My name is Aaron Mentzer, a cartoonist/illustrator and designer from Pennsylvania. From an early age, I've had the goal of working in the arts professionally, creating images, stories, and characters, taking concepts from my mind and making them real, and visual, something that can be absorbed and experienced by others. Writing, cartooning, designing, visual arts, these are things I can't live without, and want to share with others, creating stories and characters that can entertain others, tell tales that resonate with them and inspire their imaginations, to express what's in my mind to the world at large. A goal of mine is to create a studio, to partner with other artists and creatives like myself to make their ideas, their stories, and their art visible to the world to tell the tales they want to tell and to express visually interesting and compelling narratives. This can be anything from short gag strips to comic books on the stands full-blown graphic novels in the printed form, and animation and storyboards in the animated form. Fiction, however, is not all I have an interest in, as other commercial avenues of art interest me and that I've had past experience with, which I wish to continue pursuing. One such example would be morale patch designs, sticker designs, and general artwork created for and with the intent of supporting public services, like Emergency Medical Services and other such first responder groups, medical professionals, and humanitarian aid organizations. And on the small scale, teaching and instructing others, helping them along their artistic journies, is something that I've had a recent interest in, tutoring some of my peers to help them in their studies. Currently, I'm attending The Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art, a trade school focused on training students in commercial art, sequential art, painting, comic book production, and elements of graphic design and storytelling. I'm in my second year of the three-year curriculum, preparing to enter my third year in the fall. My third year will be my most important and is key to entering the creative field, preparing my portfolio, meeting with professionals in the field, and gearing up to enter the workforce. One of the people who inspired me the most to pursue all of this was my late highschool art teacher, David S. McFalls, an illustrator/painter who nurtured my artistic hobby into what has now become a career path, tutoring me, giving me instructional books from his own collection, and being incredibly warm and supporting. One of my greatest regrets will never be being able to thank him, on account of his passing away from Leukemia in 2020. Part of maximizing my opportunities to expand my creative avenues and pursue the goals that I wish to accomplish includes having the financial liberty to explore riskier ventures, and not play it safe with my goals and aims. Accomplishments are built on risk, but the reward is always worth the gamble, and the potential of failure. Better to pursue a goal and falter than never try.

I have a few main centers to my artistic pursuits. Predominantly, my dreams and pursuits lie in the realm of narrative art, sequential art, and storytelling. Crafting worlds, characters, and tales with cartooned visuals. For all the fun and bombast that such an art form can display, it can, and I hope to heavily contribute to the tradition of, weaving narratives that inform, and display important and relevant social themes, be they in a visual metaphor or through the story itself of the characters my art will depict. That is not the only artistic pursuit I have, however. I'm also, even now while in school, actively using my art to produce designs and graphics utilized as morale patches, stickers, and general light-hearted comical cartoons for Emergency Medical Service first responders. This kind of utilization of my art, even though it's comparatively minor, I think holds genuine value, helping, even if in some small part, to keep the spirits of individuals in such an important field is something I take pride in. As well, I've also on occasion been tasked with more somber topics, such as, recently, a commemorative memorial piece for a man who passed away from disease. I wish to continue using my art in this form and further this direction. Graphics to lift spirits, Narratives to draw attention to problems in the world, and Pieces to help people who are mourning are all means by which I hope to make a positive impact with my craft. Included, I've provided a mini-comic I produced in my Second Year, a comical graphic I produced for an EMS worker, thumbnails for a short narrative assignment where i researched the death of Soviet Cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov, and a link to Instagram where other work of mine can be found. Thank you for considering me!

