Hi guys! It's me, AiTommy✨️ Spring arrived quietly this year. The cherry trees in my neighborhood park started blooming, and some of them are already in full flower. It's really beautiful. In Japanese, there's a cultural and linguistic tradition tied to cherry blossoms. When sakura bloom, it represents success. We often say, "sakura saku(桜咲く)." Such as passing an exam, being accepted into the dream school, reaching a goal. When the petals fall, it represents failure or loss.

I've spent hours and hours revising my manuscript, my artworks, and formatting of my debut novel. And this revision process is tedious and painful for most of time. It's not as fun or exciting as creating the work itself. Check out my novel~!!(I use affiliate links💚🌱) 'Done is better than perfect' is a really valuable concept to prevent endless procrastination for almost everyone, not just artists. We have assignments to do, paperworks to submit, and projects to tackle. Whe

Hi guys! It's me, AiTommy✨️ Have you ever found yourself aggressively cleaning your room mere hours before a critical deadline? Or perhaps, right when you need to focus on a difficult commission or coding problem, you decide it is the perfect time to reorganize your entire digital file system. You search Notion Organizing system or Obsidian note taking process on YouTube for... no reason. I believe this phenomenon is familiar to almost every creative professional, or really,

Hi guys! It's me, AiTommy✨️ Here's the photo of my daruma I bought on Jan 3rd I talked about in the intro. The new daruma doll does not have eyes, so there is a tradition of first filling in the left eye while making a wish, and then filling in the other eye when the wish comes true. Of course, there is also a tradition of filling in both eyes at the beginning, but since this is a wish for the publication of a book, I would like to fill in the right eye after the book is succ

Hi guys! It's me, AiTommy✨️ Happy New Year!! 2026 has officially begun, and while it feels like time flew by incredibly fast, it also somehow feels heavy with everything that happened along the way. In a recent blog, I reflected on my 2025 year-in-review, reflecting about the goals I achieved, the ones I didn’t, and everything that happened in between. Today, I want to build on that reflection and talk about how we can turn 2026 into a genuinely productive year, not just one

Hi guys! It's me, AiTommy✨️ We’re down to the last day of 2025. If I had to describe this year in one word, it would be the year of anticipation . In animation, anticipation  is the preparatory movement that happens before a big action. When a character jumps, they crouch first. When there’s a large motion, there’s a small movement that comes before it, making the action feel smoother and more powerful. I didn't plan it that way. But looking back, that’s exactly what it becam

Hi guys! It's me, AiTommy✨️ In this podcast episode, I talk about why we’re drawn to people who keep trying, even when it’s scary, uncertain, or painful. This episode is a personal and emotional one for me, as I reflect on dreams, effort, and what it means to keep showing up when success isn’t guaranteed. The Power of Passion: Why We Are Drawn to Those Who Try Hard The notion that “people are drawn to those who are trying hard” has lingered in my mind for quite some time, but

Hi guys! It's me, AiTommy✨️ Yep, that's right—I’ve launched a podcast again ! I posted six podcasts/video essays on my YouTube, then I kinda abandoned it. I like this cover but I think I'll change it later lol You might be wondering, “Why? What happened this time?” Well… just give it a listen first. You can check it out right here. In the podcast itself, I talk about what pushed me to start it, but in this blog I want to dive deeper into one key idea behind it: Why is it so i