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Keith Finch, a digital design manager at BlueCross, has loved comic books for as long as he can remember.

“I’m 50 years old, so I’d say I’ve been into comics about 50 years,” he laughs. “My dad read Conan the Barbarian and Swamp Thing when I was growing up, and I kind of got the bug pretty early on, even before I could read.”

Growing up with comics instilled an early love for design and creativity in Keith,  as well as a passion for telling stories in compelling ways. By high school, he knew he wanted to do something like the artists whose work he grew up reading, and going into the design field looked like the most practical way to pursue his dreams.

It wasn’t long after graduating from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in 1997 with a degree in Graphic Design that he would land an internship with BlueCross in the Communications Department, where he would be hired full-time six months later.

“I recently gave a talk to some high school students about how to have a career in art, because it seems like something unreachable for a lot of kids,” Keith says. “I told them that a lot of what has worked for me is just being curious – being willing to step in and help other people. It gets your foot in the door and makes important connections, because if you’re willing to help them, they’ll help you.”

Creatives assemble

Being a team player has been a mantra for Keith, and it’s been important to him personally and professionally.

As a digital design manager, Keith leads a team working to enhance and improve the member experience,  from the benefits portal to digital communications and apps. It’s a task that requires constant collaboration with other teams.

“We’re working with the Digital Product team and the User Experience team to understand what works and what doesn’t, and our Accessibility team to make sure that our tools are accessible to people who use different assistive devices,” Keith explains. “So nobody’s working in a silo from start to finish.”

That collaborative spirit is also common in the world of comic production, and it’s part of what brought Keith back to his hobby from the other side of the page: as a creator.

“About five or six years ago, I got involved in a comics co-op at a local comics shop here in Chattanooga,” Keith explains. “We would pick a theme, write and draw our ideas, and collaborate on a finished product that we ultimately got printed.”

Relying on that support from other creatives inspired Keith to keep pushing forward with his ideas,  and to start producing his own projects in his spare time.

The man without (much) fear

Keith’s experiences working with other creatives became a catalyst for pursuing his own goals, and it wasn’t long before he was writing, drawing and inking his own published works. As an independent creator, Keith relies on his own imagination. Ultimately, he says, it all comes down to storytelling.

“The way I work is by starting with the question, ‘What’s the end for the reader? What’s going to make them connect to the characters?’” Keith says. “And then you start connecting dots, building back from that takeaway.”

Keith’s quick to point out that it’s a process he follows in his digital design work, as well. Starting with an idea, he’ll sketch out a character or feature, lay out a storyboard of images, and create a blueprint of the experience for others to follow in helping produce a finished product. It’s a process that’s been a key to success at BlueCross for almost 30 years, and helped him publish two unique comic books already.

Keith insists there’s nothing superhuman about his creative process and encourages everyone to pursue a passion at any phase of their life.

“My advice: Don’t feel like there’s all this gatekeeping,” Keith says.

“I’m 50. The conventional wisdom says I should not be making comic books. But I’m having a lot of fun doing it. And that’s really what life’s about: finding the things you enjoy and leaning into it.”