I fell in love with art, words, and technology at an early age.
I’m a relentlessly curious creative leader on an artistic journey spanning over two decades. I’m excited to continue exploring new ideas, collaborating with talented teams, and creating work that makes a difference.
Read on to discover the projects and experiences that have shaped my path.
File under: vector illustration, the '80s ruled, Nagel worship.
Choose My Own Adventure
As a kid, I dreamed of having my work appear in a book or magazine. Words or pictures, it didn’t matter!
Being too young and inexperienced to be a professional artist or writer didn't stop me from creating.
I wrote and illustrated my own little stapled-together books, teamed up with friends and siblings on zany tales, and cherished any opportunity at school to contribute drawings and words to newsletters and district-wide projects.
My book, Inspector Ice-Cream, was selected by the school librarian to be read aloud to several grades and added to the library collection for students to enjoy.
Choose Your Own Adventure books were my absolute favorite, and I even crafted my own medieval-themed quest with branching storylines and epic illustrations of knight-versus-dragon duels.
Looking back, I realize those playful projects were subtly preparing me for a future filled with creative pursuits.
File under: Photoshop Creative, digital art, lamenting the death of creative magazines.
Dot-Matrix Days: a 128k Taste of Coding
While I was busy honing my drawing and writing skills, another fascination was brewing: the Apple IIe my dad brought home for the family. This beast was souped up with a whopping 128k of RAM, dual 5.25-inch floppy drives, and—believe it or not—an 80-column text card.
The final chapters of the computer manual introduced me to the basics of programming, and I was instantly hooked. Over the next several years, I raided every library for programming books like a code-hungry pirate. I even subscribed to an Apple coding magazine. I delved into BASIC and Apple Pascal, eventually venturing into assembly language, which truly pushed me to my limits.
I would print the code for games I was playing, and studied these dot-matrix printouts as if I were fishing for spell ingredients in ancient tomes. I cobbled together code from the resources at my disposal, and enjoyed tinkering with variables and playing "what if?" with lines of code—like a wizard gleefully toying with forbidden magic.
Some of my favorite creations included an Arkanoid game clone and a keyboard remapping that made quirky sounds as you traversed the keys.
Alas, my coding journey gradually faded as I got more and more into writing and art. Oh yeah, and skateboarding, too.
These days, my “coding” is mostly limited to wrestling with website CSS issues—nothing like those old 8-bit adventures. Still, I've come to realize that my early coding experiences taught me how to truly immerse myself in a subject and gave me confidence to tackle new challenges, especially technical ones.
File under: WordPress, going overboard with blend modes, Divi Design Showcase selection.
Griptape Burns & Graphic Obsession: How Board Culture Became My Secret Muse
Skateboarding has been a constant force in my life.
Growing up, it kept me (mostly) out of trouble, offering a healthy outlet to stay active and fueling my creativity with a constant stream of artistic inspiration. The vibrant skateboard graphics (especially the iconic Powell Peralta Bones Brigade designs), the deliciously underground aesthetic of magazine ads and skate videos, and the related street discipline of graffiti all left their mark on me.
When my brother and I were in our early twenties, a skateboarding acquaintance told us about a web design program at a local college. As it turned out, this skater was actually one of the teachers in the program.
We signed up soon after, and we rolled straight into an exciting journey to getting our web design certifications and degrees.
I also began quite the love affair with a little program called Photoshop, one that’s still going strong, pixel by pixel.
If you notice my affinity for collages, grunge textures, street art, and rough-around-the-edges design, you can probably blame all those years spent rolling around on so-called "useless wooden toys." One of my earliest published artworks was a tech-inspired graffiti piece, drawn from the vibrant street art I encountered while skateboarding through Washington, D.C. so many years ago.
File under: GotPrint, art contest winner, IllumaPrint.
From the Back of the Classroom to the Front: My Unexpected Journey into Teaching Photoshop
One of the most surprising (and rewarding) turns in my career has been teaching. I never imagined myself standing in front of a classroom, yet in late 2004, that’s exactly where I found myself.
I had graduated earlier in the year, and I just secured a position as the graphic designer for the in-house agency for the college. Honestly, I can’t remember exactly how it happened, but at some point, someone asked if I wanted to teach Photoshop and HTML. Before my mind could put on the brakes, I just blurted out, “yes.”
Today, most colleagues know me as a Photoshop specialist and web nerd, but back in the waning days of the summer of 2004, I hadn’t done much “specializing” yet. With only a few weeks to prepare, I found myself energized by the challenge, a spark reminiscent of the excitement I felt tackling coding puzzles in my youth.
What I thought would be just a handful of classes as a fill-in adjunct instructor ended up stretching into almost six years of teaching.
Along the way, I discovered that I didn’t just enjoy teaching, I actually had a real knack for it.
I had an absolute blast pushing myself to learn every bit of Photoshop and web design minutiae I could. You never knew what kind of questions or curveballs students would throw your way, so I wanted to be as prepared as possible. But more than that, I wanted my students to walk away with real-world technical skills they could actually use to compete out there.
Seeing a few of my former students working at my current employer years later, I feel I succeeded. But the truth is, sometimes I considered myself a bit of a fraud—because through teaching, I realized I was learning just as much, if not more, than my students. Every new classroom was a fresh puzzle and an opportunity for my own growth.
Although the design program and my time in the classroom eventually came to an end, fate soon presented me with a different teaching opportunity ... and another chance to say “yes.” This time, I embraced it even more enthusiastically.
File under: collage, cut-and-paste mania, The Digital Art Book.
Getting on the Cover
After wrapping up my teaching gig, I shifted my focus back to my primary design career.
