Local Artists
December 10th and 11th 2022
B. Miyo
Bailey Onaga is an artist born, raised, and based in Wailuku, Maui. Her aesthetic is a homage to her native Hawaiian heritage and 6 years of living in Fukuoka, Japan. B. Miyo is a mix of her first initial, as well as her middle name “Miyoko,” comically shortened to what sounds like ビミョウ or mediocre in Japanese. She has experience painting murals with Precita Eyes Muralists in San Francisco, where she graduated Summa Cum Laude with a Bachelors of Fine Arts and Japanese Studies. She has also collaborated on installations with her teacher, Philip Sabado. Her art has been exhibited in Hawai’i, Indonesia, and Japan.
Todd Bernardy
Todd Bernardy graduated from the University of New Mexico in 2006, where he studied Fine art and literature. He is the creator of Mohawk Thunder, Disco Thunder Groove Bone, and Hard Candy Aftermath. He most recently completed his longest running comic, Kukui Project. He lives in Haiku, Hawaii, with his wife and daughter.
Swan Kahookele
Born and raised on Maui, Swan Kahookele aka Warchief is an artist who grew up with a deep love for comics and cartoons. As Swan grew up, comic Titles like Marvel’s Ghost Rider, DC’s The Demon Etrigan & Albatross Funnybooks, The Goon along with Slimer from the Ghostbusters Franchise are just some of the many characters that have inspired Swan to become an artist. Swan is also a former member of the Maui Comics & Collectibles crew in 2019 Swan left Maui Comics to pursue a career in art establishing his own comic brand “Uhane Comics”. Swan chose the Hawaiian word “Uhane ” due to how the word connects with his interests with the horror genre for it means ghost and spirit but even more so because it’s also the Hawaiian word for Soul, which is something Swan always puts into his artwork. Swan is currently working on a children’s horror project Tales From the Kitchen and has a few other projects that he is working on such as Adventures in Bento City and coloring books that illustrate Hawaii’s sea life. Aside from art, Swan is also a game master in the Maui D&D community and has found a way to weave his art into his games, creating maps and other character art for his campaigns. Swan is the current record holder for being GM for the largest D&D game played at Maui Comics which was a total of thirty two players. Swan has also done maps for other GM’s outside of Hawaii and no matter if it’s at a con, comic shop or at the beach wherever Swan goes he is always being creative and honing his craft.
Drew Gutierrez
Mainland born, island living cartoonist and comics enthusiast. I love making comics as much as I love reading comics which is to say a whole lot! My comics tend to lean on the silly side of monsters and mad science with a dash of eldritch horror and pulp adventure.
Art by Terra Sanae
Terra Sanae was born and raised in Maui, Hawaii and throughout her life, Terra was always around some form of art, from drawing, painting, crafting, photography, cake making, jewelry making and more. She has dabbled in different styles of art and different types of mediums, but recently has found her passion in the combination of realism, Japanese influenced art, and Hawaiian inspired art. She loves to combine different objects/subjects into one which lead to the name of her t-shirt line Hanbun Hanbun, which in English translates to 50/50. Terra keeps herself busy still with doing all different styles of art like, digital art, Gyotaku (Japanese Fish prints) and paintings along with different crafts like jewelry making. You can find all her different styles of art, apparel and earrings on her website artbyterrasanae.com
Nao
Nao is a Japanese Freelance Artist who works consist of traditional and digital Illustrations as well sculpting. She worked for publishing companies such as Kodansha, Shogakukan, Shueisha, etc. creating variety of illustrations and sculptures for various magazines. A few years ago she moved to Hawaii and has actively been going to events to revive and spread the stories of her Sadness Rabbits.
