Growing up I had an odd experience with art, while I was able to observe it in my city and see it on TV I was never able to truly study in. While the rest of my classmates were taken to art or music class I was set into a program for those who were deemed “mentally gifted”. In truth, I just enjoyed reading a little more than my classmates and had developed a higher reading level.

I always wanted to follow along, to join my friends in these classes but was never able to. When high school finally rolled around I was able to look at the many choices, but again, my choice was made for me and I was placed into a high school that essentially ignored the arts.

Though I held no ill will towards those who had set me on this path it didn’t feel right, I had settled for looking into a career in business. It wasn’t until my sophomore year of high school that I finally stepped out of that school and into another which offered me a technical school with a class in art.

I was finally able to create art! To learn about it and be around others who enjoyed it just as much as I did. I fell in love almost immediately with the class, learning about both the illustration and design aspects (though the design aspect was much more technical and not quite my style). It was the chance I had been waiting for, I was set on the path to a career in art and when I was settling for majors I chose illustration.

One of the first works I made at the technical school. Graphite and Charcoal.

A piece I made when studying Greek and Roman art history, white charcoal on black paper

A self portrait made my second year in the technical school. Ink.

When in college, further deepening my love for the arts, I was introduced to art history in depth and I clicked with it immediately. I love illustration, to draw and create, but to be surrounded by the creative history of human beings held such a draw to me that I knew what I was meant to study.