Ray-Anthony Height

About me:

So, I guess you guys are here to find out more about me and I guess I am here to tell you, huh? You know they say if you really want to get to know a person you should talk to their closest friends and I can say that that's a pretty true statement. Since my friends aren't around to speak on my behalf I guess I'll be the one to give you the basics. If you're STILL find yourselves interested then I'm sure you'll be sticking around for updates ;) I was a kid that grew up mostly in the city of Compton. I wasn't a thug or in a gang during those times and I thank my father for that. He showed me that I had more choices and always reminded me ( and his buddies at work, sadly) that I was capable of doing anything I set my mind to. I took that advice to heart. After a few years of juggling the idea of becoming a District Attorney or a Police Detective I finally settled on the best career any adventurous, glutton for punishment kid from Compton could ever hope to accomplish. I wanted to be a Comic Book Artist!! YEAH...the ladies REALLY loved that!! NOT!!!! I hid my dream for years just so that I wouldn't turn out to be the 40 year old virgin. I went through a phase where I hung out with the cool kids, but always kept my REAL friends close by. Yeah...that wasn't cool, but what do you expect from a teenager?! At any rate, I got wise and started getting serious about having a career in comics. I studied lots of "How to draw..." type stuff and spent countless hours with a comic book in my face. I LOVE the damn things! I fell in love with Art Adams' work along with guys like John Byrne, Walt Simonson, Simon Bisley, Jim Lee, Whilce Portacio, Todd McFarlane, Dan Jurgens, and Neal Adams just to name a few. It wasn't until one of my best friends named Chris introduced me to the world of anime with a little film called Fist of the North Star on VHS tape. " The first one's free, kid...". I was HOOKED! I soon began to collect both Anime and Manga ( japanese comics, for the new-booties reading this) and my friends and I would have challenges to find the best new anime/manga. That was fun! Soon, my friends and I started to go to comic conventions to get our portfolios looked at ( that's where the punishment comes in, folks) by editors. Man, it was brutal at times! It got better, though. I just started to apply the good advice I was given by the editors to improve my work for the next reviews. I was eager to learn! I started sending serious submissions at 19 years old to Marvel and DC. Me and my boys even did an ashcan comic of our own stuff that year and solicited it at our local monthly convention at The Shrine Auditorium. We did very well, suprisingly! It was 100 copies and we sold them all with a demand for more. That little book got us into a lot of doors. Looking back on it now...I just shake my head and laugh. I'll stop right there for now..... .. ..