Conny Jolitz
Conny Jolitz is a relative newcomer to the indie comic scene but brings two decades of graphic design experience and a lifelong love of fantasy, comics, 90s Euro graphic novels and horror fiction to the table. Born and raised in Berlin, Germany, she made her Indie-Comic debut with her first pinups & covers published this year for Silent Mayhem (Hellbringers & Jengharr & Shredd}, Shaun Barbour’s Belial #3, Michael McGarvey’s Hexing #4, and worked as cover colorist for White Ash #2. She is an established graphic designer living in Hawaii, with a work portfolio including Harley-Davidson, Hello Kitty, Duke’s, Hawaii Public Radio, Hawaiian Style, Local Motion, T&C Hawaii and In4mation, Get Nutz, Pipedreams Surf Co. Website https://www.eventeny.com/company/?c=15745 FB: Conny Jolitz IG: cjinksart
Wayne Lo
God designed Wayne to be passionate about seeking a pure heart, finding freedom and seeing God Himself! He seeks God’s presence, hoping to see that place of intimacy & rest expand outward … first into his favorite pastimes (his wife and three kids) and then beyond. He loves creating with his kids, playing “fenkshormers”(Transformers in 4-year-old’s English) with his sons, being his older son’s biggest soccer fan, and being the same for his daughter’s hula. He sees God propelling his creativity and experience as an artist in entertainment (animation, film, comics, visual effects, video games, etc…) into God’s wild, unstoppable march into the nations!
Recently he’s been developing visuals with Nova McBee for film adaptations and graphic novel adaptations of her “Calculated” novel series. He’s also looking forward to seeing the TV Series adaptation of Gene Luen Yang’s “American Born Chinese” graphic novel, and his own collaborative artwork contributions to the series!
Helabella (Lahela Schoessler)
Born and raised in Hawaii, Lahela Schoessler spent her childhood drawing and exploring the ocean and forests. At the age of eleven, her grandfather took the family to Disneyworld and during this trip Lahela discovered the beauty of animation. It was there that she realized what she wanted to be when she grew up. She graduated from Ringling College of Art + Design and realized that as an animator, she really didn’t have to grow up.
Lahela got her break in the animation industry at Laika House. In addition to game cinematics, she worked on projects with Mini Wheats, Honey Nut Cheerios and M&Ms. Lahela then made her way back to the place that started it all. During her almost 10 years at Disney, she collaborated on Disney’s Epic Mickey franchise and was able to fulfill another childhood dream of working with Marvel characters on Marvel’s Avenger’s Alliance 2. Most recently, Lahela helped to realize a brand new IP, Final Strike Games’ Rocket Arena. As the lead animator of this project, Lahela had the opportunity to be involved in character creation from the ground up and every one of those characters hold a special place in her heart. She is currently working at Probably Monsters on an unannounced project.
When she is not bringing things to life and playing digital puppet master, Lahela is trying her best to survive parenthood. (It isn’t easy being the mother of The Dark Lord.) In the evenings she is usually painting and working on her graphic novel project set in Hawaii.
SuzumeCreates
Hello, my name is Suzume or you can call me Suzu. I am a freelance illustrator/graphic designer who specializes in digital art but also loves using traditional work. I absolutely love traveling to different places to showcase my work and I hope to continue to for a long while. I’m motivated by spicy ramen and corgis.
Mana Comics
Mr. Mana aka Christopher Caravalho has worked for the City of Honolulu for 24 years. In 2014 he pursued his childhood dream by founding MANA COMICS, a local comic book which showcases heroes from Hawaii, shares authentic local culture and humor, and celebrates the many faces and races that live on the islands. Currently he has self-published several titles which include, Aumakua, Sistah Shark, Anuenue Warriors, Mana Legends: Kamehameha, and currently is working on finishing up their latest book, Pele #1.
Art Wong
Using his love for comic book and manga art to create his own style of art, Art Wong is a Hong Kong born and Hawaii raised artist from the Windward Side of Oahu.
As a public school teacher, Art teaches his students to tell their own stories through the art they create. In 2018 Art published his first comic book “The Keepers” and in the past few years during the pandemic he has picked up acrylic painting as one of his new favorite mediums of art.
