Hi I’m Ty!

I’m a story artist with a background that has wandered through hand-drawn animation, filmmaking, performance, puppetry, and motion design.

I studied traditional animation at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, then spent several years in theater and live performance, building puppets for Chicago Children’s Theatre and later creating animatronic characters for notable theme parks. I also performed for several years, which turned out to be pretty useful training for timing, staging, and character.

From 2017 to 2022, I taught filmmaking at Nossi College of Art in Nashville, covering editing, screenwriting, and film technique, while also working professionally in commercial motion design. Somewhere along the way, I realized the part I kept coming back to was story.

I’m a lifelong film nerd, usually bouncing between classic Hollywood, vintage anime, musicals, French and Italian cinema, kung fu, and whatever else sends me down a rabbit hole. I’m especially drawn to cinematic, character-driven stories for kids and families that mix comedy, suspense, action, and real emotion.

In 2026, I began focusing specifically on storyboarding and story development, studying with feature story artist Lewie Kerr and receiving portfolio mentorship from Pixar story artist Alessandra Sorrentino.

I live in Dallas with my wife, our three kids, and our goldendoodle, Penny. My wife and I also make increasingly elaborate handmade Halloween costumes every year, which probably explains a few things I left out.