Designed and maintained the Maui Film Festival website and email newsletter for thirteen seasons.

First contacted in 2003, our mission was to bring the website up to date and launch a brand new look. Our personal goal was to create something that could rival any top film festival website in the world. We accomplished what we set out to do, and what ensued was a wild ride.

Under the festival umbrella there were three separate film events with three distinct websites.

Besides running the festival website, the project included creating 25+ email newsletters annually, designing online ads, and publishing an annual festival eBook.

Website details >

Working with the Japan Sumo Association to create a Japanese and English website for the two Grand Sumo tournaments in the USA (Hawaii and Los Angeles).

In addition to the website, a collection tournament merchandise was designed (t-shirts, sweatshirts, hats, mugs, clocks, bags, stickers, and other items) for an online store.

One of my lucky breaks was to work with Stan Lee and the team at Marvel Comics to license and create Spiderman illustrations for an advertising campaign for OMP, a Japanese internet security firm. Spiderman protecting the web - it was a perfect match. However, when Marvel was first approached, they were not interested and wouldn’t consider it for any price.

Unbeknownst to me, Marvel was in the last round of negotiations for the first Spiderman movie starring Tobey Maguire, the film that would kick off the current phase in superhero cinema.

After months of tenacity, I actually won them over. This project turned out to be Marvel’s last Spiderman licensing deal for advertising. Our contract was signed, then 5 minutes later, in the room next door with Columbia Pictures lawyers, Spiderman was signed away to film history.

Working with art directors from Paris and a veteran Japanese product photographer, nine product photographs were created for the French cosmetic company Lancome. Products included the Hydra and Hydra Zen lines of compact, mascara, creams and lotions. Images were used worldwide in advertising, store displays and packaging.

It took 2 days just to capture the compact, which was the first product shot. The worldwide reaction to the compact photography was so positive, the project expanded to 8 other products. Including the photography shoots, post production and subsequent licensing renewals, the project marked a milestone for Amana.

A series of characters appearing in five illustrated scenes created for Sony with UK artist and toy designer James Jarvis. This was a major ad campaign throughout Japan (print, posters, internet) that feautred every Sony product.

The project was a coup for our team, since Sony owns their own ad agency and usually keeps the coordination of major projects in-house. Sony’s team had tried but failed to secure the artist for the campaign. We were given one hour to see if we could come up with a different outcome. Within 30 minutes we had succeeded and the project was ours.

The ad series won top advertising awards in Japan, the first for an illustrated ad campaign.

Other projects with Sony included working with their music and licensing companies.

When the launch of Vogue Japan was announced, it was the most exciting fashion news both inside and outside Japan.

One year before the launch, I was brought on board to present Japanese photographers to the editor. My relationship with Vogue began a year prior through photography projects with Vogue Paris.

Over a period of months, I gathered the top photographers in Japan and visited the Vogue offices weekly for presentations. Out of the countless photographers under consideration, three were selected to work on the launch issue. One of which was Naoko Hiroishi, a photographer who I presented. In Issue #1, her work was very well received, and many projects with the magazine followed.

The Coffee Man character consisting of 18 different scenes was created with American illustrator Eric Hanson for UCC Coffee Japan - the company which introduced the world to canned coffee.

The character was originally created for the UCC corporate calendar in 2000. The calendar was an instant hit. As a result, the character expanded to advertisements. The artwork was also displayed in the UCC corporate office.

Compaq was one of the leading PC brands in the world in the 1990’s before it was purchased by HP.

Working with Compaq Japan and an American illustrator, a character named “Manager Billy” was created for a series of advertisements. The retro guy was initially to only appear in a few ads, but was so popular, the character was expanded to represent the entire company for one year in advertising, store displays and product packaging.

Nomura Securities is a Japanese financial services group and global investment bank - the oldest brokerage firm in Japan. Lou Myers, a New Yorker Magazine and Playboy Magazine cartoonist, created the “Face to Face” ad campaign for the financial giant, to help raise their image after a series of scandals in the 1990’s. The goal was to create visuals that would soften the image of financial companies and bring back the trust of face to face relationships.

The illustrations were used in all media (TV, print, internet) as well as signage, posters and visuals in the offices.

The project was originally contracted to end in three years. It had been running when i started my work. I handled the following two contract renewal negotiations and also worked with the artist and client to create new artwork for the seasonal campaigns.

Daio Seishu is a large paper manufactureer in Japan and is the main sponsor for the annual ladies golf tournament held on the island of Shikoku, Elleair Ladies Open.

Working with the sponsor and award winning San Francisco artist Michael Schwab, an iconic event visual was created. Michael’s distinct style is well known through graphics and posters he created for San Francisco National Parks, Amtrak and the Pebble Beach Open.

The artwork appeared in advertisements and pamplets, as well as on tournament posters, tickets, and banners. A special edition tissue box was also created and distributed throughout Japan.

A series of musical characters were created with American illustrator Eric Hanson, to represent the 43-story, 1000 room hotel within the Tokyo Dome Complex.

Tokyo Dome is the main sports stadium which hosts major games, concerts and events in Japan. This is the stadium which held the Michael Jackson and Rolling Stones concerts in Tokyo, as well as the first American Football games in Japan.

The owners of the very large and sky piercing hotel wanted characters that were playful and organic, to soften the stark lines and cold image of the modern building. Because the hotel reaches as high as the stars and with the stadium next door hosting events for the stars (athletes and musicians), a concept was created for playful fairies from far away stars. The 15 characters appeared in marketing, restaurant ware, merchandise and throughout the hotel.

Working with New York illustrator and annimator, Otto Steininger, the visuals for the Internet World Japan Conference 1998 were created. The digital artwork created by Otto was used throughout the event and on posters, advertising and collateral material.

The event was the main internet business conference to be held in Japan that year, just as the first internet bubble was forming in the US. In 1998, the internet business was in its infancy and still considered a novelty. This was when the founders of Google were students at Stanford and a year before the iMac was released.