Toei Interlocking Tribute

Through other networks I promised to update my blog with an illustration. Well, today was also a sort of deadline on this, as this illustration is going to be exhibited in the American Book Centre (ABC) in The Hague as of the 1st August. This will be under the flag of Mangafique! A Dutch organisation that tries to unite Dutch manga artists and will start to act as an agency next to that. Mangafique! however is still in its organising phase and I don't know all the fine details to it, but I'm sure it will turn out fine. About the exhibition, I'm not entirely sure if it's organised well... If I know more about this, I will post it here, but for now, I'm still in the dark on how on earth this will be marketed for the big public. I myself have organised (almost entirely by myself) the first Mangafique! exhibition in the city hall of Utrecht and the public upturn was over a thousand visitors on the first day IIRC. Quite a big hit or so I might say. This was mainly thanks due to the press releases and marketing around it, but I doubt it that the ABC The Hague will boost such numbers. For one it is that it's in the midst of the summer holidays, so everyone is away and that it's not even presented on the website of the ABC. Not my thing to deal with, but it might be in the future, as I'm considering a position in Mangafique! My expertise in some fields could help them out I think.
 

Now, about this illustration. It's the second of two trials and IMO, it turned out pretty nice. I'm especially pleased with the background's effective simplicity, but not so much with Laser-chan... It's my first take on a Tetsu-tan (or Keikyû-tan as some like to call it). In essence the anthropomorphic version of a train as clothing. Mostly on cute girls, but I've seen examples of male characters as well. Laser-chan is dressed up as a Keisei 3000 Type, 2nd Edition, 7th Version (shortly: Keisei 3050 Type). The reason I've chosen this train, is that it's the only train that is especially built for the Haneda Airport - Narita Airport through connection express services. All the other trains in this service are already existing types that are only capable of 120km/h, whereas the Keisei 3050 Type can do 130km/h. This is because of the completion of the Narita High Speed Airport Line on 17 June 2010, 6 days from now, that allows speeds up to 160km/h. This is achieved by the Skyliner, but that train already gets so much credit, I left it out of this illustration. The colours of the Keisei 3050 Type dominate this picture as well, as they just are so very well fitting.

As you might have guessed, this illustration celebrates the one year anniversary of the Haneda Airport - Narita Airport new express services ('Access Rapid Ltd. Express' and 'Airport (Ltd.) Express'). I've put in some of the trains that run these services, but also one that doesn't quite belong in there. In the next post I'll reveal which one it is, but for now, I let you guess the types and companies they belong to. Next to the trains, I've drawn the entire route map these services run, together with the major stops where the trains call. Some of these trains have a few more stops on the Keikyû or Asakusa Subway section, depending on the company's train, but in general, it's just the stops depicted in my illustration.

I've drawn this, because I wanted to draw something rail related and to show my skills as a commercial oriented illustrator. It was also a good opportunity to practice my drawing skills in more tight and clear lines (which I discarded when I drew the trains). Next to that, I also wanted to make limited use of colours, because less is more as I'm told, and the colour scheme of the Keisei 3050 Type is quite attractive as well.

---

Beer of the post: La Chouffe (Blond) 0.33l 'Stubi' bottle;

Location of consumption: my room;

Yes, that's a Hankyu 6300 Type in the background. My only standard gauge (1,435mm) model. It's a strange one in my collection, since I'm quite focussed on Kantô trains, with the Enoden and standard gauge lines in particular. I don't know why I bought it in the first place... This is a Hankyû model that actually runs express services between Kyôto and Ôsaka, so that's in the Kansai region, far away from the Kantô plains... Oh, how I long for a Keisei, Keikyû, etc. collection, but that will cost a lot of money. Really, a LOT. Maybe I can settle for a collection of B-train shorties from Bandai instead or create an eighties fleet from cheap Greenmax kits. Meh, trains would be too long anyway, as they are all 8-cars long, which would be almost one meter in N-gauge. Maybe I should do 4-car versions of a fictive company that connects to Keisei or something like that.

Ah, yes. I almost forgot about THE BEER! This is the first Belgian beer on the Laser Train Blog, but certainly not the last. I'm not a great fan of Belgian beers, as they tend to throw in all kinds of strange additives, which makes the beer taste not very pure or in some cases even not like beer at all. This beer however is a good tasting, but strong beer (8%). A quite classic beer at that. Back in the days, this used to be a quite unknown brand, but now almost everybody knows La Chouffe. The taste is very typical for Belgian Blonde beers. A bittersweet taste with a quite prominent bitter alcoholic taste afterwards. Of all the more well known Belgian beer brands, this is a real beer drinkers' drink.

The bottle is a standard export 'Stubi' version and the beer is so as well. From draft it tastes a lot better and less bitter. It could also be because I don't leave the yeast bottom in the bottle, but pour the entire content in the glass. Some say you should leave a little on the bottom, as that is the yeast residue, but I'm of the opinion that beer shouldn't re-ferment in the bottle. Bottled beer should be finished and ready to drink when it's bottled IMHO. Maybe I should change that opinion and learn to consume Belgian beer a bit more serious next time... It's not German beer after all.

Cheers!

Toni