Kichi, also known as Cruse, also known as Rory, is like a little sister to me. I've never actually met her, but through the beauty that is the internet, she has grown on me in a familial, loving way.

Yes, I know her through my online community of City of Heroes/Villains (www.coh.com), and before I became Bob's apprentice, I had promised her some art, back during my time of doing a lot of 'freebies'.

I originally sketched two images for her, and I never got around to completing them. The first one, is a knock-off from a Turner piece I came across over a year ago, that I thought was simply beautiful. So taking the rudimentary sketch that I had stored away for months, nearly a year actually, I simplified the lines and completed it:

The character of Kichi is of course Cruse's creation. And if I can gratuitously take a few excerpts from her description and historical information:

"Kichi is a kind woman who seems to look in her late teens. If complimented, she blushes easily and acts shy, but her soft Japanese accent gives off a calm feel. The crimson eyes she carries show more than just another typical Asian teenager, but flow with wisdom and secrets.

Although born under the name "Kioko," she is more known as "Kichi." It started in her early assassin career when she'd rather disguise herself. What better way to than using a different name? "Kichi" was a nickname given to her by her father, Isao. But soon enough, "Kioko" was lost in "Kichi." Her heart had become burnt and she was bitter. Once the Flame Assassins had broken apart, she sought out more ways to learn of her powers. When she returned, she was changed and "Kioko" had returned. She had found her inner self, and had learned wisdom along her journey. Although, due to this, she had gained split personalities. Kioko & Kichi. Kichi being the more dominate, powerful and seductive side, as Kioko being the more kind, wise and understanding side. Most have notice "Kichi" is released by many amounts of ice and coldness."
*Excerpt from www.virtueverse.com

Personal Data
Name: Kioko ( Last name unknown )
Other Aliases: Kichi "Swiftflame", #3 of the Flame Assassins
Occupation: Assassin
Legal Status: Unknown
Known Relatives: Isao, Ryuichi, Muto, Meia, Sakiko, Senichi
Date of Birth: October 10th, 1887
Place of Birth: Shikoku, Japan
Group Affiliations & Contacts: Unknown

Physical Description
Race / Ethnicity: 1/2 Japanese 1/2 Chinese
Gender: Female
Height: 5'10"
Weight: 130 Lbs.
Build: Athletic
Eye Color: Crimson (( Caution: It has been a known rumor for the subject's eyes to be hypnotizing if looked at too closely. ))
Hair Color: Black
Complexion: Tan
Distinguishing Features: Fire blaze tattoo around her left eye; 6-inch scar on left shoulder blade
*Excerpt from www.herocorps.com

Funny that I adore this character…though the inception of said character makes my eye twitch!!! "Oh joy…ANOTHER Caucasian-American making ANOTHER Japanese/Asian character…"

The first time I ran into this character I was playing as my own character, Karnal Sin, inside of a virtual club within the confines of the game universe, conversing with an acquaintance. My character gives off that sexual feel, sue me, but what came with meeting Kichi, was brilliant! And mind you, I'm TOTALLY paraphrasing!

Sovereign Fist: "Katie," (aka Karnal Sin), "I need to run these exercises with my group."
Karnal Sin: "Oh, fine, but don't be long! You still owe me a drink!"
Kichi: "Come on Fist. And make sure to get yourself tested after…that."

She was of course, referring to Karnal Sin, and her sexuality. "Gift that keeps on giving," or what have you. I was laughing my ass off when she said it though. It became even funnier when I finally got to know Rory, the player behind Kichi, as Rory is one of the sweetest, smartest, girls I've met!

In any event, she's always been there for me. When I'm bored waiting on a class to start, stuck at a red light, killing time online, having an emotional crisis, what have you, I know she's but a phone call away!

So thank you Kichi/Cruse/Rory. You'll always be my girl. Now gimme your mailing address so I can mail these two pieces to you ;)

See you guys next month! Who knows who'll I'll draw next…IT MAY BE YOU!

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Marston designed Wonder Woman to reflect his conception of an empowered independent female character, with several subsequent writers also working this idea into the character." --Wikipedia

---

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a complete fashion hound. It's one of my few 'female habits,' what can I say, I still have some estrogen in me yet!

In any case, Wonder Woman has always been a concept that has driven me up the wall.

1) She's an Amazon princess.
2) Who fights for the American Way

Come again? No, seriously, I just DO NOT get it. But, such was character creation back then, I suppose.

