年的友情。

For my oldest friend, my desk mate, who supported me since I was 8,

Good luck for your new home! May our secrets keep remaining between us forever!

送给自8岁起便支持鼓励我长达30年的友人，我可爱的小学同桌。

恭祝你乔迁新居！愿我们彼此之间的糗事永远不会被第三个人知道！

Click HERE to buy the print versions (various sizes)

点击这里购买原大尺寸印刷版

The making of a cover illustration. 一张封面插图的绘制过程。

In 2017, by the purpose of seeking the visual language (or you can say: the style) of SimpHoo-the carpenter monkey at New York Public Library comic, I made this illustration. Through this drawing, I found the way to merge my fictional characters and realistic scene. I'd like to share the process with you in this blog.

2017年，为了建立《辛普猴在纽约公共图书馆》这部漫画的视觉基调，我创作了这张插全彩色的插图。通过完成这张插图，我找到了融汇真实的场景与虚构角色的表现手法。下面我来说一说完成的经过。

Before I drew the sketches, I had an vision about the monkey was running on the library's marble staircases with CoolNoodle-the cat ears girl, and there were long, twisted shadows chasing after them. But after I did the researches on site, I decided to change the background in stead of the inner part: The Rose Main Reading Room. The reason was quite obvious: The Rose Main Reading Room was the 1st result when I search "New York Public Library" .

在画这张插图之前，我设想的辛普猴在纽约图书馆的画面，是猴子拉着女主角凉皮在42街图书馆的石头阶梯上向下飞奔的场面，地上的影子映出追着他们过来的“危机”。但经过几次实地勘察之后，我决定把刚经过两年闭馆整修的玫瑰大厅阅览室画到场景里来。原因很简单，在“纽约公共图书馆”的图片搜索中，玫瑰大厅的照片总是第一个跳出来的。

So I designed such a composition: On the center of the image, my two main characters standing right in front of the camera and looking toward their front. It appeared something/someone dangerous is coming to them. (I promised I won't spoil and I will not tell you what are they now!) The background will show not only the ceiling and the big chandeliers, as well as the library's iconic reading tables and lamps. Through manipulating the vanishing point, the ceiling and floor's brick compose two triangles, and they gathered at the center of the image, which created not only the depth, but also the radial shape which is going to grab your attention to my characters. It's super old fashion, but super worked out. 

在这样的指导思想下，我设计了这样的构图：辛普和凉皮占据画面最大的位置，共同面对镜头，表情惊讶且紧张地看着前方，仿佛有什么危险正向他们袭来（我保证过不剧透的吧！）。而背景的大厅不仅要看得见华丽的天花板和吊灯，还必须出现近处的带有图书馆标志性的桌子和台灯。起到引导读者视线作用的地砖排列在脚下，指向画面正中心的灭点，再通过改变透视的灭点，将天花板和地面的上下两个三角形的尖汇聚于主角的中心位置，同时起到放射作用，让画面产生纵深感。非常老套而有效的构图手法，可是超级有效不是吗？

Then I drew these two sketches below by the size of a bank card. Then colored them, and tried to figure out the way to color it for the final version. I used Canson Mixed Media paper (98lb/160g) for this kind of drawing. They are heavy enough to hold the watercolors and inks, and they are not too rough as watercolor papers, so I could easily draw or modify my drawing with eraser, then put them into my scanner.

构图完成后，我在160g的Canson Mixed Media 纸上（水性颜料会使100g以下的纸皱到无法扫描）画了两张银行卡大小的缩略图，并对其进行了上色的比较。

Color thumbnails

It seems the left piece had a better clarity because I limited the colors to 1 set of complementary-which is orange and blue. It worked with the gorgeous Rose Main Reading Room. But how about the other scene in the stories? I didn't have an answer at that moment... 

看起来明显是左边的配色更清楚明了。这样的配色画金碧辉煌的玫瑰大厅似乎没有问题，但是图书馆内其他各处的场景是否也行的通呢？此时的我并没有答案。

For the next few days I would keep thinking about compositions, layouts, anatomy of the characters, facial expressions, colors, etc...  It was half anxious and half exciting. But if I didn't find my time to draw it on final, the inspirations and excitements would just pass, and I will loose the motivation to draw it.

After experienced many times to dealing with my unfinished projects, I decided to NOT transferring any of my daily "UNexpected" ideas to any drawing. In stead, I wrote them down by texts. It's a good way for me to keep the seeds, but not the wild grass. Of course, that demands some self discipline, and I think anyone would have it if you have several unfinished and "never will do" sketchbooks.

