Sports artist Tim Cortes was born and raised in Duluth, Minnesota where he was a star athlete throughout his school years. A hockey goaltender and football captain at his Duluth East High School, Cortes went on to play in the U.S. Hockey League, all the while nurturing a lifelong passion to become a full-time artist. His enrollment at the prestigious Minneapolis College of Art and Design set him well on his path.

His talent for creating impeccably detailed portraits makes Cortes one of the nation's premier photo-realism artists, with a penchant for using colored pencils. He has been commissioned by such sports luminaries as Wayne Gretsky, Dale Earnhardt, Shaquille O'Neal and Troy Aikman, to name just a few, and his artwork is featured in the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame, The Franklin Mint and the new Minnesota Twins Ball Park, "Target Field". Commissions by the U.S. Postal Service, a score of universities across the country and the National Sports Gallery are also on his long list of clients and collectors.

Through his artwork, Cortes strives to celebrate the life and times of many of the world’s most famous athletes and the sporting events in which they play. “Being able to work as an artist for some of the same organizations that I was involved with [as an athlete] is very rewarding to me,” he says. “When people look at my art it reminds them of when they were a kid. It takes them back to a moment in time when they played the game, and that emotional connection is really what I want to bring out in my work."

When he's not creating his incredibly lifelike masterpieces, Cortes - who lives with his family in the same neighborhood where he and wife Kathy both grew up - is busy coaching youth hockey and baseball.