Between 1993 and 2002 I spent my early freelance career working primarily as a storyboard artist on many animated television series. I mostly worked in the action adventure genre so lots of comic book superhero Saturday morning cartoons, syndicated afternoon series and one direct to video film of the day.

Here's a list of the shows I worked on in no particular order:

X-Men The Animated Series, Fantastic Four, Hulk, Avengers, Xyber-9, Wildcats, Invasion America, Street Fighter, The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest, Battletech, Gargoyles, The Mighty Ducks, Superman and the Batman Sub-Zero direct to video film.

There were certainly guys that could illustrate circles around me on these shows but schedules were tight and building a reliable rep was key to working in that biz. When a producer or other artists I worked with at one studio moved to another to start up a new series, I would get the call to move along with them. Some years I was working for several studios on several series at a time.

My first, longest and favorite gig was working on the X-Men show. I boarded seasons 2 through 5 and had the pleasure of storyboarding the final act of the final episode. That last shot from the show is pictured here with my artwork setting up that scene. 

By the early 2000s I was dabbling more and more as an illustrator in the licensing arena. The landscape was also changing for syndicated television animation and in 2002 I decided to move away entirely from storyboarding as my main artistic profession. My last storyboard work was on an Avengers series on FOX that year.

I have fond memories of this early period of my art career. Here I was as a young rookie drawing some of my favorite comic book characters and got paid for it!  While most of these animation studios and their crew were based in Los Angels, I still managed to work from home in Minnesota. I learned so much about camera, story, animation AND responsibility to deadlines. Drawing so much, so often and so fast amped up my quick sketch abilities over the course of this era. Prepared me for the next stage.

Good times.