Hello and thank you for visiting my website! My name is Jana (pronounced like “Hannah” with a J), and I have been drawing pretty much ever since I was old enough to hold a pencil. As a teenager I loved to draw people in an anime-inspired style, and thought I might become an animator or comic book artist. I spent most of my spare time drawing, and my school notes were full of doodles. I had lots of other interests too though, and after finishing school I ended up taking a long break from drawing to travel the world and pursue a career in languages. I taught English abroad for a few years, mostly in Japan. I then became a Japanese-English translator and interpreter and eventually returned to the United States.
Art was still a part of me though, and I found myself getting back into it when I randomly got the opportunity to draw a portrait of someone’s dog. I found I really enjoyed the experience, and I could tell it really meant a lot to the dog’s owner. I felt like I was doing something important. And so I decided to seek out more opportunities to draw and paint pet portraits. Thus this website!
I am a completely self-taught artist with no formal training. I’ve never been to art school, and my degree is in Asian Studies, of all things. But I’ve put years of work into honing my craft, and I love to create art that’s meaningful to people.
Thank you for visiting my website, and I hope you enjoy looking at my artwork as much as I enjoyed making it! I’m not currently accepting commissions as I’ve moved on to other things, but I’m still proud of my artwork so I’ll be keeping this website active as a place to share it.
-Jana