Early morning Rakko.

This is Rakko. He wakes up early in the morning, well before you. He usually has molluscs on his mind. This morning was no different.

Do you know Ikizukuri? It means living sashimi. At some sushi restaurants you can order octopus, needle fish, jumbo prawn or snapper alive. They bring to your table and you can enjoy eating it while it still moves, and watches you. They charge a high price for ikizukuri. When I told Rakko-San about this he laughed.

"Who would pay for such things?" He said, and he smashed a rock into a small red clam he had just brought to the surface.

He wouldn't let me have a bite.

A framed life

What must it be like to live a framed life? Mary Gertrude Bellwether has dwelled inside of a 7.5 by 11.5 cadmium yellow picture frame since birth. It occurred to her immediately that the world was collapsing in on her. And so, she has spent her entire life trying desperately to keep the walls of her 7.5 by 11.5 frame from crumbling down upon her and crushing her to death.

Mary Gertrude Bellwether has lived a mostly solitary life. During her first day on this Earth, she was joined by a small brown dog. His name was Chester P. Dog, here-fore to be referred to as "the dog", and he was painted on a scrap of Arches water color paper. After appearing on the paper, the dog was cut out by the painter with a pair of Wusthof brand culinary scissors. Having been sipping on a glass of 2008 Norton Argentinean Malbec the artist was rather careless in his cutting of the dog and severed a portion of the dog's left hind paw.

The artist placed the dog in the frame , just to the right of Mary Gertrude Bellwether, but he soon determined that the severed paw was distracting and the dog was removed within seconds. That was Mary Gertrude Bellwether's only taste of companionship. Mary Gertrude Bellwether never saw the dog, for she was too busy holding up the wall in an attempt to save both their lives.

Perhaps she sensed the dog's presence.

Or perhaps she did not.

All that is known for sure is that Mary Gertrude Bellwether continues to hold up the wall beside her, and thus far, she seems to be succeeding. And that, in a very small and auburn colored nutshell, is the framed life of Mary Gertrude Bellwether.

What sort of framed life might you lead?

New Shirts for Comic Con

It's comic con again and I've got lots of new shirts available in these designs. They are all hand silk screened by me. They are available for order here.http://kentanaka.bigcartel.com/ But you need to message me to tell me your size and color. Mistaken Bear isn't listed on the site, so just click andy design and ask for Mistaken Bear. For info message me at kentanakala att gmail dot com SHIRTS ARE $18 PLUS SHIPPING. I SHIP EVERYWHERE.
CAT VS LION
MISTAKEN BEAR
REGULAR STYLE

Dream Big Stuffed Dog, Dream Big.

The following is prologue from political historian Jacob Wisemanson's bestselling Biography. "Eric the Stuffed Dog- The Making of an American Presidency?"

Eric the stuffed dog was stitched together in 1961 in Kawasaki, Kanagawa-Ken, Japan. He was made for export and was shipped to Lyle's Toys in Peterbury, Ohio. In March of 1962, Eric the stuffed dog was purchased by Joanne Lipman. On April 3rd, Joanne presented Eric the stuffed dog to her nephew Stevie Richards on what was his 7th birthday. Stevie played with ERic the stuffed dog for a few days, but never really became attached to him. Soon Eric the stuffed dog found himself at the bottom of a toy chest, where he remained for many years. In 1972, Eric the Stuffed dog was put inside of a cardboard box and sealed into darkness.

Eric the stuffed dog next saw the light of day on April 17th, 1997. He was placed on a table, along with other old toys, and sold at a yard sale for .25 (approximately .28 by today's standards). He was purchased by Mariko Ito. Mariko, a buyer for the Japanese vintage shop Monkey Flirt, shipped Eric the stuffed dog back to Matsumoto, Japan.

Eric was back in his home country for only 7 days when a group of American tourists returning from a trip to Matsumoto Castle stopped in to Monkey Flirt. Jane Goodman, who had a stuffed Dog very similar to Eric the Stuffed Dog when she was young, purchased Eric for 3800yen. ERic the stuffed dog was again, briefly, sealed in darkness. 28 hours later, ERic was unpacked in the town of Burlington, Vermont. He was placed on the northwest corner of a wooden desk, in a cubicle in the Burlington headquarters of a Fortune 500 Biotech corporation called Genamtech. Jane would sit across from Eric the stuffed dog, typing on her keyboard, sometimes for 11 or 12 hours each day.

Although he occasionally grew annoyed by the clacking of her fingers on the computer keyboard, and the scent of her hazelnut coffee breath, Eric the stuffed dog was generally content.

In 2003, Genamtech CEO Charles Turner was found guilty of accounting fraud, embezzlement and one count of malicious name calling. Genamtech folded, and Eric the stuffed dog once again found himself in cardboard covered darkness.

He felt powerless. At Age 42 he found himself, once again, destitute.

That night, for the first time in his life, Eric the stuffed dog closed his eyes and dreamed.

He stood in front of a podium, on his hind legs, a crowd of men and women in suits stood before him vying for his attention. Cameras flashed. Eric raised his left paw. The commotion stopped suddenly. And then, Eric spoke to the nation.

And that is where our story begins...

What does :/ mean?

Dear Internet, I keep seeing this in instant messages :/ but when I google it nothing comes up. I tried to make this face myself to see what it might mean, but my mouth won't got this diagonally. Tell me , internet, what does :/ mean or ;/ ?

Rock and Roll Love.