But back to my point, many times I have gotten into this debate with die-hard Wonder Woman fans, and I always said, "Okay, look, regardless of the odd background, you have to admit, the WW outfit is SERIOUSLY outdated."

And it is. I don't care WHAT you boys/guys say, it's outdated. SHE IS WEARING A GIRDLE WITH GRANNY PANTIES (BLOOMERS). NO. Just…*shudders* No.

So in light of that, I thought to myself, "This girl is in serious need of a make-over."

Now, I didn't completely undo her original costume. I took themes from the outfit and played around with them, coming up with three different designs that I like. Two are close to the original, the third being a little more of an extreme.

Here's my first take:

Changes I made were more towards simplification of her original outfit while adding a little more 'sleek' feel to it. Adjustments towards her gauntlets were made to flow along with my 'point of Y' like theme.

The universal change I made to these outfits was the girdle and her tiara star. I lowered the girdle to match fashion trends within the last 20 years (making it into a belt), more specifically the last 10 years of 'low riders'. I moved the WW symbol to her belt, which I thought was kinda catchier than "Eagle Tits." The other universal change was the star on her tiara. I hate to break it to her designers, but a red star symbolizes COMMUNISM. So I made her star white. (Though to be honest, if I really had my way with the WHOLE bit of it, I'd choose either gold OR silver, not both…according to basic fashion tips - both almost rarely looks classy, and ends up almost looking trashy). SIMPLICITY is key.

The second one:

is a simple variation that flows more with her boot design…which also strategically eliminates her granny panties.

The last one is my personal favorite, as I kinda just went nutty with it. I decided to take the field of blue with white stars and use that as the main focus of the outfit itself, forcing down her girdle to form a uniformly silver accent (tiara, and gauntlets are also silver), and morphing the WW gold into a pattern on her top.

Another thing that also confuzzles me a bit about this character is her apparent 'independent woman' and 'conservative' bias…but at the same time, she shows MORE skin than the sex-vamped Catwoman. Eh?

In any case, another rule for dressing to impress in fashion is this: BALANCE. If you show legs, you hide the top, if you show the top, you hide the legs. So in this case, I hid her top while still showing up enough of her thighs.

I know fans of the fabulous Wonder Woman may object to any altercations to the 'glory that is her outfit'. And I have no idea if I'll ever work on the WW books, but certain things, I think, need to be subtly updated. And no one wears girdles. Unless you're 90+ years old.

NEXT MONTH: More Makeovers!

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Back in January, I made a whim decision (as is very normal with me) that I would go to England for spring break. I had the extra cash (at the time) lying around and said, “Eh…why not?” So I booked a flight and didn’t think of it again.

The week of my departure comes around and I realize, “Oh…that’s right. I’m headed to the U.K.” ALL the while I’ve got loads of schoolwork, studying, artwork, art-studying, assistant-duties, not to mention my birthday, piling on top of me. I almost didn’t go.

But, after careful consideration, as this was a ‘for fun’ trip AND a ‘business oriented’ trip, I went…grudgingly, but I went! I hate leaving things unfinished and I was leaving A LOT of work unfinished.

After nearly 19 hours of ‘traveling’, I landed in Gatwick airport. By the way, NEVER fly to Gatwick airport! Just...trust me on this one. Tack on another 1 hour to Manchester, and I am being picked up by what I call, “The two Giants of Leeds.” Friends of mine, who I never realized were so TALL. I’m a short’n’sweet kinda girl – only 5’5.5” (and yes, that .5 counts), so being greeted by a, literally, 6’5” Brit-Boy had me breaking my neck.

In any event, I hadn’t slept. I was determined to ‘get on their schedule’, so I refused to sleep until they all went to sleep (bad idea!). I was up for almost another 24 hours – doing those wonderful things that we young people do (you can fill that in with whatever your imagination comes up with!).

I was in Leeds, U.K. for 1 week. I’ll leave the activities of that week ambiguous…that way it sounds more interesting, of course. In actuality it was dreadfully boring *cough* *cough cough* ;)

I did accomplish a few things on the business side though.

1) I spoke extensively with someone who I want to write for me in the future on future projects.
2) I realized that the European market for comics is so different from the United States (there are huge sections in Borders and the like for the genre…it’s not shunned!)
3) I was able to get my costume-redesigns for staple characters started.
4) I found out that Ryan didn’t know Captain America had been killed.

