About Founder

Bill Sparks, founder of Sea Dog

Founder of the resort line of clothing called Sea Dog, William “Bill” Sparks grew up in the 1950s in Portage Lakes, Ohio, a small town near the industrial city of Akron, Ohio. Bill struggled through school because of a learning disability that is now recognized as dyslexia. At that time, any kind of dyslexia was unknown to the medical field and children with this condition were typically dismissed as simply being difficult or impaired intellectually. Although Bill was told that he would not be able to attend college and succeed, he proved them wrong by earning a master’s degree and becoming the highly successful entrepreneur/co-owner of the Sea Dog line of upscale casual clothing.

With a visionary sense of determination, Bill learned to cope with his dyslexia, graduated high school and enrolled at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, Philadelphia, PA and honed his already exceptional talent for drawing. Especially fond of Norman Rockwell-style art, Bill initially concentrated on capturing the charming essence of everyday people and their surroundings. After he completed his B.F.A. At the Academy, Bill began attending Kent State University in Ohio where he earned his M.F.A degree. Although he had earned degrees in fine art, Bill still wanted to be an illustrator.

     Bill got his first illustration job in the 1970s as an editorial illustrator for magazines like Redbook and McCalls. Responsible for illustrating fiction and non-fiction stories with images designed to make people want to stop flipping through a magazine to read the article or story, Bill drew mostly people for dozens of magazines during the heyday of magazine publications and enjoyed a solid reputation as a magazine illustrator. While teaching Illustration at Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota, Florida, Billwas contacted by Disney to do artwork for the Grand Floridian Resort in Orlando, Florida.