The Crabby Girl

I sold this sketch to one of the guys at Upper Playground. I'm glad that people gave me positive feedback for it on Facebook, because it's rare for me to draw something so explicit in content.

ART FOR JAPAN Fundraiser

Last night, I finished my art submission for the Art For Japan Fundraiser at Gallery Nucleus. Auction starts April 20th and ends April 25th. All donated artwork will be exhibited exclusively online. 100% of the proceeds will go towards Give2Asia's Japan Earthquake & Tsunami Fund. For more information about the fundraiser, click here.

Playboy Bunny Artwork

Last week, I was testing out my new Canon S95. I'm pretty happy with how the video turned out; and I look forward to making more of these videos in the future.


Making of Playboy Bunny from Dan Lam on Vimeo.

Jim Lee's ICONS Art Book

When I was 9 years old, I noticed that kids would come to school with binders full of comic cards. I would watch them make deals with each other before, during, and after school; and I had to get in on the action. Usually, a kid would call dibs on his favorite comic character, and you knew you couldn't trade for certain cards in a kid's collection. All the kids liked Wolverine and Spiderman, but my favorite character (and still is today) was Gambit. It was easier for me to get what I wanted.

A year later, my school banned comic cards; and the kids moved onto comicbooks. So I ventured deeper into the comicbook store, and bought my first comicbook - X-Men #21. Gambit looked grittier than his usual suave appearance, so I became more curious about back issues that the animated cartoon was based off of. Next, I bought X-Men #8 with Bishop, Gambit, and Rogue on the cover, drawn by none other than Jim Lee himself. I was so impressed with art that I had to buy all of the other Jim Lee issues.

For the next few years, I bought X-Men, WildC.A.T.s, Stormwatch, and other comicbooks. Whatever Jim Lee was drawing at the time, I was reading it. But once I reached high school, I grew tired of collecting.

During my senior year of high school, I got serious about drawing, and referred to all my old comic books as supplement. Since then, I've been buying comicbooks here and there, trying to become a more versatile artist.

With the release of ICONS: The DC and Wildstorm Art of Jim Lee, I can die happy. This is a collected anthology of Jim Lee's work from 1992 to 2010, after drawing for Marvel Comics. The book contains many of Lee's pencil drawings and sketches; and it's divided by the various book titles that Lee had worked on. I only wished it had dived deeper into Lee's drawing process. Enjoy the images...

My 'Illustrated' Beef Tataki Recipe

Happy Thanksgiving! To kick off the holidays, I'm excited to share my submitted illustration to They Draw and Cook. Let's hope the 'W!'

The final version.

The original illustration.

Sanrio 50th Anniversary

Last Saturday, I finally caught the Small Gift L.A. extravaganza to celebrate Sanrio's 50th Anniversary. Now that everyone and their mom has posted pictures of the event throughout the week... it's my turn with captioned commentary. Ahem!

The most literal form of idolatry. Also, the most gaudy P.O.S. I've ever seen.

Kozyndan's contribution was easily the most creative. Audrey Kawasaki's was typical.

Kawaii-girl portrait x Sanrio theme x 2 = Easy money. I can't knock it. Sanrio made millions off a simple cat drawing.

Eric Joyner is my hero. His compositions are so iconic. And he still managed to included the signature donut.

Fun event, but much smaller than I expected. I was way too old for the ferris wheel, anyway.

Carmen and Trisha enjoying hot bowls of ramen after a long weekend of festivities.

Kinchans Ramen

2119 Sawtelle Blvd.

Santa Monica, CA 90025

Junko Mizuno & Mizna Wada Art Exhibits

FLORA DELIRIUM 4

FLORA DELIRIUM 1

Last Saturday, Nucleus opened two new exhibits featuring Japanese female artists - Junko Mizuno and Mizna Wada. The show runs until December 6th. These are two of my favorites from Junko Mizuno.

The Architecture of SF

Building on Post St.

Building on Post St.

Building on Post St.

House on Haight St.

Church on Haight St.

Ornate stoop on Haight St.

