I wish you all a Happy New Year! You already got my end-of-2018-blabla in the latest post, so let’s start with the news!

News and updates

Let’s start with the Wednesday blog posts here, which will be stopped. It may not seem like much to you, but preparing posts every week takes some time and, after reviewing my 2018 productivity as well as current and upcoming projects I wish to focus on, I have decided to take a break from blogging, though I love sharing thoughts with you. Nevertheless, there are still different ways of you to stay updated, depending on your interests:

Artwork & General news
Facebook & Instagram

Manga – IllusFairy published for free with updates twice a week
Tapastic

All my news and projects without exception in a detailed monthly newsletter,
along with other tutorials, sketchbooks, art lessons and more
Patreon.com/SabrinaK

I’ll never emphasize it enough, but for freelance artists, Patreon is a hugely valuable platform. Your support allows us to support our daily needs, and moreover, slowly move away from commissions and other projects we have to do in order to maintain a living, in order to regain more time and thus focus on creative work that benefits you – more illustrations, more manga pages, more videos, more tutorials, you name it. Don’t forget, through supporting and artist’s work, you are also supporting other people who, like you and me, want to draw and dream. If you’d consider supporting me on Patreon, you’ll get both a bunch of monthly art perks, as wells as my deep gratitude<3

Join my Patreon squad on Patreon.com/SabrinaK !

Agenda – Cons & Lessons

New events have been planned for 2019, and as always, you will find them in the Events section. We have a good mixture of conventions, workshops, and an exhibition with two fellow Luxembourgish manga artists – I invite you to have a look at the events to discover more. The section gets regularly updated, so don’t forget to check it regularly if you don’t want to miss anything!

I’m also quickly advertising my art lessons again, for which new spots are open. There is a given program, though the structure is freer and topics may vary according to the students strengths and weaknesses, seeing as the smaller groups allow a more in-depth mentoring for everyone.

New lessons are starting at L’Eclat de Verre (Howald, LU) on January 10th from 15h30-17h30 and will take place every second Thursday. Other lessons are planned in Sanem (LU) on Saturday mornings from 9h30-11h30. You may start any time throughout the entire school year, without commitment – no matter your level in comparison to the other students, I will chose specific topics that fit your personal needs and wants to help you develop your skills!

Please contact me for more info or if you wish to enroll!
sabrinakaufmann.art@gmail.com

Example of some students’ work last trimester at Fachmaart Robert Steinhäuser (LU).

Winter Sales

Last but not least: Winter Sales are starting! Many discounted products are awaiting you in my Shop: goodies, prints, originals, tutorials and former Patreon downloads, … The offers last during the entire official sales period in Luxembourg, so you have until Saturday 26th January to shop to your heart’s content!

Visit the shop!

Various discounts are awaiting you in the shop

Thank you so much for following this blog over the last year.
Now that it’s stopping, I hope to see you as well on social media or at upcoming events!

Love<3

Having regularly stumbled across the owners several times on conventions over the past few years, it was natural to go visit their newly opened Manga-T Metz manga café – second time I’m visiting one, and the place happens to be not too far away from Luxembourg. I invite you to visit it as well if you’re in Metz someday! (yes, it seems that I’m posting only travel blog articles as of late… promised, we’re going back to artwork next week;)

Melli and Usu, the cafe’s eccentric and lovable owners.

Shop Tour

At Manga-T manga cafe, you can read manga, or taste various Japanese snacks and beverages while watching an anime on their big television screen. After several years of planning, a successful crowdfunding campaign, and the help of their “big brother” Manga-T Dijon, the shop was finally launched in November. All the contributors got their name on a big wall picture in the cafe itself, and I just discovered that I have deleted the photo before posting it… sorry 8D

Cozy area where you can have a drink or snack while reading or watching anime

The cafe is divided into three areas: first the “restaurant-bar” place, then the counter and merchandise place where you can get both Japanese snacks as well as creations from local artists, and the library area where you can find over 4.000 manga. For the bonus parts to make the clients feel at ease, they also have a super cool Japanese toilet with heated seat (I didn’t try it though because of a former trauma with those things… I once made water shoot throughout the entire room, so I’ve eventually learnt to refrain from touching random buttons XD), as well as a big television screen in the bar area, and even a small traditional table where you can sit on cushions on the ground.

Concerning the food, there’s a huge variety of snacks and beverages you can try. I ordered a Sweet Potato Latte, which is apparently a Korean specialty, and which tasted like vanilla milk while being violet. Being a total fan of taiyaki, I hoped to get one, but discovered that they are only available on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday – the other days are for mochi (which are yummy as well – especially the strawberry ones). So, if you’re going for the taiyaki as well, remember to get there on the correct days!

Wanna give it a try? Whether you’d like to have a nice time reading, eating, meeting with friends, or just to discover a new place – the next time you’re in Metz, make sure to stop by, it’s worth your time ; )

Japanese snacks, manga library and local artists’ corners.

