I am an Art Director working on Big City Greens at Disney Television Animation in Burbank, CA.

I've also drawn work for Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network. I'm passionate about visual storytelling.

I grew up drawing and playing in the suburbs of the windy city.

I drew through so much paper as a child that my parents got me this chalkboard desk. 

I made stop motion animations by moving my Legos and toy cars in front of a VHS camcorder.

I was a "staff artist" for my high school newspaper drawing illustrations and a regular comic strip inspired by my family's dog.

I discovered digital art as a teen. This is the first full drawing I ever made on a computer, drawn in Photoshop 2.1 on a Mac using a mouse.

Becoming a Cartoonist

At the time, there weren't many programs nationally to study animation and those interested in the field primarily studied illustration. I learned skills through the more accessible art form of comics, of which there was one class available at SCAD. (Now there's an entire major.)

I wrote and drew a weekly comic strip all four years for a local Savannah newspaper. I joined the student comics club, and attended lectures and critiques by visiting cartoonists. I learned much at art school but studied cartooning independently.

The Great Outdoors

Living in California afforded me the discovery of the western landscape.

I found in myself an outdoorsman I didn't know existed. I hiked nearly every weekend in LA's mountains, and camped frequently across southern California and the western states. I even learned to snowboard near Los Angeles.

Freelancing gave me the freedom to hike and snowboard during the days, and make art at night. I carved out a niche with a style as a travel poster artist. Here is a sampling of my many Colorado posters inspired by the amazing landscape.

Mountain house 1 was on a babbling creek deep in a canyon.

Mountain house 2 was in a quaint town with one cafe and no traffic lights.

Mountain house 3 was atop a high ridge overlooking the Continental Divide.

When you live in the mountains, you need a rugged vehicle.

In September 2013, our small town of about 300 people was hit by a catastrophic flood and we were rescued via helicopter. Read my story.

In the 1990s, working at Nickelodeon was my only professional experience. I didn't take it for granted but it was normal to me.

Having returned to the industry after a dozen years, I feel incredibly fortunate to be part of it. My work gets to touch millions of viewers, and if done well, can create life-long memories about great characters and stories.