If you don't know who Jeff Amano is well he's an artist who creates the art for FUNimation's Dragon Ball Magazine (by Bracket Magazine).
Q: At what age did you first take an interest in drawing?
I vividly remember doing sketches from my mother's womb. The lighting was terrible and I have these recurring nightmares of inside-out navel drawings. No Really, I really can't remember a time when I wasn't drawing. The Honolulu Art Academy saw my painting in kindergarten and gave me a scholarship. My mom is an artist and she taught me about drawing shading at a very early age. In fact, she had me painting with oils when I was eight and we started painting murals together before I finished grade school.
Q: What type of art training do you have?
Well, other than the Academy when I was five, I graduated from N. Arizona University in Fine Arts with emphasis illustration. I went to the Disney Institute to study animation a couple of times which included learning the "Mulan" style of character design, layout, animation and concept art. But the biggest teachers for me were comic books. For hours on end, I copied panel after panel of "Gene Colan", "Jack Kirby", and "John Buscema". I also watched a ton of cartoons like "Space Ghost", "Astro Boy", "Gigantor", and "Space Racer".
Q: How did you get started in drawing professionally?
Drawing professionally!? You mean, like getting paid for drawing? You mean, I'm supposed to get paid for this? Geez, get me my agent...! Like I said, I started painting for pay early on in life - oopse, is the IRS gonna see this?
Q: What type of materials do you use to create your art?
Back in the 70's, it was either pen and inks or airbrushing. In the few last years, I've been doing a lot of computer painting and CGI 3D. But everything begins with the pencil.
Q: What are some of your accomplishments?
I married very well. My wife is awesome in every category, -beautiful, smart, fun... I feel like such a success just walking around holding her hand!