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About Me

Name: Jessica J. Cantlope
Alias(es): Senshuu ("Sen"), Aster

Software: Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Painter, various cameras

Hardware: Compaq PC, 2.8 GHz processor / Apple PowerBook G4, 12" / Wacom graphire4 tablet

Interests: manga, art nouveau, animals, anthropomorphs, insects, biology, dragon statuettes/swords, water, fruit, Japanese rock, juice music in general
Disinterests: lima beans, snobby people, strict organizations

I graduated O'More College of Design with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Visual Communications. I've completed two Illustration, two Web Design, and two Interactive Multimedia classes in that time.

Right now I'm most interested in loosely manga-inspired illustration, adapting my own flexible version of it (as my roots were in anime, but I'm exploring broader directions), which I think I've done well so far. My interest in manga is tied with fantasy, which is also applicable in manga and vice-versa, and both can be refined and applied more realistically into concept art. My third involvement is a variable children's style, which is experimental for me. It can be a lot looser and easier than the former two, light and fun, happy and bright, hence my interest. These styles really compell me, because

manga is a still-growing phenomenon, but it captivated me because it offered to me everything that Western comics did not, with many ways and styles in which to tell many different types of story;
fantasy allows you to take reality and twist it however you want - to make the unreal real, and make the unreal LOOK as real as possible, perhaps bringing it closer to you;
children-geared styles, loose, lighthearted, or simple, allow you to reflect on childhood or look at the world through new eyes, return to a simpler time.

That said, enjoy my work.

You can find me at these places:

Random Information Below:

Were I ever to pursue anything besides art, it would likely involve biology. It was a huge interest for me in my younger days (as were paleontology and things like spelunking, and science in general), and I absolutely love animals. Art is very time consuming, however, but who's to say I can't integrate my biological interest with it?

Favorites:
Musical artists: Better Than Ezra, The Aquabats, Björk [j-rock] Buck-Tick, Pierrot, Miyavi, The Pillows, Iceman, Kishidan
Movies: Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, The Lion King, Aladdin, Mulan, Weekend at Bernie's, the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Jumanji, Escaflowne, The Blues Brothers, Cats Don't Dance
Songs: Better Than Ezra - Breathless; Björk - Play Dead; The Aquabats - Adventure Today; Matisyahu - Warrior
Colors: Pastel pink, sky blue, dark green, royal purple, crimson red
Manga: Death Note, Excel Saga, Yami no Matsuei, Sgt. Frog
Anime: Gankutsuou, FLCL, Samurai Champloo, Cowboy Bebop, Trigun, Yami no Matsuei, [oldschool] Dragon Ball Z
TV: The Colbert Report, The Golden Girls, Avatar: the Last Airbender
Cartoon characters: Asato Tsuzuki (Yami no Matsuei), L (Death Note), Vash the Stampede (Trigun), Haruko Haruhara (FLCL)
Games: No More Heroes, Okami, Ace Attorney series, Earthbound, anything Super Mario (especially the RPGs), Katamari Damacy (of course), Okami, Phoenix Wright, Banjo-Kazooie, Spyro the Dragon, Crash Bandicoot 2