The Story of MangaPets

Part 2

Wow, I didn’t mean for this entry to be delayed this long. Apologies. I’ll try to be more prompt next time.

Now back to the story…as I have said, I’ve always worked in the direction of tight, carefully rendered drawings in my artwork. But that can sometimes throw you into the realm of soul-less-ness if you’re not careful, or if you’re pressed for time. Keeping the joy in your artwork can be especially hard if you’re a commercial artist. This is where I received my training.

Over the years I have experimented with various 3-D art techniques (including clays and polymer clays) to help change my tight perspective on rendering art. I always find working with clay very freeing, but it doesn’t relate directly to 2-D art for me. So this time, I wanted to play within the 2-D art realm while still bringing a counter note to my tight rendering style. On a whim, I started creating digital portraits of a few pets. They were only for myself so I felt freer to experiment and be as loose as I liked. The reactions to them were very interesting. Every single piece evoked an emotional reaction! People were connecting to the pieces in a new way. Some of the reactions were quite interesting. People said things like, “that cat needs to be fed!” “Oh the poor thing looks like it’s had a fright!” “Bwahahahaha!” “I want one of those!” Their visceral reactions really pleased me and made the point that the art was working!

To me, MangaPets are more about capturing the inner essence of the animal rather than its exact features. Art is about telling a story and MangaPets are a way of relating that story in a new way. They also help keep my eyes fresh by looking at my subjects in new ways.