when did you start drawing?

as soon as i could pick up a crayon. comics were my gateway to drawing. my cousins collected comics and would hand me the ratty ones that had no covers or way below 'mint' condition.

where are you from? are you local?

'here' right now is columbus, ohio. if that's local for you then, yes, i'm local. in a soon to be future status, we'll say central ohio. which would be nearby but not close. really if you think about it, you're standing in front of me so i'm 'technically' local. if by definition, local means standing 3 feet in front of you with a nice malt scotch. sweaty.

* i grew up on a farm near a ghost town named jumbo. don't believe me, it shows up on google maps. jumbo contains a trailer park and township hall. my great uncle used to run a general store there back in the day. the trailer park rests on the store's foundation.

what do you use?

a burning cat. seriously, it's a mix of this and that. acrylics, things that spray, markers, graphite, ink, scanned textures, painter, photoshop, illustrator. never needed to use layout programs but i do use them when i'm called upon. what i tell students and budding artists is experiment. a lot of art is knowing when to stop. i'd like to try my hand at silkscreening in the future.

where did you go to school? who are your influences?

i'm a CCAD alumni with a BFA (focus in visual communications). i got mistaken for a fine arts major half the time, which i'm proud of. the most useful advice was the cheapest education: spend an hour at the library. i did that inbetween classes. i grew up in the rural wasteland of northwest ohio. the only art i was hip to up there was comics, frazetta, van gogh and rockwell. later i found a bookstore (in high school) that had the euro mag heavy metal. rockwell and van gogh was all they had in the sad library back home.once i was in columbus, i was exposed to one of the top libraries in the country. combined with the college library, they had everything. needless to say, i have quite a few influences now.

how did you 'break in'?

phone me when i do. i was told early on that i had to create my own market. this is the best advice for any artist: be original. you'll have your influences at first but eventually, if you keep at it, you'll find your voice. the people who ask this are usually the ones who also want to break in. i wish it was easy as filling out an application at starbucks but it's not. location plays into it. i was stuck in columbus, which was as far removed from either coasts. first piece of advice: move to one of the coasts. once you're established, move where ever the hell you want. back to the point, the 'breaking in' story is different for every artist. there's no set path. have a good work ethic. the internet both helps and hurts. competitions help. editors and art directors are easy to find online. get to know the players. have a presence on social sites. most of all be cautious and try not to be a jerk. under no circumstances, ever do anything on spec or for a stock art company. you're only hurting yourself in the long run.

can i visit your studio? is your stuff carried any (local) shop/gallery?

nobody wants to step into my studio now. it's a wreck. right now i work out of my apartment. from time to time, i've thought about having maybe a studio/shop with limited hours but it seems impractical right now.

i sell my stuff to any retailers who want to stock it. usually they'll come up to me at a show. distribution didn't seem viable outside of shows. if you're in town, my stuff is carried at the laughing ogre and wholly craft. i try to stock them up when something new's come out. best way to shop for anything in my etsy shop is to catch me at a show. i update show listings regularly.

what are your rates?

no, i'm afraid i don't have any set rates. everything i do is custom for commission work. if the client has a budget in mind, i'll be happy to work around that. whether you're a company wanting a logo or somebody that wants a mural painted in their house.

do you have any representation? am i interested?

i'm it. currently i'm not represented by any specific gallery or agent. if you are an agent or gallery, i'm open to see what you have to offer. i will say the deal breaker would be the agent/gallery takes a cut of anything i land myself. i'm of the mind, if you didn't do the work, you shouldn't get the reward.

shipping rates? etsy questions?

anything that's not through a publisher is available at my etsy store. payment online is paypal only. i send everything first class US postage. if you're wanting it shipped fed ex, i can do that too. fed ex rates are not figured in so i'll have to get back to you with the rate. england, weirdly enough, still has a ban specifically on horror comics.

• prints/original art (comics)- prints & original comic art are shipped rolled in a tube unless otherwise specified. the rate listed is for US only. i'm more than happy to ship it flat and or ship internationally. those wishing to do either will pay according to postage and shipping materials.
• mini-comics / zines- if you are ordering multiple comics and or outside the US, i can figure out the shipping and get back to you. the shipping rate listed is for a single comic shipped in the US only.
• original art (paintings) / tshirts- interested buyers will pay for shipping materials & postage in addition to the sale price listed.

lastly thanks for taking the time to check out my site. i hope you enjoyed our time together. i'm going to skedaddle. further queries you can check with my *secretary... or simply call or email me.

back to the studio, t.w

*i really don't have a secretary. this animatronic yoda only talks of the dark side if you touch it's paw.