Artist Statement

Ever since I was a little kid, I loved to draw. My parents would keep stacks of printer paper and crayon packs on hand, my grandmother had collections of coloring books and arts-and-crafts magazines at her house for when I visited, and my family began a trend of giving me art supplies for Christmas that lasted into my adult years. I remember announcing to my family that I was starting an art studio out of my room at the tender age of six, and in the early grades telling anyone who would listen that I wanted to be an art teacher (in my child mind, an art teacher was someone who was paid to sit in a classroom and color all day, and everyone else had to draw whatever they did). I drew in the margins of my notebooks when my teachers began to make us take notes. I grew up with a pencil in my hand, and everyone knew I was going to be an artist.

In my teen years, I became acutely interested in game design. I had been playing video games just as long as I had been drawing, and I was equally passionate about them. To me, drawing and games were alike in their craft. They both were expressions of emotions, and meant to evoke emotions in those who behold it. They both made me feel like I wasn't alone at my low points, and I had friends who said the same. Games are an art to me.

As time has passed, my feelings have not changed in the least. My goal is to create video games that feel like a light in the darkness to those who play it, the way that Toby Fox's Undertale and 5th Cell's Drawn to Life series did for me. Even more, I wish to craft games that make people see them as the art form they are. Most importantly, I want my art to tell a story that helps someone. I want my art to evoke a feeling of hope.