Yeah, that last one kinda got me twitching as well. *ducks*

So I get back from the U.K. and I’m sick (sinus infection or something). Oh I forgot about the part that I couldn’t walk. The last day I was in Leeds, a friend took me around to do all the cultural “English” stuff (we had fish n’ chips, shared some Guinness, all that silly jazz), this was started at 11:00am. I never went to bed that night, as I was leaving at 5:00am on a flight from Manchester. So the walking + the partying of my last night + 1 hour flight to Gatwick + 3 hours of standing around in that god-forsaken airport + 8 hour flight to Charlotte = I attempted to get off the plane and I couldn’t move my legs.

It scared the hell out of me. But after a good five minutes of stretching and massaging of my legs (to myself, of course, no random airport people copping a feel LOL), I was good to go (at least I could get UP, though I was in constant pain).

But even upon returning to the United States, I wasn’t given rest. No, because then it was my birthday weekend extravaganza. (Aside: I went to a casino with $100.00, kept that and MADE $700.00!)

Oh and then on top of that, I’m relocating…for the 4th freaking time since I’ve been down in Tampa in the last 9 months *dies laughing*. Not my fault, I swear! I have nothing but glowing reviews from whom I’ve stayed with. It’s just situation and circumstance need me to skedaddle. Which is fine. I’m dying to get a place on my own now!

I was hoping to finish my costume redesigns for this month’s update. But I’ll have them definitely completed by next month, as well as a whole slew of ‘catch up’ commissions waiting for me. I think that even some of the nay-sayers to my changes to these established concepts will like at least ONE of my revamps.

So next month: Expect 4 costume redesigns for WONDER WOMAN!

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I've heard so many horror stories, so many good -and- bad things about NYC, but I went with an open mind and a wee bit of trepidation.

Z....O....M....G....

I absolutely, cannot wait to move my ass up there! It was the unchallenged for me, greatest city, alive. I felt completely at home there! Being a bit of a city girl anyway, the only thing I really had to get used to was the sheer SIZE, the MAGNITUDE of the place! Other than that? I fell in love with that place.

Of course, I had to do my tourist mandatory picture taking:

I had to see my lady love, Lady Liberty! I'll tell you what though, that place was COOOOOLD! I mean, NYC was cold, already, but the wind by the water was brutal...but totally worth it!

And right across the street from these pictures, I went inside and took a peek at Ground Zero :( The only real depressing part of the trip.

I did get to go to a premiere showing of Joe Quesada's art show that Bob was invited to. It was fun, CROWDED, but interesting. I will forever remember the "Cheese Lady" - I didn't get to meet Joe, unfortunately, we were there for an hour or so, and he was running a bit late, and we had plans to go eat some yummy New York food (I will rant and rave on that later), but hey, I did look kickass in my red dress!

But enough of that, and ONTO THE SHOW!

So yes, to answer the question everyone asks, this was my first Comic Convention, and NO I didn't have a burn out! YAY! This thing was BEYOND fun, but believe it or not, fun for me for totally odd reasons.

The size of this convention was insane. I can't remember the exact number I heard from people...but...whoa. GIGANTIC.

The warnings of Saturday being worse than Friday, were true. It was like being herded by cattle, but with people in costumes and interesting fascinations...

I'm just glad I got to see my favorite caped crusader, and one true love, BATMAN!!!

I did get to meet up with a couple of people from my 'home base' that is the gaming community.

I only wandered the actual Exhibitor's floor for a bit, then I made my up to Artist's Alley where I helped run the table with Bob. And THAT was where all the fun started!

I had such a ridiculous blast talking to his fans, making friends, meeting people, and helping him keep organized with the hordes of people looking to get an autograph, a sketch, or just talk to him, was immensely fun!

And I know, "Who did you get to meet? See? Talk to?"

Well, firstly, I wanna say, that I got to meet quite a few of Bob's former students including Sean Chen and Bernand Chang. Which was intimidating and inspiring! And I gotta say, they are really nice guys!!! Really talented!

I ALSO ran into Michael Uslan. That's right, the man who produces all the Batman movies. ZOMG WHAT?! Yeah, not as glitzy an experience as I would have hoped...

