What I Do for Disney

I got my first freelance job for Disney in 1992, I painted a Euro Disney Opening poster.  Over the years, I’ve worked for Disneyland Collateral Creative (they do marketing, advertising and printed materials), Disney Publishing, Disney Store, Disney Consumer Products and Disney Home Video.

My main client now is Disney Theme Park Merchandise, out of Walt Disney World.  They do the merchandise for Disneyland, Walt Disney World and the Disney Cruise Line.  My specialty is character art, but I also do backgrounds.  My wife Millie helps me with the backgrounds, she is good at rendering textures.

You can see my work in the Disneyland and Walt Disney World stores, I’ve done their Christmas, Halloween, Princess, Dated (the year, like 2014) programs and what Disney Merchandise calls ‘Storybook’, the art with a scene of Disneyland or Walt Disney World with lots of characters, I posted an example above.

So I went from being an average person to a Disney artist.  I want to show you the steps I went through, and the basic thinking that it took to get there.

I’m a Disney Artist, but I’m Not Special

We all teach kids that they’re special, and they ARE special in different ways.  But I want to turn that expression around and say that I’m not special.  I was able to become a Disney artist, but as a person I’m not special.  I’m not trying to give false modesty, what I mean is I am an average person just like anyone else.

I’m a short Japanese American guy, my family was middle class, I grew up in a small town.  I’m a quiet person, I’m sometimes awkward talking to people.  I got good grades, but I was never good at sports.  I wasn’t popular in high school.  I graduated from UC Berkeley, but I lived in Berkeley in an apartment til I was 36, I didn’t get married til I was 41, I was definitely a late bloomer.

What’s my point?  I truly believe that if I can get my dream job, then it’s possible for anyone to get their dream job.  In this blog, I’m going to share how I did it, so you can get an idea what it takes to get your dream job, whatever it is.

I Started Out as an Average Kid

I have my dream job as a freelance Disney artist.  But as a kid and as a person, I was very average and ordinary.  I was a ‘good’ kid, and didn’t get into trouble, but I wasn’t outstanding or special.  I was quiet, didn’t really have a lot of close friends, but spent a lot of my time when I was young drawing cartoon characters.

Although I liked to draw and I loved Disney, when I was young, I didn’t really think I could become a Disney artist.  I think that was mainly because I didn’t know any Disney artists personally, or any successful artists for that matter.  Although I eventually worked for Disney, I think that if I had actually known a successful artist when I was young, I would have thought that it was possible to be a Disney artist earlier than I did, I would have had a role model to show me that it was possible.

That’s why I’m sharing my story, because I want to let people know that whatever your dream job is, it’s possible to get it.  And I mean any job, not just working for Disney.