hi… i'm draven - a creative and artist based in nw iowa.

as an inherently restless person (and sagittarius), i've covered the map (literally) on my mission to build a life & pull the ripcords for the next lifetime. this inherent curiosity has led me to both coasts and all the spaces in between.

i think these life experiences work their way into all of my creative and artistic work. from fine art in ink and digital spaces to my story-based portraiture photography - i'm constantly pulling inspiration and the rip cords. maybe we could dream up a lifetime together

ever since i was a child, I couldn’t help but grab a pencil any time i got the chance. most birthdays were filled with sketchbooks as gifts and whatever drawing pencil set my family could find in our small towns. this love of illustration has followed me since, taking many forms.

while at university, i found a deep love for working with ink and charcoals which still permeates my work today. following graduation, i found myself working for apple in los angeles teaching art&design education for retail teams. thus, my love and interest for digital art making!

each project i work on has a slightly different approach but my focus now is on gender identity and sexual liberation. bending identity and morphing perceptions. each project in this series starts on ipad and i see each as a study. sometimes that study stays on the ipad and sometimes it moves to canvas or paper for more work.

often, i joke that I'm an impatient perfectionist and too often that is true… my work tends to be quite linear and graphic as an ode to my university drawing professor who refused my claim that there really are lines in nature. maybe there isn’t, maybe it’s all shadows but i think lines and barriers like that are the great equalizer.

when i was a kid, growing up in rural america and joining 4H were kind of guaranteed ways to spend your time. since I didn’t live on a farm and didn’t really have an interest in showing animals, i turned to my mother’s digital camera for inspiration. from there, the lens took me a million and one places and i've found myself most interested in capturing portraits. people. in their element, telling their stories.

for a while, that meant that i was forcing my friends and sister to pose for portraits until i started booking small sessions. when i moved to nyc, i stopped doing booked shoots and focused more on people watching & travel-based photos. over the last year, i've become incredibly interested in bringing the two together. from corporate shoots to weddings and all the little moments in between, i've loved the opportunity to bring the world of beautiful photos into life’s most beautiful, candid moments.

with all of this in mind, i'm now scheduling shoots for 2026 and I'd love to see what we can make together.