I was born and raised in Shillington, Pennsylvania on September 21, 1990. My childhood was pleasant and full of joy. I was the youngest of two brothers and a sister who were all artistically inclined. My drawings were exceptional as early as first grade where classmates would request pictures from me. I continued to draw throughout my years till I was twelve years old. I asked for a drum set for Christmas on a whim. It changed my life forever. My brothers played guitar and we started a band called Valiant that drew a lot of attention in our hometown.
It became our sole purpose in life to be musicians. We started playing local venues when I was thirteen and our success grew to great lengths. I also started playing piano so I could learn songs from video games that I adored. This would lift my spirits with magic. My abilities on piano grew quickly and it became more important to me as the years went by. I was introduced to digital art in middle school where I began to find my way around different programs.
In 2005, my family packed up and moved across the country to Southern California where we pursued our music even more. My brother Alexander and I became a two piece and reinvented our music. We achieved wonderful accomplishments, playing famous venues and making music that filled us with pride and joy.
I dabbled in photoshop to create album art, posters, and flyers for the band. I took art classes in high school and redeveloped my skills furthermore after being so stagnant.
After the band dissolved I was left lost and alone. I aimed a lot of attention to my piano and my skills skyrocketed. I was certain I would be a composer but was unsure how to get my foot in the door. One lonely Halloween I drew a few pictures that would turn into a full blown immersive story book that I titled Castles. My drawing was rusty but as I continued to draw everyday my skill level grew and grew to tremendous levels.
Then something strange happened. Unusual visions and thoughts were coming to me. My perspectives were changing. I obsessed over mythology, religion, reincarnation, spirituality, and our overall purpose of humanity. I would draw and draw to pass the time, to stay calm, and cope with all the disappointment in my life. Air Relics was born, written, and illustrated. A new tragedy arose and I was crippled by the onset of schizophrenia. I kept drawing as if my life depended on it. My pictures were drawn swiftly without erasing, highly abstract all the while with my own desired form of structure.
Years went by and I struggled immensely. Lost interest in most things. The trauma I endured was like my brain was utterly rattled. I forgot my songs on piano, didn’t play drums anymore, and I tried to approach my stories to finish but it felt forced. I had lost the fiery passion that lived inside me for so long. I couldn’t work anymore and carried the stigma of being disabled. My mother fell ill with ALS and I took care of her for the last year of her life. I just prayed everyday for death’s beautiful release.
One day, I get an email from a schoolmate who confessed her feelings for me. We wrote to one another and began bonding. We decided to leave our crummy lives and meet in Pennsylvania to start our own life together. We didn’t have much of anything but little by little we built a home and became a family. One day, I got photoshop and started editing my picture scraps and transformed them into pieces of art. I already knew my way around the program but this time was different. It was organic the way my abilities took way for greater creations. I am so filled with inspiration and eagerness to make thought provoking and uniquely exquisite works of art. I look at my art and I feel my purpose blossoming. Everyday I think about different things to draw. Like music, it’s an endless place of infinite possibilities with paper, pencil, and a program. If I succeed, I want to try all the mediums of art one day. I want to take my concepts and keep elaborating. Without all the different distractions I had throughout my life, now I can focus on what I really want to do, and do it well.
Celebrating 20 years