Lauren Heimbaugh

Visual Art – St. Louis

All my life I have loved to draw. My mom likes to tell this story of how she was brought in for a special talk with my kindergarten teacher, and she expressed concern that I wasn\'t learning to write because I drew out my stories instead. Clearly the idea that \"a picture is worth a thousand words\" wasn\'t a good enough excuse for my preference. I grew up on PBS and Disney, with a special place in my heart for the Lion King. Surrounded by family pets, I gravitated towards drawing animals. Though I love drawing both, animals are still easier for me to draw than people, and easier to talk to as well. I\'m a fine artist specializing in colored pencil pet portraits who hopes to brave the high intimidation levels of developing new skills perfected by those who have come before. I\'ve illustrated one book (Marshall the Miracle Dog) and am working on more as we speak. I\'m also venturing into athlete portraits (go STL Cards and Blues!) and slowly tiptoeing into developing a style that better suits my love of all things nerdy: comic books, movies, superheroes, video games, etc. Learning to paint and create art through Photoshop are high on my to do list at the moment, but no matter where I go with art, I will always come back to the comfort of my pencils.