 Mark grew up in Waynesboro, Virginia, near the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains, loving comics, cartoons, and monster movies. He pursued those interests through art and made a major leap when he learned about fiberglass sculpting through a job at Red Mill Manufacturing, which made figurines of animals and people. The guy showed me how to work with resin, and here I'd been working with paper mache before. I thought, well, I can make things more exterior with this. He said, you sure can, Mark. Here's a five-gallon bucket. Go home and play with it. And he did. Mark started creating stuff.