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When did you first start drawing?

My parents are both artists so I’ve been drawing as long as I can remember.  My brother and I used to doodle on spare scraps of paper in my parents studio while they worked.

Were you a fan of comics in your childhood? Did you have favorite characters, writers, artists?

Oh yeah, I used to have my Mom just drop me off at the comic shop so I could spend all day going through the back issue bins.  There was so much content out there and I was just trying to figure out what I liked and what was available.  I started out with Now Comics because they put out the Real Ghostbusters comic and I was a Ghostbusters nut.  I later moved on to Marvel, DC and TMNT

Who were your artistic influences as a kid?

I liked the popular artists like Todd McFarlane and Jim Lee.

Is there anyone in comics right now who inspires you?

Everyone.  I have so many influences it’s not even funny.  As long as I feel like I can learn something from their art I like it.  My faves are Art Adams and Mike Mignola.

What’s your favorite genre to draw in? What stories are you most dying to draw?

I enjoy horror, mostly because it gives me a chance to do fantastic stories in a realistic setting.  I would love to do a comic of one of my favorite movie franchises, but they are all pretty much being done already, so I just get to read them.

You and your wife work as a team. What’s the division of labor?

She does all the work… I sit back and laugh.

I have to know: Did you meet as artists and become involved after, or become involved and then start working together?

We actually met as comic fans, she came into the comicshop where I worked, on my last day, and asked me for an application.  After we’d been dating awhile, I taught her how to color comic art because I couldn’t do it all by myself.  She picked it up really fast.

I can only imagine some of the difficulties that might arise from working with your spouse in a creative field. Have you ever had any conflicts? How do you keep things civil? 

It was a little hard at first.  We both wanted to impress the other one with our mad art skills and didn’t want to immediately hear what was wrong with a piece.  I was especially bad.  We’ve since moved past that and can handle criticism and suggestions from one another without much fuss.

Do you two read the same comics?

For the most part, we have the same tastes and enjoy most of the same books.  My faves are Hellboy and the Flash and she enjoys Strangers in Paradise and anything by Kyle Baker.

What was your first paying comics gig? How did you score it?

Knights of the Dinner Table: Everknights #7.  I was doing art for Kenzer Co’s game guides and when a spot on their bi-monthly comic opened up they offered it to me and I jumped at the chance.

Viper Comics is one of the few recent upstart comics publishers that’s managed to stick around. What’s it like to work with them?

Super nice.  They are the nicest guys on the planet and are doing their best to put out the highest quality comics they can.

What writer do you most want to work with?

I don’t know, there are a lot of great writers out there, I’ve always enjoyed the way John Arcudi weaves a tale and I think my art would work well with one of his scripts but I like any script with girls and monsters in it.

Do you have any plans to write your own stories? If so, what kinds of stories do you want to tell?

Yeah, I’ve actually written two stories that have seen print so far, one in Dead@17: Rough Cut #3 and the second in Josh Howard Presents: Sasquatch, which hit stands this week, and I’m working on my third scripted story with my monster hunter character, Simon Squareskull.

Where would you like your career to go?

I would like to support a family by drawing comics.

What’s your greatest artistic ambition?

To never get stale or fall into a rut.

What’s next for you?

After Squareskull, I’m working on a halloween themed series called Knucklejelly.  I hope to have it out by the end of the year.

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