NOTICE: I do not allow my artwork to be used in any modification or signature-making groups. Thankyou for your understanding.

ART CREATION
-- 80% of the artwork on my site is simply graphite pencil drawings. If the image is in color, it is usually COPIC marker.

IMAGE USAGE
-- Basically, do not use ANY of my artwork anywhere without permission. Please email me to ask for permission.

IMAGE USE FOR PUBLICATION
-- I keep high resolution files of my artwork and photographs. If you would like to use one for a publication or product, please email me and we can discuss it.

APPEARANCES and WORKSHOPS
-- I love doing panels and/or workshops on animation, cartooning, costuming, etc. I'm a published illustrator and author and have worked in animation for over 9 years. I'm also an award winning costumer for over 10 years. I really enjoy sharing my joy, experiences and knowledge with others. I'm very happy to come out for conventions, libraries and schools who are able to bring me out as a guest.

I can do panels on the animation process, panels about my book Japan Ai, costuming tutorial panels (including wig and resin work), judge costuming competitions, attend your event in various costumes.

Email your local event and suggest they bring me out or please email me for more information about attending your event. I live in Southern California, but I'm willing to travel schedule permitting.

INTERVIEWS
-- You can find some of the interviews I've done on my press page. I'm very happy to answer questions for publication regarding my work, my books, animation, hobbies or costuming. Again, I also keep high resolution files of most of my artwork and photographs that I can make available for your publication. I don't always have time to answer questions for student projects, though. Thankyou for your understanding.

COMMISSIONS:
-- I very seldomly have time to do commissions. Sometimes I announce that I'm available for commissions in my blog. Please watch there. You're always welcome to send me a commission request, if it sounds interesting and I have time, I might do it.  My charge depends on the commission in question.

ART TRADE? If I draw you a picture, will you draw a picture for me for free?
No.  I'd like to really, but I just dont have time. I love to get pictures though, so feel free to send me some!  I just don't have time to commit to doing "return" pics.

How did you get into animation?
-- I drew since I was a little kid and always loved cartoons. When I was 9, I created elaborate comics about Chip N Dale Rescue Rangers.
When I was about 11, Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" came out. I'd loved "The Little Mermaid", but something about "Beauty and the Beast" really hit me. I'd always been a huge fan of fairy tales... but I loved the smart quality of Disney's Belle and I loved the visual power of the Beast. This was the first time when I saw any sort of information about animation being created BY PEOPLE. I guess I just sort of assumed that it magically came out of the ether. They showed "The Making of Beauty and the Beast" on TV and interviewed Glen Keane, and oh dear,... that was that. I decided right then that I would be an animator (specifically I wanted to be a feature animator at Disney), and stayed true to that dream for years...
I researched what one had to do, and tried to do that. I got into Calarts right after highschool and focused almost entirely on feature-style character animation. I found storyboarding and other parts of animation hard and not as much fun......
... and then my junior year in college... Disney decided they didn't want to do 2-D animation anymore and fired 99% of their staff. I was crushed. I tried 3d animation multiple times (in fact, I taught myself 3d animation in highschool),.... but I've never enjoyed it like I enjoy the rush of rough animation in 2d... so I gave 3d up. Instead I was lucky enough to get some jobs doing character layout and storyboard revision work at various TV studios. Eventually I learned animation timing and full storyboards (thanks to Disney TV and Rough Draft Studios) giving me the skills to attempt Assistant Directing, which is my current job. I think it's kind of funny that I'm doing exactly what I thought I WOULDN'T be doing in animation, and honestly, I'm enjoying it greatly. I've learned so very much. (Oh my god, I still have so much to learn. EEK!)

How did you get Japan Ai published?
-- I'd known Go! Comi for a couple years and I'd done a little bit of work with them but most of the time I was so busy with animation work that I didn't have time to do comics stuff. We went out to karaoke one night and Audry asked if I was working on anything and I said I was doing some comics about my trip to Japan. I emailed them to her later, mentioning that I might self-publish them. She emailed me back saying, "You do remember we are a publisher, right?" They really liked my early drawings for the book and really wanted to publish it! I'm very lucky for that. I never would have been able to publish the book in color myself, and it wouldn't have been as long either. More importantly, they gave me a lot of advice about shaping the book and the whole thing became more polished and appealing by the time it was finished. I'm very happy with it. So that's basically how it happened. I enjoyed making the book and people's reaction to it so very much! This really is something that I could have never anticipated. What a joy.

How did you get interested in Japan?
-- Part of it came from watching anime on TV, stuff like Ranma 1/2, Kimba the White Lion and My Neighbor Totoro. Later when I was researching which college to go to, I visited New York and they had a show of traditional Japanese art at the Metropolitan Museum. So I'm interested in both the traditional and the popular culture of Japan. Gradually I learned more about Japanese artwork, history and fashion.

How fluent was your Japanese when you left for your trip?
-- Not very. I knew very basic things like "Where is this?", "I'm sorry!" and "Thank you!". I had several guidebooks though, and an annotated bilingual atlas (invaluable) from a friend who had gone several times, plus the friend I went with had gone to Japan previously. I do think that if you are prepared, you can easily go to Japan for the first time without knowing too much Japanese. It's very helpful, though.

 

Animation FAQs-
Animation Schools and Jobs FAQ
Sketching for Animation-- quick sketching and rough
Making Your Own Animation --- programs, flipping, desks
Waterfall FAQ- questions about Crystal and my film