My superhero origin story:

I’ve been drawing for as long as I can remember. When you’re a little kid and you can kinda sketch a decent Simba, people tell you you’re a talented artist. So, you just keep drawing until one day you’re not bad at it! As a teenager, I discovered DeviantArt and was introduced to digital art. My parents bought me a Wacom tablet and I spent many a long evening in front of our Gateway PC- doodling, creating characters and comics, and experimenting with Photoshop and CorelDRAW.

Eventually I went on to study drawing and painting in college at a state school, and my professors did not know what to do with an animation/cartoon/anime/manga obsessed student. (In retrospect, I probably should have gone to an art-specific school!) After undergrad, I emerged into a recession, turned right back around, and retreated to the relative safety of grad school. Tricked into studying architecture, I traded cartoons for construction drawings and spent some time traveling Europe and sketching its streetscapes.

After graduation, I started working in an architecture office, and in the evenings to unwind I started sketching and creating characters again. My love for drawing returned and I began posting to Instagram, started taking commissions, and built a following and community online.

During the pandemic lockdowns, I fell hard back in love with digital art. It was around this time that Azel was created as my alter ego. I’ve always loved furry art and anthropomorphic characters. A friend recently called it “the Disney pipeline” which is pretty on point tbh. Someday I’ll have to share some old cringey fursonas and sketchbooks… I’ve lurked in the fandom for years (anyone remember yerf.com?).

I’m currently based in Seattle, where I share my apartment with my pretentiously named black-cat, Eames.