it's not easy

having this exact hair. It's actually an oddly unmanageable hairstyle.
Just sayin'.

the truth is...

I am Iron Man.

chinky eyes

Production still from 3rd year film, Elixir. Not many people know this but I'm a big fan of chinky eyes.

Also suits, and looking sincere. But since this was my film, I got to do what I want.

wayang battle droid

Installation at the 2009 Character Animation Gallery show, co-created with Kristina Mickahail. Paper sculpture: bristol paper, wire and spray paint. Based on Balinese shadow puppets and random robot designs.

Blueprint & construction design of robot by me. Kristina did some of the decorations and painting.

taroko gorge

Taroko National Park, Hualien, Taiwan. September 2008.

Island of the Gods - storyboards

To move forward, click the right arrow, to move back the left arrow on the bottom of the slideshow. To see it bigger click on the center of the image. It will take you to the album on Picasa.

monsters of fail

intelligent pigs

Okay there's a story behind these pigs. They are very smart because they are always being read to from these scrolls of Chinese philosophy. And they become so intelligent they develop a curse...

tokyo olympiad

Color/image script, study from the film Tokyo Olympiad, directed by Kon Ichikawa.

brush and ink, part I

brush and ink scroll, about 3 ft sections out of 50. more coming up. 

day and night

My friend Nalena totally thinks those are cupcake trees. Ha. I'll take it as a compliment.

emotional collateral

Been frustrated a lot lately. I hope I'm coming out of it though.

the ladies of the court

These drawings are really old but I'm still proud of them. This is the first year I have not put them in my portfolio!

I like encrusting things with gold, it's fun.

it's tea time somewhere...

Orangutan & walrus having tea together. There is something I still need to fix but I'm not gonna tell you what it is.
I love orangutans. Their eyes are amazing. I used to love drawing them at the LA Zoo.
Damn I haven't gotten to the zoo in ages.

the giants

These are my giants. On the left is Corny Cole and on the right is Mike Mitchell. They were so instrumental in my education as an artist, these two guys.

These were inspired by portraits of the Zen masters, paintings by Zen Buddhist monks of really awesome and wise dudes. Corny encouraged me to apply to CalArts when I was terribly insecure and afraid. Corny's thing was that I should learn to be a complete filmmaker and not just focus on one area. Besides that, he was just effing hilarious. Mike would keep telling me weird random things that made no sense, but which I then assimilated... by osmosis? And when he saw it in my drawing he would go, "That's the stuff!" Which is what I wrote on top of Mike's portrait. That's like Mike's Zen koan.

Mike passed away at the beginning of the school year and soon after Corny had to leave for health reasons. I would like for Corny at least to see his portrait, the crazy life drawings I did this year and my film. I hope I can show him stuff and hang out with him, however briefly, at some point.

We all miss them, and because they are giants they left giant voids in our hearts.