I've had an interest in the arts, specifically cartoons, cartoon design, comic books, and general storytelling via visual mediums since a very young age. I was introduced to drawing, initially, by my father, but it stuck with me and I continued developing it as a skill, nurtured by my elementary school and middle school teachers until Highschool, where I met my Highschool Art Teacher, David McFalls. While my endeavors in the arts were filled with supportive figures, from my parents and extended family to close friends, and of course my various art instructors, it had a few rough patches. The occasional spot of bullying from people who, for some reason, thought it appropriate to mock others over personal expression. Before getting into my current school, as well, was a rough time. I tried hashing it out on my own, not ready to make it in the field, but training on my own and attempting to make money on my own with no proper training, and not having the properly nurtured skillset required to get jobs, resulted in several years of struggle and failure. There were moments that I felt so burnt out, and felt like I had achieved so little, that the thought of giving it up entirely crossed my mind, a few times in fact, but I persevered, thinking "I'm in too deep now, it'd be a waste" and knowing deep down that I enjoyed the process too much, and loved creating too much, to ever give it up. I thought of my teacher again after this, Mr. McFalls, and how he had helped nurture my skills in high school. David McFalls saw my burgeoning skill and interest in sequential art, narrative-focused cartooning, and storytelling, and helped me develop and hone my skills within that ballpark. Lending me books, and guides, instructing me personally, and overall being a highly supportive and very caring instructor. He's the one who suggested my current school to me, The Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art. It was his instruction and recommendations that helped me identify the career and specific form of art that I wish to pursue, that of a sequential narrative artist in Comic Books/Graphic Novels and Storyboards. Now, I'm one of the tops in the school, my career prospects are very real, and I've even begun getting small work through contacts within the faculty and my fellow student body, as well as attention from industry professionals. My future is looking very optimistic, and it's partially the work of David McFalls. He's no longer around, having passed Leukemia in 2020, and it will forever be a bitter, disappointing thought that I can never go up to him and just say "Thank you."

Understanding my mental space, my psychology, what makes me tick, the things I do, and importantly, understanding what mental health problems I have has been an extremely important part of my journey into the artistic field. The very basis of art, and especially so to improve in one's craft, necessitates understanding yourself and becoming self-critical, self-analytical, and incredibly scrutinizing of every action and thought you take. With, I have traits that could be potential signs of spectrum-based conditions like ADHD, one of which is hyper fixation, the combination of this alongside my chosen career path, cartooning, and what it requires to get better at it, can be both a tool to further my growth or, in several cases, something that impedes me, causing a severe struggle. When I graduated high school in 2016, I was very self-conscience about a lot of things- my weight, my general appearance, my personality, art, etc., but we were on the cusp of making a big life change: my mom, little brother, and I were moving across the continent to Arizona to be with other parts of the family. The idea was exciting, a new place, new people, family I hadn't seen in a long time, a chance to start fresh and get into working towards that career. But then I hyper-fixated and became obsessed with everything about me that was wrong, and started to hate everything i did, slowly, over the next three years. My mother has depression and bipolar disorder and several people I know have had varying mental disorders, illnesses, or problems to which they seek psychiatric help, so I could tell that I had started to slip down a hole, but I couldn't stop it. Three years go by, and nothing was accomplished but being locked in my head. Every day I asked myself why I couldn't draw the things I wanted to draw, why was i fat, why can't act normal, why can't I just do what I want to do, waking up every day, thinking about what was wrong with me, until one day, an October day in 2019, Halloween parade, I had a glancing intrusive thought when I saw a police officer, ideas of how to end the situation for myself. The shock of a thought like that entering my head recontextualized my stay in Arizona, my thought process, and everything, and I made a decision: I left, came back home, took up work near where I grew up, and then after getting a car and some money, went off to school in New Jersey, where I currently am, because the alternative was waiting for those thoughts to happen again and again and again until they were no longer thoughts. For as miserable as I was in Arizona, and the dark thoughts that crept into my mind towards the end, it was a valuable growing experience and gave me the contextualization necessary to develop tools to work past my mental hangups, confide these emotions in a trusted confidant, and gave me the ability to make stark personal life changes. It also gave me a resolution in pursuing the field I wish to pursue, not give in to those thoughts. But, perhaps more importantly than that, it gave me insight and perspective onto how to better help people I care about who are suffering mentally around me, to recognize when they're in distress, and to give them support and comfort when they need it.

A best-selling graphic novel artist/writer and cartoonist, able to produce all the stories I dream about.

