My name is Adam Ryu Ford. Ryu is my Japanese name. It means "Dragon" in Japanese. 

I was born and raised in Japan and I currently resides in the United States. I can speak and write in both Japanese and English fluently.

As far as I can remember I have been drawing since a young child and my greatest passion was always in drawing "robots". From Transformers to Gundam, I had an abundance of creative influence being born and raised in Japan especially in the golden age of anime and manga. I was truly blessed to be raised in such times. 

 

However, being raised in Japan was not always easy. In fact it was mostly challenging being a student in Japan and being born multiracial. I was not the smartest child by any means and I always struggled to keep up with everyone and the social norms of Japan. To this day I firmly believe that I had some type of developmental disability that hinder my ability to socially adjust to the people around me. Because of this, even though I joined many clubs I could not stick with them for more than a few months. Most of my time was spent at home locking myself up in my room facing my desk and just drawing creating worlds in my head. In high school, while many of my friends already decided on a career path, I was still struggling to figure out what I wanted to do with my life.

This lasted even through my colleges years till I decided I wanted to join a volunteer service that was being held in Japan. I joined this service for 2 years helping local people as much to my ability. To my surprise I had a lot opportunities where shared my art to many people in Japan. For the first time in my life I felt that something I did actually had true meaning.

I returned to college to get an art degree and graduated with a BFA in illustration with sub emphasis in graphic design. ​During my time in College I was blessed to meet my wife that also shares the same passion in art. Being an artist today is not easy, but it is what my wife and I love and we cherish every moment we share with others. Honestly, I don't know if I have lasted this long in life without her.