ABOUT ME & GALLERY

Like most artists out there in the world, I was known as that kid in the class who could draw. I was the one who could draw Charles M. Schulz or Jim Davis' characters on a dime and make the other kids smile. (This did get me in trouble during recess once. Apparently selling your sketches on the playground is frowned upon? Who knew?)

As I grew older my tastes expanded. I became enthralled with Mad Magazine's Mort Drucker and famed movie poster artist Drew Struzan. I would always pick up my copy of Mad at the grocery store and study Drucker’s amazing line work before I even read a word of copy. I would find myself admiring Struzan’s work for what seemed like ages, wondering what adventure the movie was going to be about. I realized how much art affected me.

Also being a kid who loved to write, I would often find myself imagining what would happen in the book I was holding after my eyes feasted on its cover art. I guess you could say I was that person who would buy a book for its cover. That, and a natural born storyteller.

Later working as both a professional actor and puppeteer, I focused on the art of illustration and graduated from Savannah College of Art and Design (or SCAD, for those in the know). While I’m trained in several styles, I'm particularly drawn to the art of humorous and children's illustration (no pun intended).

In late 2008 I created my little webcomic called, Mister & Me. A series of comics that showed the adventures of Newell and his father as they navigated through this little thing called life. Originally I came up with the comic purely as an homage to my relationship to my son, but then it started to catch on. My little comic strip was adapted by Western Illinois University’s theatre department and toured the region. And eventually, Mister & Me became the basis of my middle grade graphic novel series, Middle School Misadventures.

I tell people I'm in the business of making people happy. I can't think of a better way to spend my days, can you?