任何一张画，草稿画到了这个程度，我会在之后好几天内，按耐不住地想把它画出来。等这几天一过，这股冲动过去了，再回来想动手，就不想画了。所以，这几年都很谨慎地对待脑中的草稿。如果时间不够又实在觉得灵感难得，就用文字写下来，绝不轻易下笔转化为视觉形象。再忍不住，就去看那些半途而废的速写本提醒自己。比起长一院子野草，我还是更愿意存一口袋种子。

3 steps before coloring: Blue pencil, inking and ink wash.

For penciling and inking, I use the blue pencil for drafting and a light box to ink. I didn't like inking directly on the penciling lines because it took me so many time to erase them. And It really pissed me off when I saw the missing inked area after I erased the pencil lines.

接下来便是铅笔稿和墨线了。由于我铅笔稿总是会画的很深，擦铅笔稿实在太费事了，而且每次擦完都会发现不少遗漏的线条，铅笔印记却已经擦掉了，气愤不已。所以我总是借助拷贝台勾线，等勾完灯一关，留下干干净净的线稿，多好！

But recent days, my dear LED light box made my eyes tearful and red because I starred at it for pretty long time. OMG, there is just no such thing like a perfect way!

但最近，由于盯着LED的拷贝台看的时间太久，眼睛红肿酸痛的不行。真是世间没有十全十美的方法啊！

Below is the comparison with traditional coloring and digital coloring. Left piece is colored by watercolor. I actually did this one first. What happened next is I wasn't satisfied about it, so I used the ink wash piece to color it with Photoshop, and it came the right one. Just for you to know: Always scan your inking pages or ink washed pages before you color it!

下面是传统上色与数字上色的对比。左图是在黑白灰的原稿上涂的水彩，这张虽是先画的，由于不满意，便又在Ink wash的基础上用Photoshop上色了右边这张。各位，千万要记得画完的线稿或黑白稿，要先扫描！

Comparison between watercolor and digital color. 水彩上色与数字上色的对比。

Although both of them have their own good parts, the left one had a vintage and more organic feeling. It was more like a "30years from now, the library is lack of repairing version". But I decided to show the right one to my publisher. The result proved I was right. With this drawing as the cover illustration of my book plan, I got the publisher's attention before I actually started drawing the comic. The most important thing is, through this illustration, I found the confidence to capture the "sense" of the story. And after one more year's preparation, I finally started to work on it.

虽说两个版本各有各的好，左边的还更有些古朴的气氛，更像30年后缺乏维修而老旧图书馆。但我最后还是选择了右图，辛普的背心改成了红色，背带裤的纯度也提高了，虽说磨损的裤缝之类的地方减弱了，但整体色调更清晰明快，不是吗？事实证明我的选择是正确的，凭借这张对比强烈、清晰明了，并且可以通过电脑调色的封面图，我在还未开始动笔的情况下就获得了出版商的认可。最最重要的是，通过这张插图，我对自己抓住了故事的氛围和绘制方法有了十足的把握。又经过近一年的前期准备，终于走上了真正动笔的道路。

I'm not sure if this is going to be the final cover illustration of the comic book, because I haven't go through the book design yet. But I hope I would be on some higher level and having some other perspectives, so I can make a new one. 

And above is the making of this illustration. 

Thank you for your reading!

正如前文说的，虽然在构思这张插图时，是以封面为载体作的思考，但在进入到书的设计之前，我不知道这张插图是否会最终用在漫画的封面上。说不定在完成故事之后，会有更合适的封面内容出现呢。

以上便是这张封面插图的绘制过程，

谢谢你的阅读！

LagaZhang All Rights Reserved

SimpHoo comic journals. 辛普猴漫画日志本

These are the journals of the SimpHoo comic. It took me 3 months to finish the 1,2,3. 

During the time I make the comic, every day I write down the important experiences and inspirations, if I can still open my eyes in the end of the day. These A5 notebook from Muji are my favorite notebooks for writing. They are thin so my hand wouldn't dangling while I was writing on the edge. They are exactly the half size of A4 (international copy paper), and they are simple and well designed. It's very easy to carry them, as well as archive them. The left corner one (with rounded corner) was brought in 2016. Unfortunately they stopped selling it. I really liked the rounded corner which preventing the corner of the notebook being hit.

