William (Bill) Clarkson grew up on the far north side of Chicago in Rogers Park . From the age of six he drew every thing he could see or imagine and since he lived two blocks away from Lake Michigan, that meant incorporating water into many of his drawings and paintings.

During his senior year of high school, Bill was awarded a scholarship to the Art Institute of Chicago for winning the National Fire Prevention Poster award in 1958. While a student at the Art Institute, Bill became interested in film, which led to a thirty year career producing and directing commercial and industrial films in Chicago. During those years Bill continued to paint on weekends in his Chicago studio.

In 1998 Bill moved to Los Angeles and found new inspiration in the light and shadows of Southern California. Within a month he purchased a digital camera and began to compose paintings within the digital environment, and discovered anew universe of imagery and storytelling.
Currently Bill is working on the Portait project, an insallation of paintings of American military killed in the Iraq war.