I knew when I was still a boy working on my dad’s farm in Washington that I was only passing through, that bugs, beans, and bales of hay were not my destiny. In the 5th Grade I struggled with math. 7 x 8 meant nothing to me and when I came to that mathematical obstacle and other more obscure problems on tests I found that the margins of the test papers were fertile soil for the germination of more entertaining ideas and soon little drawings began to emerge and grow.
I had to eventually acknowledge that 7 x 8 (whatever that sum was) wouldn’t be diminished or tainted in any way by my ignorance of the correct answer—it would always be . . . whatever. In the meantime, I used the extra time not struggling to learn 7 x 8 to develop my creativity—a much more profitable use of energy.
After college I worked as a graphic designer and illustrator. In 1987 I began a teaching career at Brigham Young University, retiring in August 2011. Beginning with my first illustration commission in 1970 I’ve illustrated for magazines, children’s picture books, and schoolbooks. Clients have included children’s picture book and school book publishers, such as, Simon and Schuster Publishing, MacMillan Publishing Children’s Book Group, MacMillan/McGraw-Hill Publishing, Harcourt Brace & Co., Doubleday, Harper Collins Publishers, For many years I have contributed illustrations to the magazines of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. My illustration work has been selected for exhibition in national competitions sponsored by the Society of Illustrators and Communication Arts.
