intergalactic messages

YOKAIDEN 2 OUT IN STORES TODAY

It has three reviews so far and they're all positive!

The first review is by Brigid Alverson at MangaBlog. Spoiler haters beware -- it gives away much of the plot from beginning to end.

The second review is by Michael C. Lorah at Newsarama, who's never read the first volume.

The third review is by Leroy Douresseaux at Comic Book Bin. It's the first rated review; the book received an A-. (He gave Yokaiden 1 a B+ last year.)

Yokaiden 2 is out in stores this Tuesday!

Meanwhile, I've been waiting around regarding the Last Airbender Prequel stuff. I just did this Final Fantasy VI and Katamari Damacy mashup:



Speaking of mashups, I've been greatly enjoying DJ Hero. I like to conquer all sorts of rhythm games, but I've never tackled a DJ game asides from trying Beatmania once. It's a bit more complicated and involved than guitar and drum games, and I like that. And of course, it has a great list of songs.

Got my copies of Yokiaden 2 in today.

( photos here )

Order now! Receive it eventually!

Hey guys, the painted prototype for the "crazy coyote" resin figure(re: "toyote") is complete! Pictures can be found here, but I've asked PatchTogether to take a better photo of it from a different angle because the ones they chose are kinda unflattering.

The figure is still available for order and will be shipped out in January.

I don't like to talk about potential jobs until I'm sure it's going to happen, because one thing I've learned from being a professional artist so far is that any exciting potential project can fizzle out for any number of reasons so it's best not to talk about it or else a whole lot of misunderstandings will arise (e.g. when FOX said they might be able get me some work doing Futurama merchandise art, but it didn't end up happening. To this day I think a lot of people think I worked on the Futurama DVDs). So here's one tale I never made mention of in public -- until now!

December 2008, on a Wednesday afternoon while I was busy working on Yokaiden 2, I received this e-mail:

Hi Nina,

My name’s Bruce Ramsay. I do the covers at Newsweek. I have an IMMEDIATE need of and anime artist like yourself for a cover this week. Due Friday! $[amount removed] fee.

I can explain if you are interested and can contact me...

It’s Wed. night (here in NY)

Many, many thanks,
Bruce
[phone number removed]

I wasn't ever expecting to have someone from the second largest weekly news magazine (right behind Time) contact me hurriedly going "Nina! We need an anime artist, quick! And we want YOU." so for a second I thought it may've been a joke. But sure enough, his e-mail was an official Newsweek one, so I phoned right away.

Bruce sounded stressed out, and he described himself as "frazzled". The editor couldn't decide on a cover for the next issue (due Friday) and kept changing his mind on it. The cover story was to be about how the Japanese auto industry is upstaging the American auto industry, and how the US can learn from Japan's ways. The editor decided the cover art should feature The General Lee and Bo and Luke from The Dukes of Hazzard, anime style. Bruce had no idea where he could get an anime style artist, but a friend gave him two names: huge manga publisher Tokyopop, and mine. He contacted Tokyopop, who gave him a list of available artists working for them, and went to my website. He decided my style would suit the subject matter best.

I agreed to the job and did a few rough thumbnail sketches, but unfortunately, the next day he contacted me again saying the editor changed his mind again and the cover story won't be about the auto industry at all anymore. I understood that things move incredibly fast in the production of a magazine as widely circulated as Newsweek and things change all the time, so I wasn't too surprised either. He thanked me for the quick turnaround and sent me a nice kill fee for the few sketches I did, which was very nice of him.

It's too bad I couldn't do the cover, but it's still very cool that I was given this opportunity. I was reminded of this because I was recently offered another amazing job -- one so amazing that you may find yourself saying, "oh my god! Does Nina Matsumoto's luck never end?!" -- but that's all I'm saying for now.

P.S. I'd still love to do an awesome magazine cover, so if there's anyone who can get me such a job reading this...contact me?

The photos of the sculpt for the coyote figure are up now on the PatchTogether website!

http://www.patchtogether.com/store/store/view/id/163

With the release of these photos the special pre-order price is no longer available, so the figure is now $19.95. The completed painted figure should be up soon.

