Beth Hughes is a 21 year old artist with a passion for storytelling and using her illustrations to get those stories out. Beth has literally been drawing her whole life. Her mother reminisces that as a child, she would come home from kindergarten and go straight to her art. Often, she told friends that she could not play because she was busy…and busy she was! She couldn’t wait to get to her pad and pencil, drawing and developing the characters that filled her head. She really had no formal art training until college. She would go to the library, studying books about techniques and fine tuning her skills.
Her passion and strengths lie in character design, as you can clearly see looking through her stacks of sketchbooks.Beth grew up in a suburb of Dayton, Ohio, living in the same house her whole life with her parents, older sister, younger brother and an abundance of pets. These included dogs, cats, hermit crabs, hamsters, and even a pet rat, much to her parents dismay. Her love of animals has always been an inspiration in her sketches. She began volunteering at the local animal shelter as soon as the reached the allowable age.
During her junior and senior years of high school, Beth participated in the Digital Design career tech program, studying computer graphic design. It was then that she realized working as a professional artist was indeed a possibility, and she made the decision to follow that dream. She was fortunate enough to study in the prestigious Computer Animation Program at Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota, Florida. It was the experience of a lifetime, working alongside some of the most gifted and talented students from around the world.
However, after two years, Beth realized that her passions lie in the pre-production areas, such as character design, storyboarding, and illustration. So, after exploring schools that better suit her ambitions, Beth will be attending Sheridan College in Ontario, Canada in the Visual and Creative Arts Program. However, leaving behind the beautiful beaches of Sarasota, Florida for the winters of Ontario, Canada is a bit of a concern!
See Beth’s illustrations in Will You Bee My Honey and check out her portfolio: bethfolio.blogspot.com and Blog: beffalumps.tumblr.com