Patrick is perhaps best known as the creator of AnimeCons.com, the largest source for anime convention information on the Internet. He is also a producer and host for the AnimeCons TV podcast. In addition to this, Patrick was the founder and host of The Chibi Project, where, for over a decade, he was responsible for conducting horrible experiments on anime toys for no good reason.
Patrick is big fan of conventions. He has attended over 170 of them and is one of the founders of both Anime Boston and Providence Anime Conference. He has hosted his popular improv event, Anime Unscripted, more than 40 times at over a dozen different conventions in two countries and in five time zones.
Previously, Patrick was also the voice of the fighter pilots in the award-winning Macintosh game Escape Velocity and its sequel, EV: Override.
Elizabeth's first exposure to anime was Sailor Moon on USA Network. She spent her high school years making excuses to go to homes of her friends and family who had satellite, because at the time it was the only way to watch Cartoon Network and Toonami. Then she went to college and became friends with people who had huge anime collections. After attending her first con, Otakon 2004, she wasn't able to attend another until Anime Boston 2006. After attending AB 2007, she became hooked, starting getting into cosplay, and attending as many conventions as her time and wallet allow.
Elizabeth is also a huge marching band nerd, loves fashion, and is a devoted New England Patriots and Boston Bruins fan. She dreams of being a famous novelist, but has had writers block for years and not enough free time to develop the dozens of stories in her head into words.
Doug has been attending anime conventions for over a decade and been a fan of anime for even longer. He can often be found sitting on a panel or two at many of the conventions he attends, often talking about the mecha genre. Despite this, he still makes time to see as much as possible, tracking down assorted DVDs and manga in a dealers' room, watching AMVs, and practicing his buddy interest in photography.
Since joining the AnimeCons TV crew in 2009, Doug has been one of the podcast's chief interviewers, talking to many different people in fandom, eager to engage in chats about what people like about the convention culture.
When not at a con, Doug can often be found attending college hockey games, seeking out craft beers, or just causing general mischief in and around Boston.
Favorite Anime: Just about anything with giant robots
Favorite Manga: Saikano
Favorite Video Game: Chrono Trigger, Super Metroid, Valkyria Chronicles
Favorite Thing To Do at a Con: Host panels
Panels Hosted: All the Mecha You'll Ever Need, Mecha 101, The Aging Otaku, Everything You Wanted to Know About Gundam (But Were Afraid to Ask), Prozac and Ice Cream Not Included: The Best of Depressing Anime, Underrated Mecha
Svetlana Chmakova is an internationally published, award-winning manga/comics author with more than 10 published books and her work translated into over 13 languages. Born and raised in Russia, she moved to Canada at 16 years old to finish high school and then study Classical Animation at Sheridan College for 3 years. Becoming a full-time artist and writer after that, Svetlana has drawn and written for animation, how-to-draw books, toy designs, and most of all, comics and manga. In addition to her graphic novels work, she published a monthly manga strip with the CosmoGIRL! magazine for 2 years, was the featured artist for the 2011 "You Are Here" Collaborative Summer Library Program poster campaign, and contributed various short stories to many anthologies.
Her full-length manga/comics series include the fan-favorite romantic comedy "Dramacon", the award-winning urban fantasy "Nightschool: The Weirn Books", the manga adaptation of the NYT bestselling "Witch & Wizard" by James Patterson, as well as the award winning middle-grade comics "Awkward" and "Brave". Svetlana's latest book is titled "Crush" which will be published in 2018 by Yen Press, an imprint of Little, Brown and Company.
Sketch got into anime as a kid withouth quite realizing it as reruns of Speed Racer and Battle of the Planets found their way into the mix of his favorite '80s cartoons. He became more conscious of his anime habit in the early '90s, waking up early to catch Dragonball and Sailor Moon episodes before school (he also became more conscious of the implied naked chicks). By college, Sketch openly indulged in anime and manga and was finally dragged to his first anime con in 2003. He liked what he saw...until he saw his first bad cosplay. Determined he could do better, Sketch began cosplaying, and has since become a regular con personality in the Northeast, winning costume awards, hosting events, running panels, and selling his work in artists' alleys. After meeting PatrickD, Sketch now shares his experiences with fellow con goers as a host of AnimeCons TV.
Sketch earned his BFA in illustration in 2004 and is also a musician (or hopes to be again someday). He spends his days making flutes and loves tinkering, amateur cooking, and torturing his wife by covering the house in LEGO sets.
Shiva grew up running around in costumes and conning friends into plays, dance recitals, and photoshoots...until college, when she discovered cosplay. She began attending conventions where she met PatrickD (who rescued her from a drunk voice actor by hiding her in a basement) and Sketch (who agreed to pick her up for a cosplay chess gag and has yet to put her down). Since then, she has been active on the convention circuit as a competitive cosplayer and AMV editor.
Shiva's background is in performance; she earned her BA in dance/theatrical performance and her MA in writing. As a grad student she served as editor-in-chief of a quarterly magazine promoting dance performance and arts education. Shiva also spent seven years dancing in a repertory company with which she embarked on several tours domestically and internationally before retiring in 2009. She currently works as a graduate school admissions coordinator, and enjoys traveling, playing outside, being a beach bum, and letting Sketch do all the cooking. She is also a lifetime Red Sox fan and hates Pink Hats with a bloody passion.