So I brought 5packs this time for those 3 on top. Hoping they won't stop it again. On the moment I write down this sentence, I think I should go buy more.

这是我常用的创作记录本，在这其中我用文字的形式每日记下所做和所想。右边的1，2，3册是今年头3个月所记的。左下角那本是曾经创作辛普猴的一个短篇时所用的笔记本，可惜这个带圆角的笔记本在Muji后来再也买不到了，取而代之的是不带圆角的标准A5尺寸。我很喜欢这种朴素而质优的本子，即方便携带，又很容易归档。这一次我买了整整5包，以备再次断货。

写到这里，我决定过几天再去买10包。

The SimpHoo comic need entire 2 years to finish. That didn't count the time I wrote the story. From thumbnails and storyboards, to penciling, inking and coloring, it does consume this amount of time. So I decided to record my days by writing the journal. Actually they are more like the logs. For example: April 6th, Sunny, Penciling Chapter1 page024. Did 85% of the architecture, eyes turning to red, have to continue tomorrow...etc/

I also write down the "unexpected ideas". These ideas comes from nowhere, like, if you are experiencing some beautiful moment and you want to capture that feeling by drawing. They are very important for artist because they are inspirations. If you just let them go, they will never come again, but if you follow them without any discipline, they would lead you to somewhere else rather than your own route. I've been through it, a lot of times. So I found this way to write down it then check my yesterday's TO DO list, to be precisely, yesterday's UNFINISHED TO DO list. It always set my route straight. The interesting thing is, when you read your journal from 2 weeks ago, they looks like someone else's thought, that's something I didn't know before.

辛普猴的这部漫画，从画出对白分镜，到铅笔稿，勾线然后上色，光是绘制的部分就需要两年的时间。面对这个至今为止最长的项目，我开始用日志的方式记录整个过程，每天工作前：会写下临时突发奇想的项目（我好不容易才找到这个不被奇思妙想打断自己节奏的方法），然后翻阅昨日写下的待做的项目，并确定彼此优先权，再按着日程表进行自己的时间管理，以此校正轨道。每当出门时在地铁里就掏出来翻阅，一两周前的记录看起来完全像另一个人的想法。

Inside pages of my journals, I wrote in Chinese most of the time, but for some technical words I use english. The 1/3 line is for the tips. 创作笔记内页，页面三分之一处划一根线，用以添加备注。

我从小到大从未写过日记，但竟发现用这种方法记录自己的人生，才真正明白时间都花在了什么地方，或者说，浪费在了什么地方。

I have never written any journal since I was a kid, until I just visualized the time we passed by flipping through these journals, or to be more precisely, the time I wasted.

The calendar and idea book 日程本和点子本

日程本 Calendar

点子本 Idea book

Except the journals, I also keep one calendar book and one idea book(the black one). Yes they are all Muji's too! I love Moleskine too but Muji is much cheaper. It threatened me when I'm facing an expensive notebook. Besides, since I learned how to binding my own Moleskine style notebook, I didn't pay a cent. (I will talk about it later)

As you can see, I separate these notebooks by functions: sketchbook for sketching, Pads for finish artwork, and lined notebooks for writings. In the meantime, I control the numbers of notebooks for the same project, archive them by time, and keep them as the same height (21cm or 8 1/4 inches). I know, it's very obsessive, but it's efficient for me.

除了创作日志，我还有一本日程表，用来当做日历；和一本点子本（黑色），这是积累想法和创意的地方。我尽量控制这类本子的数量，将他们与速写本分开。至于尺寸，经过反复衡量，我选择了A5的尺寸，即国际通用的A4复印纸的一半。这是我认为即能方便书写又能方便携带的尺寸。而在使用英制尺寸的美国，唯一能找到的A5就只有Muji了。

The inside pages of my calendar book. A comic artist has to take care of his own body! 日程本内页，请漫画家一定要爱惜身体！

Inside page of my idea book. Sorry I can't show you too much, spoiling alert! 点子本内页，抱歉这里面不小心就会剧透太多，且放这么一张。

Like any other artist, I keep drawing on several sketchbooks at the same time. They are divided by project or sizes, papers. I would like to share my experience of using them, as soon as I finished them:)  Next time, I will talk about the very important step of my comic's production- the thumbnails and "Name".

 和其他艺术家一样，我也保持着同时进行好几本速写本的习惯，我将它们按照项目或尺寸，甚至纸张分类。希望有朝一日能早日完成这些速写本，希望。。。

下次我将会分享我的漫画创作中非常重要的一个部分：缩略图和对白分镜。

Thank you for the reading!