My name is Aaron Mentzer, a cartoonist/illustrator and designer from Pennsylvania. From an early age, I've had the goal of working in the arts professionally, creating images, stories, and characters, taking concepts from my mind and making them real, and visual, something that can be absorbed and experienced by others. Writing, cartooning, designing, visual arts, these are things I can't live without, and want to share with others, creating stories and characters that can entertain others, tell tales that resonate with them and inspire their imaginations, to express what's in my mind to the world at large. A goal of mine is to create a studio, to partner with other artists and creatives like myself to make their ideas, their stories, and their art visible to the world to tell the tales they want to tell and to express visually interesting and compelling narratives. This can be anything from short gag strips to comic books on the stands full-blown graphic novels in the printed form, and animation and storyboards in the animated form. Currently, I'm attending The Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art, a trade school focused on training students in commercial art, sequential art, painting, comic book production, and elements of graphic design and storytelling. I'm in my second year of the three-year curriculum, preparing to enter my third year in the fall. My third year will be my most important and is key to entering the creative field, preparing my portfolio, meeting with professionals in the field, and gearing up to enter the workforce. The success I plan to have in my trade hinges on my interests in both fiction works and graphic design for real-life individuals. Splitting my efforts between entertainment-based art forms, such as sequential narrative art ie comic books and graphic novels, alongside other ventures. One of these is morale patch designs for emergency medical services, something I already engage in as a form of secondary income. Graphic design work with a focus on catering to services and workers of specific fields and trades, coupled with fiction work designed to interest and engage people with a love for stories and storytelling, I believe will give me a certain level of versatility over my peers and allow me a greater level of success in this field. I'll consider my life successful if I can produce, in comfort, the art I want to make, and that art brings something positive out of people and some form of joy.

Hello, my name is Aaron Mentzer, currently a second-year student who will be entering my third and final year at the Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art in Dover, New Jersey, founded by comic industry legend Joe Kubert. I've held an interest in pursuing the arts, and specifically cartooning, illustration, and comic books/strips/graphic novels since a young age, constantly drawing, and coming up with characters, designs, ideas, and stories in my head. The school, its instructors, the curriculum, and general environment that surrounds it have been incredibly nurturing towards my interests as both a cartoonist/illustrator in the sequential arts, and also writing and designing my own worlds and stories. The art I have attached was produced for an assignment in one of my classes, "Story Adaptation", the goal is to produce a comic book in a very small, home-printable digest size approximating about 5.5 inches by 4 inches, and the challenge therein being to produce art and a story that can be reduced to that size and be legible. I took that as a challenge, and as an opportunity, to explore character writing and how tight of a story I can make in extremely limited amounts of page space. The story, in six pages, is designed as a sort of classic comic book "origin story", a deal with the devil, and serves as character exploration and concept work for a greater, larger, graphic novel adventure to be produced with a few of my fellow classmates. Within those limits, and the time frame deadline of only having a few weeks to put together six pages of comic book sequential art and two covers, resulted in me exploring new avenues of imagery, black and light art with no holding lines but still reading as background, imagery utilizing extremely limited colors, lineart holding lines with little detail inside creating a silhouette allowing the mind to imply the extra details, and then somehow fit an entire normal six pages of script narrative inside with word balloons and narration boxes, to see if I could do it and if I would succeed. The results of it have been incredibly satisfying for me, and galvanized my pursuit of this career path and these characters, giving them more depth, and specifically exploring the genre of horror, as both a cartoonist and a writer. I'm excited to enter my last year of school and complete my training and am highly anticipating my entry into the industry of sequential art, this piece is a thesis aimed at myself to prove that I have it in me, and I believe that I do.

My name is Aaron Mentzer, a cartoonist/illustrator and designer from Pennsylvania. From an early age, I've had the goal of working in the arts professionally, creating images, stories, and characters, taking concepts from my mind and making them real, and visual, something that can be absorbed and experienced by others. Writing, cartooning, designing, visual arts, these are things I can't live without, and want to share with others, creating stories and characters that can entertain others, tell tales that resonate with them and inspire their imaginations, to express what's in my mind to the world at large. A goal of mine is to create a studio, to partner with other artists and creatives like myself to make their ideas, their stories, and their art visible to the world to tell the tales they want to tell and to express visually interesting and compelling narratives. This can be anything from short gag strips to comic books on the stands full-blown graphic novels in the printed form, and animation and storyboards in the animated form. Fiction, however, is not all I have an interest in, as other commercial avenues of art interest me and that I've had past experience with, which I wish to continue pursuing. One such example would be morale patch designs, sticker designs, and general artwork created for and with the intent of supporting public services, like Emergency Medical Services and other such first responder groups, medical professionals, and humanitarian aid organizations. And on the small scale, teaching and instructing others, helping them along their artistic journies, is something that I've had a recent interest in, tutoring some of my peers to help them in their studies. Currently, I'm attending The Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art, a trade school focused on training students in commercial art, sequential art, painting, comic book production, and elements of graphic design and storytelling. I'm in my second year of the three-year curriculum, preparing to enter my third year in the fall. My third year will be my most important and is key to entering the creative field, preparing my portfolio, meeting with professionals in the field, and gearing up to enter the workforce. Part of maximizing my opportunities to expand my creative avenues and pursue the goals that I wish to accomplish includes having the financial liberty to explore riskier ventures, and not play it safe with my goals and aims. Accomplishments are built on risk, but the reward is always worth the gamble, and the potential of failure. Better to pursue a goal and falter than never try.

