Chris Ishii
Ishii was first incarcerated at the Santa Anita Assembly Center, where he taught art and began his comic “Lil’ Neebo” in the Santa Anita Pacemaker newspaper. The comic continued until the Santa Anita Assembly Center closed in September 1942. The prisoners were transferred to the Granada Relocation Center in Amache, Colorado, where Ishii continued teaching art and drawing for the newspaper. Ishii was accepted for military service in December 1942, where he stayed until 1946, drawing propaganda leaflets for the US War Information Office.
Ishii was married in 1946 and worked shortly as a courtroom sketch artist and Disney animator. In 1949, Ishii moved to New York City to illustrate covers and pages of the Reporter Magazine for Tempo Productions. Between 1951 and 1952, Ishii studied art at the Académie Julian in Paris. After returning to NYC, Ishii worked as a designer and layout artist for about ten years at UPA Studios. In 1965, Ishii and two others founded their own company called Focus Productions. Ishii became a freelance artist in 1975, helping animate sections from Woody Allen’s “Annie Hall.”
