I spent the majority of my young life sitting in the back of class filling notebooks with doodles. Biding my time until I graduated and went to the best university in the area for art... Kutztown University. I majored in Graphic Design and worked my keester off for 4 years!! I was fortunate to enjoy a semester abroad in Colchester, England as an exchange student. Although I always wanted to become an illustrator, when I attempted to change majors I was warned by an illustration teacher that there are NO jobs for illustrators. So I stayed in the Graphic Design major, vowing to someday become an illustrator, and tried to incorporate as much illustration as possible into my designs. Little did I know I would become an illustrator so soon! After a few brief design jobs at Ad agencies, I made a cold call to the local paper enquiring about illustration positions. They took a quick look at my portfolio and I became one of two professional illustrators for the Reading Eagle newspaper in Reading, Pennsylvania. I quickly proved my value to the company by earning a first place Keystone Award from the Pennsylvania Association of Newspapers in the Graphic/Photo illustration category in my first year of work for the Reading Eagle. My current responsibilities include page design, informational graphics, technical graphics and page design.
My design philosophy is easy for me to apply but difficult to explain. Some artists and designers, when pressed, will immediately begin trying to explain their attitudes towards composition, style, color, typography, mediums employed, etc. I refuse to try to limit my work or try to box it into a formula. My working theory is summed up in one sentence. "Rules do not apply.. all that I require of my work is a communication of a mood, emotion, or idea... in a cohesive manner" Without the mood, emotion, or innovative idea.. the design is doomed to failure irregardless of medium employed, typographical rules or color theory. This is why I refuse to box myself into one medium. I am equally interested in illustration, photography, page design and web design. The idea and emotion and function determine the medium employed, not the other way around. If you have any more questions please visit my FAQs page here.