Beyond high school

After high school I worked at an art store and did nothing with my life for awhile. A few works were created during this time period. The above, however, is just a copy of a D&D illustration.

I love dancers, and this is one of my favorite. I think it was stolen from something. In fact, I'm sure of it.

This, however, was not stolen. It was my first pastel painting ever. I think I went over it with Prismacolor after using fixative on the pastels. While at the art store I was influenced by a muralist who's name I can't remember. But she was the one that inspired me to use pastels and expand my horizons. I painted a few murals with her, but mostly just did gopher boy stuff.

This is stolen from a Matthew Sweet album cover, Girlfriend. Also Prismacolor. It's quite large and took a number of pencils and a lot of grinding to finish. I suggest wisely choosing your media. I'm not sure why I stopped doing "creative" works (meaning all my images are copies) but this is a trend that is seen from the time I graduated to the time I went to BYU (a period of about 6 years). There are some creative aspects to them, mostly in color or design, but nothing outstanding. And to be honest, when comparing these works with that of my peers (and of professionals) it makes you wonder why I continued to wan to be an artist.

But I did keep coming back to art. That and to writing, or storytelling. It has always been in my blood and only when I got into BYU's Animation program have I been able to really push my skills to the next level. I hope to maintain this effort consistently for the rest of my life.