This piece began as an experiment to see if I could animate something using non-traditional methods rather than standard animation software. The resulting jerky movement was exactly as I hoped – something reminiscent of 1960s Japanimation.

This short won first prize at the Element 79 Film Festival in 2006. It was also showcased at the No Spot Short Film Fest in New York where it competed against short films directed by District 9 screenwriter Neil Blomkamp and Where The Wild Thngs Are director Spike Jonze.

Here's another anime piece I created – this time a mock opening for an imagined retro sci-fi show based on Element 79, the Chicago ad agency where I worked. It features several co-workers (myself included) done up "anime" style.

The agency is represented as Kinkyojin 79 (Gold Giant 79), my not-so-thinly disguised take on Tetsujin 28 (Iron Man 28 - aka GIGANTOR).

Once upon a time I had a dream of creating a series of animated shorts of my two little girls. That was in 2006. Six years later, I finished their first "adventure" – a piano recital by my oldest daughter, Miona, using a sound recording of one of her practice sessions. 

The kids no longer look anything at all like they appear in the animation. Miona won't even touch the piano anymore. Oh well, at least I have my cartoon memories.

Crane USA makes cute animal-shaped humidifers, called Adorables. I turned them into cartoon characters as part of an online promotional contest. Kids named their favorite characters and entered the names for a chance to appear in an animated short. 

Winning contestants sent in photos of themselves so I could transform them into cartoon characters. They then met and played with their favorite Adorables animal on Adorable Island in an animated adventured that ran on Crane's website.

Agency: Central Coast, Client: Crane-USA

Ok, so I like robots.

Especially the Japanese ones that take me back to my youth. This one will take you to the Cloud, literally. At least that was the intent here for this proposed web video for a Japanese telecom company's social site – to show the benefits and ease of Cloud computing.

If this robot feels familiar to Kinkyojin, it is. The client saw that animation and wanted a similar look and feel.

Agency: Central Coast; Client: NTT Communications

My personal homage and farewell to Dennis Ryan – former executive creative director at Element 79 – when he left the agency. I shared with him and the agency through social sites on his last day.

This little ditty was commissioned by singer-songwriter Susan Werner, who wanted to use American Gothic for this song. I don't think Grant Wood would mind, do you?

Check out her awesome music!

susanwerner.com