William Whitaker is an ARC Living Master and has received gold and silver medals from the National Academy of Western Art. He is the official portraitist for two Utah Governors and most of the LDS Church Presidents and Apostles.
I don't know if I have sacred enough words to describe the influence of Bill Whitaker. I apprenticed under him for three official years, but went onto consider him and his wife Sandra like loving second parents. Bill has cried with me through some of my deepest struggles in life and as an artist.
“Molly Williams has a special gift for working with children and painting their portraits. She possesses a rare ability to paint a sensitive accurate portrait, and create a living likeness of each child. I am very impressed by her talent.” - William Whitaker
www.williamwhitaker.com
Burton Silverman is one of the Portrait Society of America’s lifetime achievement gold medal winners. Silverman's portraits have been featured in both The New Yorker and Time magazines.
I interned with Burt in New York City in 2004. I had always loved his paintings, but I fell in love with his drawings as I scanned and archived them one by one. He was such a sweet person to work with, and his friendship is dear to me.
Don Seegmiller Besides "writing the book" on character drawing for Photoshop and Corel, his oil paintings are represented in collections nation wide and in Europe.
Don was one of my favorite teachers at Brigham Young University. He was the first professor to really educate me on painting an oil portrait. It was my first oil class and I was NOT getting it. He almost kicked me out of the class because of how poorly I was doing. I cried, and he had pity. He made me stand behind him every class period. He said, "Whatever I do, you do. Whatever colors I use, you use." I owe him so much!
Bethanne Andersen has been a finalist in competitions from Communications Arts Magazine and Society of Illustrators. Her book illustrations have received numerous awards including the Boston Globe Horn Book Award.
I took one of my first Illustration classes from Bethanne, and she has been inspiring me ever since. Bethanne has this uncanny ability to make me cry every time I talk to her because she believes in people. She has an unending line of true-life underdog success stories.
David Kassan
I met David in New York City where we became very good friends. He is a dedicated artist, and I loved our trips to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Check out his drawings from Italy on his website! [Sorry, David. This is the only picture I had of you!]