Find Manga-T Metz

4 rue Gambetta
57000 Metz
France

Open every day 7/7 from 14h-19h
For more info, opening hours and photos, visit the café’s Facebook or Instagram!

I promised to share my experience in Mons, Belgium since it’s not every day that I get to visit farther away places for work. I went there for the Mons Livre book fair, with a departure on Friday 23th, and return after the event on Sunday 25th November. Here we go with a little guided tour!

Mons Livre

Work comes first, so let’s talk about Mons Livre, which took place in the Lotto Mons Expo, a big event hall, where I immediately went to set up my booth upon my arrival in the early Friday afternoon. The organization was so sweet, all the exhibitors were nicely greeted and got a welcome package with various info and a water bottle – overall, the booth setup was quick and smooth.

During the week-end, the fair was open to the public from 10h-18h. Other author friends had formerly notified me that there were many visitors – if I remember correctly, there were 8.000 registered visits last year – and they didn’t lie, seeing as the halls were crowded from the very beginning. When noone was at my booth, I alternated between advancing on IllusFairy’s next chapter, as well as talking to my lovely neighbour. Both of us had been placed next to one another, seeing as we were the only manga artists there.

Mons Con photo by Marcel Vanden Bemden

Speaking of my lovely neighbour, I’d like to introduce you to her: Lostmemory Coralie, author of “Numéro Invalide“. When the organizer told me she would come in a wheelchair, I wasn’t sure about how to address her, but she was so sweet right from the beginning. To make things short, an operation went wrong several years ago, and since then, her health has slowly been deteriorating, but she keeps on fighting, sharing her story as a manga to spread hope and support other victims of medical errors. I was amazed to see how strong she was to continually stand up to doctors and justice, and she is just such a kind and adorable person. Please show her some love and spread the word about her comic, she deserves it<3

Numéro Invalide – Online on Mangadraft

And while we’re at the acquaintances, I was also able to meet again with Manon Elisabeth d’Ombremont, a dark fantasy author. We had met three years ago during a convention and it was nice to see her again after all that time. If you like plots with dark twists, I invite you to discover her world as well!

dombremont.com

Visiting Mons

After setting up my booth, went straight to my hotel to drop my stuff before visiting the city. I had chosen the Congress Hotel Mons Van der Valk, which I didn’t expect to be so greatly located – it was a 10min walk away from the center, and a 2min walk away from the Lotto Mons and a shopping center. Honestly, it was the first time I could wake up late and go by foot to a convention, and it felt great XD

Anyways, what can I say about that hotel except that I totally love it? It was clean, with a free parking lot, a nice staff and perfectly located. To relax in the evenings, I adored the jacuzzi bathtub. Since I had booked it around 10 months in advanced, I had been able to get a Junior Suite at a very affordable rate.

For general travels at a cheaper rate, I recommend you Booking, for which you can sign up by using my personal link if you’re not there yet. I know I’m shamelessly promoting it right now to get a commission out of it XD, but if you use this link, it allows you to get a 10% cashback on your first stay. Besides, I really enjoy this website, seeing as it allows you to cancel hotels up to 24h before your check-in (I’m used to booking hotels at a cheap rate before I even got events confirmed – if I happen not to be accepted, I can easily cancel it without fees), and after three stays, you get into a “genius program” which allows you to save 10% on various hotels (it worked for me, so I guess it’s like that~).

Hotel Congrès Mons Van der Valk (photo from their website)

Anywaays, going back to Mons, I used my Friday afternoon to wander through the city. I love the elder architecture back there, and the shopping streets also had some original shops beside the classical big companies we’re used to see everywhere.

What I appreciated most concerning the location of the hotel was the fact that the Grands Prés Shopping Center was directly next to it, and I could easily get something to eat in the evenings – really, it was just in front of the Mons Lotto where I was working, and I could pick up a warm take-away and head straight back to the hotel at the other side of the street. The first day, I got something from Asie à Tik, an Asian food restaurant which is super yummy. I’ll always remember their foie gras and mango sushi!

Otherwise, I discovered a cheaper way of eating complete meals while being abroad. Usually while being in a hotel, I used to order room service, go to a restaurant, or eating cold sandwiches, seeing as there are rarely kitchens in the room – all of which are often pretty expensive alternatives. In Mons, I discovered that the Carrefour supermarket within the shopping center offered to reheat food in an oven or microwave for free – basically, you could just reheat any of the numerous takeaways in the supermarket, which were way cheaper and still as good. (and that’s it for the random tips for traveling artists who try to save money:D)

Some night photos taken in the Centrum of Mons

Overall, I had a nice week-end with a kinda vacation feel to it. I will probably not go back seeing as there are too many expenses involved, but I’m glad to have been given this traveling opportunity and to have met wonderful people!

Have you already been to Mons? Where do you like traveling?