My story is not
an uncommon one. I have heard the same
from many others among colleagues, and as I begin to hear my own words share
my tale, I am confronted with its lack of originality.
I’ve always loved
drawing, and always admired the works of Disney. Sound familiar? Even as a very young child, sitting in my
family’s coffee shop in Hawaii and entertaining the locals with my crude
drawings, I dreamed of someday working for the Mouse.
I had a somewhat
questionable education, choosing graphic design as a specialty when attending
the University of Hawaii. I was not
particularly skilled in this subject, probably due to my lack of real interest
in the field. My eyes were focused on
that castle that we see before all my favorite childhood films. However, all that design business did give me
some basis for my artistic development.
As soon as I
graduated, I set sail for the Promised Land, in this case, Southern California,
said home of the Mouse himself. There
are always a lot of obstacles when one decides on such an unsteady career. But youth was on my side as only the young
are foolish enough to consider risking such an attempt. It actually was something my mother said that
made me brave enough to journey on. She
always told me to never look back on your life and regret. You don’t want to one day wonder…what if? My mom said a lot of things to me that day but being a young
kid, that’s the only one I heard. And
so, the adventure began.
After floundering
for 5 years, I was unbelievably fortunate to have landed a position in
character design at Hanna-Barbera. Hanna-Barbera, what’s that? Yes, they don’t
exist anymore but they once were the great masters of TV animation. I learned all I could while I was there. After all, I didn’t know anything yet. I had a lot to catch up on. Unfortunately, my education was too brief and
it was time to move on only after a year.
I worked very
hard on trying to improve my portfolio while showing my progress to other
studios. Someone told me they never saw
someone work so hard while out of a job.
It is difficult to count how many rejections I’ve had through this
trial. But my passion drove me. If I were to fail, at least I gave it my
all. I could return home with some
satisfaction of knowing that I did my best.
It may not have been good enough to make it, but best was all I had.
My efforts were
not in vain, as I did gain a temporary position at DIC Enterprises. Yes, they’re gone too. But it was fun while it lasted and again, I
was able to soak up whatever I could from artists around me. Then again, an incredible ray of fortune fell
across my path and I found myself at Disney Publishing, surrounded by very
talented mentors and a great atmosphere of creativity. I was in a frenzy to work hard and learn quickly,
before anyone figured out that I couldn’t draw and realized they had made a
terrible mistake. But with such generous
and patient people, I was able to last some time without drawing suspicion and
continued to learn all I could while there and soon even became artist manager
with a small team under my supervision. I had many opportunities to work with
talents, not only in my own department, but also at Feature Animation, Pixar and Disney Toon
Studios as well. They provided a wealth
of knowledge, experience, and inspiration through my years there. I was fortunate enough to begin training
other artists as well, for the best way to learn is always when one is
teaching.
Ten years passed
before my departure as my life took a slight turn, bringing me half way across
the world to beautiful Italy. Although I
am many miles away from what I knew, I am continuing my freelance work with
Disney and enjoying my on-going education in the field.