Sofianime

My name is Elisa Chong, and you may know me online as fan artist and concept artist Sofianime.
I was born in Southamerica, in a city called Cartagena. In its original language, the name of this city means "A mermaid's song". This beautiful city has inspired me over the years to create my mermaid illustrations.
I am a self taught artist who started drawing at the young age of five. I was inspired by cartoons and animations from all over the world, including Japanese animation and manga.

I have a vivid and overactive imagination. I have many colorful and creative ideas in my mind, and seeing them transfered onto paper, to create a piece of art is an exciting and satisfying experience.
I learned to create art by readyng many art books and by practicing drawing and creating art every day, and every chance that I get. I took art classes in high school and college. I was always inspired to draw the human figure, fantastic characters and monsters among other subjects.
I have a bachelor's degree in computer animation, specializing in 3D and 2D animation. Besides creating animation, my specialty is creating concept art and character design for videogames, animation series and comic book series.
I am currently working as a concept artist for videogames, for the last four years. It's a fun and challenging job. I get to draw every day, and I get to create some awesome creatures, characters and monsters.
My favorite media to use when creating art are: Pencil, pen and ink on bristol board, markers, color pencils, gouache and watercolors.
I also like to create digital art with Photoshop, Painter and my Wacom tablet.
When I have some free time from my professional projects, I like to relax my creating fantasy art with gouache and watercolors on paper. There is nothing more relaxing to me than listening to my favorite techno music while experimenting with colorful watercolors. It's a lot of fun, to be able to paint with all those bright colors on paper. Some of my favorite subjects to draw and paint are: angels, faeries, mermaids and other fantastic creatures that come out of my imagination.
Because of my overactive imagination, I am always coming up with new and interesting ideas for drawing faeries, mermaids and more. Check out for new faerie and mermaid art, and my sketchbook at: sketchbook.html and you will see what I mean!

Some of my hobbies, besides creating art are: Cooking, baking, collecting cookbooks from all over the world, collecting and listening to good techno music (I love DJ Sasha's music, and the NAMCO music team), growing and drawing roses, collecting anime artbooks, mangas and dvds, going out for good sushi and sake, and of course, playing videogames!!
I am currently collecting and reading the mangas: Ayashi No Ceres by Yuu Watase, and the Card Captor Sakura bilingual manga. I love all the manga by Clamp. My favorite anime right now is: the entire Read or Die series, GITS SAC, and always, Cowboy bebop. The videogames that i am playing right now are: Tekken 5(this game just rulezzz!), God of War. I don't usually have much time to play my favorite videogames, due to my projects, but i enjoy them greatly every chance that I get!
I also like collecting and reading books about faerie tales and mythology from countries around the world.



I started drawing fanart from my favorite comic books, anime and videogame characters back in 1996. It was great drawing practice. I became a digital artist in the year 2000. I love working with Photoshop. It's an awesome program. And got hired as a concept artist for videogames in 2001.
I am also a member of SONY Playstation's Game Advisory Panel.

My faerie and mermaid illustrations are being displayed in galeries all over the world, and my original art is being collected by many fans.
I am also available for commissioned art. Please EMAIL ME with your projects, ideas and requests. I love working on different, creative and interesting projects.

People say i smile a lot. I like to project my smile and cheerfulness onto the art I create, so I can cheer all my fans up with my art. =)
My philosophies in life is to always share the love and peace, stay cheerful everyday and do the best that I can in everything I do.
What inspires me to draw faeries? Sitting out in my rose garden, looking at beautiful flowers, like roses, jasmines and orchids... looking at those beautiful and colorful butterfly and dragonfly wings. And most important of all, believing in faeries!! =)
What inspires me to draw mermaids? just closing my eyes and imagining that I am sitting in that magical city, next to the beach, enjoying the caress of the sea breeze on my face, and playing with my hair... is all it takes for me to create those beautiful mermaid illustrations. Just imagining the beautiful beaches, the crystal blue seas, the palm trees dancing with the wind... they help me create those beautiful illustrations. And yes, I also believe in mermaids! =)
I like to send a message of love and peace in every piece of art I create. I truly have a lot of fun creating my art, and I always like to dedicate it to all of you, my fans and friends!

~Elisa Chong :)

I love to celebrate life to create beautiful art. I love to smile back at the worlde, and inspire and cheer people up with my art.