The first time I had a passion for illustration was in grad school at the Savannah College of Art and Design. After graduating, I moved to Brooklyn, NY to start my illustration career. But, like most young artists, I worked odd jobs, eventually finding a graphic design job at Chelsea House Publishers in Manhatten.

In the fall of 1995, I moved to Seattle, WA. The surrounding majestic mountains, animals, trees and ferns, combined with the many progressive creative people who lived in the city, attracted me, and inspired me to stay. It was in Seattle that I started a full-time freelance illustration career. For several years, my only career consisted of freelance illustration for magazines, newspapers, books, brochures, and posters.

In 2002, during the post 911 recession, I started painting personal pieces that turned into a body of work to show in galleries. While working at a homeless shelter, I put my illustration career temporarily aside and focused on personal paintings. My personal work strongly influenced my illustration work, and I have continued to cultivate my fine art and illustration as two separate bodies of work, but influenced by each other.

Up until mid 2005, my illustration work was entirely created with traditional materials, mostly in acrylic. I have always preferred the look of art created by hand, where the human touch conveys so much more emotion than a computer generated piece of visual art. But, as I played catch-up on the computer, I saw opportunities to expand my illustration style with the use of Photoshop, while not abandoning the hand done aesthetic that I enjoy. My work evolved into a technique of combining traditional materials with the use of Photoshop.

While the commercial arts and technology continued to change at an ever increasing rate, we all experienced another recession, and editorial illustration dwindled. It became nearly impossible to make a living as an illustrator. In 2006, I went back to school to learn web design at the School of Visual Concepts in Seattle. By 2008, web design became my focus and my second primary career. Along with a career change, I married the love of my life—Monica Schley.

From 2009-2017, my illustration business was essentially closed. During that time, Monica and I had a daughter. Being a father became one of the biggest challenges of my life, but also one of my greatest joys. To our surprise, 7 years later, we had a baby boy! Our family of 4 is the biggest joy of my life.

After a long break from art and limited highly creative opportunities in web design, my passion for illustration has come back. I’ve reopened my illustration business and am starting with this small portfolio soon to grow ever larger with new work for new clients.

Schildbach Design is still in operation. It is just not going to be a part of 100% of the work I do. I’m still making websites, and serving clients with their branding, strategy, and business needs.

I’m definitely not picking up where I’ve left off with illustration. I’m working with new tools, such as the iPad Pro, Apple Pen and the many relevant Apps. Now the technology is giving that hand done quality I enjoy along with it’s speed and portability. My old work used to be quite labored over with a lot of paint and layers. Although there is not one cohesive style for my new work, one thing in common is the pieces are fresh, bright, punchy and contemporary to today’s needs. The goal is to do more advertising, products and story boarding, along with getting more children’s books published. I can also imagine getting in to other disciples that compliment or accompany my illustration work.