Born in San Jose, California, Eli's family moved to Franklin, Tennessee, when he was 5. Aside from a short stint in Tulsa, Oklahoma, he has lived in Tennessee ever since. Although he works at a library full time, Eli's main passion is art. He draws and illustrates in pencil, pen and ink, colored pencil, watercolor, and sometimes acrylic paint. While he has done some technical illustrations before, Eli prefers to draw monsters, cartoons or people with cartoony expressions, and comic book style heroes. He currently co-writes and draws the comic strip Search and Research, which chronicles life in a fictional research library. He and his wife, Gypsy, currently reside in Nashville with their 3 cats.