I grew up in St. Louis, Missouri. In 1970, our family made a cross
country trek to Los Angeles to visit Disneyland. It was the most
amazing thing I had ever seen. But of all the attractions, what I most
wanted to see were the Haunted Mansion, and the Pirates of the
Caribbean. Unfortunately, this was also the day that the Youth
International Party (Yippies) took over Tom Sawyer Island. Very
quickly things got out of hand, an army of riot police appeared, and
everyone was herded out of the park.
We never got to see either of those rides.
Seven years later, Star Wars came out in the theaters, followed a
year later by Alien, and several years later by Blade
Runner. These landmark movies spawned a series of books containing
the artwork of Joe Johnston, Ralph McQuarrie, Ron Cobb, and Syd Mead.
The artwork was amazing, but more importantly I realized that artists
got paid to dream up all this stuff. I knew then what I wanted to do
with my life.
As soon as I graduated high school, I moved to Los Angeles and enrolled
at the University of Southern California School of Cinema
Television. I received a bachelor's degree in Cinema TV
production. Then in 1990, I went back to school to study Fine Art and
Illustration at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena.
Since that time, I have worked as a concept artist in the motion picture
industry, creating artwork for such films as, X Men, Indiana Jones
and The Kingdom of The Crystal Skull, Star Trek XI, Fantastic Four: The
Rise of The Silver Surfer, Lemony Snicket¢s A Series of Unfortunate
Events, National Treasure 2, Chronicles of Narnia, and more.
In 2002, Production Designer John Myhre called me to work on a Walt
Disney Production of The Haunted Mansion. Then in 2004, I
received a call from Production Designer Rick Heinrichs to work on
Pirates of the Caribbean 2 and 3. Poetic justice or coincidence,
I take great satisfaction and amusement in knowing that I have
contributed in some way to these icons of my youth.
Prior to 2002, I created all my artwork in graphite. Since then I work
almost exclusively on the computer, using Photoshop and Maya.
I am married with three wonderful children and reside in the Los Angeles
area.
We go to Disneyland every year.
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