PIGEONS OF LOS ANGELES ONE-SHOT

By Demi Naito

"The Pigeons of Los Angeles is my first comic, and I am amazed at how this comic came about.

A long time ago, I dreamed of becoming an artist but I didn’t pursue it. But I remembered and finally started to take art classes. I took classes like figure drawing, sketching, perspective, etc. 

I signed up for a comic course on a whim. I struggled with assignments at first. I didn’t know what I was doing. But as soon as I decided it would be about pigeons, everything started moving. 

I googled about pigeons. I realized pigeons were considered pests and felt sad. I learned amazing facts about them. I found this interesting article about what happened to pigeons in Los Angeles about 100 years ago. A story was born in my mind… 

This was how it went on the surface. But I want to tell you another story below.

When the comic course started, my heart was broken. I just returned from Japan to deal with my family issues. It was a disaster. My heart was filled with anger, frustration, and sadness. The comic course was a nice distraction from remembering what I was going on in my life. Then this story of pigeons came into my mind.

I know now that I identified with pigeons who were misunderstood and mistreated. I wanted to encourage pigeons. It turned out I was the one who was cared for and encouraged to complete my first comic.

So this book will always be special to me. I hope it will give some encouragement to someone who needs it."