Laura Diehl
Laura Diehl was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in 1983. She grew up in Norman, just a few blocks away from the University of Oklahoma. During this time, Laura discovered Candy Land, Narnia, and Tolkien. This was the beginning of her love of the fantastical. Laura attended McKinley Elementary and enjoyed her first formal recognition as an artist when her crayon drawing of a coral reef was selected for display in the school library. Countless other drawings followed until she had covered a large portion of her family's dining room walls with unicorns, mermaids and other magical beings.
Since 1994 Laura has lived in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia where her family's ancestral roots go back nearly two hundred years. Throughout middle school and high school, Laura continued to practice her art, taking all of the art classes offered. Before her freshman year of high school she got her first computer, which completely changed the way she preferred to create her art. Armed with her art tablet, digital pen and Photoshop, Laura found that she was able to express herself through digital painting. And with her connection to the Internet, she discovered many helpful art communities and message boards through which she could interact with her digital artist peers.
Laura is now a senior at James Madison University, working towards a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting and taking Independent Study courses in Illustration. To help fund her education, Laura works part-time at a local art store. In her spare time, Laura enjoys reading fantasy and science fiction books, playing video games, and working on her digital art. Upon graduation, in May of 2006, she intends to pursue a career in book illustration and/or video game concept art.
