Lately, I’ve been exploring animated character development. This whale character study begins in Laguna San Ignacio, Baja California, one of the world’s most sacred whale nurseries and a threshold between desert, land, and sea. In Mesoamerican belief, breath, wind, and sound are forces of creation. Taoyin is born into these listening waters, carrying echoes older than his own voice.

In this mythic story I’m crafting, whales follow songlines, invisible paths made of memory. Taoyin travels west across the Pacific with his clan, guided by ancient currents, stars, and songs older than maps. Each echo activates a current. Each current opens a gate.

His journey ends in the East China Sea, where the water deepens. As he listens, Mesoamerican sound patterns surface on his skin, revealing which echoes belong to him and which must be carried forward untouched.
These images explore whales as archives of memory, artists of sound, and navigators between worlds.