Otakumouse™: Toy and Figure Blog is a hobby site/blog focused on the anime figure scene. It offers some of the latest news about figures, anime, games, gadgets, and Japan's overall otaku subculture. The site is currently being managed by Nico Cardenas who works as an Interactive Designer based in Manila, Philippines.
Shoot him an email at needlemouseinteractive@gmail.com.
The "Otakumouse" idea started in the middle of 2008 and 2009. Those were the years when I was just starting the figure collecting hobby. It was originally called "Needlemouse Otaku" because I'm using the name "Needlemouse" as my web/artist name for 10 yrs, but then I told myself the name was just too long to pronounce and remember.
I really want to preserve the word "mouse" because it is already a part of my personality and I also want to keep the word "otaku" because it encapsulates all of the topics (games, anime, toys, etc) that I want to showcase in the site. So I just decided to replace the word "needle" in the name "needlemouse" with the word "otaku" giving me the name "Otakumouse".
The "mouse" emblem has been around for 7 yrs and is originally a part of my web/artist name "Needlemouse". Since I already have a "logo", I mostly focused on designing the logotype of the Otakumouse brand. I did 4 major iterations of the logotype since 2008 and I was actually laughing at myself when I saw my earlier designs because they look unprofessional and funny.
Today, I'm happy with my current logo and I'm still not sure if I will be doing another logo re-design anytime soon. One thing's for sure though, the logotype will change but the "emblem" will definitely remain.
Yep, that's me :)
I currently reside in Manila, Philippines and I do Interactive Design for a living. I've been in the design industry for roughly 7 yrs now doing both local and international design work for a variety of clients. I worked for 2 years in an office environment then decided to work homebased. I've been working homebased for 5 yrs now and it feels great!
Most of the work I do ranges from Illustrations, UX Design, Motion, Web, and Print. I also do Application Development though I'm really not that "hardcore" when it comes to that kind of stuff. Programming is fun but I prefer doing pure design work :P
Aside from figure collecting, I'm also a fan of Cycling (Tour de France, anyone?). I've been riding the bike since I was 14 yrs old and I'm still riding it today. I currently have 7 bikes in total. 3 Mountain, 3 Road, and a Folding. Follow me on Twitter @Otakumouse or add me as a friend on Facebook.
Drawing/Illustrating has been my real passion and It was the only talent I have (aside from playing Chess) that is worth mentioning when I was just starting my career. I already created colorful illustrations for a variety of clients in Italy, US, and Canada and I'm still doing illustrations today.
Aside from doing pop artworks, I also do anime styled artworks. I'm a big fan of artist Tony Taka and I've been using his works as a reference in improving my own style. I also dig the works of Kirisagi Gunma and Bosshi.
I had my fair share of coding horrors and nightmares throughout my career and I tell you, it was never fun to fix a broken or buggy code. I've been a part of numerous development projects in the past ranging from desktop to web apps. Though sometimes enjoyable, I still prefer designing things.
Anime figures are not toys. They are fine sculptures created by some of the best illustrators and sculptors in Japan. They are not mass produced and are always in limited stocks.
That's why it is somewhat a standard for figure collectors to take pictures of their figures and share it online. As a figure collector myself, it is so rewarding to see the fine details of a figure when doing figure photography.
I currently use a Nikon D7000 DSLR camera paired by a 50mm F1.4G lens. I'm also using a "mini studio" as the staging area for my figures.
Nico Cardenas is the creative mind behind Otakumouse: Toy And Figure Blog. He has a very strong interest in Japan's otaku subculture. He's a gamer, figure collector, and a noob photographer. He currently works as a full time Interactive Designer based in Manila, Philippines. Shoot him an email at needlemouseinteractive@gmail.com.
Your website is amazing, I really like the theme color
@King: Thank you very much sir! :)
Hi, I’ve seen your office at one of dannychoo websites.
I’m aspiring to be just like you, love your exp and office setup .. hope someday will have one too :)
@snowonsummer: Thank you very much! Don’t worry about it, I’m sure you can do it too! Hard work is the key and just continue to study! :)
@otakumouse thank you for the support, I wanna ask some questions, hope you don’t mind .. do you used a quick blank-themes (refueled, starkers, etc) for making a wordpress themes ? I myself used refueled, and believe it or not, no matter how much changes I made, it still reeks of the blank themes style, I just don’t get it.
love those headers, do you create the font yourself or is it not a font ?
@snowonsummer: Nope :) I basically created OtakuPro™ from scratch. I’m not really a fan of using theme frameworks specially when it comes to personal projects. Theme frameworks sometimes require you to adhere to their own specification making you a bit limited in the design side of things ;)
For the logo, it’s basically a heavily customized “pixel” font :)
Just wanted to stop by to say your website/blog is a great personal creation. Definitely an inspiration for people in the field of design.
@CloudStrife-xx: Thanks Much!!! :)
@otakumouse can I call you nico ?
I see that this theme site changing every version, just wanna ask, when changing the themes and the featured / preview image, do you make the thumb image from the first post again ?
Are you freelancing online or offline ? wandering because I want to know how to earn from those skills :)
thanks
@snowonsummer: Hi! Are you talking about OtakuPro V1.0 or the one I’m currently using (OtakuPro V2.0)?
@otakumouse I’m talking about both ? I see that in each version, the size of the featured/preview images are different, do you generate the image it self or is it auto generate ?
@snowonsummer: Ahhh, in OtakuPro V1.0, I basically create the images manually. In OtakuPro V2.0, I already made it automatic :) Though I still prefer doing it manually here on my site because automating the process tends to crop the important parts of the images I wanted to display :P
@otakumouse: ic, then you do manually all the post featured / preview image, hope the themes doesn’t change much again *lol*
just wondering though, at what point you do freelancing ? what kind of skill you got when first accepting a freelancing job ? do you do online or offline job ?
thanks
@snowonsummer: Hahaha! For OtakuPro V1.0, that’s pretty much it. Will not do any changes on that frame/theme. All of my time is currently concentrated on OtakuPro V2.0 which I’m about to release real soon! Just super busy with work T_T
I’m originally a Graphic Artist / Designer then I self studied programming in the process. I basically do projects online and I’ve been doing it for roughly 5 yrs now :)
I’m back …
Hi, nico .. I wanna go back taking care of my website, but first I need to change the theme to a more proper function theme, but first I wanna ask you something, do designers these days doesn’t need to follow the 960grid anymore ? seeing that your web themes (otakupro) is 1000px or more :)