Gender

Male

Location

Charlotte, NC

Birthday:

February 16

Website:

https://ultra-ooblaa.tumblr.com/

Location:

Male

Area(s) of Interest or Expertise:

My name is Aaron Pearce and I am an Illustration student at UNC Charlotte with a passion for story, character design, and following God to the best of my ability. I love comics and the narratives, I love monsters, Golems, and the unknown. I like working with visual and textual metaphors and seeing how I can integrate my ideas with deeper meanings and messages. Most of all I like unlocking my own imagination and my goal in life is to unlock it for others using my gifts for God's purpose.

My Testimony: (We encourage members to share briefly about how their faith in Christ has impacted their lives.)

To start I grew up in a Christian home But that never made is easy to follow God Since before I was born my father had battled cancer. I grew up with my 3 brothers (1 older and 2 younger) with the shadow of death over my family and we did our best to live a normal life and stay in denial of the inevitable. He suffered from a rare brain tumor that behaved like a slow acting poison that slowly took over his entire body, mind, and life Before I knew it I was helping my mom to take care of my dad through highschool. I was bitter that God was taking my dad's life away and letting him rot away in front of me Because it hurt me so much I simply stopped feeling I prayed and prayed and cried myself to sleep almost every night, in hope of the morning held some miracle for me. But it never did And I couldn't help any of them. I couldn't change anything After 18 some years of faith and battling cancer my dad died in some crappy nursing home, but not before losing his mind, unable to recognize anyone He died after christmas, the 28th of Dec 2011 I had given up on God, given up feeling. I evolved into a bitter cynic that was depressed and was ok with wallowing in his own self-pity. And I stayed like that for a long while. That is, up until this recent semester (spring 2014) when I got to know this beautiful girl named Mia She was a good artist, far better than I was. She was kind and always went out of her way to help others and she even ended up helping the professors out on a lot of things. She was just an amazing person to watch and listen to But I found myself really surprised and taken aback by her selflessness and her giving personality Throughout my life, I have never really pursued a relationship with any girl, I was shy and had no self confidence. So I promised myself that I would just be her friend, as I didn't want to hurt her with my bitter insides or pained past. The more I got to know her the more I found I liked her, the more I realized I actually needed her. I found I needed her, and I remember laying on my bed really confused and worried I told God that I knew I wasn't following him, but I wanted to try. I wanted to keep being friends with Mia and maybe more Going to a youth group with her, God met me before I even got halfway. The experience I had I have dubbed the "GOD HUG" because that is the only thing I can compare it to, God just pored his love on top of me in buckets Soon I couldn't move, I physically was not allowed to move, God was like, IMA HUG YOU AND LOVE YOU AND YOU AREN'T GOING TO STAHP ME I couldn't talk and I couldn't open my eyes or unclench my hands. I was just a curled up blubbering heap on the ground crying Soon the youth group around me took notice and I was surrounded by people and Mia was there too. The only way I could tell was by her voice because I blind at that moment It took me around an hour to fully recover and even after that I was shaky. They gave me some water and I had a very hard time drinking it I couldn't explain it to anyone what had happened at the time because I was still processing it, but Mia quietly accepted my silence and took me to her apartment to make sure I was fed and fully recovered before letting me go home. I didn't know it right off, but not only did God bust open my shell and finally engulf me with his love and good intensions, but he freed me from my bitterness and bandaged my deeper wounds from my dad, and he also set me free me from addictions I was struggling with I feel free now because God's kindness and love were show to me through this blessing called Mia. And although my journey is far from over, I feel secure in him and I trust him to help me learn and grow, and to show others the love and kindness that Mia had shown me God has given me a second wind and I want to share that with people and use my gifts and skills to show others his love and that he is enough, through all the hardships and all the crazy hopelessness Oh and one more thing, I got the girl too c;

Dream Job: (If you could have your dream job in the comics industry, what would it be?)

I would like to write and illustrate my own Comic/Web-Comic series or maybe a Graphic novel. I have characters and a Story I would like to get out there somehow.

Favorite Comic Creators:

Jim Lee, Bill Waterson, Atsushi Ohkubo, and Mia Burgess