My name is Aaron Mentzer, a cartoonist/illustrator and designer from Pennsylvania. From an early age, I've had the goal of working in the arts professionally, creating images, stories, and characters, taking concepts from my mind and making them real, and visual, something that can be absorbed and experienced by others. Writing, cartooning, designing, visual arts, these are things I can't live without, and want to share with others, creating stories and characters that can entertain others, tell tales that resonate with them and inspire their imaginations, to express what's in my mind to the world at large. A goal of mine is to create a studio, to partner with other artists and creatives like myself to make their ideas, their stories, and their art visible to the world to tell the tales they want to tell and to express visually interesting and compelling narratives. This can be anything from short gag strips to comic books on the stands full-blown graphic novels in the printed form, and animation and storyboards in the animated form. Fiction, however, is not all I have an interest in, as other commercial avenues of art interest me and that I've had past experience with, which I wish to continue pursuing. One such example would be morale patch designs, sticker designs, and general artwork created for and with the intent of supporting public services, like Emergency Medical Services and other such first responder groups, medical professionals, and humanitarian aid organizations. And on the small scale, teaching and instructing others, helping them along their artistic journies, is something that I've had a recent interest in, tutoring some of my peers to help them in their studies. Currently, I'm attending The Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art, a trade school focused on training students in commercial art, sequential art, painting, comic book production, and elements of graphic design and storytelling. I'm in my second year of the three-year curriculum, preparing to enter my third year in the fall. My third year will be my most important and is key to entering the creative field, preparing my portfolio, meeting with professionals in the field, and gearing up to enter the workforce. Part of maximizing my opportunities to expand my creative avenues and pursue the goals that I wish to accomplish includes having the financial liberty to explore riskier ventures, and not play it safe with my goals and aims. Accomplishments are built on risk, but the reward is always worth the gamble, and the potential of failure. Better to pursue a goal and falter than never try.

My name is Aaron Mentzer, a cartoonist/illustrator and designer from Pennsylvania. From an early age, I've had the goal of working in the arts professionally, creating images, stories, and characters, taking concepts from my mind and making them real, and visual, something that can be absorbed and experienced by others. Writing, cartooning, designing, visual arts, these are things I can't live without, and want to share with others, creating stories and characters that can entertain others, tell tales that resonate with them and inspire their imaginations, to express what's in my mind to the world at large. A goal of mine is to create a studio, to partner with other artists and creatives like myself to make their ideas, their stories, and their art visible to the world to tell the tales they want to tell and to express visually interesting and compelling narratives. This can be anything from short gag strips to comic books on the stands full-blown graphic novels in the printed form, and animation and storyboards in the animated form. Fiction, however, is not all I have an interest in, as other commercial avenues of art interest me and that I've had past experience with, which I wish to continue pursuing. One such example would be morale patch designs, sticker designs, and general artwork created for and with the intent of supporting public services, like Emergency Medical Services and other such first responder groups, medical professionals, and humanitarian aid organizations. And on the small scale, teaching and instructing others, helping them along their artistic journies, is something that I've had a recent interest in, tutoring some of my peers to help them in their studies. Currently, I'm attending The Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art, a trade school focused on training students in commercial art, sequential art, painting, comic book production, and elements of graphic design and storytelling. I'm in my second year of the three-year curriculum, preparing to enter my third year in the fall. My third year will be my most important and is key to entering the creative field, preparing my portfolio, meeting with professionals in the field, and gearing up to enter the workforce. Part of maximizing my opportunities to expand my creative avenues and pursue the goals that I wish to accomplish includes having the financial liberty to explore riskier ventures, and not play it safe with my goals and aims. Accomplishments are built on risk, but the reward is always worth the gamble, and the potential of failure. Better to pursue a goal and falter than never try.

