Here we shine our spotlight onto the work of Jess Smart Smiley, a brilliantly modest creative who illustrates and creates all kinds of great designs. You can also support his recently launched kickstarter project; Monster Pack.

My name is Jess Smart Smiley and I make rad drawings with my bare hands. I’ve been interested in drawing and telling stories ever since I can remember, and it’s been my lifelong goal to make the stories and pictures that I want to make. I love coming up with new characters and combining colors, textures, and patterns in new ways. I learn through drawing, and, in a big way, I live through my drawings.

I graduated from Utah Valley University in 2008 with my BFA in illustration and design, and have been fortunate enough to have worked on projects as varied as wedding announcements and album artwork, t-shirt designs and portraits, and my first all-ages graphic novel comes out this fall from Top Shelf Productions. The book is called Upside Down: A Vampire Tale, and is the first in a series of comics starring Harold, a boy vampire who loses his teeth. I’ve been reading and buying Top Shelf’s books for the last ten years, so I’m really excited to have a book in their collection!

Right now I’m working on my second graphic novel, as well as a children’s book about worms. I also just launched a project on Kickstarter called Monster Pack — it’s a pack of collectible temporary tattoos, drawn by myself and 8 world-class illustrators and artists, filled with nothing but monsters! I’m always doodling in my sketchbook and looking out for new and exciting work from other people. Will you let me know if you see anything good?

Follow Jess Smart Smiley on his Website, Blog, Facebook, @jess_smiley on twitter and Store.