I have been a collector and admirer of Fabi Yamada's light-hearted and visionary rare digital art since 2019. As one of my favorite contemporary Mexican artists, Fabi's incredible talent and attitude are some of the many reasons I invited her to be one of the featured artists in ArtVndngMchn. We've even collaborated on a few pieces over the years, and she's been pure, professional fun to work with.
Recently Fabi agreed to do her first-ever interview about life as an artist. I hope you will be as grateful as I am to learn more about this remarkable rare digital art pioneer: Fabi Yamada.
Artist to Artist: Joe Chiappetta Interviews Cryptoart OG Fabi Yamada
When did you first realize you were an artist?
Wow! Good question… maybe when I was in kindergarten and the teacher didn’t believe I was actually making my drawing homeworks. Then I started selling art when I was 10 or so, to my friends in school.
I even collected art back then. I remember I bought a big drawing made by a girl 1 or 2 years older than me; I paid a fortune for it! Like one dollar. In the 90s, for a Mexican, the equivalent to 1 USD was a ton of money if you were 10 years old.
I also remember clearly I used to invite a neighbor and we drew for hours. I even had a special box with all my art notebooks and supplies: impossible not to remember this with nostalgia. Making art was definitely what I enjoyed the most as a child.
Who were your artistic influences growing up?
I’ve been highly influenced by Japanese artists. I watched a lot of anime, even before I knew they were cartoons from Japan, when I was a very little kid; there was something about the colors and character designs that attracted me more than any other cartoons from the USA or elsewhere. One of those artists who I still love their style is Akira Toriyama. Anime and manga definitely were the spark that made me draw every day, I even created many original characters and some “mangas” of my own inspiration.
Another artist I admire a lot is René Magritte. I knew about him when I was in art history class. I think he was incredibly creative. In those times I also was so shocked by the art of Helga Krebs, who I was so honored to meet years ago. I can’t believe she was living in my city! I found her art, as I mentioned, so shocking and full of meaning.
What is your most-preferred way to make art? Like what process and tools do you prefer?
I made my first try at Blender 4 years ago, on April 19th, 2018. And that totally changed my artist life. I admit it was hard to learn, but it is so addictive and I love all the things I can do; how designs come to life when I render the scenes. I graduated from Universidad del Valle de México (UVM) as a graphic designer in 2009 and I had been a graphic designer for many years and I used to love it... now it feels so boring and I just want to create 3D art!
What attracted you to doing art on the blockchain?
The idea of being able to make art and live off it. No boss, no clients, I make art that makes me happy and it’s really cool when a collector appreciates it.
What does your family think about your art career?
My 4 year old girl thinks my art is pretty and she gives me 10 grades on most of them, “10” is like “A” in the USA. And yeah, she gave me some 0’s too, so sad!
I think kids in the family are the most connected to my art because I draw for them very often and they color it. Basically, we collaborate.
What is one of the most valuable life lessons you have learned by being a cryptoartist?
I’ll be totally honest here: money doesn’t buy happiness. That’s it.
Your art has such an upbeat and inviting style to it. How do you maintain that positive attitude?
I think it’s very important to be surrounded by people that also want to bring joy, and that’s not easy sometimes. I also try to keep in mind I want to make things I can show my girls and they like it (I want 10s only!).
How has being a parent changed you as an artist?
Everything changed. My daughters are a great inspiration, motor and battery to continue creating art (when they allow me to).
What do you like to do when you're not making art?
There are many ways to make art in this house, so, sometimes I actually sit with my laptop and make a 3D model or take the iPad to create an illustration, but those are the least common ways. What’s very common is to go outside in the morning with the girls and sit with them in their small table and we paint with watercolors in a coloring book, or we play some kind of “Pictionary” in their magic board (one of us draw and the other 2 try to guess what it is); other times we play the guitar or the keyboard or we dance. Whatever is related to being with my family is what I like to do when I’m not making art.
Besides those things I do other stuff but I don’t like to do them so much, you know, like cleaning the house. I hope I can find an artistic way to do it so it’s not that boring.
Are there any recent art releases you'd like to highlight and talk more about?
Right now my most important art release is definitely the ARTifacts for ArtVndngMchn. I enjoyed the process of creation so much and learned a lot from it. And I loved the results so much!
Besides that, I recently started a collection called “kawaii” on objkt.com. You can find it here: https://objkt.com/collection/KT1WS5mXGqPTrcwDzMUhXZqNP7mgwkn5ZojW
There is currently one item there called: Happy pills.
That is definitely an approach I want to take, to create simple pieces that make you smile.
Do you have any closing comments?
Just to thank God for everything we have.
What's the best way for people to follow your work?
I am more active on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/fabiyamada_art/) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/fabiyamada_art). I also make some posts about my art in my Hive blog (@fabiyamada).
For more about ArtVndngMchn, go to https://artvndngmchn.com