At the age of four, I illustrated a little children's story my dad wrote called "The Spider and the Bird". I suppose I wanted to be an artist even then.
In early elementary school, I wanted to be a geologist specializing in caves and crystals. Then an artist again, then a mathematician, then a novel author, then an artist... again. Then a professional tree climber, then Pokemon/Digimon designer, then artist, then a stop-motion animator in late middle school, then back to artist, then a theoretical physicist in early high school, then an artist, then briefly a genetic engineer, then a mechanical engineer of some kind through mid-late high school, and then by the end... you guessed it! An artist. It was late in my senior year (way too late!) that I discovered the existence of concept art for the entertainment industry as an actual JOB, and decided it would be a great way to combine art with my different interests and my general love of creating new worlds. I applied to the Columbus College of Art and Design (CCAD) at the last minute, and a good scholarship on their part sealed the deal.
After plunging into the life of an art student, I haven't really looked back! I started experimenting with digital media (as well as many other things) for the first time. In my sophomore year, I was glad to start honing my skills and managed to wrangle entrance into the Society of Illustrators (SOI) student show. I also earned an "Excellence" award in Ballistic Publishing's "Expose 7". Overall, learning and growing has been fulfilling.
I owe some of my past high school success to a man named Frank Dale, an awesome classical Flemish-style painter and inspiring teacher/friend who helped instill in me a great appreciation for the Old Masters and for the quest for beauty in art. I’ve also had some great teachers at CCAD so far.
PRESENT
I'm currently attending CCAD as a junior, trying to improve and get my name out into the world. I'm just trying to keep up with the extra workload as a result of trying to graduate early and use the freedom offered by the degree to continue my education in other ways. I'm thinking about Conceptart.org's "The Art Department" program, as well as CCAD's masters program, and Entertainment Design at Art Center. (Though, lately I've been just considering spending my senior year at CCAD after all.) So I'm currently juggling these options, while trying to keep all of them open.
FUTURE
My bio could probably best be described as what I want to be doing in the future, as I'm hoping my best days are ahead of me.
Whatever I end up doing, hope it will involve creating imaginary worlds. While I think I could be very happy as an illustrator for the print industry (book covers, cards, storybooks, etc...), I also want to see what it's like to be a concept artist specializing in environments and industrial design. I'm not sure whether or not I'd like sacrificing a degree of finish and rights to my work for such a job, but I know the problem-solving would be a blast. So I'm going to give it a go in some point in time. (I also think it would be awesome to be a matte painter, which is something I'm going to find more about this semester.) And if the entertainment industry works out, I'd like to try to open my own studio someday. But I never plan to stop painting.
One of my other artistic goals is to develop a full-color, illustrated children's book. I'm currently thinking about trying this out before I make any long term commitments to the entertainment industry. It's one of those things I think I'd regret all my life if I don't at least try once.
Whatever ends up happening in the future, I hope I never stop learning, improving, and expanding my horizons.
