Sean "Cheeks" Galloway has changed my Life.

While there are plenty of admirable Star Wars artists in the community nowadays, there's an artist I need to mention who travels in slightly different circles. This Jedi Master is Sean "Cheeks" Galloway.

I've been a fan of Cheeks' work for a few years now. He was one of the first artists I DevWatched over on DeviantArt. Then I came to find out that he was actually the lead character designer on a great Animated Series you may have heard of -- Spectacular Spider-Man! That piqued my interest in following his escapades in the art world.

Then, the unthinkable happened. I found out he would be teaching classes on Schoolism.com, an online art school that allows you to learn from the comfort of your own home! The very notion of being able to learn from this art guru made me giddy with joy. I took his Portfolio class (which was a cool 1k, but worth every penny). The way it works is that they give you a lesson, and you submit a digital copy of the assignment. A few days later, BOOM, you got a 30-90 minute video critique of Cheeks drawing over your work, giving you super helpful feedback.

Let me tell you...this was one of the GREATEST experiences of my life. Not only was his insight AMAZINGLY helpful towards perfecting my characters and style, but the fact that he was so flippin' nice made the experience all the more engaging. He was extremely approachable, and quite possibly one of the nicest human beings I've ever had the pleasure of interacting with.

"But, what does this have to do with Star Wars" you ask?

WELL! Cheeks was awesome enough to allow me to incorporate a Star Wars story of my own into each of the 9 assignments! ONE STEP CLOSER TO THE DREAM. Here are some of the results:

You can catch all of the assignments I did at the following link:

My Cheeks Assignments

And MOST IMPORTANTLY, please go check out Sean's work, as I can never repay him for the patience, kindness, and guidance he's shown me as an instructor. I wish him the best in his quickly ascending career!

Sean Cheeks Galloway's DeviantArt Gallery

I'd also like to take this opportunity to spotlight some of the CRAZY talented classmates I had the honor of working alongside during the experience. Check these guys OUT!!

Jeremy
Johnny
Tom
Josh
Wes
Whoreray