SFO Check-in.

San Francisco was a nice change of scenery. Upon my arrival, my friend - Jason gave me a nonchalant tour through San Francisco's maze of winding roads that led up and down steep hills. It seemed pointless to ask him where we were headed since I immediately felt lost after the second or third turn. Driving along the streets would disorient any layman's sense of direction.

Not that it mattered. I was too busy marveling at the architecture to even care where we were headed. Unlike the minimal stucco variations commonly found in Los Angeles, San Francisco's buildings were modeled with an ornate aesthetic in mind. As an aesthetic-minded person, I could appreciate all the Victorian details from stoop to rooftop. The most vivid of buildings called Painted Ladies are usually set apart by an exterior polychrome color scheme. Being immersed in this endless sea of old Victorian buildings felt like time-travel.

While the buildings are frozen in time, the local people seem unfazed by their surroundings. I suppose when you see something everyday, it's not that exciting. Life keeps going for them. Regardless, San Franciscans should know that they live in an unadulterated, chic nest. With that said, there's not much dedicated material written about San Francisco's Victorian architecture. That's something I want to research.

Dan Lam x Remi February

Remi February is the "handsome" assistant of Comedian Ken Tanaka. Over the past few years, they have been sharing educational tidbits about Japanese culture on Youtube such as 'How to speak fluent Japanese without saying a word". Check them out!



Last week, I drew a series of portraits of Remi-chan; and she returned the favor in appreciation. Cool, huh?

Moonshine Recap

Man, I'm pooped. We had a great showing tonight. The Dreamworks artists definitely delivered the goods. Here are some of my favorite images from the night.






























































































































If you're interested in purchasing the book, you can order it here.

Moonshine Preview

Setting up an art exhibit is tough work. Since I've been working at Nucleus, I've been learning the in's-and-out's of art gallery operations. It can be overwhelming - sales, inventory, packaging, shipping, photographing merchandise, website maintenance, event promotion, customer service, etc. But it's really rewarding when your event comes together.

This Saturday, we're opening a new art exhibit called Moonshine. It will feature the personal work of Dreamworks artists. And my buddy - Roy will be playing the banjo for your enjoyment as well. Don't miss it! http://gallerynucleus.com/gallery/exhibition/251

Moonshine. Opening Reception on Saturday, August 14th. 7pm-11pm.

Nucleus. 210 E. Main St. Alhambra, CA 91801

This is how it goes down at Nucleus.

Shawty shooting photographs of the Moonshine artwork with reckless abandonment.

Ben and Alexis valuing the price of artwork with great prejudice.

Kevin showing off a large art print for final approval.

Giant Robot Art Exhibition and Celebration

Following the Nike 10K at USC in the early morning, I went back to L.A. with Carmen, Rachel, and Allie at night. Traffic was crazy. Apparently, a lot of different big events were staged on the same night: UFC 104 at the Staples Center, the Nike Human Race Tailgate Party at USC, and Giant Robot Magazine's Art Exhibition in Little Tokyo. We chose the latter.

After a little exploration around Little Tokyo and a small morsel of takoyaki, we headed over to the art gallery at the Japanese American National Museum. Giant Robot was displaying the work of numerous artists who had collaborated with the magazine. The main attraction featured two of my favorite artists - James Jean and David Choe.

I can't emphasize how great it is to see artwork in person. There is something extraordinary and overwhelming about standing in front of a painting that's twice the size of you. It locks eyes with you; it becomes interactive and conversational. You become a part of that painting.

Art can be strictly aesthetic or it can be intellectually challenging. Sometimes, you look at a new painting and it's strangely familiar or it's a totally fucking mystery. In any case, I always leave an art gallery feeling a little more cultured and educated.

The Good: Seeing the artwork of James Jean and David Choe in person.

The Bad: Traffic on the way to Los Angeles.

The Ugly: Non-existent service at an otherwise awesome restaurant called Zen Cu. May it forever live in infamy.
"Most people wait for their life to happen. Restaurant servers happen to wait for their life." - Bobby Hundreds