Growing up as a child in the Milwaukee Public School system, I was quiet, but thoughtful. So, being a child of many ideas, I took to expressing these thoughts through art. I developed and absolute love for drawing, though sometimes my parents thought it would be a waste of time to pursue an art career, I knew that’s what I wanted to do. Day and night, all I did was draw, sketch, and copy whatever I saw. It was a form of therapy for me, and a way to escape into my own world…so to speak.

I loved cartoons and animations of all sorts as a small boy, and between the ages of 9 and 12, many different cartoon shows became my main influences. (Tiny Toons, Animaniacs, Goof Troop, ETC). It was then that I knew I wanted to pursue a career as a cartoonist. When I reached 7th grade, I started to notice comic art and became enamored with the “superhero” concept. I began experimenting independently with my own concepts and developing my own unique individual characters, my main influences at the time being Alex Ross, Michael Turner, and Adam Huches. At this point, I realized my talents had grown immensely, and I was reluctant to get myself out there to share with the world. Approaching my senior year in high school at Saint Francis High School, I was able to skip the remedial art classes and move to “art studio” where I was allowed to assign my own projects. There, I forced myself to try painting, sometimes completely out of my comfort zone. I experimented with acrylic, water color, chalk, pastels, anything I could get my hands on. I painted old characters, movie scenes, my interpretations of song lyrics…anything I could dream up. My eyes were opened! Art became so much more vast, so huge, even endless.

My experiences in art from a young age transitioning to young adulthood has helped me to develop many versatile styles, and has taught me to contemplate different and new ways to execute concepts. Recently, my art was recognized (literally from the street) and enjoyed so much, that I was invited to join a Milwaukee art collective, Archie Andros. There, other self-taught artists and I can support each other creatively so we can progress and grow artistically. The summer of 2010, I had the opportunity to participate in my first art gallery fundraiser to raise money for water wells in Africa. I designed an original, African inspired piece for the project, and it was received with much praise. This fall, I was commissioned several times to create original characters for several projects ranging from wall art for a children’s room, to concert flyers, illustrations for graphic novels, and even several tattoos.

My main goal is to evoke emotion from my audience, and that alone is the most important part of creating art for me…human connection.