I am a freelance illustrator of 5 years now. I studied history and art at Brigham Young University-Idaho from 2005,2008-2012. I originally intended to become a professor of history. However, I had taken an art class out of interest and as a possible career option to switch to. About midway to graduation, I had some experiences that influenced me to alter course and not continue in history as a career. Instead, I switched it to my minor and went full steam with my other passion, art. History is still a passion of mine, and I try to influence my art with it.
As a boy, I suppose I showed some artistic inclinations early. I would often create my own board games, and even though the work was tedious at times, I loved making the artwork for those games. I also had fun drawing and coloring the characters of a book I started to write one special summer. My sister, (who is a professional illustrator as well) was also illustrating her own book at the time, and this was a great influence on me, as she always has been.
As a teenager, I started to get more serious about my artwork. I made a commitment to draw more, and started by drawing a picture of our cat. Beyond my sister, I had friends who were fellow artists that I hung around with. We very often would take out or sketchpads and draw in the midst of our video game/food parties and hangouts. I was learning art from them, may sister, and myself.
Learning art in college was not easy for me. I struggled a great deal, but the satisfaction I got, and the enjoyment of doing it despite the long hours, tears. and lack of sleep it took have given me motivation to stay with it. I am still learning. I am indeed indebted to my teachers at school, and the many many teachers I have had online, those who have given their time and talents to produce the free videos, blogs, podcasts, and interviews to help the rising generation of artists improve their skills.
I am married to a beautiful wife and we have three cute and inventive children. We live in Idaho, which I love for it's natural beauty, and the generally laid back nature of its people.
My goals as an artist is to help influence the world for good in what I love to do, to provide for my family, to continually improve, and of course, to have fun. I have had some great experiences working on books and games, and hope to be able to continue that, and to share my passion to others.
About me
