In 1996, Stephen began expanding his artistic education by studying traditional drawing and painting under Jeff Watts at the Watts Atelier of the Arts in Southern California. Influenced by a wide range of renowned painters, from Norman Rockwell to Salvador Dali, John Singer Sargent to J.C. Leyendecker, Stephen has created a style all his own. "Every day I fall in love with drawing the human face and form," he says. "My sketchbooks are filled with drawings of life, from people to animals.