Mega Monkey Update!

Whoa! It's been a while since we've had a Hyperactive Monkey update. Here's a quick rundown of all the fun events that have gone down in the past few months!

First up we had one of biggest cons of the year, Wonder-Con!

As usual, it was a good turnout and we had a blast! Check out this little Goku hanging out with Great Grand Master!

After Wonder-Con was over, we had Dragonfest the following month. Dragonfest is martial arts themed convention. It was our first time there and it was a great show for us. We met plenty of smiling faces and supporters.

Here's Master Gerald Okamura. He's been in countless martial arts movies including one of my favorites, Big Trouble in Little China! Hmmm....a collab is coming soon from us!

Here's Mr. Lo Pan himself, James Hong. He was a blast to talk to. He even wanted a set of our Monkey Power Puppets!

Next up I was invited to be in Giant Robot's Game Over art show. It was a video game inspired art show. Here's our piece for it!

"Game Girl Buddy Hug"

8" x 10"

acrylic on wood

That's all for now. We are getting ready for San Diego Comic Con 2014!!! Tootles!!!

"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!!!

San Diego Comic Con Craziness Recap!!!

Howdy Hyperactive Monkeyers!!! We are finally fully recovered the craziness from a few weeks ago. What was so crazy you ask? It was San Diego Comic Con 2013!!! This is our third year as exhibitors and it gets crazier every year. BUT WE LOVE IT!!!

Here was our booth setup for the this year's con. So much Hyperactive Monkey goodness!!! 

This was our convention exclusive, The Adolescent Hyperactive Ninja Monkey!!!

One of the coolest events that happened at SDCC 2013, was the Munky King Versus Art Battle! Me and my buddy, Podgy Panda, got paint along some of the top talent in today's art scene. We came in second but had so much fun!!!

  Go KINGS OF CUTE!!!

 YAY!!! Daisy and I had super fun times as always at SDCC this year. We are always so delighted to see all of our friends and make new ones. SEE YOU NEXT YEAR!!!

Tootles!!!

Baborilla's Beginnings!

Last week Giant Robot held UGLYCON 2013, a celebration of UGLYDOLL! We were invited to create our rendition of a custom plush BABO! Right away we knew we wanted to create BABORILLA, half BABO half GORILLA. Here's how we made him.

 First we created a sewing pattern in the computer and then printed him out.

 Then we cut the fabric and placed all the pieces on top

 Then the stuffing began. Ooops! He needs more purple fur.

 Awwww much better!

 Then we sewed him all up and began the final stuffing!

 BABORILLA was done and off to GR2 for the show.

 Can you find BABORILLA? Here's a hint. He's with all the wonderful custom BABOs!

 Still can't find him. Here's another hint. He's big and purple!

 UGLYCON concluded with David Horvath, the creator of UGLYDOLL, giving us a tour of Sawtelle and explaining the origins of them. It was so inspiring and amazing.

Here's David and us with BABORILLA. It was a super fun show and we hope to be back next year!

Shaolin Swanicorns And Other Magical Creatures

Back in March I had the honor of participating in Dragatomi's The Gathering, a custom artshow showcasing Daniel Flere's awesome Swanicorn! There were so many awesome creations! Just take a look!

 Below is Daniel's most awesome display!!!

 Here is mine, Shaolin Swanicorn Master and Uni-uckling Student!!!

 This is me and the Swanicorn Maestro himself. He's a stud!

 Here is a group shot of the Dragatomis and all the wonderful artists!

I always feel truly blessed and honored when I get invited to participate in art shows. Thanks so much to Daniel and Dragatomi for the invite. Well tootles for now! See y'all soon!

Hadouken Hyperactive Monkey!!!

Sorry Hyperactive Monkeyers for the lack of posts. We been swamped in the Hyperactive Monkey HQ with projects. Here's a fun one we were involved with back in February. We were invited to be in an art show at BAIT in Diamond Bar. I decided to do a wood painting of one of my favorite characters, RYU. Here's my pencil sketch.

After I was happy with my sketch I transferred it to the wood panel and started to paint in the blacks.

Then I painted in the colors. I wanted to keep the wood grain as visible as I could so I decided just to paint in the red and white. And Hadouken!!! Here's the final finished painting.

Not only did BAIT have an art show, but it was also doing a simultaneous artist t-shirt release. KWESTONE, KIDOKYO, and myself were on hand that day doing signings. Here's me decked out in my shirt with Ono-San wearing KWESTONE's shirt.

We had a great time and thank Tsunami Syndicate, BAIT, and Capcom for all the hospitality. We hope to do more events and collabs with them in the future.

Puppets and Post-Its!!! Oh My!!!

Two of my favorite stores in Los Angeles have always been Giant Robot and Giant Robot 2. I remember after finishing classes every Friday afternoon at UCLA, I would race down to Giant Robot to see what cool new product they had just gotten in. Or the numerous times when I'd line up early for an art opening at Giant Robot 2 just to ensure that I would get my first pick of an artist's work.

So I was truly grateful and honored when Eric (Big Boss Robot) asked if I would like to do an event at Giant Robot 2. I thought a live book reading with simultaneous puppet show would be a really fun idea. So we set up on one Sunday afternoon with books, puppets and monkey cookies.

Plenty of kids of all ages showed up. Stories were told. Cookies were eaten. We even had our own coloring contest.

We were truly touched to see so many smiling faces and friends. The following week I was also invited to submit art into Giant Robot's Post-It Show 8. There were so many talented artists in the show. I was so honored to partake. Here's a photo of the 9 Post-It's I made!
 

Unfortunately I could not make it to the opening night, but look at all those people.

December has been amazing month for us much due to the support of Giant Robot. 

Thanks Giant Robot and crew for everything!!!