Name, Age, and State: Jerrell Conner, 32, CA

Job-title: Ilustrator, animator, comic book artist

Web/blog site URL: www.jerrellconner.com, www.theREDr.com

Give us your job description in 25 words or less. I'm an artist, most of my work is freelance, and a lot of that comes from referrals.

I work on my personal art on the side in my off time.

Describe a typical workday. I set my own hours, so it may vary from time to time, but of late I've been on myself to stick to a tight schedule to hit some crazy deadlines; I wake at 8am and immediately go to work - which hasn't been far - just 20 steps or so away to my art desk. I check my emails for updates and notes on any projects that I'm waiting to hear correspondence back from a client on. I'll pretty much work until i finish a good chunk work and find a nice breaking point... sometimes I'll get so 'into' a project that my wife will have to pull me away just eat breakfast or dinner. Typically I'll be at work on my computer drawing, animating, and creating art for the majority of the time, and an occasional analog painting or drawing that i'll need to do for an art show or a fan. As often as possible i try to carve out time to work on my personal art projects - doing a panel from my graphic novel 'Revelations', updating the webiste, or doing online blasts on social networks for it (that is until i get an intern to help out with all that). Usually i'll have to stop myself at around 4 or 5pm, trying to stick to that 8 hour block,otherwise i could work on my art all day and night - which will happen in crunch time when there's crazy deadlines.

What led you to realize that you wanted to do this type of work? I've been drawing and creating art all my life. In 6th grade i started to win competitions and realized i could actually do this for a living. Freshman year in college i realized that it was my calling to use these gifts to glorify God.

Did you have any heroes or mentors in your industry that you admired? There's a ton of amazingly talented artists out there and everyone was an influence in their own way. Classical artists that were huge to me were; Egon Schiele, Alphonse Mucha, and Norman Rockwell. In my college years it was; Ashley Wood, Jamie Hewlet, Ragnar, and Derek Thomson. In my professional years it became a lot of my actual instructors from college, they really encouraged me and many got me my first gigs and I worked along side them; Barry Jackson, and Donivan Howard were pretty key.

What type of education or training was required to land your job? It's funny, I went to a really demanding 4 year art school and got a BFA when I graduated, but going into any and all of my jobs, no one asked what school I went to or what degree I had. Don't get me wrong, going where I did and all the work and learning put into those 4 years was CRUCIAL! But in the art world that I've been exposed to, it's less about where you went and more about what your work looks like. My work looks the way it does because of all the work that I put in at college and all the training the instructors gave me, as well as internships, projects and jobs following school. So education is essential to be productive in any field... in art it can just be a different approach, there are many options (ie self taught, apprenticing under a master artist, etc).

What do you love most about your job? I love that I get to be paid to do what I love doing. Something I'm passionate about, and can use to bless others... that's a blessing in itself.

What one part of your job do you wish you could hire someone else to do? Having my own business (the Revelations series) and running it pretty much on my own (my wife is able to help occasionally), is very taxing... Sometimes when I have to blog about a new release, or tweet an update about a show I'm doing, or get new fans to like our 'fanpage', I just wish I could hand it off to someone else, so I can get back to creating the art, and writing the stories, but you do what you can when you can. I believe a time is coming where I wont have to where EVERY single hat... and soon... God willing.

What advice would you give to teenagers wanting to get into your field of work? Hmmm... good question. I'd say one of the things that would kick start someone's career - art or not - would be finding out what you are truly passionate about as early in life as you can. Knowing what you love to do is a big help. Some people don't find out until way later in life. If you haven't found it yet, pray to God and ask Him to show you what you were created to do. And think of what you love doing, and what brings joy to those around you. When I graduated high school I knew I was an artist and I knew that's what I wanted to do for the rest of my life, or at least until I couldn't do it anymore, but I had no idea what area of art I would be in (there are so many fields and professions under the ART umbrella). In college I prayed about where God wanted me to go into, and I studied hard and did as many types of art as I could to see what stuck, and to see where I excelled. That process is very important, not only to find your way, but also to make you more well rounded. Say you want to be an animator, but when you have a drawing and painting class you don't give it your all. Because it's not the art that 'you want to do', but it's all connected. If you become a better drawer and painter you will be a better animator, and so on and so forth... and through that process you might even find out that you'd prefer to go into one of those other fields... It's happened to me on more than 1 occasion.

How does your job allow you to use your God-given gifts? In two ways. The first is direct sharing of the gospel and God's love through the art I make (a lot of the material I work with and do is biblically related or at least biblically sound). The second is when I work on freelance jobs that are not directly biblical or related to God, that's when my interaction with my coworkers (in person if I'm going into the office, and over the phone or emails when I'm not). Through how I carry myself, and how my walk with the Lord is. People are always looking, especially when they KNOW you're a christian. Your life and your testimony can be your greatest witness. Especially when you work, go to school, and live in places that are in darkness... they need that light.

Do you have any hobbies or off-hours pursuits that teenagers would find of interest? A lot of my off our pursuits are art related too; (ie, going to art shows, concerts, comic cons, movies, etc.). Creativity and art are in just about everything. It's hard to get away from. It's in video games, toys, comics, and cartoons, books... even that chair you're sitting in as you read this. An artist had to design it and make it come to be. I think that creativeness is in us all, and we get it from our Father. He is after all, the Master Craftsman, Creator of all.

Also, something I'm pretty excited about is my next graphic novel in the Revelations series. I've had to work on it in sections over the past few years - in between other PAID projects - but now i have an exciting opportunity through the site Kickstarter.com. It's a great site to get help funding your creative 'passion projects' and this is definitely mine. I'm posting my 'The Red R Graphic Novel Project Campaign' on there at the end of this month and it will be up for about a month. For more information you can check in on either of my websites. Once we launch I'll be posting more details about what we're going to be doing and how you can be involved - if you're so inclined.