I was recently asked to answer some questions for Skinit regarding my creative career. It was my pleasure to be able to reflect on my life a bit and see how far I’ve come. Shoutouts to the crew at Skinit for making it happen.

What has been your biggest challenge as an artist/designer?

My biggest challenge is balancing my time being both an artist & a designer. I think the best work I do usually involves handmade elements combined with good design. When you’re an “artist” it’s more about the expression and experimentation with different ideas and mediums. Whereas with design, it’s much more about consideration of a specific goal or audience and the execution so it has to be edited and reduced. To work as both a designer and artist efficiently, you have to focus and plan out a lot of your time.

What is the message that you hope to convey through your work?

I always wanted my work to connect to a broader audience no matter what the medium. Whether it’s through painting, sculpture or even through skins. I enjoy when people can connect with my ideas. Doing designs on skins has allowed me to reach a much broader audience.

How old were you when you first realized your artistic talent, and how long was it before you knew that this was what you wanted to do for a living?

I started drawing when I was about 10 years old, but it didn’t really get serious till I got into Mundelein High School. My school had a really great art department. The teachers there were all really amazing and they constantly pushed us to do more and seek out new opportunities. Pretty much after that, I really didn’t look back. Art became a part of who I was. It was in my DNA to make stuff. There was never a moment in my upbringing that I could ever see myself not doing something creative with my life.

Playing off of that last question, if you weren’t doing this, what would you be doing?

Okay, so not as exciting as you would expect, but I’d be sitting in a room somewhere just thinking. Lately I’ve been doing a lot more thinking about what the next project or art piece might be. Some people call it meditation, I like to call it spacing out. I’m always one step ahead of myself. The artwork that results is just a tangible, visual expression of all the thoughts in my head. I like to think. I’d be sitting on a rock somewhere just sitting and thinking – but it would be a cool rock. So yeah, probably that, oh, and probably traveling the world. I’d be on an exotic rock, somewhere cool, thinking.

If you want to read the rest check it out here.

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