Like I think most illustrators will say, I've been drawing since before I can remember. Around 1978, my mom gave me a couple quarters to spend at a local convenience store. This was back in the day when grocery stores and convenience stores had comic book spinner racks. With the money she gave me, I bought an issue of the "Devil Dinosaur" comic book by Jack Kirby. It totally floored me! Even though I didn't have the language to describe why at the time, it was the vibrancy of character and the compositions that pulled me in. I think even at an early age I understood how powerful illustration could be and what it can communicate. In addition to comic books, I was also in love with animation and children's books for the same reason. With the imaginative and transportive nature of all this stuff, I knew I had to be an artist!

I wanted to go to art school straight after graduating high school but money was tight. Then some of the bands I was playing in had some moderate successes, which furthered to keep me away from a formal art education. I still kept drawing during that time and did all the self studying I could. It wasn't until 10 years after high school that I was finally able to get a formal art education. It took me longer to get through art school than most because I'd have to take whole semesters off to go on tours. This wasn't a super bad thing though. I still honed my craft while I was away from school and came back to classes feeling charged.

Lastly, I think I was lucky when I started out on the illustrator career path. During my schooling, I managed to make friends with some working illustrators who would flow me work that they were too busy to do. They helped me out immensely and I was appreciative to already have work in the field while in school. That made it possible for me to graduate with a client list. There's a moral here: Network and be cool!

I started out trying to be a realist and worked in a style that is more closely associated with typical American comic book illustration. I still do that stuff on occasion for clients, but I've realized that it doesn't make me very happy. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad I've learned to do that because as the cliché goes… "You gotta learn the rules… yadda yadda…" The style I prefer to work in and now solely promote on my portfolio is kind of a mid-20th century abstract cartooning. Sometimes I've called it "cartoon modern", which is a term I borrowed from a book title of the same name about the animators in the mid-20th century who were breaking new ground by taking cues from primitive art.

My style is heavily influenced by that stuff. Its more colour and shape based than the line based work I was doing before. Since I was a kid some of my favorite art has been from animation studios like early Hanna-Barbera, UPA, and Gamma studios. In addition to artists like Jim Flora and Saul Bass. I'm not sure why it took as long as it did to allow myself to jump into this pool stylistically, but I'm glad I did. Its definitely opening doors now that I'm working in a style that I adore. I think people recognize that. Here's another moral: Do the work you want to do!

First I take a long look at the brief or script I'm working with to think about what direction will best communicate the message or mood my client is looking for or what I'm looking for, in the case of personal work. I then move on to doing very loose thumbnails on cheap computer paper. My thumbnails are so loose that they probably only look like junky scribbles to everyone else. Once I've figured out a good direction to go in, I do a rough in blue pencil.Then I tighten up my rough with a standard HB lead in my cheap drug store bought mechanical pencil.

After I'm satisfied with a tight version of my rough, I scan that and bring it into Photoshop to turn the dark lines to non-photo blue. I take that and print it out onto some cheap manga paper for inking. I use a tech pen to ink almost the whole drawing with no variation in line because I'm just using the lines to separate all my shapes. I could do all this in Photoshop, but I think doing it this way retains some of the hand drawn imperfections that I love. After the initial pass with the tech pen, I pick out the lines that I want to retain to the final and ink those with a brush. Next I scan in the inked image and do flat colours throughout the piece.

I try to make it so that if it was only flat colours it would still work. With flatting done, I do colour-holds on all the lines I did with the tech pen so that what is left are no lines, except the brush work, and fields of colour. I take a look to make sure my values read well at this point by looking at everything in grayscale. Then I move onto some very basic rendering. I like to work with a limited palette and keep the rendering simple. Generally just starting with the root colour and a shadow tone. Sometimes when necessary, I'll pop in limited highlights. After all the rendering is done, I'll do colour-holds on the brush work that's left over and take another look at the piece in grayscale to see if everything is still reading. I also play around with hue/saturation to make things pop more or to make them fall back. Sometimes I also put a gradient multiply layer on key elements.

Finally I'll add a multiplied layer of colour at a very low opacity to tie everything together, and add any other bells or whistles I think might make the piece work better. In short, I do a lot of noodling until things look cool.

Cheap computer paper, cheap mechanical pencils with blue and HB leads, microns or any other throw away tech pens, Winsor-Newton Series 7 brushes or a Pentel pocket brush pen, cheap manga paper, bristol, scanner, printer, and Photoshop.

I can't say that I'm ever blocked for ideas. I generally have too many ideas. The problem is that the best ones happen at the most inopportune times. So I try to carry around a small sketchbook with me wherever I go or just make sure to jot a note on my phone. When it comes time to sorting all the ideas and figuring out what to do next, I just rely on what is exciting me the most at the time. If for some reason I can't decide on which idea to use, I take a break and do something totally unrelated. I'll go skateboarding, ride my bike, watch a cartoon, play my guitar, take care of the clerical work I have to do for my business, go out with friends, or just let my subconscious work on it while I go have fun for the day.

Ultimately I would like to make a living with my own intellectual properties as a double threat writer/illustrator. I'd also love to teach illustration on a college level someday. In the short term, my goal is to have my illustration business grow and to work with rad clients who are easy to communicate with, pay fair rates, and pay on time consistently.


My first musical love is punk rock! Especially hardcore punk from the early to mid-eighties. That's the music that is played a majority of the time. I also listen to a lot of garage rock, mod, psych, metal, 60s girl groups, and French pop from the 60s too.

Never under value your work and don't get taken advantage of by doing spec work! Also, don't just look at other illustrators for influence. Take influences from all aspects of the arts. Ask yourself why these artists appeal to you. Study how these artists have handled their craft and the solutions they have come to in their finished work. Then, when you get to the art desk, put your influences away so you're not swiping from them wholesale. Take what you've learned, apply it to your work, and make it your own.

Lastly, go get into a bar fight! I don't mean this literally… this is just my analogy for getting out and really really experiencing life. Its easy to get caught up alone in your studio. Network and hang out with friends or jump out of a plane. Whatever you do, don't isolate yourself from the world. You'll be happier and your art will be better for it.

Don't forget that illustration is a business and don't forget to have fun!