Rockville Badge

Rockville, CT
2007-2009

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bsk2aYahO3_/

We left Hartford and returned to Rockville after only one year of living in the city. Rent was ridiculously cheap and I was focusing on design school it made sense to come back.

I went to Rockville high school 1996-2000. Had some fun times playing football, wrestling and raising hell with friends.

All of that stuff was cool but the most important part is that this is where I met my girlfriend who eventually became my wife and the mother of my two children.

We got together in 1998 and have been together since. I was the quarterback of the football team and she was a cheerleader. We were homecoming king and queen. we’re a friggin John Cougar Mellencamp song! She's a great mom, my best friend and my voice of reason. She's also my proofreader and design critic when I'm stuck on a project.

Up until high school, I was always very good at art, consistently won awards and had work displayed in the state capital building.

Around high school though, I got really into sports, partying and being super macho. I got the idea in my head that art was somehow a feminine thing to do and no way to make a living.

I had to take an elective in my senior year, so I picked art. Figured it would be an easy A. In class and was making some really cool stuff and enjoying it. My teacher, Mrs. Goldberg pulled me aside and asked about my plans after graduation. I had not even thought about anything beyond my senior football season. She said that I had a lot of talent for art and should consider art school.

Unfortunately, I hadn't done any art during my four years of high school, so didn't have a portfolio needed to get into some cool, fancy art school. But she told me that could get into the illustration program at CCSU if I busted my butt during my senior year and got a portfolio prepared.

She’d open the art rooms for me before and after school and would provide monthly check-ins on my progress. Super grateful that someone was able to put me on a path that allows me to use my talent in my profession.