Heliades - The Daughters of Helios and Clymene who turned into poplar trees after the death of
their brother, Phaethon.

In the summer of 2009 I spent almost my entire free time reading the Complete Short Stories of Franz Kafka. My favorite being In the Penal Colony which was written by Kafka in October of 1914. It is certainly not the kind of story that most people would read and decide that it is their favorite of Kafka's but in that summer after a full year of High School, I could sympathize with a large torture machine controlled by The Officer.

Of course, at the time, the full meaning of the story may have perhaps drifted lazily over my head, but melancholy stories like In the Penal Colony have always been my favorite. Their depth and meaning pull me in and allow me to read even deeper into the meaning. This state of curiosity has permeated essentially all parts of my creative life, even my graphic design.

My interest in Graphic Design really started in Elementary School when I took Graphic Design summer classes at the local Art Museum. It continued in Eighth Grade when I was the main motion graphics producer in the school's TV Crew. I have been producing designs for at least 70% of my life and much of that experience came from freelancing (emphasis on the 'free') for The Legend of Zelda fansite Zelda Universe as well as Zelda Informer, a favor I did for my various friends from 2003 onwards. While that work isn't exactly something I'd call stellar, it was a fantastic foundation to build upon. It programmed into me a type of design that really favors uniqueness while still functioning in a usable way.

Since then, I have been building my skills in many different ways. As well as majoring in Graphic Design at University of North Florida, I also took many fiction writing classes. The latter sparked a creative interest that had been lingering in me for years and I have since been focusing on my writing as well as my graphic design experience. Besides that, my interest in game-design has shaped much of my output as well. While it is still a hobby, I do spend a fair amount of time learning to program and focusing my skills so they could be utilized in game development.

I know that might be a lot to take in, it is often a lot for me to take it. My varying interests have always felt slightly disconnected to me in the past. But lately, I have been merging them together into what I feel is my own unique style. I love storytelling; I love design; and I love anything interactive. Over the rest of my career, I hope to further merge these together and create something new and interesting.