Name: Mark P. Tjan
Born: April 7th 1983
Home: Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
Heritage: Eurasian
Proffession: Illustrator
Member Of:

• Zen Theosophy
• Boxed Rice Productions
• The Storytellers
• RPGFan
• The Comic Den

Manages:

• Hi·Do·Shi
• #torontocons
• #hidoshi
• Comickaze LiveJournal Community

Attends:

• Anime North
• Otakon
• CNAnime
• The TAC "ghetto 'cons"
• E3 Expo
• UTARPA
• Kung Fu Fridays at the Royale

Biography:
How can someone summarise their life when it's only just begun? Not easily, very carefully, and with a great pouring over to make sure the details weren't neglected? Hardly. Better to leave all that in the past and get to the present. Some of us are Britons, Indian, Americans, Chinese, Japanese, Australian, and so forth. Then there's that tiny bunch of crazies in the cold north of North America, the Canadians. It just so happens that a kid was born there who wound up being me. For better or for worse, as Lynn Johnston might put it, it's an arrangement that's worked out quite well.

I have a lot of filial piety, spiritual conviction, and artistic dreams. Of course, that means I'll probably be one of those famous starving artists you see downtown, offering to paint your portrait for a measly ten bucks. If not, then I'll thank Heaven and proceed to live whatever life I can scratch out for myself.

My art tends to lean towards the Japanese manga style, although I've been trained formally in the European-North American system of figurative drawing. I'm not a fan of "conceptual" art, and find too many people abuse it or don't try to understand it, despite they themselves claiming to be artists. It's like Zen: You can pretend to understand it, and you can convince people you do with some pretty words, but do you really grasp what it is? Rarely.

That said, I can work in a variety of mediums, including Photoshop CG, pencil, ink, coloured pencil, conté, and oil pastel. I also have mild experience with watercolour, but it's not my medium of choice. I'm always up for commissions by the way. If you're looking for me, I can be found in Toronto attending any number of conventions, including the annual must-be-there function of Anime North. I'm one of those filthy cosplayers you hear about, and quite proud of it.

All that said, I hope you're enjoying your visit to my little corner of the world. Feel free to leave me a note or ask for a commission. I'm quite happy to fulfill requests.