Thursday, January 30, 2014

"13 Things Which Made My 2013"

Howdy Hyperactive Monkeyers!!! Well, we are quite some ways into 2014 and I just thought I'd take a look back at some of our past accomplishments in 2013. I originally was asked by Andy from TOYSREVIL what "13 Things Which Made My 2013"? It was a great question and I thought I'd repost my answers here!
This was a great way to start off 2013. Through Bait and Capcom I was able to release my rendition of the original 8 Street Fighter 2 characters. It was a dream to see the producers and employees of Bait and Capcom all decked out in my designs based on a game that I spent my childhood allowance on.
Wondercon is always a great show for us and it was great to see many returning faces and meet many new people. The icing on the cake was when we sold out of our convention exclusive, The Blue Spirit Monkey Kung Fu bank.
When I was invited to do a live painting at Super7 for their May 4th Be With You event, I was so excited to be able to paint one of my favorite movie properties. It was a great day that led to another favorite 2013 moment (see #6)
It was an honor to be invited to do a custom for Daniel Flere’s and Dragatomi’s Swanicorn: The Gathering art show. It was such a great platform and I had a blast customizing one.
Being invited to do an interpretation of one of the coolest plush lines (for "UGLYCON 2013 at GR2") was amazing. It was an awesome day to hear about how David created the Uglydolls and where he got his inspiration. There were so many happy smiles that day too.
The live painting event at Super7 created a lot of buzz for me and there was even a demand to do a t-shirt. I jumped at the chance to design a tee for Super7 and Lucasfilms. It was a dream come true work on this and also become a best seller for Super7.
Every year SDCC becomes bigger and better and 2013’s was no exception. The greatest part was getting to paint alongside my brother from another mother, Podgy Panda, at the Munky King party!!! We got to battle/live paint against our friends. It was so much fun.
One of the first people to invite me to partake in an art show ever was Cooper Berella. Every year he holds his annual birthday/charity/art show and in 2013 it was at TAG. He chose me to do the flyer art (for "Music To My Ears") and I gladly accepted. It’s one of my favorite shows because without Cooper I would not be where I am at today!
"Dragatomi Shaolin Storytime" (was) a weekend afternoon filled with Monkey Kung Fu cupcakes, storytime, and puppets was another one of my happiest moments for 2013. It was an honor that Dragatomi wanted us to hold an event there and have a mini pop-up store. They are the best of people!!!
This year’s Dcon was the biggest yet. It was great to see so many artists in one place. We debuted our Pocket Master and sold out by early Sunday!!!
Our exclusive Dynamite Rex Demon Shaolin Raar was released right before 2014. I was so happy how these turned out.
Post It Show 9 at GR2 (is) one of the coolest art shows are around. It’s always so crazy to see my name next to so many talented artists that are the best in the biz. It was pretty cool to sell out all of my pieces within the first few days and then be asked to do a couple more. Yay!
I got to do a design for a hat, t-shirt, and sweatshirt for one of my favorite stores right before the New Year’s, for the Fully Laced X Hyperactive Monkey Clothing Capsule Release. It was great to get to do a design that pays tribute to one of my favorite basketball stars!!!

There ya have it!!! Again I'm so thankful being able to do what I do everyday because of all of you. I can't wait to share what's in store for y'all in 2014!!! MORE HYPERACTIVE MONKEYNESS AWAITS!!!