About Naria McGee

I was born in Ohio, and my childhood was spent in southwest Michigan among the marshlands and cornfields. Being the eldest of three girls and a tomboy, I would take my sisters on indoor and outdoor escapades that involved forts, hot lava, bug catching, tree climbing and water gun wars with the neighboring boys. Of course there were girly activities too while growing up, but the boyish activities were more fun. 

I can’t remember when I started drawing, but I have a clear memory of drawing a family of fish at age four and wanted to proudly display it on the wall, but could not find any scotch tape. I found another suitable adhesive and used Elmer's glue to paste my masterpiece in the dining room, to my mom’s horror… 

I often had a lot of story ideas that I would end up drawing out on multiple pieces of paper, since I disliked writing. Eventually I succumbed to the realization that I should write my stories, many of which were inspired by the myths, legends, folktales and fairy tales I buried myself into as a homeschooler. 

In my teenage years I was introduced to manga (Japanese graphic novels), and that began a whole other trend in my art and story writing for some years. 

There were many things I wanted to be when I grew up, and I finally settled with becoming an archaeologist (the Indiana Jones type). But after realizing I really liked the buildings and structures of ancient civilizations instead of the broken bits of pottery, I decided to go to school for architecture and see how that went. After two years at a community college and Associate Degrees in Architecture and Construction Management under my belt, I left the academic environment since I had become restless and was itching to travel and see the world instead of immediately transferring to a college for five more years of study. I have had the opportunity to travel to Japan, The Netherlands, South Korea, Paraguay, Nepal, Canada, and around the United States. I have found that deep down I am a storyteller and artist, and everything I have an interest in is so that I can express and share it through art.

A lot of my inspirations for art and stories come from nature and the colors and cultures of the world. Being half Japanese and half American with Irish/Scottish heritage, this influenced my interests growing up, such as learning to speak Japanese and taking violin lessons to play Celtic music. I love traveling and have a profound love for trees…that might be why I ended up marrying a guy named Branch. We currently live in the state of Maryland and have two sons.