About Me

Some of the most frequent questions I hear when people see my work are:  What were you thinking? Do you take drugs? What’s wrong with you?

Everyone has dark thoughts or ideas, but society has taught them to tuck those thoughts away, to fit in with the norm. I don’t hide mine. I draw them on paper and share them with the world.

This started early.

Growing up, I was heavily influenced by horror movies, science fiction, and comic book artists. I still have every issue of Famous Monsters magazine I ever bought.

In grade school, I drew monsters—cyclops, Planet of the Apes characters, and skeletons.

In high school, I started drawing a lot of rock album covers—Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Scorpions, and more (but mostly Iron Maiden, which in turn made Derek Riggs one of my favorite artists back then).

After that, it was just a matter of developing my own style.  I messed around with just about every medium out there, thinking I would just stumble on to what would be my signature medium.  I couldn’t have been more wrong.  Ten years went by and I was still floundering.  I hadn’t improved, nor had I developed a style.  I had to decide if this was something I wanted to seriously pursue or if I was just wasting my time. So, I took a solid year and practically chained myself to my drawing table.  I would be drawing for 8 to 10 hours a day, if possible.  When I wasn’t at my day job, I was sitting at my table.

These days, my brain is like a rolodex of pictures, it just keeps flipping. When I sit down to draw, I just stop the rolodex, and whatever image it stops on, I draw. Some days music will affect what comes out; other days, a good horror flick will spur some craziness or stir the blackness.

When I’m not at the drawing table, I’m hanging out with my wife and kids while enjoying Seattle’s liquid sunshine.