Stephen is an illustrator and designer who lives in Liberty, Missouri.  From an early age he began drawing anything and everything that piqued his attention and imagination: especially robots and dinosaurs and the occasional Looney Tunes character.  Growing up in the Quad Cities of Illinois and Iowa, his first artistic honor was being chosen as Acri Creature Feature's "Creep of the Week" for his drawing of the Cyclops from Ray Harryhausen's Jason and the Argonauts. 

 

Stephen holds a BFA in Design with an emphasis in Illustration from Missouri State University in Springfield, Missouri.  His working methodology was shaped by that eclectic educational experience.  Among the stand-out influences, Stephen credits his advisor Eric Pervukin with instilling in him the discipline of rapid fire thumbnail sketches to be used as a clearing house for ideas.

 

Influenced by sequential and pulp art as well as mid-century design, Stephen's work sets out to create the same sense of wonder, whimsy and optimism of those styles.  

 

His inspiration for the use of large color fields, negative space and evocative expression comes from such illustrators as Coles Phillips, Charley Harper and Mary Blair among many others.  

 

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