The long awaited Raffle Winners & Happy Thanksgiving!

I spent a crazy busy weekend at the CTN expo with my wife. It was my first convention and as soon as each day was over we'd go home to drink a bit of tea and sleep. It was a lot of fun and it was great being able to meet everyone that came by. I can't wait for our next convention.

Photo stolen borrowed from Jason Scheier.

MENTORING!!!
I just joined Motivarti as a mentor for their spring term. Its the perfect program if you'd like personalized art, industry and career guidance. I'm only accepting 3 mentees and thanks to skype and email, you can be pretty much anywhere. Please visit - http://motivarti.org/mentorship-program/mike-yamada/ - if you're interested and want to learn more/apply.

ONLINE STORE COMING SOON!
I know a few of you we unable to make it to the convention and we will be launching an online store that will sell our cards/books, prints, greeting cards, stickers and more! All of this will be announced next MONDAY. Just a bit of paint and some tweaks to make it operational.

RAFFLE WINNERS
And I'm sure you've been all dying to know the winners of the raffle. So here they are -

Winner of a set of ZOOM ZOO CARDS

Winner of a ZOOM ZOO MINI PRINT

Thanks to everyone that entered and hopefully we'll be able to do another raffle come time soon! If you won, I'll be sending you an email shortly asking for where you want me to send your prizes.

HAPPY (CATS)THANKSGIVING!

CTN Expo 2011 :: Table T-45 :: 3 days left in Giveaway!

This upcoming weekend (Nov 18-20) is the annual CTN Animation Expo. If you aren't familiar with it, imagine a comic con centered around the art and craft of animation. It's being held at the Burbank Marriott directly across from Bob Hope Airport. You can find more information about attending on their website.

I will be sharing booth duties at table T-45 with my talented wife. We're going to have copies of our latest projects - Freckles and Zoom Zoo - along with prints, pins, originals & more. Stop by to say hi and peruse our wares. It's always fun to meet new people and connect faces with names.

We're also doing a few events at the show. You can find them listed on the above flyer or you can follow our twitters for up to date information.
@michaelyamada
@victoriaying

GIVEAWAY! 3 Days Left!

Don't forget about the Zoom Zoo Card giveaway. It continues and the competition is fierce.

I can't believe the positive response. I'm adding a second prize - a small set of prints I'm going to be selling at CTN.

There are TWO way to enter.

1) Comment on my blog from now until November 18th

2) Tweet about it! Use @michaelyamada and mention #zoomzoo for a second chance!

Each entry will boost your chances!

Alphabet Card Raffle & a Print

I've been working late nights and early mornings to make a few prints to sell at the CTN expo. Here's an except of one I'm still spending some time on. I'm big fan of swiss designer Max Huber and trying to capture a bit of the spirit of his work.

I've also received the entire shipment of the alphabet cards and they're now occupying a majority of my dining room.


To celebrate the arrival of my cards and my inevitable sleep deprived lead up to CTN, I decided it would be fun to give away a set here. You have one TWO ways to enter to win a free set of Zoom Zoo Cards-

• Leave a comment on my blog from today - November 7th - until the first day of CTN - November 18th (quick! you have 11 days!)
• Now a second way to WIN. Tweet about it! Use @michaelyamada and Mention the #ZoomZoo Giveaway for a second chance!

The Winner will be announced November 19th.

ps. I'm still slowly working on some of the originals from the prior giveaway. Patience young padawan.

EDIT : Added a second way to win.

Kamen Rider doing a wheelie

I was invited to be part of a show celebrating the anniversary of two epic Japanese shows - Kamen Rider and Super Sentai(you probably know them as Power Rangers). Stop by tomorrow to check out the show and Chris Mitchell's really awesome store - Q POP.

Find more info on the show below or on the store's website - http://qpopshop.com/main/?page_id=17

Q Pop, Anime Jungle and the JACCC invite you to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of Kamen Rider and the 35th Anniversary of the Super Sentai series(Power Rangers) creation!!

Over 150 local and international artists will pay visual tribute to some of the most famous pop culture icons in Japanese history and their creator, manga god Ishimori Shotaro.

Opening Reception: Nov. 5, 2011 7PM-10PM

Where:

Q POP
128 Astronaut E S Onizuka St
Los Angeles, CA 90012
Phone: (213) 687-7767

Japanese American Cultural and Community Center
244 S. San Pedro Street, Suite 505
Los Angeles, CA 90012
Phone: (213) 628-2725 

Our next project - A Cabinet of ...

In the lazy days after my wife and I wrapped up our individual projects for CTN, we had a great idea for a collaborative project. We're hoping to involve lots of other artists - friends, heroes, legends - and create something really fun.

Here's a quick teaser image I did exploring the world. It makes for a great Halloween piece & it will be ready to share a year from today.

WIP - work in progress

It always seems to be a busy week since I got back from the honeymoon. Here are a few things that are in progress and I'm hoping to finish up tomorrow.


Make sure to check back on Monday for announcing a new project!

Originals for CTN Expo

I can't believe that it's less than a month to CTN. The bulk shipment of my alphabet cards should arrive in the upcoming week and I have all sorts of things keeping me busy. One idea I had was to convert leftover tags from my wedding into small(and affordable) pieces of original art. Look for these at CTN or on my store when that goes live next month.

He has a gun!

I'm a few days back from my honeymoon and I'm totally not ready to head back to work. I realized not too long ago I needed to do my post for the week. I'm a bit rusty after a few weeks off of painting and I was trying a few new things I saw on Robh Ruppel's blog. I tried a bit of Robh's painting with the line tool and i integrated that with a few smudge brushes I use. Seems to work pretty well, especially in the pool areas. 

I'm thinking a secret agent rabbit has some potential. Maybe Richard Scarry meets James Bond and Yuki 7.

Hitched!

Greetings from the past! By now I should be married and having a good time somewhere tropical. I didn't want to miss my weekly art post so I spent some extra time to whip up a piece for this week and scheduled it to post.

Incoming Zoom Zoo

A few days ago I received an advance order box of my Zoom Zoo Flash Cards! It's really amazing seeing your work in such a real way. I've been working on setting up a website and a storefront to make web sales, but both still need some more work before they go live.

If you're one of the lucky few that work at Dreamworks, there is a small "comic convention" happening there on October 12th. I'm going to be off on my honeymoon, but my sister will be there selling packs of the cards, sets of pins, and perhaps a few originals. If you don't happen to work there, I'm going to be selling at the CTN expo in Burbank, CA and web sales should also go live around then as well.

Some pics of the cards and their unboxing as well as a set of pins (there will be more than 3 animals. they're all random).