Welcome to my personal page, I'm so glad you made it!

My name is Apollo Umbra and I am a recent graduate of Northwestern University with experience in visual arts, writing, and event production. My practice spanned the realms of theatre, games, interactive art, photography, comics, and more - including three capstone projects in games and animation, theatrical design, and experimental writing. These passions have all aligned in my personal work where I aim to push the boundaries of visual and written art beyond traditional expectations. 

Who am I and how did I end up where I am? I grew up in the beautiful natural landscape of Western North Carolina, in a unique situation to say the least. I was raised in foster care by the same people who had fostered my mother before me. As a result, I grew up with an extremely individualized perspective on the world, honing my independence from a young age and navigating a life of chaos. Eventually, I found my way into the world of fine arts, exploring every aspect of traditional art, digital programming, and theatre as I could at my rural high school. I went on to win the Western North Carolina Habitat for Humanity Ornament Design Contest for my 3D model which was sold to raise money for the organization. Additionally, I was selected as one of 32 students across the state to participate in NC Governor's School for theatre and won awards at the NC Thespian Festival for my costume designs and solo performance. This was all in tandem with my work as an event coordinator for a country club. That said, during this time of personal exploration I found it difficult to connect with LGBTQ+ role models who were living a life I could see myself in down the road. Ultimately, I applied to fifteen universities around the country, all of which would take me far from the home I had known my entire life.

After the dust had settled on my college application process, I was committed to Northwestern University as a theatre major, due to their generous financial aid offer and quarter system allowing plenty of time to explore other subjects. While theatre was not the exact major I intended to graduate with, Northwestern offered flexibility within my schedule and graduate-level courses in costume design, visual arts, game development, and experimental writing that would push me to explore character design and communicative illustration in a new manner.