As a designer I often look back at my past for inspiration. I spent most of my life in St. Louis. It isn't a exciting city like Denver, but, for tone and setting in many of my animations, my hometown is inspirational. The historic neighborhoods of Soulard, Lafayette Square, Tower Groves, and Central West End are often the location settings in my work. The old brick houses complimented by the deep greens in lawns and the parks are favorites. I remember a particular day spent holiday shopping with my dad and mom. Overnight the city was smacked by a huge snow storm. In St Louis, unlike Denver, snow will shutdown the city, but my parents thought it would be fun to drive around and get some holiday shopping done at Delmar Loop, a shopping area equivalent to Pearl Street in Boulder. Delmar was empty, but the stores were open. We probably received the best customer service ever given at Vintage Vinyl since we were the only ones shopping, and we had great food service at Blue Berry Hill as we were the only ones eating. I thought of that day when I was illustrating and writing A Means to an End and I thought of it again when I did the animation version.
I feel as a designer that I am very grateful to have those cherished memories to be inspire by. They allow me to appreciate the small things that have happened in life, which now become the settings for my stories.