Instagram: kazeman84
Yumafuki
Hi, I’m Yuma! A freelance artist that specializes in character art, best known for my tiktok and social media posts!
Jon J. Murakami
Jon J. Murakami is a freelance cartoonist born and raised in Hawai‘i best known for his line of “Local Kine” greeting cards, which depict humorous occasions & holidays in Hawai‘i. His regular comic strips include “Calabash” with the Honolulu Star-Advertiser and “Generation Gap” with the Hawaii Herald. Additionally, Jon illustrated several Hawaiian children’s picture and board books, including “Geckos Slide & Peek,” and self-publishes comic books entitled “Gordon Rider,” “The Ara-Rangers,” and “Adventures with Zori.”
Sam Campos
Sam Campos was born and raised in Hawaii and is of Hawaiian, Chinese, Filipino and Caucasian descent. He conceptualized Pineapple Man in 1984 and featured him in comic books ten years later. When Sam started self-publishing, he didn’t own a computer or have access to things like a graphics tablet or Photoshop. But despite a slipper strap budget and high printing costs, his series garnered attention and a loyal fanbase developed.
Sam went on to teach graphic and sequential art for the University of Hawaii. He’s also worked in television and film, doing fight choreography, costume & weapons design and storyboards. After working in Hollywood for a time, Sam returned home to develop Dragonfly, a supernatural martial arts series which takes place in Hawaii.
Eventually, Sam found a way to balance and merge his projects, and decided it was time to resume telling Pineapple Man’s story, taking it back to the beginning with Pineapple Man: Old School Lockup. New stories will be coming out as well as a trade paperback of collected works.
Pancho Abalos
My name is Pancho Abalos. I’m an independent freelance artist and designer from Hawai’i. I am self taught as an artist, painter, digital artist and graphic designer. And though I’ve been an artist for over 15 years, my thirst to learn, grow and create continues to this day. My style is very raw, street and edgy and my library consists of a mixture of self conceived pieces as well as fan art. All of my work has a very urban flare, lending to its relatability and appeal to many different audiences. I’ve also expanded upon my craft to add digital works to my original, paint based media. Though I do have art that are inspired by different artists, none of my pieces are ever deficient of the aforementioned elements that make them uniquely identifiable as done by me. Over my career as an artist, I’ve had the honor to work with companies such as Scion Hawaii, Marriott Ko O’lina Beach Club, Comic Asylum Palm Desert, and Absolute Comics Group to name a few. I’ve been commissioned with doing a spectrum of creations from graphic designs to hand drawn art work and beyond.
Kris Lohman
Kris Lohman is a Hawaii artist best known for his work on Au’Makua Guardians of Hawaii, which he has worked on since the first issue. Kris also has a creator-owned book, Dwarfstar Chronicles, and has contributed to Sistah Shark, Anuenue Warriors, and the upcoming Pele series from Mana Comics.
CeeVee
My name is Chris Ventura or CeeVee for short 😁. I’m an Artist/Designer operating out of Aiea, Hawaii. My art reflects my immense love for the Tokusatsu genre which includes Super Sentai (adapted in the west as “Power Rangers”) and Kamen Rider. I’ve grown up on anime and comics as well, with an affinity for Dragonball and Naruto. I’ve done work with a handful of Power Ranger actors and travel across the country to vend at various conventions.
TRINIGRAFX
TRINIGRAFX is a DIY artist collective in Honolulu, Hawaii dedicated to self-published and hand-crafted owner-created works—founded by Lorenzo and Nobu in 2014. In addition to our proprietary works, we are also available for private commission.
Lorenzo Gomez Trinidad (’LAYRS’) is a cartoonist inspired by classic fantasy and sci-fi art from European graphic novels and American underground comix. He is also the author of Almighty Thugs and Assassins, a space opera saga that has been partially published in comic books, and is currently being adapted into an illustrated novel.
