Artist Statement

My artworks are composed of characters that I have personally created. They are all placed in a multicultural universe where “body-shaming,” racism, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia, and other forms of bigotry do not exist.

These works are a response to the social issues that continue to plague the world that we live in. Every time I illustrate, I delve into a world of fantasy; my personal form of escapism. I hope that we can one day reach a utopia in which people will respect others regardless of their race, gender, or physical shape. I express these ideals through my work as much as possible.

As a traditional artist, I love using acrylic paint as you are able to employ many different vibrant colors and you can perform a blending technique known as Alla Prima (wet on wet). I also love shading and crosshatching using Sakura Micron pens. When it comes to digital art, I enjoy using programs such as Adobe Photoshop, Clip Studio Paint and Paint Tool Sai. What is amazing about computer software is the instant ability to choose thousands of bright, powerful, and vibrant colors. You can select any color you want, and you can mix and combine them as much as you please.

As a form of experimentation, I sometimes scan work that I have done traditionally using my Sakura Micron pens into my laptop and paint over them using one (or even more than one) of my digital programs. This is known as “rendering.” It always fascinates me how different the original black and white inked piece looks compared to its digitally colored version!