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!!!

Doing It DCon Hyperactive Monkey Style!

YAY! We just got back and are fully recovered from a few weeks ago where exhibited at Pasadena's Designer Con. It is our 4th year exhibiting here and it definitely was our best show yet. It took us awhile to set up as this year we were given a corner booth. It was an awesome location as we were pretty much by the entrance.

The cool thing about DCon is all the cool toys all the vendors showcase. I didn't have too much time to look around. But I did have a chance to swing by the Dynamite Rex booth and see our Shaolin Raar on display. Look for this guy early next year. Kung POW!

We had plenty of cool new items for sale and had fun sketching for anyone who asked. I truly am appreciative for everybody that stopped by to say hi!

 The best part of DCon though is that I get to see all my friends. They are the best because they not only are super nice but support what I do.

YAY!!! See you next year DCON! Tootles for now!

Monkey-Con Craziness!!!

It's been quite awhile since I've updated the blog and that's because we've have been busy these past few months working on new projects and exhibiting at a lot of conventions. Wanna see a recap? Why of course you do! The first convention of the summer was Anime Expo 2012.

For this year's convention we decided to get our own booth and due to Daisy's crazy work schedule I decided to brave the convention by myself for a couple of days. It was a pretty tough show for us for a variety of reasons, but rather than focus on the negative I'll say that it sure did make me happy to see everyone who stopped by.

Our next convention was amazing and held a super awesome surprise for us. On to our recap of San Diego Comic Con!!!

Comic Con is always a really fun and super crazy busy show and this year was no exception. Squid Kids Ink was awesome as usual and let us share a booth with them. On preview night we sold out of our Ninja Monkey exclusive within the first hour. What could be more crazy?

Well I'll tell ya! Early the following morning, Comic Con called me at 10:30 am to tell me that they had their own booth for me if I wanted it. So of course I said, "HECK YA!" Only problem was that I had to move into the booth right away. And if you have ever been to Comic Con you know how crazy the crowd is. Setting up and moving during the con was like swimming up a raging stream. But it was all worth it in the end.

Up next was San Francisco's 39th Annual Nihonmachi Street Fair!

This was our first year at the street fair and boy was it fun. Not only was the crowd super awesome and super supportive of our stuff, but there were so much yummy food to be eaten!

Our last convention of the summer was 2012 Stan Lee's Comikaze. We split a booth with Squid Kids Ink as it was our first time at the show for both of us and just wanted to test the waters. It wasn't the best of shows and was pretty slow for me. But again it was fun chatting with all the folks that stopped by.

Doing all these conventions takes a lot of preparation and physical work but in the end it's all worth it when you have so many wonderful friends that stop by and support what you do for a living. YAY!

Well that's it for now. Next week we have another convention to attend!!! And remember to eat your cereal and BE HYPERACTIVE!!! Tootles!

Memories Are Made of This

This past weekend I was able to partake in Super Cooper's 13th B-day/Art show extravaganza, "Memories Are Made of This" at Munky King. It would also be Munky King's last art show before closing their retail shop. I've been going to Munky King for several years and it's always been a great place of inspiration and place where many new friendships were made. Here's a couple of awesome pieces from the show.

 Here's my piece below. I called it "9 Childhood Monkey Memories". I painted 9 wooden sake boxes and each box represents a monkey character I wanted to be when I was young.

Super Cooper asked me if I'd like to do a live painting at the show. And of course I said, "YES!!!" Here's a couple of shots of me in action and the finished piece.

 All in all it was a super fun show and there were tons of smiling faces to be found. I'm a little sad that Munky King, the retail shop, is closing down, but I'm super happy about them moving to a bigger and better space. I know that they will continue to make super awesome art and toys!!! Tootles and keep monkeying around!!!