William Scott McAusland was born in Williams Lake, B.C. Canada, on a bitterly cold December night. He grew up in Kamloops, moved to Vancouver in his early twenties and after ten years in the rain, moved back to the sunny interior to pursue his freelance career, mountain bike, and promote art and artists both locally and internationally. He was elected to the board of directors of the Community Arts Council of Kamloops during the 1998-99 years, acted as web master for the group and worked with Donovan Harrison to design the Okanagan Mainline Regional Arts Council site (OMRAC). Following his arts council term, he established artmotive.com, a non-profit, professional artist and illustrator's portfolio web site.

His art training consists of both self directed studies and six years of formal training starting with a three year apprenticeship with world renowned gem carver and artist Thomas R. McPhee on Bowen Island, B.C. These three years were invaluable to him, providing lapidary, sculpting and drawing skills, as well as exposure to a creative environment rich in imagery, concepts, art related equipment and individuals involved in the arts.

Following the Bowen years, William enrolled in Capilano College's Graphic Design and Illustration Program. This intensive three year program enhanced his illustration skills further, but also gave him a solid training in Computer graphics, typography, layout, photography, graphic design, and written and verbal communications.

McAusland lives in Kamloops, British Columbia with his wife , Brooke, and two children, Jakob and Sabine. When not producing commercial illsutrations, the artist divides his creative time between fine art and writing fiction. "Working on large canvases with loose brushwork is very liberating after a bout of tight illustration jobs, which are often no larger than letter size sheets. By doing fine art, I am able to experiment with different textures, mediums and styles which I might otherwise not do when working with an illustration client."

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