During lunch breaks, I often wandered into the nearby Books-A-Million or Barnes and Noble, where I’d browse the latest creative magazines from the UK—titles like Advanced Photoshop, Photoshop Creative, and Practical Photoshop. And then there were the legendary bookazines: hefty, thirty-dollar tomes brimming with expert tutorials and cutting-edge digital art inspiration. Within several years, I would appear in all of these.
The UK seemed to be the epicenter for digital creatives, and these creative magazines were bigger (both in size and in style) and more technical and creative than the few domestic ones. Sorry, just facts.
I set myself a goal to be featured in those imported pages. I immersed myself in the latest trends showcased in these publications, tackled as many tutorials as time allowed, and eagerly applied new techniques to my own projects, always pushing at my creative boundaries.
After a few years of intense practice and dedication, I got my break as Artist of the Month for Photoshop Creative. That opportunity became my foothold in the industry. Soon after, I was invited to contribute as a writer and artist for the magazine, a chance I graciously accepted.
Over nearly seven years, I wrote hundreds of articles, created numerous cover artworks, and contributed insights to Photoshop panels and features—often being referred to as an “expert,” though I always felt I was still learning on the job.
I had the honor of being commissioned by several editors and collaborated multiple times with the editor of Advanced Photoshop, which was in my opinion the most awesome creative magazine ever. Some of my work was even translated into different languages. It was far more than I ever imagined during those lunch breaks, flipping excitedly through the pages of these magazines, trying to soak up just a bit more inspiration before heading back to work.
Writing for an international audience was like teaching in a college classroom, only amplified exponentially. It was a healthy challenge not just to stay ahead of current trends and techniques, but also to infuse each lesson with my own creative perspective. My earliest work may not have been shining paragons of instruction, but I definitely improved over time. I’m quite proud of a lot of the work I produced in the later years.
Free, online video tutorials and other factors eventually led to the decline of most creative magazines. Still, I like to think that at least a few of my lessons and ideas might have quietly found their way into someone's work.
File under: photo edits are fun, learning on the job, Advanced Photoshop (was the best magazine ever).
Letterform Love
Yes, it should be clear by now I’ve always been drawn to the written word.
Early on in my graphic design career, I realized I also loved the ART of the letter, and the endless ways you can configure groups of letters to speak or evoke a mood.
One of my first commissions from the lovely folks in the UK was a typography tutorial for a creative bookazine.
I had many subsequent opportunities to share typo-knowledge in my run as a monthly contributor for Photoshop Creative magazine. And I was overjoyed to have my work for The Phoenix Building Lofts selected as an example of typographic excellence in the recent second edition of Mastering Type.
Through my published typographic work, I am continually reminded how rewarding it is to share knowledge and guide others.
I often told my students that learning graphic design and typography is both a blessing and a curse. Once you start learning their secrets, you'll never be able to look at a print ad, webpage, or cereal box the same way. You’ll catch yourself mentally adjusting kerning, experimenting with font pairings, and redesigning layouts in your mind’s eye.
Yet, beyond the technical skills, I always emphasized the profound impact that typography has on our world.
It’s certainly been a privilege to weave my passion for typography and the written word so deeply into my career. I never envisioned such a word-tastic twist to my appreciation of art.
File under: skate rats, graffiti, Practical Photoshop.
Discovering Creativity in Unexpected Places
As someone who thrives on creative expression, I’m always seeking environments that nurture innovation.
Since a significant portion of my time is spent at work, finding such creativity-conducive employers is important for my well-being.
If I can’t create, I’ll gradually lose my mojo.
Early in my career, I was excited to join an IT company, though I initially worried the environment might feel a bit “dry.” I expected to dive into networks, cybersecurity, and back-end servers—and I certainly did—but what truly surprised me was discovering ample opportunities to express my creative side through marketing campaigns, email designs, websites, and more.
Now in my career, I’m at a bank. A bank?? It’s one of the last places I envisioned myself working, but as with the IT company, I have been pleasantly surprised by the creative opportunities I’ve discovered. Really, I’m able to combine almost everything I’ve learned since the early days (homemade fantasy books and tricked-out code on my Apple IIe) all the way through my design career (Adobe apps, web and graphic design, and creative leadership).
My experience shows that it’s possible to think outside the box even in highly structured and regulated industries. Whether it’s designing a more engaging presentation, finding a novel approach to a routine process, or collaborating with colleagues in fresh ways on new initiatives, I’ve managed to keep my creative spark alive.
I’m thankful for the unexpected turns my journey has taken, and for the way it keeps unfolding. Here's to more surprises!
Creativity can shine anywhere, just as long as you are willing to see the possibilities and have the courage to bring something unique and inspiring to the table.
File under: typography, the Adobe Creative Cloud Book, letterform love.
Featured In:
Advanced Photoshop
Mastering Type 2025 edition
Visual Art Journal 2024
Photoshop Creative 2012-2018
monthly contributor
monthly contributor
Photoshop for Beginners Bookazines
The Digital Art Book
Layers Magazine
Somerset Digital Studio
Practical Photoshop
Illustrate with Photoshop
The Photoshop CS6 Book
The Photoshop CC Book
Photoshop Creative Collection Bookazines
Photoshop Image Editing Genius Guide
Advanced Photoshop Premium Collection
The Professional Photoshop Book
The Photoshop Elements Book
The Adobe CC Book
Photoshop Tips, Tricks, & Fixes
Apps Magazine UK
iCreate Magazine
Exploring Web Design
Translations:
Photoshop Guiden
Professional Photoshop
Ultimate Guide Technology Photoshop
File under: Visual Art Journal, mixed media, creative portraits.
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