Jordan Polte

When I was young, every night my Dad would come to my room and read me a bedtime story. He read many books to me such as “Because the Little Bug That Went Ka-choo”, “the Berenstain Bears” series, and several Dr. Seuss books, that tell a story with illustrations. I was so entertained by how my dad read the stories, that I would create my own little stories. I remember making a simple storybook. I traced my hand on a piece of paper and I give him scribble legs and a face and called him Hand Guy. I showed him to my parents and they thought he was funny.

When my brother was young, he wrote a Christmas story with my father. For years after they spoke of wanting to have someone create pictures for the story. I wanted to help, so I started to draw the pictures for the storybook. Creating these drawings for the book made me remember having so much fun drawing when I was still a child. I wanted to learn more about art and how to become an illustrator. To achieve this, I went to the American Academy of Art where I received a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Illustration.

If I learned one thing from going to American Academy of Art it was to never give up, stay determined, and don’t let people turn you from your dreams with their opinions.