Stephen Fishwick’s photo may not be found in Webster’s under the listing for “art,” but it should be because no other artist combines the elements they describe – sound, color, movement – that affect the aesthetic sense the way he does.

However, once his mother explained to him the perils of life as a starving artist, he simply declared, “Then I guess I’ll just be Spiderman.” After the likelihood of that reality settled in, Stephen returned his heart to art and took his first formal painting class at age ten. It was in high school that his art first earned him accolades. With the persistence of his high school art teacher, he enrolled at the Art Institute of Pittsburg. Less than a year later, he started working as a professional artist, drawing portraits, caricatures, and illustrations.

In 1996, Stephen began expanding his artistic education by studying traditional drawing and painting under Jeff Watts at the Watts Atelier of the Arts in Southern California. Influenced by a wide range of renowned painters, from Norman Rockwell to Salvador Dali, John Singer Sargent to J.C. Leyendecker, Stephen has created a style all his own. “Every day I fall in love with drawing the human face and form,” he says. “My sketchbooks are filled with drawings of life, from people to animals.”

In a career that has spanned over two decades, Stephen has earned widespread acclaim, but two achievements make him most proud: First, his philanthropic endeavors that have raised over $1 million for different charities just since 2004. Second, Stephen is excited to become an official artist of Disney Fine Art, an honor that will allow him to paint Disney characters and bring his artwork to leagues of Disney fans around the world.