Charles grew up in Stillwater, MN and spent his summers along the Wisconsin countryside where he quickly became drawn to the outdoors. He was introduced to hunting and fishing at a very young age. By the time he was three, fishing and archery were becoming his favorite things to do. He spent as much time in the woods and on the water as he could throughout his childhood. At the same time, his love for art began to emerge as well. Charles filled his notebooks at school with hundreds of sketches. Although he never took his artwork seriously and his outdoor activities seemed to heavily outweigh it, Charles was revealing his talent for art by the time he was twelve. He won numerous contests at school and his artwork was often chosen by teachers and principals to be on display or used for fundraiser auctions.
In his high school years, Charles’s desire to draw became more and more prevalent. Even though most of his free time was spent out in the field or on the lake, Charles was setting more time aside for his art. His was first inspired to become a professional wildlife artist in his high school art class during his senior year. While presenting his final project to the class, the teacher stopped Charles to tell him that his artwork is beyond average and that he should really be pursuing a career in art. The other students in his class agreed. This inspiration kick started Charles’s career as an artist very quickly. Not knowing any other way to get started with selling his drawings, Charles began auctioning them off on eBay and the word spread fast.
With the help and support of Charles’s parents, he was given a few offers from close relatives and family friends to do some commission work. This gave Charles the idea to start a business offering custom portraits. At this point in time, Charles enrolled at the University of North Dakota where he began to pursue his dream of becoming a wildlife biologist. Artwork was something he thought he could do on his own. Although with sales and commission requests coming from all over the world, Charles quickly decided to switch his major over to a Bachelor’s degree in Art.
Charles opened up his first website to display and promote his artwork in the summer of 2007. He spent the summer at home working full-time as an artist. By the end of the summer, Charles was featured on the front page of a local newspaper.
Soon after completing his first semester as an art major, Charles realized it wasn’t for him and thought if he was going to achieve his dream of becoming a professional wildlife artist, he had to do it on his own. Charles switched his major back to a Bachelor’s degree in Wildlife Biology and continued to work hard at his art. During his spring break vacation at home, Charles received a phone call from ABC’s Channel 5 News and they wanted to do a story on him. Charles happily agreed. This publicity boosted his career immediately and Charles began to believe that his dream of becoming a famous artist could become an actuality.
After finishing his degree in wildlife biology, Charles's career in natural resources brought him west to Billings, MT where he currently resides. He works part-time as an artist outside of work and plans to continue his pursuit of becoming a full-time artist.
另：这个专辑的表现方式主要为彩铅 、包含了小部分丙烯、亚克力等方式。
网址：http://www.charles-black.net/index.html
