April 2005, on a rainy day in an elementary school in metro Vancouver, pencil met paper. Art was made. Duck go Bananas was born. Alana the creator was never really that good at art or comedy, but the classroom doodle had staying power. Bananas is a silly monkey with an over inflated sense of self and about two braincells to rub together. Duck is well… a duck… with pragmatic world view and little patience for hijinks. They were comedy duo that Alana used in comics to keep herself entertained and forget her lack of friends for at least a few minutes. She dreamt about having a website with her comics and other creative projects on display. This was a fantastical idea for a 11 year old in 2005. Alana grew up as an okay artist. She wasn’t the best at it so it was just something identified as. She thought she would get a normal job, but that all changed when she found out about animation. She always loved cartoons as child but assumed they were all made in California. By the time she graduated high school, She was focused and would do whatever it took to become one.

Her mediocre art skills were holding her back, but after an insane amount of work, she caught up with her peers. She got her first job as an animator and it was…..Hell for the first few weeks. Things got better. until she lost her job. the she found one again. than she lost it gain. By the second lay-off in three years and her department being slashed to ribbons across all studios, she was done. She finally learned that no matter what she did to make herself a better employee, it would never be enough to have job security. Over the next year, She did some soul searching and dredged up that old dream from almost 20 years ago. It was time to cease her destiny; as an independent artist who does what she wants. With kindness and silliness.

Thank you for stopping by to share a piece of this journey with me.

Love,

Alana