.png){kind=icon}
History & process
The history of my illustration journey and destination illustration creation process
Illustration history
The '90s: Undergrad and illustration discovery
My approach to creating art has evolved over the past 30 years, beginning with studying Visual Communications at the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale in the ‘90s. This is where I discovered my passion for illustration.
A King without a Kingdom: Editorial illustration school assignment. Color pencil on paper. 1995
The 2000s: The Marines and creative exploration
Throughout my time in the Marine Corps, I used art to combat the rigorous military environment. I was designated as the artist recruit in boot camp that involved creating various art pieces for the drill instructors and created various morale enhancement collateral throughout my eight years of service.
MCB Spartans: Marine Corps unit t-shirt design. Mix media (marker to vector illustration) 2009
Today and beyond: My calling
My true point of view (my voice) as an illustrator came to life attaining a Master of Fine Arts in Illustration from the Academy of Art University (AAU) in 2019. Creating destination illustrations was revealed to be my calling, and AAU’s program nurtured and grew my talent, technique, and perspective.
Traditional Disruption: Editorial illustration MFA studies. Color pencil on board. 2016
Destination illustration process
Each illustration is created in three phases
Inspiration: research and gather reference material. On my travels, I always take my Nikon DSLR camera with me. Although most cell phones have cameras today, I find that the ergonomics of my DSLR allows me to better capture essence of a location. But more than its imagery, I also do my best to be observant of the people and culture.
Conceptualization: mock-up initial draft through traditional mediums. The work begins with using a traditional medium (pencil, color pencil, oil paint, etc.) in some form, to varying levels of execution.
Execution: finalize through digital painting techniques. The work is finalized using a manual digital painting technique, in which the tablet pen becomes my paint brush. The final image is then printed on canvas.
Note: With the recent explosion of artificial intelligence (AI) being used to generate imagery, it’s important for me to express that, although I finalize my work digitally, I, in no way use AI to create or supplement any of my work. The manual digital painting technique used means I literally use a Wacom pen on the tablet screen as I would a paint brush on a canvas.