This guitar is called the Peavey Mystic, but it's personal name is Jacob Electric Guitar. Some people call him JEG, but he prefers Jacob Electric Guitar. Jacob has been in the hands of many rock and roll stars like Twisted Sister's JJ French and also Randy Piper of W.A.S.P.
Over the years, Jacob Electric Guitar has learned a lot about the inner secrets of rock and roll music makers. He knows what they are looking for. Because of their large hair and sparkly outfits maybe you think that rock and roll stars are only after frivolous and fleeting moments of passion. But that is not what Jacob Electric Guitar says. Rock and Roll Stars tour the world searching for their one true love. And they don't stop until they find it. That's what Jacob Electric Guitar believes. And I believe in him.

Ken Tanaka Stand up at LA IMprov and signing at LA Times festival of books



This weekend I'll be performing my first ever stand up comedy ...telling an American joke about a duck. It's Sat april 21st 2012 at 10pm in the Improv comedy lab which is the smaller theater in the improv on Melrose ave.



Sat and Sun I'll be signing my Everybody Dies book at the LA festival of book s on the USC campus.

I'll be at the Hi DEe Ho comics table (Booth 938)

Saturday 10-12
Sunday 10-2

And at the Comic Artist Professional Society (BOOTH 860)
From 2-4 on Saturday.

Bert: Friend, Companion, Neighborhood Poodle





This is a self portrait done by Bert the poodle. Bert used watercolor on print making paper for this piece. Who is Bert Poodle? WEll...

Bert is a well known citizen in the area of Los Angeles where I have been living. He knows every baby, toddler and canine pup in the area and has sniffed and licked them all on numerous occasions.

In his free time, Bert is a neighborhood poodle and sits about allowing passers by to stroke and pet his furs.







For work, Bert models menswear and accessories for various catalogs and publications. I caught up with Bert while on a modeling shoot a took a few pics of him.







As Bert drew his self portrait I sat next to him and did my own version of Bert and presented it to him. He licked my wrist in return, perhaps as a way of saying "thanks" or maybe just because my wrist was tasting pretty salty.


Bat Cat: Nobody knows who I really am Process review



Everybody knows BatCat. His heroic feats are written about in newspapers, and blogs almost every day. I recently met BatCat at a feline hero support group where I was working as a caterer (mainly providing Ikura Matzoh Brae and Tarako Spaghetti). The above portrait of BatCat comes from a sketch I drew of him during my break.
After a few shots of rye whiskey and a fair amount of cat nips, BatCat opened up to me and told me his real identity. I promised not to reveal his actual name so I can only write it like this "J**** Th* C*t" (Asterix used to protect BatCat).

He gets invited to fabulous parties and red carpet movie premiers as BatCat but J**** Th* C*t has just a few friends and has trouble meeting new cats. "If I'm out as BatCat and I meet a nice cat, I always feel like they'll never know the real me anyway...so why even bother." Mewed BatCat as he rolled about in a large communal pile of catnip. "But if I go to a party as **** Th* C*t...I feel like nofeline is even interested in meowing with me at all".


I've often longed to be a super hero, but I guess I had never considered it from BatCat's perspective.

I think we all need to put ourselves in the paws of a cat hero sometimes....and understand the sacrifice that so many masked cat heroes make.






Here is the process of making the above BatCat Painting which is Acrylic Ink , Ink Pen and Water Color on Rives BFK paper.




Below is the original sketch.



The next step was to do a color test on white watercolor paper.



Then a full version on white.



Next I tried a color test with orange background.


I decided the body colors seemed too dark and didn't really represent the true bluish color of BatCat's coat...so in the final version I did a more realistic blue grey body. I may still add some ground to the final painting as I did in the above. What do you think? Which BatCat do you like best?

doggy derp



I met JAcob the Dog in San Mateo, California. I was taking a walk and he kept calling me. Arf, ARf, ARf. I'm not sure how he knew my name, but it was clear his arfs meant "Ken-Chan! おいで！” And so I went to him. I petted Jacobs head fur softly, and took this handsome picture of him in fuzziness. I love you , Jacob the dog.

Wonder Con Cosplay in Anaheim



My fellow artist pals Lonnie Milsap and Keith Knight went to sell our books at Anaheim's Wonder Con.

Lonnie does funny single panel cartoons in this two books I hate my Job and My washcloth stinks.


Keith Knight does Th(ink) , The Knight Life, and the K Chronicles which are in newspapers all over.


Of course, I was there selling my book Everybody Dies: A Children's Book for Grown Ups.

It was pouring down rain for the first day of the con, and we were too late and cheap to park in the nice underground parking, so we had to walk for many blocks in the rain. We are not very smart.

This was my first Wonder Con. There were a lot of costumed cosplayers, and some were very well done. I was also impressed by the R2D2 droids shown in the beginning of the video. I would like to have my own R2 unit, but they do break down frequently from what I've seen in the movies.

Japanese passover



I got to go to my first ever passover dinner. A Japanese woman I know married a Jewish American man and invited me to their home for Passover. She made this dish called Ikura Matzoh Brae which combines Japanese and Jewish tastes. It was surprisingly tasty. Ikura goes very well with scrambled eggs.

Passover is a long meal where you talk about stories of Jewish history and each thing you eat has some kind of significance. At one point someone hides a piece of matzoh and the others have to find it. I think this is called the Abbie Hoffman. According to Wikipedia , Abbie Hoffman is the author of "Steal this Book" and also "Hide this Matzoh". He was born in 1936 so this must be a recent tradition.