Imagination has always been the key element in the artwork of William L. Eaken. As a child he was inspired by storybook illustrations, and consequently, by his early teens was writing and illustrating his own tales.  A major influence on Will happened at the age of ten when he read Coleridge's, "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner," and saw the illustrations for it by the 19th century artist Gustav Dore.  This left a powerful and lasting impression on him.  The poetic, philosophical, and mystical continues to be at the core of his work.

In 1981 Will entered college to study art, yet quickly found himself concentrating on philosophy, instead.  But in 1984, returning to his first love, he transferred to California State University, Fullerton, earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree four years later. For the next 10 years he enjoyed an exciting and varied career as an artist in the entertainment industry, creating everything from advertising and poster art, traditional animation, and magazine and book cover illustration.  A highly versatile artist, Will has done traditional painting, computer animation, storyboarding, cartooning, and concept design for games, books, and films.

He has created work for Rhino Records, Paramount Pictures, Steven Spielberg, and NASA, to name a few, and worked for three years at Lucas Arts. 

In 1998 he began pursuing his own mystical vision in fine art.  He enjoys working with the sculptural beauty and drama of human and animal forms, but with a philosophical message hidden within.

"What I'm trying to do is not so much paint visual representations, but visual poems.  I think of it as 'Romantic Symbolism.'  They are romantic in that beauty and sensuality are core values.  But they are symbolic in that personal and philosophical meaning runs very deep, even when it's not immediately obvious to the viewer."

His work has appeared in many galleries in California, Hawaii, and Florida.

Always enjoying creative projects, Will has written a novel for middle school and young adult, invented a new kind of artist's paint, and is currently developing a concept for generating electricity from wind by using architectural elements of a building rather than windmills.