About Me

First, you must know that I love to lie around in boxes on the floor, like a cat.  And, I am one of those people who drink coffee to calm and focus my energy. 

I’ve grown up on farms with goats, chickens, turkeys, horses, pigs, rabbits, huge gardens and fruit trees.   I started drawing at 9 years old… animals wild, domestic and mythical; fairies; insects; fish; mushrooms; and dinosaurs.  I still love dinosaurs!  Mom kept everything in case you are ever interested in what they look like.  She saves everything.  

I used colored pencils, then Copic, Studio Series, and Prismacolor markers on huge sketch pads. I drew so much that I was constantly making trips to Book and Brush to find that one skin tone marker that I ran out of mid-way through a portrait.   This got frustrating and one day I realized it might be better to learn how to use a digital format.  I was 15.   I saved up my farm chore money and got PaintTool SAI with a Wacom drawing tablet.  This was revolutionary, and made my life as an artist so much more fun.  Now I use SAI exclusively.   My average time for producing a portrait is 4 days. 

I have been homeschooled, unschooled, AND gone to regular school, but I have always spent most of my time drawing.   Sometimes I get so intensely involved in my work that I forget to eat.  I guess this is a normal artist thing, but it’s nice that the people who live with me also love to feed me.  

Besides drawing, I love to work on the farm, do photography, practice archery with my recurve bow, play Dungeons & Dragons, hang out with my small circle of beloved friends, bake cookies, buy clothes-- especially shoes, sunbathe with my pet stellar jay, and work on 2 different novels I am writing.  

These days my art is all about character design.   I have drawn several characters for friends who I play D&D with—a few of which are for sale here on my site.   The D&D world has introduced me to an almost endless supply of beings and creatures that I can draw.   I love the variety of races, skin colors, eye colors, body parts, and teeth.  It gives my imagination plenty of variables to work with for creating interesting characters.

I love Asian culture, food, fashion… everything.   I’m an otaku (it means you are obsessed with anime) and a big weeb (also means you’re into anime and Asian culture in general). 

My plans for the future are to keep making amazing art, to inspire people to embrace their own uniqueness, and see the diversities of the world as amazing beauty.  

My advice to young artists:   Follow your instincts.   Try new things.  Things don’t always come out how you wanted it to, but that is just a notch of learning that makes you a better artist.  People are eventually going to love something that you made that you think it garbage.  Sell it to them anyhow.  Beauty is subjective, so don’t judge. 

 

Hazil