Stephen Sebald (b. 1979): As a boy, in Bay City Michigan, watching cartoons and reading Sunday comics, Stephen wanted to become a cartoonist. As he grew and was exposed to the Old Master, his interest became painting; however, due to availability of materials, the pencil became his tool of choice. Time passed and with high school coming to an end, he needed to make a career choice. Stephen decided upon the only thing that had always held his interest. While attending Delta College, he received some good instruction and saw slight improvement in his skills only to be disappointed by his university experience. Stephen received his BFA, but felt unprepared to earn a living as an artist. Not wanting to continue to obtain an MFA from instructors that told him there was no future being an artist, he found work building and servicing swimming pools, until finding work as an auto mechanic. After a few years he came across some of his old art supplies and started drawing again. He moved onto a good job providing technical assistance to fellow mechanics, and began saving his money to put toward learning how to do what he always longed for. After much time researching, he found artists making the art he was previously told was long dead. He found Ani Art Academy Waichulis via the Art Renewal Center and was later accepted into the program. While waiting to make his move to Pennsylvania, he started The Language of Drawing program, and realized that he had made the correct choice after he found his skills increased exponentially in a few weeks compared to the five years he had spend in community college and university art classes. Feeling a strong connection with the logical progression of the “starting with the foundational principles,” approach of the Waichulis program, Stephen hopes to clear his toolbox of wrenches and sockets and fill it with the skills needed to realize his vocation of artist.