I didn't even realize it was him until AFTER he left...being that I've never seen him before, I caught the glimpse of his nametag as he was walking away. Evidently, unbeknownst to me, he and Bob go 'way back', so the name was familiar to me, I had just not made a clear association anyway, but we did share a moment...at least it was a moment to me, I have no idea if it was a moment to him, but IT WAS MAGICAL!!! *shifty eyes*

There so many people that I met, some in passing, some in conversation, that without seriously sitting down and making a catalog of it, I couldn't tell you who they all were. From fans, passerbyers, artists, legends, friends, it was an amazing experience.

Wow this is turning out longer than I intended! Well, I basically wanted to recap my time in NYC and at the con. It was wonderful. OH! I should say hi to "Tits and Chris" (long story!) hahaha.

*gets on soapbox*

Now, let me rant a bit on New York City (positively).

I went there thinking that I might be in danger, or that people MIGHT be mean to me, or whatever else I had learned from word of mouth being that I had never physically been to NYC in my life...

NYC was one of the NICEST, OPEN, FRIENDLY, TALKATIVE, SAFEST places I've EVER been to. And it hit me - most people who don't really like NYC are usually "bumkins" who can't handle the reality check - because if you are from mid-suburbia 1000-yard strip mall America, then NYC is going to scare the ever living hell out of you because of the fast pace.

I adored it though, and I cannot wait to go back, I cannot wait to eventually live there. It was fabulous, the FOOD was fabulous, WOW I came back to Florida and refused to eat anything down here for two days just because I knew what kind of crap I'd be digesting - the food in NYC was joygasmic.

Hopefully by the next update, I won't be so depressed on leaving (I had to practically be dragged to JFK airport).

<3 Sorah <3

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Each month I will be posting updates – including design changes (as this site is in a constant state of construction!), new artwork, photos, and a monthly blog.

To those of you who don’t really know me – HI! My name is Sorah Suhng, aspiring comic artist! And yes, I’m a chick *gasp* *shock* *horror*.

While I want to make this site a professional and functional outlet, I also want to it be personal. I love getting to know my customers, and many of them I consider dear friends.

I want to give a personal thank you to some wonderful people in my life who without, I would not be where I am today.

• Firstly, a thank you to my dear friend Dayn – without his gentle nudging, I would never have decided to take my artwork to the next level.
  

• Thank you to my other girl Larke, for building me this beautiful site, and being such a great Sorah-art fan, she’s always had my back.
  

• Thank you to my friend Ryan, without him holding my hand through some of the toughest criticisms both personal and professional, I don’t think I would have built the backbone for all of this.
  

• Thank you to Heroid, and all my other friends, who have constantly encouraged my endeavors.

• Thank you to my mother and father, without their support, I wouldn't have had the balls to really try for this.
  

• And of course, a very heartfelt THANK YOU to my wonderful mentor and best friend Bob Layton. Everything I create is a tribute to his skill, teachings, and guidance.
  

Since I started this whole mess that I call an art portfolio, I’ve had many people, both close and random, send me appreciation via e-mails and PMs on the various communities I’m part of online:

“WOW, you have got some serious skills!! Your "art-foo" is strong! Anyway, just wanted to let you know I enjoy your work! ”

“I love your style of drawing!”

“Just wanted to say how awesome I think your art is. If you ever want to draw Wendy…Ok you get enough requests…lol. One of your drawings is my desktop at work because I like the picture so much. Anywho…love the art and would kill for that talent.”

“Okay. Now, I'm not one for art threads. I usually just skip them while I'm surfing the other threads in the forum. Today, I was bored, so I checked out your Larke drawing. I've never seen anything else you've done... All I have to say is: WOW! You're amazingly talented, Sorah! That is a beautiful picture! Anyways, I wanted to let you know what I thought when I saw the pic. ”

Without explicit permission, I won’t say who was who, but thank you all, to those I quoted and to those who stay stored in my PM/Inboxes.

All in all, my stumbling into this medium has been fun, exciting, infuriating, and rewarding. I have a long way to go to get where I want to be, but the journey is just as fun as being there, I’m sure!

These monthly blogs will never have a set format – just fyi. I’m a free spirited, random kinda gal, so whatever catches my fancy will be what you see – be it a rant about crappy movies, conceptual designs on established characters (inspired art!), or responses to emails :)

I’ll try not to make them painstakingly long, but no promises, I’m rather long-winded…I get that from my mother *shifty eyes*.

<3 Sorah <3

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