Origins

The original 1966 Batman TV series got me interested in drawing when I was about five years old. I was mesmerized by the animated title sequence. I noticed that when Batman and Robin ran toward me, their legs alternated between full length and cut off at the knee. I discovered I was able to make my drawings of Batman do roughly the same thing, and that’s when I began to understand the magic of illustration. I could see that my drawings weren't as good as the ones on TV, though. So I practiced drawing them over and over until they looked just right - to me, at least. Before long, I expanded my repertoire to include other things that interested me, like dinosaurs and astronauts. I'd stay indoors all day drawing if my mother didn't make me go outside to play with the other kids in the San Diego sun.

In first grade, Miss Sickler noticed my preoccupation with drawing and invited me to the front of the class to draw dinosaurs and share what I knew about them. I remember being very pleased I could pronounce big words like “Triceratops” and “Pteranodon”. As a budding artist, positive feedback from my peers and adults was a big motivator.

By the time I hit middle school, I had begun collecting and studying comic books. My drawings of Conan the Barbarian and The Incredible Hulk were getting more sophisticated. I even sold a few to my classmates. When I was a freshman in high school, I was invited to join the school newspaper as the staff cartoonist.

Work

In the 1980s I worked at Tower Records as a display artist, where I won a number of awards from record labels like Warner Elektra Asylum and Capitol. I got to know a fair number of Seattle musicians, and was hired by Pearl Jam to co-design the cover of their first album. I sculpted the block lettering using tools and techniques from my Tower work.

By 1991, I’d become a retail display artist at Macy's department store in downtown Seattle. After nine years designing window displays, in 2000 I was hired as as designer and motion graphics artist at Smashing Ideas, a digital creative agency. After a couple of interim promotions, in 2007 I became SI’s Senior Art Director. While I was there, I had the opportunity to work on many different kinds of interactive projects for PBS Kids, Nick Jr., The Disney Channel and Mattel, among others.

In 2004, my picture book illustration debut Ella The Elegant Elephant was released under my previous name, Steven D'Amico. Published by Scholastic, it received several honors including the 2005 Washington State Book Award. Three more Ella books followed, as well as a Disney Jr. TV series based on the books. I went on to illustrate 10 more books from 2008-2019, and in 2017 I became a full time art director at the Seattle-based nonprofit Committee for Children.

-SH 2025