My work is concentrated in animation and illustration with an emphasis on character design. I regularly explore narrative character development as well as designs, emotions and dilemmas that both children and adult audiences can relate to. I create my characters with appeal in mind, using the criteria of cuteness such as simplicity and youthfulness to evoke empathy. I apply these qualities to things and situations the audience would otherwise have difficulty comprehending or accepting. In this way, I use cuteness as a means of surmounting the defenses of the viewer, making the strange or
controversial into something familiar and understandable. I consider anthropomorphism or the application of human characteristics to non-human animals the most intriguing and effective application of this technique.

     I credit this unique appeal among animals to their similarity to humans, paradoxically coupled with their intellectual alienation from our species. Homo sapiens have graduated considerably from their more primitive counterparts in terms of communication, allowing for the cumulative progression of knowledge across generations, further and further removing us from instinctual reasoning. With these evolutionary strides, humans have estranged themselves from the non-human animal which most would now consider foreign and almost indecipherable in its thoughts. Evolution has largely denied us the same empathy that we display for other members of our species whenever we engage with animals. However, this same blankness makes animals prime for self projection where the emotional baggage of another human would render this sort of identification far more difficult. Simplicity encourages self-projection while detail establishes a character as its own identity, separate from an audience member. Thus applying human qualities, cuteness in particular, to an animal allows for the viewer to project his or her emotions onto the character with more efficiency than with another human. Rather than have my characters parade around in animal suits, however, I prefer to have them exhibit distinctly animal-centric behavior, establishing their own culture that seems at once alien enough to provoke and familiar enough to engage the viewer. And my hope remains that perhaps, in encouraging the audience to accept the peculiarities of an imaginary animal society, they may carry this acceptance into reality.

     My characters serve as the means by which anyone can experience another reality, one that casts doubt on the sanctity of their own. They overcome the unease of the viewer through cuteness and simplicity, coaxing him or her with nonthreatening or amusing appearances. Much as in the classic Aesop fables, cute animals may serve as more effective representations of human nature than their more civilized counterparts. In times when members of our species often have difficulty relating to one another, maybe temporarily sharing the identities of anthropomorphic characters could serve to unite us in empathetic spirit.