Bill Singleton

I’m a Tucson-based illustrator, muralist, fine artist, educator, and visual storyteller with more than 50 years of professional experience in traditional and digital media.

My creative life began in Dallas, Texas, and truly took root when my family moved to Tucson at age twelve. The Sonoran Desert changed everything for me. Its plants, wildlife, layered cultures, geology, archaeology, and deep history became the foundation of the work I still create today.

Growing up on Tucson’s south side near the Tohono O’odham Nation, I was immersed in the cultural richness that makes Southern Arizona unique. Indigenous, Mexican, Anglo, Chinese, and African American influences all shaped the visual stories that continue to inspire my murals, books, classes, and fine art.

I earned my BFA in Studio Art with a minor in Art History from the University of Arizona, and since then I’ve built a career that bridges fine art, public history, scientific illustration, publishing, education, and modern digital workflows.

Over the years, I’ve created everything from thousand square foot historically researched public murals to children’s books, historical illustrations, botanical studies, scientific diagrams, gallery oils, fantasy illustration and digital educational tools.

A major chapter of my career was my work on the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan for Pima County, where I spent more than a decade creating hundreds of illustrations, botanical studies, wildlife renderings, maps, charts, report covers, and web visuals that helped communicate the ecology and history of the Sonoran Desert.

My historical illustration work includes more than 30 interpretive panels and signs for the Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail, created for Pima County, the National Park Service, and the Arizona Department of Transportation across southern Arizona.

I am also currently developing historically accurate illustrations of the Coronado Expedition of 1540, including the Sobaipuri people and early Spanish contact in Southern Arizona, in collaboration with archaeologist Dr. Deni Seymour. This work combines recent discoveries, archival research, archaeology, ethnographic detail, landscape reconstruction, and visual storytelling.

Alongside painting and illustration, I also work in 3D modeling and digital sculpting, using tools such as Blender and Nomad Sculpt to build scenes, reference maquettes, and complex compositions for murals, books, historical reconstructions, and fantasy work.

Today, my business has expanded into teaching and digital products, helping artists learn how to create professional-level artwork with modern tools.

My current work is centered around several connected areas:

  • Skillshare and online classes focused on Procreate, murals, fantasy painting, historical illustration, and professional workflows

  • Premium Procreate brush sets and digital tools, including nature, fantasy, botanical, and professional workflow brushes

  • Murals and public art

  • Children’s books and eco-storytelling

  • Historical illustration, including the Anza Trail, Coronado Expedition, and Southwestern Indigenous history

  • Scientific and botanical studies

  • 3D modeling and digital scene building

  • Gallery paintings inspired by the Sonoran Desert, Southwestern history, and native plant life

  • YouTube tutorials and educational content for artists

What connects all of it is the same goal I’ve had since I was a kid filling sketchbooks in Tucson: to tell stories through images, teach what I’ve learned, and help people see the beauty, history, ecology, and wonder of the world around them.

Whether I’m painting a museum mural, reconstructing a Coronado expedition scene, creating botanical studies, building a Procreate brush set, sculpting a 3D reference model, or teaching a Skillshare class, I’m always working at the intersection of craft, research, storytelling, and education.

I still live in Tucson, at the northern edge of the Sonoran Desert, where my garden, local history, archaeology, and desert ecology continue to inspire new paintings, books, classes, and ideas.