He hadn’t heard of Prince. So when Ramon Shiloh’s mother told him he could pick one record, his first record, from the shop’s stacks, she was surprised when Shiloh fished out the pop icon’s "1999."

“Are you sure?" Shiloh's mother asked. "Do you know who he is?”

"No," Shiloh told her. But the 12-year-old didn’t care about the music. It was the cover art that drew his eye, the violet letters that sprung to life—the nines with leering eyes, the P with its feathered mane, the C with its jagged teeth.

“I never thought you could illustrate pictures within pictures,” Shiloh said. “I got addicted. I never even took the album out of its case.”

He copied them, inspired by the concept of infusing personalities to a name. The letters themselves said the name Prince.

Now 40, Shiloh is still practicing letter art, though it’s with a twist. A Ballard transplant, Shiloh has paired with local Tigress Publishing to produce a four-volume set of books titled "The Art of Comedy," weaving together stories about famous comics paired with name art. He’s drawn 75 names so far and hopes to finish 200 in total, focusing on the stories and art behind the humor.

Shiloh said his style gels with the lifestyle he grew up around in northern California: He’s part Native American, Filipino and black. The art of storytelling so central to the Native American culture heavily influenced his art.

“I think people can relate to that because there’s a focus we all tap into because we all come from different walks of life,” Shiloh said. “Sometimes, we see a little bit of ourselves in art.”

After his mom passed away in 1992 when Shiloh was 21, Shiloh soaked his life in art. He knew it wouldn’t pay the bills, but he continued pursuing artistic storytelling, producing planetarium shows in Oregon and California. He was the featured storyteller at the New Mexico State Fair in 1999 and, in 2000, worked with Rosa Parks as a facilitator and storyteller for the Underground Railroad Program, for which he was honored with a certificate of appreciation.

In 2001, a job opportunity lured Shiloh to Los Angeles but, when it fell through, the artist found himself working as a line cook at the Hollywood Improv.

“Comics made me laugh, and I needed it at the time,” Shiloh said. “I need to work in environment where I can always be happy.”

In 2004, Shiloh moved up to Ballard and onto the local arts scene. His brother and roommate worked at Mr. Spot's Chai House, and within a month, Shiloh landed a cooking gig when Ballard’s Matador restaurant opened.

“I was feeling very involved in the Ballard experience,” Shiloh said. “And then, just out of the blue, I felt I could take my contributions further.”

Shiloh became good friends with the owners and wound up painting skull art for the restaurant. Now his work hangs in all four Seattle Matador locations and two in Portland.

“Ballard was definitely a great start when I first moved here,” Shiloh said. “It brought me a lot of joy to contribute to these things artistically. I feel like Ballard’s the one thing that kept me here artistically.”

Then, in April 2007, four or five years after he’d begun illustrating comics’ names just for fun, Shiloh got the opportunity to have a gallery show at the Hollywood Improv.

He was the third person in the Improv’s history to host a gallery show there, displacing the iconic photos of celebrities with his own depictions of their names on the hallways for a week.

“For me, it was a very scary moment,” Shiloh said. “Nobody takes down Johnny Carson’s photo.”

Though he’d initially sketched them in secret, Shiloh had the chance to interview a few of the comics, picking their brains as he captured their personalities within the letters of their name.

“I tapped into their world,” Shiloh said. “A lot of them were shocked that I brought up whimsical one-liners they did five years ago.”

He drew people like Ellen DeGeneres, Jay Leno, Chris Rock and George Carlin. Comic Sarah Silverman lit up when she saw hers, Shiloh said.

“It came out really positively,” Shiloh said. “I think I got lucky.”

Three years later and back in Ballard, Shiloh has realized that his new home is changing. Mr. Spot’s Chai House shut its doors in January. He even felt a pang when Denny’s closed.

But, this neighborhood hasn’t stopped inspiring him.

Shiloh plans to host series of arts-related celebrations and events in Ballard when his book comes out, which should be by the end of 2010. He’s now interviewing comics for his second volume, focusing on funny people who are based in Seattle.

Once the book is released, he has one big goal for his future in art—and in comedy.

“I’d like to host comedy acts in galleries instead of comedy clubs,” Shiloh said. “I would like to see comics tap into a community where you don’t really see comedy. Comedy could be like jazz at wineries. I want to merge the two worlds.”