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Online Learner Profiles: Ron S.

Profiles of Real Online Learners

Guide to Online Education > Online Education In-Depth > Meet Real Online Students > Ron S., Master's in Illustration Design

Though most of us are either analytical or creative types, with a clear preference for either arts or science, you could say of Ron Smith that his entire professional life has been a journey in marrying the two.

Starting out in college after high school, Ron found himself caught between science and art fields, ending up with an A.S. in Biology.

But he didn't know until he met a man whose specialty was Biomedical Illustration that a niche had already been carved out for people like him.

He found inspiration in articles he read about Roger Tory Peterson, the illustrator of the first-ever bird watching book, and left Cyprus College to matriculate at CalState Long Beach's program in terrestrial zoology.

Following in Peterson's legendary footsteps, Ron specialized in ornithology for a year before reality sunk in. As a newly married man with children, he knew he had to get into something more solid than drawing birds.

As Ron says to this day without hesitation: "Family comes first."

So it was then that he began working for the LA County Sheriff's department, where his analytical and investigative skills were put to the test.

His paintbrush was not put down for long, however; on the side, Ron created medical illustrations for various doctors and magazines and won awards for bird painting. He also began his career in graphic design, which in the early era of computers was still in the "cut and paste" stage.

Then, with the advent of the Internet and the evolution of computer graphics, Ron found even more ways to use his talents.

Always an active member of his community, he started a website for his native Antelope Valley, a part of Northern Los Angeles set largely in the desert.

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