I majored in illustration when I was in art school, but after I graduated I worked as a designer and then an art director for various children's publishing places. After a while, I realized my heart was really in illustration. It took me a few years to build my portfolio and eventually make the jump back into what I loved.


Modern with a retro feel. Colourful, humorous, and hopefully engaging!

If it is a piece with a subject matter I have never done before, I like to start off with gathering references on the internet. Just googling anything that relates to the topic and seeing images that might inspire me. I also like to figure out a fresh colour palette that I might like to work with. I use to sketch by hand on paper and scan it in, but nowadays I find that working straight on the computer is good with me too.

I have an iMac, a Macbook Pro, and a Wacom tablet. I'm on Adobe Illustrator 95% of the time.

I think we all get stuck at some point in our projects. I firmly believe in walking away from the piece and letting my subconscious do the work (if time permits.) A good strategy is to alternate working between different pieces. It always does the job and refreshes my creativity.

There are still so many things I want to do, but what I ultimately want is to develop and make art that generates its own opportunity, rather than waiting for the assignments to come. As a children's book illustrator, I would love to write my own series of books as well.

I don't listen to music while I work, but I love podcasts. I definitely need background noise. Oddly enough my first picks aren't usually art or design related. I like listening to storytelling, comedy, and business related podcasts.

Don't give up, it can take years to build an illustration career. Learn and study the industry you want to be in-whether its children's books, editorial, advertising, licensing, etc.- each comes with their own set of rules and portfolios should be uniquely catered to each.