My name is Aaron Mentzer, a cartoonist/illustrator and designer from Pennsylvania. From an early age, I've had the goal of working in the arts professionally, creating images, stories, and characters, taking concepts from my mind and making them real, and visual, something that can be absorbed and experienced by others. Writing, cartooning, designing, visual arts, these are things I can't live without, and want to share with others, creating stories and characters that can entertain others, tell tales that resonate with them and inspire their imaginations, to express what's in my mind to the world at large. A goal of mine is to create a studio, to partner with other artists and creatives like myself to make their ideas, their stories, and their art visible to the world to tell the tales they want to tell and to express visually interesting and compelling narratives. This can be anything from short gag strips to comic books on the stands full-blown graphic novels in the printed form, and animation and storyboards in the animated form. Fiction, however, is not all I have an interest in, as other commercial avenues of art interest me and that I've had past experience with, which I wish to continue pursuing. One such example would be morale patch designs, sticker designs, and general artwork created for and with the intent of supporting public services, like Emergency Medical Services and other such first responder groups, medical professionals, and humanitarian aid organizations. And on the small scale, teaching and instructing others, helping them along their artistic journies, is something that I've had a recent interest in, tutoring some of my peers to help them in their studies. Currently, I'm attending The Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art, a trade school focused on training students in commercial art, sequential art, painting, comic book production, and elements of graphic design and storytelling. I'm in my second year of the three-year curriculum, preparing to enter my third year in the fall. My third year will be my most important and is key to entering the creative field, preparing my portfolio, meeting with professionals in the field, and gearing up to enter the workforce. One of the people who inspired me the most to pursue all of this was my late highschool art teacher, David S. McFalls, an illustrator/painter who nurtured my artistic hobby into what has now become a career path, tutoring me, giving me instructional books from his own collection, and being incredibly warm and supporting. One of my greatest regrets will never be being able to thank him, on account of his passing away from Leukemia in 2020. Part of maximizing my opportunities to expand my creative avenues and pursue the goals that I wish to accomplish includes having the financial liberty to explore riskier ventures, and not play it safe with my goals and aims. Accomplishments are built on risk, but the reward is always worth the gamble, and the potential of failure. Better to pursue a goal and falter than never try.

The everyday world is filled with a myriad of butterfly effects, stories, and tales told from circumstance. A picture can be said to be worth a thousand words, and capturing a moment, and moments in sequence, can tell these stories. A dent on a car, debris surrounding a lone creature, or someone simply sitting on a park bench can all be indicative of narrative, of stories and tales and lessons and morals. As well, they say that reality is stranger than fiction, the surprises that the world throws at you always top whatever you can imagine.

My name is Aaron Mentzer, a cartoonist/illustrator and designer from Pennsylvania. From an early age, I've had the goal of working in the arts professionally, creating images, stories, and characters, taking concepts from my mind and making them real, and visual, something that can be absorbed and experienced by others. Writing, cartooning, designing, visual arts, these are things I can't live without, and want to share with others, creating stories and characters that can entertain others, tell tales that resonate with them and inspire their imaginations, to express what's in my mind to the world at large. A goal of mine is to create a studio, to partner with other artists and creatives like myself to make their ideas, their stories, and their art visible to the world to tell the tales they want to tell and to express visually interesting and compelling narratives. This can be anything from short gag strips to comic books on the stands full-blown graphic novels in the printed form, and animation and storyboards in the animated form. Fiction, however, is not all I have an interest in, as other commercial avenues of art interest me and that I've had past experience with, which I wish to continue pursuing. One such example would be morale patch designs, sticker designs, and general artwork created for and with the intent of supporting public services, like Emergency Medical Services and other such first responder groups, medical professionals, and humanitarian aid organizations. And on the small scale, teaching and instructing others, helping them along their artistic journies, is something that I've had a recent interest in, tutoring some of my peers to help them in their studies. Currently, I'm attending The Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art, a trade school focused on training students in commercial art, sequential art, painting, comic book production, and elements of graphic design and storytelling. I'm in my second year of the three-year curriculum, preparing to enter my third year in the fall. My third year will be my most important and is key to entering the creative field, preparing my portfolio, meeting with professionals in the field, and gearing up to enter the workforce. Part of maximizing my opportunities to expand my creative avenues and pursue the goals that I wish to accomplish includes having the financial liberty to explore riskier ventures, and not play it safe with my goals and aims. Accomplishments are built on risk, but the reward is always worth the gamble, and the potential of failure. Better to pursue a goal and falter than never try.