谢谢你的阅读！

1st Blog!

Hi! Welcome to my journey of making the SimpHoo comic!

欢迎来到辛普猴的漫画创作博客!

SimpHoo-A carpenter monkey.

SimpHoo is a carpenter monkey who lives in New York City. I created this character in 2014.  I used to post his story on Weibo(A Chinese social media platform), with the format of web comic. After several years of learning and developing every fundamental acknowledge of telling stories by making comics, as well as sharpening my drawing skills and drawing styles, I decided to take the story to a longer, an appropriate size and well designed physical comic book. A book you can flip and smell, and a story who can inspire you and others.

辛普猴是一个做木匠的猴子，我于2014年创作了这个角色。曾经深爱篮球的他如今面临生活的压力，必须以一技之长面对猴生的抉择。时不时的，还得拯救一下这个对他不怎么样的世界。

Today I am very happy to announce that after over 6 months' preparation and negotiation,  I finally got the green light from my publisher in Beijing.  SimpHoo's comic is going to be printed on paper!! The 1st episode will be published in 2020!

It will be 120 pages, Simplified Chinese and printed in full-color. I wrote the story and I will illustrate it and color it by myself. The monkey's journey started in the New York Public Library. Where every scene and the entire "adventure routine" are all based on real the New York Public Library. The moment that I wrote this blog, is when I am inking page 23 and 24, which is the last page of Chapter 1. I still have a long way to go but I feel almost touch the first mile stone.

自2017年停止网络漫画的的更新以来，很多朋友问我辛普猴的后续漫画哪里能看到。今天带来的好消息是，这篇故事将于2020年以纸质漫画简体中文单行本的形式在中国大陆正式出版，第一本的页数为120页，是猴子的第一个长篇故事。爱球鞋的木匠辛普猴将在纽约公共图书馆开始他的冒险之旅，这里也是他与凉皮喵相遇的地方。在写这篇博客的时候，我正在对第23和24页的画稿勾线，第24页将是第一章的最后一页，虽然还未上色，以及后面还有很长的路要走，但是，我感觉已经快要摸到第一块路程石了！

The Stephen A. Schwarzman Building of the New York Public Library 1908. Photo from Wikipedia.

The reason that I choose New York Public Library(Stephen A. Schwarzman Building) as the story's background is because that's the place I found the story. It's actually such a wonderful place that you don't expect to not have any inspirations. I have to tell you, the part of the motivation that I choose this place as the story's background is because I want to draw it. It's just so incredible!  

之所以选择纽约图书馆，准确地说是纽约图书馆的史蒂芬.A.舒沃兹曼大楼这栋建筑，不仅是因为我懒得自己设计场景，更因为这栋建筑实在太厉害了！第一次走进这座建筑的时候，我就萌生了“在这里构建一个冒险故事”的想法，在2016年，经过关闭两年修整天花板重新开放的Rose Main Reading Room(玫瑰主阅览室)呈现在我面前时，那种被一所图书馆所震撼的感受实在无法用言语形容。当下，我的这篇故事的雏形就已经初步形成了, 故事中的场景都将以位于纽约42街的真实的史蒂芬.A.舒沃兹曼大楼为实景绘制。

So that's it, my first blog of SimpHoo-the carpenter monkey. And I would like to use this blog as the journal to record my working progress, sharing my methods and inspirations. It won't like a weekly or monthly commitment. But I'll post the contents that I think would be interesting.  I can't promise I will post weekly or monthly, but I can promise you that I will try my best to not spoil! So you will have the 100% "original experience" when you hold the printed book in your hand, which is the biggest reason that I made my effort to it.

不过呢，独自完成一部上百页的漫画是很花费时间的，在以后的博客中我会告诉你究竟花费的时间用到哪里去了。也因为这样，我停止了很快就会过时的社交媒体上的更新，选用了老式的方法建立了这个网站，自己付钱的网站总是可持续性更久一些，待漫画完成之时，这个博客会完整的记录从头到尾的创作过程，会很有意思的。

如果你忘了网址也没关系，只需搜索 辛普猴或SimpHoo，你就能回来啦。

至于漫画的情节，为了保护你拿到漫画实体书时那份特有的体验，我会时刻提醒自己绝不剧透的。

Thank you! 谢谢！

Laga 张啦嘎