Some of my latest pieces:
* Zuko and Iroh inked
* Elly and John Patterson of For Better or For Worse
* Moe Moe -- Moe (as in Simpsons) looking moe (as in the otaku term)

...and how they've influenced me.

( BIG but beautiful images )

Fujiko F. Fujio is one of my favourite manga artists. Along with Fujiko Fujio (A) they did Doraemon, Pa-man, Esper Mami and other classic children's manga. His favourite genre to do was SF, but to him, SF didn't stand for "science fiction" but "sukoshi fushigi", meaning "slightly strange/mysterious". I grew up reading mainly Doraemon -- my works have been hugely influenced by his (though it might not be easily evident).

He's done some grimmer, bit more disturbing works, and his 34-page short story "Minotaurus's Plate" (published October 10, 1969) is one of them. In February of last year, I scanlated it to show my friends. Today I've decided to upload it here to show people what a great writer and artist he is. Enjoy!

Read from right to left.

( Minotaurus's Plate -- not quite Doraemon )

I have a new design up on PatchTogether! Behold:


Go here to vote for the mal coyote figure to be made!

No rush on this one since the crazy coyote toy prototype hasn't even made yet (and it WILL be made, because it got the required 20 preorders -- hooray), but please vote when you can.

deviantartists may be interested to know that while "crazy coyote" is a representation of myself, "mal coyote" is a representation of my good friend maladies, better known as pu-sama. We often joke that we are "twins" who are similar in many ways yet complete opposite in others -- one opposite being that I draw in an angular, bright, happy style while she does curly, dark, macabre art. It is also a running joke that crazy coyote is terrified of non-angular things, so mal coyote is like a nightmare to her.

Remember that you can still preorder the crazy coyote for the reduced price of $14.95. Once the prototype has been made, the price will go up to $19.95.

Someone asked me how much profit I make from these toys; I'm not entirely sure. The site says I get 40% of total profits made, but I don't know how much profit is made from each figure. Honestly, I'm not doing this for the money. I just wanted toys designed by me to be nicely made and easily available to anyone else who wants one!

I admit it -- I've been using my Twitter more often than LiveJournal lately. It's just so much easier to update, you know? I strongly recommend following me there (I'm @spacecoyotl) for all the latest news.

But I digress:


http://www.patchtogether.com/store/store/view/id/163

"crazy coyote" resin figure available for preorder! Production of the toy will NOT begin until 20 PREORDERS have been met. Your credit card will NOT be charged until the toy has been made.

The price is $14.95 for preorders; after production, it's $19.95. Currently it's the most affordable toy at PatchTogether! I've seen one of their resin toys in person before (Miss Monster's Foo Dog) and I can vouch for their quality.

Thanks to EVERYONE who voted and commented to make another dream of mine come true. Now I'm just one step away -- I need those preorders so get orderin'!

Fun fact: the first time I drew crazy coyote was on May 2, 2006, in this picture:


As for work, I've been working as fast as I can on the Last Airbender prequel because the deadline is tight. This particular book is now up for preorder at Amazon under the working title of "The Last Airbender Movie Prequel".

Latest pieces up on deviantART:

I'm a featured guest at the September 13th Vancouver Comicon! 11 AM to 5 PM at Heritage Hall; admission is no more than 4 bucks. This is my first time ever having a table at a convention. If you're a local Vancouverite, do drop by.

Updates for today:
* Put up an interview I did for Melonz Magazine in the press section.
* Tweaked the site design a bit; updated the gallery and rewrote my profile.
* Patch Together toy design - 114 votes. Cast your vote!
* AIDS Walk - $325 raised for AIDS research; hasn't moved since last time. Donate here!

Here's the cover for Yokaiden volume 2:

Yokaiden 2 up for preorder!

Release date: November 24, 2009


For this cover I aimed to have a nice shot of Hamachi, Lumi and the umbrella ghost and show off their unmistakable silhouettes -- hence the backlighting.

It actually came back purple at first (the spine, back cover and title) but I asked Del Rey to change it to the same green used in volume 2. I know many people prefer it when different volumes of the same series all have the same spine colour, and more importantly, Yokaiden's green spine stands out significantly in book stores when sandwiched between Yakitate! Japan and Yozakura Quartet. No wait, I guess Yokai Doctor is now the title right next to Yokaiden... Anyway, those titles have black and white spines. I can spot my own comic straight away in a bookstore thanks to its unique colour.

