CHILDHOOD DRAWINGS OF CUTE JAPANESE-STYLE ANIMALS INSPIRED THE ILLUSTRATIONS OF AUTHOR’S NEW COOKBOOK, CUTE YUMMY TIME.

Vintage Hello Kitty stuffed toy from 1980s, baby photos of La Carmina, young childhood pictures of Carmen Yuen, old silly funny retro 1980s childhood portraits, posing with Scottish Fold cat and Chinese child holding plush Hello Kitty doll, before and after.

First, big news! I’ll be appearing on the Weekend Today in NYC Show on Sunday, October 18th at 7:45 AM… save the date! And don’t forget to write down my book signing dates: NYC (Oct 11), Philly (Oct 17), DC (Oct 24). Full info here.

The more we change, the more we stay the same… As a child, I loved Hello Kitty and spent hours drawing Japanese-style characters of my own imagination. Today, I do pretty much the same thing for a living: Perigee has just released Cute Yummy Time, my book about making adorable food that features my Scottish Fold cat, Basil Farrow. (This entry is also posted on the Penguin blog.)

Cute Yummy Time book illustration, kid's cookbook, child illustrations, Hello Kitty drawings, Sanrio style character design, Japanese manga and anime sketches by La Carmina. Satchel Farrow dog, puppy

I created an adventure story to accompany the 70 recipes, and illustrated every page with cutie characters. Where did I draw inspiration? From my childhood doodles of puppies and chicks.

Cute Yummy Time book illustrations, pig pop up card, cute cat drawing, kid's cookbook, child illustrations, Hello Kitty drawings, Sanrio style character design, Japanese manga and anime sketches by La Carmina.

The round, simple shapes and Japanese sensibility mirror my childhood creativity.

Cute Yummy Time book illustration, kid's cookbook, child illustrations, tuxedo sam penguin drawings, funny cartoon falling over waterfall, Sanrio style character design, Japanese manga and anime sketches by La Carmina.

When I was about ten, I sketched several comics where birds fell asleep while drifting in a river… and fell over a raging waterfall. The exact same incident happens to La Carmina and Basil Farrow. And the waterfall is even called Death Falls!

Cute Yummy Time book illustration, kid's cookbook, child illustrations, Oliver the Owl cartoon, funny owl with glasses picture, Hello Kitty cute cat drawings, Sanrio style character design, Japanese manga and anime sketches by La Carmina.

Oliver the Owl was one of my favorite comic creations. I resuscitated him for Cute Yummy Time, and even paid tribute to his drifting log.

My cookbook Cute Yummy Time is in all major bookstores now, and can be ordered online. Book signing dates for NYC, Philly and DC are here — stay tuned to my daily Japanese cute-meets-morbid blog for the latest La Carmina news.

PS: I have a new weekly column called Trendcatcher on CNNGo. This week: dreamy boys Japanese vampire dramas. Blame Twilight.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 7th, 2009 at 23:53 and is filed under Art + Design, Cute Yummy Time. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

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View Comments to “CHILDHOOD DRAWINGS OF CUTE JAPANESE-STYLE ANIMALS INSPIRED THE ILLUSTRATIONS OF AUTHOR’S NEW COOKBOOK, CUTE YUMMY TIME.”

October 8th, 2009 at 16:32
Stillprince says:

These drawings are so cute… You're such a pack rat Carmina xD haha
October 8th, 2009 at 16:32
Moon Maiden 90 says:

cute :3
October 8th, 2009 at 16:32
Moon Maiden 90 says:

cute :3
October 8th, 2009 at 16:32
Maleva says:

cute..
October 8th, 2009 at 16:32
vicious kurai says:

Very cute. I love how “Have a nice day” is spelled as “Nise” xD So adorable
October 8th, 2009 at 17:27
Jen says:

The comics are so cute!

As for the Japanese vampire dramas, there's also Vampire Host from a few years. That one was really campy (and not as good as the manga, Blood Hound). If this trend keeps up, they'll be making a live-action version of Vampire Knight soon.
October 8th, 2009 at 23:38
lacarmina says:

haha I didn't notice that! My spelling used to be pretty random.
October 8th, 2009 at 23:38
lacarmina says:

Blame my parents… they kept everything!
October 8th, 2009 at 23:39
lacarmina says:

Oooh, I'll have to look for that one… I also have a feeling that Vampire Knight will go live action soon.
October 9th, 2009 at 00:27
Jen says:

The comics are so cute!

As for the Japanese vampire dramas, there's also Vampire Host from a few years. That one was really campy (and not as good as the manga, Blood Hound). If this trend keeps up, they'll be making a live-action version of Vampire Knight soon.
October 9th, 2009 at 06:38
lacarmina says:

haha I didn't notice that! My spelling used to be pretty random.
October 9th, 2009 at 06:38
lacarmina says:

Blame my parents… they kept everything!
October 9th, 2009 at 06:39
lacarmina says:

Oooh, I'll have to look for that one… I also have a feeling that Vampire Knight will go live action soon.