Austin W Shurtliff was born and raised in Taylor, a small town in Northern British Columbia, Canada near the start of the Alaska Highway. He has always loved drawing, but did not consider it as a career until High School. After serving a mission for his church in California, he began taking art classes at BYU-Idaho. In the spring of 2013 Austin completed a BA in Studio Arts emphasizing in Illustration. Since then he has illustrated the covers of two independently published novels, and completed comic work for clients and personal projects.