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            Born to Babbi and George Notter in what is now a fairly large, but then little town in Alaska called Soldotna, I was the youngest of four children. I lived in Kenai during my early childhood, the sister city of Soldotna. At a very young age, my parents became separated, so my two older sisters, older brother, and I stayed with our Mom, an aspiring artist working hard to earn her college degree in art and teaching. About that time, my stepdad came into my life. He was a traveling musician by the name of Tom Goodwin who worked with quite a few rather good bands around the state. During these early years of my life in the little town of Kenai, I spent quite a lot of time doing things boys about the age of five or so do, running around and causing mayhem. I dreamed of becoming a world dictator and subjecting all to my dominion. However, most of all, I loved to draw.  This was spawned by a desire to be better than my older brother by three years, Benjamin Notter, who like my mother, was very into art. A few years went by with me constantly trying to beat my brother’s work, which I never seemed to be able to do, but I kept trying. At this time my mother had finished her degree and moved on to actual teaching. However, the school district of the area was only giving teaching positions to more experienced teachers, so she got a job teaching ceramics at a fine arts summer camp in Soldotna. Due to that fact that my stepfather could not be home a lot of time, and my father worked on the North Slope, I spent my time at the arts camp with my mother learning quite a few new skills to add to my growing art ability.

            I went to that camp for about four years, until one year, my stepfather invited us to come visit him in Dutch Harbor, where he was playing music. Now, when one hears the words tropical island, the first instinct would be to say, “All right! We’re going to somewhere like Hawaii!” Sad to say, I was rather disappointed. Dutch Harbor had enough rainfall to be considered tropical, but unfortunately that rain didn’t fall like it does on normal tropical islands, it flies straight sideways at about seventy miles an hour right off the freezing Bering Sea, chilling anyone in its path to the bone. Thankfully we only had to stay for the summer; the horror stories told of that dreaded place in the winter were enough to make a comic book super hero cry for his mother. Well, as fate would have it, my mother landed a teaching position in none other than Unalaska, the city known by many as Dutch Harbor, so we were moving there for good. I’ll just say, I didn’t get much outside time growing up in “Dutch.” Instead I spent my time inside, drawing, painting, and even marking up my room with my favorite glow in the dark crayons. Looking back I would have to say that it was this place I hated so much of those years that helped me along the most. I found myself with enough free time to think up a whole other world which slowly became the basis for forming my own stories of far away lands and galactic wars.

            So there I was, entering junior high. Needless to say, I didn’t have much of a social life. Maybe one or two friends but for the most part, I was considered a little on the crazy side. I’m still not entirely sure why I was never able to adapt and shake off my imagination like most people did in junior high. I did get into music, I picked up a few instruments and switched around after I got good with them, I was good at music, but it wasn’t what really interested me, I wanted art, and as much of it I could get. Unfortunately, my art teacher had to be my Mom, especially at a time when most kids were into breaking rules and making trouble for the teachers. Unfortunately, she knew every possible thing I could do wrong before I even knew I was going to do it. This was my saving grace, unlike most socially impaired students in my school, I was able to keep out of trouble and avoid becoming a class clown.

             I did okay in class, I was rather smart for my age, but keeping focus on the subject at hand was harder and harder with each passing day. My grades suffered, but I managed to pass with C’s and better. At the end of my two year tour of duty in junior high I found myself with a unique opportunity. A place called the University of Alaska in Fairbanks was running a summer camp for fine arts, and with the insistence of our band director, Jeanne Dellinger, I decided to go. The fee to enroll was rather high, about fifteen hundred dollars, but I was able to get seven hundred and fifty dollars in scholarships from the university and the local fine arts council through essays and demonstrations of my art and musical abilities. Unfortunately, since my scholarship from the university was for my music, I had to major in that. With a little maneuvering I made sure at least half my classes were art courses and even was able to get into a creative writing class. That summer turned out to be one of the best in my life, I learned more from the professors and college students in Fairbanks than I ever had in school. Again another major turning point in my art abilities, but more so, my writing abilities went from C grades to B and A grades. Sadly after the four week camp was through I had to return to normal school life.

            There I was a freshman in high school. My best friend left the year before and yet again, I was a loner in my private corner of the lunch room. Then, a person who probably affected my life more than my brother entered my life. Michael Stull, or as we knew him then, “Z,” moved to our island. Now I’m not idolizing the guy, but he had Fonzy from Happy Days written all over him. The guy was a natural born leader, and great example to follow. With Mike and a few other guys, we petitioned the school to start up a wrestling program. I did great on the wrestling team, and even joined the Alaska State Native Youth Olympics program earning a “Most Hustle” Award. By my junior year, I earned a “Most Inspirational Wrestler” award, and a Native Youth Olympics “Most Endurance” award.  I also gained a lot of confidence.

            My confidence in my artwork soared too. I showed my art to more and more people, even forming my own company “NFO” or Notter Feature Organization to sell my artwork. What can I say? “Z” started to rub off on me, and I was slowly becoming a leader myself. By the time I was a sophomore, I was vice president of the school’s art club and a member of the “underground” high school low brass band group known as the KALB. Sadly this was also the year the other members of the KALB and my mentor “Z” graduated. By this time however, I had enough confidence and became a leader myself starting up my own group. By my junior year, my art abilities were known school wide and I managed to sell a logo to a construction company in Utah. I was elected president of the art club and during my free time I spent countless hours working on a game known as Seika at www.byond.com. This required hundreds of animated 32X32 pixel icons similar to those seen on Super Nintendo games. Also during this year, with the encouragement of a new band director known as Nobua Toba, and the hard work of the leader of the KALB, Spencer Morrison on Trombone, I was able to make it to the State Solo and Ensemble competition after scoring a superior rating at Regionals. To our delight, we managed to grab another superior at State.

            Finally, during my senior year, I became the Captain of the wrestling team, given my chance to shine in yet another leadership position. I managed a 4^th place at Regionals that year unfortunately one place shy of going on to state competition. Again president of the art club, we planned another trip abroad to Paris, France. My game designs were complete and Seika was finished. It’s quickly becoming a favorite among players of “Byond” games, and the production of a far better, Seika2 is underway giving me much more work to do. I don’t plan to become a world dictator as I once did. Now it seems I have more realistic goals, I would like to get a good job in the art world, perhaps in advertising, cartoons, or even game design, but for that I’ll need a quite a bit more training which I will pursue in my college years.

            I plan to start in Tacoma at either Northwest College of Art, Seattle Art Institute, or Pierce College. I will study art and design and try to get as much training as possible to strengthen my abilities. Eventually, I want to finish school with a degree in design so that I can work creating art for the rest of my life. Since I know that art is a demanding and competitive field, I know I will need the best training possible in order to succeed. My computer skills and artistic abilities will help me absorb the education I seek, and I hope, someday, help me become a successful member of society.