Bill Feeney said that to us in my first drawing class in college. Bill Feeney was one of the original illustrators for the Pop-Eye cartoons among other famous series. He had a rich history in cartooning and drawing. 

This statement holds true then and now. Once you learn to look at things not as things, but as shapes and values, you have begun on your journey to becoming an artist. The mediums might change, but the mindset doesn’t.

Drawing was something I picked up quickly. I was in the parking lot of my high school after a hockey game and the principle came to visit me. Needless to say, I ended up in detention.

While in detention, we were not allowed to do any school work. Only read. Blah! So I decided to finish this drawing, my first drawing assignment that was due the next day. Well, the detention moderator had a reputation for breaking pencils of people who were not reading. I was drawing and quickly at that. He saw me and came over, grabbed my pencil and was about to break it when he looked at what I was drawing. It was a portrait of my hockey coach. 

He didn’t break my pencil but instead asked me what I was doing after school. I said probably heading home. He said no, after you graduate. As a senior, I hadn’t thought that far ahead. He suggested I go to this very reputable art school in Madison, Wisconsin. I thought sure, I have no other plans and all my friends were going to Madison.

That is how this all started back in 1983.