Doujima ( Singapore Doujin Artist Event)

DOUJIMA came as a refreshing change to the heavily Cosplay centric events that have been washing onto our island shores. I remember my very first actual Anime event in Singapore was one held by a group of volunteers from an Anime Club (‘Miyuki Animation Club’ for those who reminisces haha!) , held in a small Suntec event room with half of the space allocated to Doujin Booths!

Event Name: DOUJIMA
Location: *SCAPE, The Gallery (L5)
Date: 27th April 2014
Site: https://www.facebook.com/doujima.sg

In case you’re wondering ‘Doujin’ means a cohort of people who share the same interest; in this particular sense, Drawing.

 

Dōjin (同人 dōjin^?), often romanized as doujin, is a general Japanese term for a group of people or friends who share an interest, activity, hobbies, or achievement. The word is sometimes translated into English as clique, fanfiction, coterie, society, or circle (e.g., a "sewing circle").

In Japan, the term is used to refer to amateur self-published works, including but not limited to manga, novels, fan guides, art collections, music and video games. Some professional artists participate as a way to publish material outside the regular publishing industry.

source: Wikipedia

Jointly organised by Neo Tokyo Project (NTP), Collateral Damage Studios (CDS) and Daiyaku, Doujin Market (or DOUJIMA for short haha) is an event that gives independent Artists, Art groups and creators from Singapore the spotlight it deserves. To promote greater interest in storytelling, illustration and sequential art, Doujima also conducted a
series of workshops about narrative structure, character design fundamentals and coloring basics.

 
Pardon the bad photo. It was hard to take this without anyone coming into frame.

Held in The Gallery at *SCAPE, the event area is smaller than expected. But the overflowing of enthusiastic crowd and people having fun coupled with the cramped space was such a nostalgic sight! I’d rather attend a crammed but bustling event than a spacious but quiet one.

The event had 22 artist booths in total. For more information about the individual artists and their works, please visit DOUJIMA’s Facebook page.

 

Diabolik Lovers pin badges

Super cute Free~ stickers xD

Naruto version of an Ops-Chart? XD

Very easy to tell who’s the artist here haha

I bought the Nyanko-Sensei badge in the middle xD

Surprisingly, there wasn’t a lot of Shingeki no Kyojin products D:

The same booth was also selling lolita accessories like bows and headdress.

The artists and booth helpers are always a little embarrassed whenever I ask for a photo XD

This booth was much dedicated to Studio Ghibli and Marvel xD But why are there no Mononoke Hime stuffs =(?

There was a vortex in the middle of the event and many event attendees were quick to set up their camp site within. A bunch started playing Heads Up (party mobile game) LOL.

Surprisingly, the only cosplayers I saw during my time there D:

I was very blown away by the vibrant use of colours in this booth. As you can tell, this is another booth dedicated mostly to Studio Ghibli artworks…sadly still no Mononoke Hime =(

The booths at the back.

Silent Studio is a long time friend and superbly talented artist. She excels in realistic human and animal drawing and traditional medium. I implore you to check her works out at her Deviant art , http://moyan.deviantart.com/ ! Can’t believe this is the only photo I have of her booth!

This booth had a lot of really cute key chains from a myriad of titles. The booth owner was also very nice and even spread the tumble wares out for me to photograph.

Collateral Damage Studio was the group that came up with the sound activated Hatsune Miku T-shirt. I think most of the T-shirts were sold out by 4pm! Sorry…. no photos of the T-shirt -__-; I did take a video of the t-shirt in’ motion’, will upload soon hehehe!

Being a Cosplay blogger and an avid cosplayer myself, sometimes I find myself a little too caught up with the hobby and pretty much forgetting how much I used to love drawing hahaa. Such nostalgia!

It’s good that we have events like this that reminds young people in the community that this culture encompasses a lot more than just Cosplay. The artistic talents behind the illustrations and the big minds behind the stories are just as importantly (if not more lol) too!

I observed that most of the booths here sold pin badges, keychains and prints of fan art. I look forward to more original characters and original mangas being showcased the next time. Only by fostering new creation can creativity climb! All the best to the organisers and artists!