Some updates:
* Patch Together toy design - Up to 108 votes now. Cast your vote!
* AIDS Walk - $325 raised for AIDS research. Donate here!

New art! Josey Wales and the Pussycats:

A couple of months ago, I was contacted by Patch Together, a site where anyone can submit a toy design. If it gets enough high votes, they make it into a toy. I've been wanting to submit something for a while, but had no ideas. The only cute, simple character I could think of was...me. Or rather, "crazy coyote," the sketchy doodled coyote I always draw myself as.

And so:


http://www.patchtogether.com/?Designs_Details&Id=1432

I've always wanted a toy made of one of my designs! The crazy coyote is so flat and graphic, it really doesn't translate well to 3D but I tried my best. I've seen one of their toys in person, and they're pretty amazing at what they do.

Go register and vote if you want to take home a coyote! While you're at it, vote on my friend's Frog Goosona too.

Whoops, I forgot to post this picture here.


Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael and Michelangelo as ninja masters!!

And here's a new pic I did just now:



Non-official Avatar art, unrelated to the prequel I'm doing!

On September 20th, I'll be walking 10km (6.2 miles) with hundreds of others in support of HIV/AIDS research. By sponsoring me, you'll be donating to help find a cure. 100% of the money goes to the charity. If you have even 5 dollars to spare, you should donate here!

San Diego Comic-Con 2009 was my very first Comic-Con. I had always wanted to go -- especially since I used to attend Anime Expo every year with friends -- but my usual congoing group didn't feel the same way. Since I've stopped going to Expo, I decided to make it my goal to attend in 2010...that is, until Murder He Wrote got nominated for an Eisner. No part of me thought we would win (I compared our chances of winning to the chances of a wacky slapstick comedy winning Best Picture at the Oscars when up against epic profound war movies and arthouse films); however, I didn't want to miss the once in a lifetime opportunity to attend the ceremony and hear my name announced as one of the nominees. And so I opted to go this year instead, prepared for my first major award loss.

Little did I realize then how incredible the trip would be!

( click for my full San Diego Comic-Con 2009 report )

You can see more of my SDCC photos at my Flickr page. I also uploaded photos I took at The San Diego Zoo.

Also I'm going to put up a proper entry for this later but I'm doing the AIDS Walk for Life again. Please donate to support the charity, even if it's just 5 dollars!

"At the San Diego Comic-Con, Del Rey Manga announced that it will publish both a manga prequel and a manga adaptation of M. Night Shyamalan’s live-action feature film The Last Airbender, which is slated to debut on July 4th, 2010. Dave Roman (associate editor of Nickelodeon Magazine) is writing both the prequel and the adaptation. Joon Choi is illustrating the adaptation in full manga style, while Nina Matsumoto, who just won an Eisner for her work with Bongo comics and is the creator of Yokaiden, will illustrate the prequel, which is due out from Del Rey about three months prior to the movie’s debut." -ICv2

That's what I'll be busy working on for the next few months! Alison Wilgus is co-writing both comics with Dave Roman. I met both of them at Comic-Con, and we're all going to try our best to make this into something the fans of the TV show will be happy with since we are fans ourselves.

* I won an Eisner Award for best short story
* I met Matt Groening, Morgan Spurlock, Jeff Smith, Terry Moore, Phil Lamarr, Stan Sakai and Paul Dini
* It has been announced so I can finally say: my next comic project for Del Rey (just art, not the writing) is a manga prequel for the Avatar: The Last Airbender live action film

Full con report when I go home...? For now, San Diego Zoo.

I'm telling you, keeping an LJ, dA Journal and Twitter all updated with the same stuff can be pretty tedious. Maybe it's because it feels like I'm repeating myself. But this is repetition for a good cause:


The Speed Gamers Final Fantasy marathon for charity! They're playing all the numbered Final Fantasy games; they began on July 17th and are ending on the 24th. Nearly two days into it and they've already raised 30% of their $20,000 goal. Go see them and don't forget to donate.

I've actually been playing through FF12 for the first time myself; I'm about 31 hours into it.