The Inside Scoop: How did you get your start as a professional artist?

I always joke I have a career by pure luck! I majored in Fashion Design and Illustration in college-a far cry from Children’s books! Upon graduation from the Columbus College of Art and Design, I saw an ad in the Columbus paper looking for artists at Gibson Greetings (now American Greetings). I thought for fun I would send my portfolio and see. Before I knew it I was hired, moved to Cinci and began painting cute greeting cards every day. I was always hearing comments that my work was very story bookish so I thought to help defer student loans I would try and freelance in the evenings and hopefully get some book work. It became so successful that I joined with an agency, left my job and began a freelance career.

Reference: A portion of this blog post was originally posted at: http://cincyillustrators.blogspot.com