Welcome to my cartoon artist world!

I was born in 1958 in the Fort Greene section of Brooklyn, New York, USA. This was a typical Brooklyn neighborhood, which was as dangerous as it was violent. The mean streets of the Concrete Jungle, (Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!) can either make you or break you! It's survival of the fittest, only the strong survive; that's the law of the jungle! I never planned on becoming an artist, my dad wanted me to be a doctor. I started drawing at the age of five, although neither of my parents were into art except for my dad. He was a master carpenter that specialized in building Formica counters for businesses. He also built custom cabinets and made high end furniture. He would often draw detailed drawings with measurements of the work that he was about to do, but I didn't learn about this until I was a bit older. 

For me, art was my escape from reality, as it gave me an outlet to evade the violence at home and in the streets. I also read a lot of books as well, which sparked my curiosity and motivated me to write my own stories. My greatest inspiration for art were the Saturday mornings cartoons, and Hanna-Barbera prime-time favorites like Top Cat, The Huckleberry Hound show, the Flintstones and The Jetsons. As turbulent as my home life was, some of my best memories were of the whole family sitting together watching cartoons. My real inspirations came from older cartoons like Gigantor, Coco the Clown, Tobor the 8th Man, and the original Felix the Cat in black and white.

On my first day of kindergarten at P.S. 260 in the Canarsie section of Brooklyn, I was drawing a picture of a Tyrannosaurus Rex fighting a Brontosaurus. My kindergarten teacher stood behind me and watched me as I drew. She left the class quickly and returned with the other kindergarten teachers. I was taken to the principal's office and that same day I was placed in the first grade! When I was in the second grade, one of my drawings was selected for a children's exhibit in the Brooklyn Museum of Modern Art, on Eastern Parkway. I didn't actually draw it for the exhibit, it was actually a gift for my teacher; she showed me how to draw a swan using the number two. I drew the picture, and I colored it using Cray-Pas oil crayons. The teacher liked it so much that she hung it outside of the classroom, and the committee that was selecting drawings to be exhibited in the museum saw it, and they selected it for the exhibit!

Throughout my life, I went through many different stages with my art. For a while, I would only draw World War 2 fighter planes, then for a while  I would draw nothing but race cars like dragsters, Pro-Stocks and Funny Cars. I spent a good while drawing MARVEL Super-heroes, until I developed my own unique style. So, art for me is not just something that I do; it's who and what I am and it has always been a way of life for me! So why cartoons? Sure, I can do fine art, I've dabbled with watercolors, pastels, acrylic and oil painting; I've done portraits, landscapes and still-lifes but cartoons allowed me the freedom to express myself in a more creative way, and since I also like to write, it gives me an outlet for story telling. So that's it in a nutshell! Enjoy the site!