"Artist" Statement
When I was a kid, I was certain I was an artist - before even really knowing what an artist was. Looking back, I definitely had the artist's ego by the age of five. In my own Van Halen-esque "no-brown-M&Ms" kind of behavior, I would ask every waiter or waitress (at every restaurant I went to) for a pen, so I could draw on the napkins. If the server offered me a blue pen, I would say "no thank you" and sit idle until dinner was served. If it was a black pen, I would unfold my napkin, my mom's and my father's and proceed to scribble comics that I thought were absolute masterworks (without yet actually knowing how to write the alphabet.) Since then, the type of media I work with has broadened a lot - I play guitar, banjo and piano, I write music and lyrics, I paint (usually acrylic, sometimes watercolor) and I still draw often... sometimes even with blue pens. In the last year I started college across the country from all of my family, meaning I have access to fewer napkins to draw on, for that reason (among others) I moved into digital media production, working in photoshop and in illustrator. These programs offer me the same stark contrast and sharpness that I loved about black ink on white paper (or napkin) with more power to correct my mistakes, to try new things, and a greater capability to distribute the comics, caricatures and eccentric self-portraits I've always loved to scribble into existence.
