Mallory Van DeSande

Bio

• Introduction

  
  

  My name is Mallory Gwen Van DeSande, but for short I go by Mal. I was born in the city of Miami and have lived in the US State of Florida for all my life. I am a proud Floridian and have received a lot of inspiration from the nature and culture of Florida. From the age of 3 to the age of about 17, I was a self-taught artist who drew mostly dragons, mythological animals, warriors and aliens; my professional training began when I started preliminary Figure Drawing studies in Palm Beach Community Collage and then continued further when I entered Ringling College of Art and Design. I graduated in 2010 and within three months got a job working at Digital Domain LLC as a rotoscope artist; at the end of 2011 after the company job fell through, I got a job volunteering at the Busch Wildlife Sanctuary and currently hold down a second job at home working as a commission artist online.

  
  

• My Projects

  
  

  At the moment I am focused on one project: my comic book series Yardville.
  
  Yardville is a comedy about six animals who live alongside two humans in a yard within a rural town in South Florida. It stars Handy, the friendly disembodied hand; Raffles, the naive lab rat; Buster, the tough-guy gargoyle; Ophilia, the soft-spoken insightful legless lizard; Regina, the scrappy raccoon; and Flannery, the matriarch flamingo. Along with wordplay and physical comedy, the comic also dabbles in political and social satire.
  

• Favorite Media and Inspirations

  
  

  My early childhood influences mainly came from animated movies (Don Bluth, Hayao Miyazaki and Disney), both animated and live action TV shows (mostly Nickelodeon) and Japanese anime. As a kid, I also grew up watching thriller, classic horror, and sci-fi flicks.

  
  

  My favorite movie of all time is 1984's Rock & Rule. This film has served as the main driving inspiration for me in college and for some of my personal creations. Other favorite films I enjoy are Blade Runner, To Live (活着), The Hunchback of Notre Dame, My Neighbor Totoro, Dragon Heart, Alien, Key Largo, The Dark Crystal, The Birdcage, Akira, and Gojira.

  
  While I don't have a single favorite TV show or foreign show, there are many that I have grown up with and enjoy: Ren & Stimpy, AAAHH! Real Monsters, The Twilight Zone, Mystery Science Theater 3000, Judge Judy, COPS, Dragon Ball Z, Are You Being Served?, Corner Gas, Digimon and Beast Wars .