I grew up in Small Town USA, where I was the weird kid. Also, there was little to nothing to do but to retreat into one's own imagination. 

 

I didn’t have a lot of friends for a while, so I found comfort in music, films, comics, and animation. I started to create my own works, and eventually found that creating was a great outlet. This was also the early days of the Internet (dial-up), and while it was somewhat permeative at this time, I found that there were others who had similar tastes in art that I did. 

 

This “newfound discovery” gave me enough confidence to be more open and share what I was interested in with people in the real world. Because of this, I was able to form friendships with people in my school who were a lot like me. Yes, we were still the weird outcasts of the town, but we had each other and formed real connections. 

 

Eventually, I graduated high school, went to college, studied film and video production… I will spare you the scholastic details. What I’m getting at is that art, in all its forms, helped me form a connection with others, and that is why I still do what I do. For the strange, wonderful human connection.