It’s probably not an understatement to say that I owe my start in comics to Dean Trippe, an inspirationally multi-talented creator as well as the founder and main proprietor of Project: Rooftop, and it couldn’t have been a more serendipitous or fun way to get into the industry.

I had just graduated from art school and was spending some nebulous amount of time regrouping and recuperating at my childhood home before approaching the vastly daunting issue of procuring a career. I decided to combat the feeling of incipient doom by escaping into marathon viewings of Batman: The Animated Series and drawing my own free form interpretations of the characters. I posted a take on Stephanie Brown, the third Robin (see above), to one of my blogs, and through sheer chance Dean happened to stumble across it right as P:R was gearing up to do a special on the Girl Wonder. He encouraged me to submit my drawing, and before I knew it I was redesigning superheroes with an exciting, supportive group of established illustrators and fellow prospective up-and-comers.

My first published jobs were all a result of writers and editors seeing something they liked in my P:R redesigns and writing to offer me spots in comic book anthologies like Popgun, Outlaw Territory, and Comic Book Tattoo. I was fortunate enough to fall into a career by doing like Joseph Campbell said and following my bliss. Not a job goes by that I don’t appreciate it.