Elliott From’s father owned a retail store when his son was growing up in the northern suburbs of Chicago. “My father did well in retail and the neighborhood loved him, but in his heart he was an artist, mastering oil painting with fine details,” says Elliott. “From an early age, I would watch him paint and he would hand me paintbrushes and I would create whatever image came to mind. I took art classes from grade school through high school, so when the option of college studies arose, my natural inclination was to get a degree in art. Nothing else held interest for me—I wanted only to create art.”