the first time it happened.

In early 2008, I had just come on as "Editorial Intern" for Yen Press, a comic publisher in New York City. I had always been sort of interested in the medium because I love the idea of a story told visually in conjunction with text (or sometimes with no text at all). Unfortunately I hadn't actually read much in the way of manga or graphic novels, but I was eager to learn whatever I could. At the time I enjoyed drawing but had never really produced any "finished" pieces. Mostly I just doodled during classes and my part-time job back at home. But when my editor JuYoun saw one of these scrawlings carelessly left in view on on my desk at Yen Press, she asked me if I wanted to do a little one-page strip comic for our upcoming monthly manga anthology, Yen Plus. Since there were only six regular Yen Press members at the time, she thought it would be nice for us to introduce ourselves and the inner workings of the comic industry to our readers. I jumped at the offer, but to be honest, even I was surprised when it actually panned out... Guess it just goes to show, you never know...

We've been at it for nearly two years now. I know I have an awfully long...long way to go, but I'm pleased to see my progress to this point. And now that I've resolved to maintain this blog, my friends who've been harassing me to post Shrimp Art for the last two years will be able to see it too. No rotten tomatoes, please.