About

I am Jessica Colwell, the imagination behind the amazing animal portraits and personal artwork as you’ve seen in my gallery.  I am a self-taught artist that began drawing a variety of classic animated cartoon characters 27 years ago.  Although cartoons are a blast to draw, I wanted to challenge myself further.  From cartoons I went on to more detailed figures, zoo animals, album covers, dragons, and more.  As a child, I drew every minute I could including on brown paperback book covers during school! I recall creating complete art pieces that covered the entire book cover.  I was the art nerd that went through several book covers during the year due to using them as a canvas.   Since then, I branched out to using charcoal in my drawings, and it didn’t take long before I developed a passion for using it in most of my early professional grade drawings.  Eventually I did start using colors with soft pastels but I often went back to the black charcoal that I love working with and the challenges it provides.  As I keep drawing and challenging myself to showcase more within my work, I find that a mix of art supplies and tools contribute greatly to an amazing finished product.  As much as I love free-form creative drawing, I equally love animal drawings.  I have a big heart for animals and I have two of my own.   To me, my dogs are part of my support system as they lay next to me while I draw.  They brighten my day and are always there with slobbery dog kisses and unconditional love.  Because of my dogs, I began drawing animal portraits in 2015.  I remember my first two animal portraits were drawn in all black charcoal.  I was so proud of myself but I knew I could do more; strive to be better.  It was on my third portrait that I stepped outside of my comfort zone and took on the challenge of using full color.  Throughout this experience I learned to be flexible with my technique and color scheme in order to bring out details and pet personalities, and it is my pleasure to work with my customers in capturing their favorite image of their dearly loved pet in a portrait that is worthy of displaying in your home. 

To address the question I receive most often, who is Nader’s?  I am.   Jessica Colwell is my name, and Nader’s is a lifelong nickname that family and friends call me.  Though I may have an unusual nickname, I am aware of how fortunate I am to have such great support, a huge fanbase and my pets.  You can call me Nader’s, too! If you’d like, and welcome to my Imagination!