**So Much artwork where do I start... Growing into myself as an artist...**

I have been an artist since I was a small child, it started with my grandmother as early as 6 years old. She would purchase all kinds of crafting supplies and sit down with us kids after school at least a few times a week and create things from custom wreaths to construction paper crafting. Never did we go without art supplies or the time to make things. I took to art immediately and it became a huge part of my life...

Throughout Grade school I jumped on any opportunity to draw and sketch in class, quite often I would get in trouble for working on my "masterpieces". I had a friend named Diego and he too was an artist and opened me up to drawing superheroes, I would spends week working on them and even created many of my own, people seemed to begin to notice I had a thing for the arts and by middle school I had convinced my parents to send Me to Lincoln Center Middle School Of The Arts. It was a specialty art school for young gifted artists of all kinds be it dance, theatre, music, and of course art of all kinds like painting, black and grey, realism, sculpture and so on..

By This time I was deep into my pieces taking months to finish them, learning about seeing shapes, light, shadows, and using basic shape form and how to add depth and be proportionate, I would sketch Everywhere I went!, I had multiple sketch books at this point and also began playing the clarinet and the Baritone sax. I was expanding my palate and my mind at this point, it fueled the fire inside of me to create and I began to win awards and further my gifts and soon graduated from L.C.M.S.A. and turned from a boy to a young man and artist..

By high school I had received my first tattoo, a cross on my left forearm that i drew up after my grandmother died. I began to get drawn to the street art scene, I used to have a tag I put on everything. "AcE" which i took from top gun a dope ass movie from my childhood. I had began doing complex tags and bombs and had my tag everywhere in my stomping grounds...

In my early 20's I picked up a tattoo machine for the first time and I immediately fell in love with the art.. years past and time flew and i began to gain steam in the local tattoo scene as well. My first style was traditional because my first mentor was a traditional artist, clean lines and solid color work are a must and it is not forgiving as every imperfection will stick out like a soar thumb due to the simplicity of the designs. later as i progressed my met my second mentor in the art of tattoo, he was precise and focused on realism and black and grey work, being able to study these two different types of artist and learn from them allowed me to grow into a very diverse tattooist.

Now 34, and almost 30 years into my passion of the arts I continue to express my feelings and thoughts through my work. I also have begun to teach my son the basics and exposing him to painting and sketching, staging and drawing scenes, and experimenting with different medias and styles. I only hope that long after i'm gone my work will remain, and my son can carry the torch of creativity that burns inside my blood..

Thank you for taking the time to read my story and get a glimpse into how a young boy with a box of crayons became a old man with a passion for the arts and the desire to pass it to my son.

Of course upvotes are appreciated and follow me if you would like to read and see more of my art and my life through steemit! Have a good one, till next time my friends, peace....