Guide with Spirit
Guide 2
Guide 3
Guide 4
Guide 5
Hernán Paganini was born in Argentina in 1982, and studied graphic design at the University of Buenos Aires. As a busy creative, Hernán currently teaches at said university, works as a freelance illustrator, in addition to constantly developing his art.
Irina Troitskaya was born and raised in Izhevsk, Russia... a city she describes of dead ends, sad electronic music and Finno-Ugric cultural roots. Irina's love of drawing lead her to the Udmurt State University, where she studied art. However after five years, she became weary of her studies, which signaled a turning point in that drawing became an abhorrence.
Nathalie Roland, born in Santa Monica, California, and began printmaking at the age of 17. Roland graduated from UC Santa Cruz with a BA in Art/printmaking.
Catherine Campbell lives in a tumble down house in Melbourne, Australia. She potters around talking to her cats, generally making a mess, and drawing a lot of little lines on lovely papers late into the night.
Shawnimals was born in a town called Normal, Illinois. Shawnimals is Shawn Smith and Jen Brody. Together they form a design studio that creates off-the-wall yet lovable characters. Shawn and Jen turned Shawnimals from a fun hobby/college art project in 2001, into a full-fledged, honest-to-goodness (yet still incredibly fun) business they continue to run together. 
Ayumi and Aaron Piland are the fantastical magical duo known as APAK. They are a husband and wife collaborative art team who live among the trees in a little cabin on the outskirts of Portland.
Magicmikas (aka Mikas Mogo) is an artist that sewed her way out from Lisbon to San Francisco, with occasional intermissions to accommodate other mediums. 
Melissa Contreras was born and raised in Fresno, California. She came to LA to finish her Biology Degree at UCLA. Realizing her heart wasn't in it, she switched to Art. Thrown head first into the world of high concept art, those 3 years were a blur of not fitting in and just not getting it. 
Relocated to the U,S. from Japan almost two decades ago, Tomoko Deeney (aka TADworks) studied New England grave stones and graphic design... but somehow ended up doing what she always loved to do: play with clay (plus paper and wool). Her inspiration usually comes from her love for food, little creatures, and people.
With a background in fine arts and BFA in painting, Peng Peng has been making imaginative teddy bears since 2003, after seeing a tiny primitive bear her mother made in her free time. Her creations are inspired by "old & new", folk art, pop culture, fairy tales and the animal kingdom.
Amy Earles was born in California in a military hospital that no longer exists, but she has lived in Indiana for most of her life -- making art based on the observations she's made since her first memories and dreams.
Marilyn Patrizio is a Brooklyn born freelance illustrator and fine artist. She graduated from the School of Visual Arts with a BFA in Illustration.
Evon Lim is from the sunny island of Singapore. She graduated in animation, and later ventured into making toys and objects in 2005. She is an illustrator who creates plush toys and crochets amigurumi characters. 
Joaquima Casas Bo is an artist based in Spain. Born in Barcelona and currenly living in Santander, Joaquima is the creator of the Kup Kup Land project. Kup Kup Land is inhabited by infamous characters, such as Kup Kup, Lolo, Nana, Chloé, and the sweets monsters (among many others). 
Ruth Bleakley currently resides with her husband Ryan Schenk and their cat Meowstro in the small seaside town of Woods Hole, Massachusetts. While growing up she moved constantly, due to her father's military career, and spent eleven years overseas living in Germany, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Her senior show in college featured gigantic eight foot wide paintings of cats but her interest has recently moved to the opposite end of the spectrum with her miniature books.
Ashley Goldberg works with her boyfriend, Drew Bell, creating digital art from their apartment as Ashley G & Drew. Ashley found a way to work a childhood full of drawing into an adult's life. The characters she creates, whether monsters or little girls, are simple, humorous, empathetic, and a little bit pathetic.
Katrina Szyszkoski's art career started in church, in the 70's, when her mom gave her a pencil and notebook to stop squirming. From then on, it was non-stop drawing, with huge influences from her mother, and many members of her extended artist family.
San Francisco mixed media artist and illustrator, Lisa Congdon, works in several mediums, including paper collage, screen-printing, ink, textiles and paint. She is mostly self-taught, and uses her lack of training to her advantage. Instead of following refined technique, she works with her own sense of color, composition and design as her guide. Lisa is almost constantly photographing and annotating her life; each of her pieces, often part of a larger series, usually starts as an idea she documents in one of several small notebooks she carries with her everywhere.
After graduating from the architecture school, Ryoko Yagi began glass blowing in 1994. She currently creates unique pieces and shows in small exhibitions with a glass studio located in Tokyo. Ryoko's glassworks include her Smile series of glass tumblers and vessels, she has been making since 1999.
Yuka Yamaguchi is a self-taught artist. Born in Kobe, Japan, Yuka moved to Canada in 2000 and is currently living in Saskatoon. She spends most of her time living in her own world. 
With a foundation in Architecture, Jasna Sokolovic moved to Canada from Yugoslavia in 1994. First to Montreal, studying at Concordia University and later to Vancouver where she earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree from Emily Carr Institute of Art & Design in 2000.
Crockett Bodelson was born in Santa Fe NM, and attended CCAC and The Cooper Union schools.
Serena Kuhl is Australian, born in 1973. She studied Fine Arts, majoring in Sculpture in Melbourne, Australia. Serena transitioned to toy making after having a few solo shows of soft sculpture. She found this medium, and having a sense of humour, more important than developing a conceptual premise.
