AUBURN — A lover of science and video games, graphic artist Chuck Carter has used technology for 30 years to turn his drawings into big-name video games, television shows and publications.

His art was in the hit video game “Myst.” His drawings became part of print and online publications of National Geographic and Wired magazines, science textbooks and the U.S. Department of Defense. His work became part of television shows “Babylon 5” and “Mortal Kombat.”

Carter was the keynote speaker Wednesday as Auburn School Department began its three-day iPad conference, called Leverage Learning Institute, for teachers and administrators.

Carter was introduced as a pioneer who used technology to create. In order for him to illustrate digitally, Carter said he had to understand the subject, which was science.

“Something happened today that was a driving force in my own desire to learn,” Carter told a room full of teachers and administrators at the Hilton Garden Inn.

“We got this probe. It landed on a comet today. That’s the stuff of science fiction. I have been a fan of science fiction since I could read. It’s what led me into my desire to do science artwork and science fiction artwork.”

Carter is a native of Ohio and has lived around the country. Nowadays, he calls Maine home and works from his Bangor studio.

He began drawing at a young age. In high school, he drew characters at Disney World. He drew while serving in the Navy. After the service, he worked for newspapers as a graphic artist. Creating informational graphics eventually led to his work for National Geographic, Wired and Scientific American magazines and a science textbook.

“The one thing that allowed me to do more different types of work throughout the years was the ability to go onto a computer and start doing graphics,” Carter said. An Apple computer he used “back in the ’80s was instrumental with changing my life,” he said.

At that time, he was a 24-year-old art director for the Rocky Mountain News in Colorado. He was assigned with using the computer to create a map to illustrate a story. “I started playing with it. I started drawing things on it,” he said. That led him to explore what else he could do digitally.

Technology led him to deeper learning. When he embarked on an illustration, whether it was for a video game or a military weapon, “the learning process was the more enjoyable part of the project,” Carter said.

For instance, drawing solar flares prodded him to wonder and do research, like analyzing “the size of our sun” compared to other stars.

After his speech Wednesday, Carter said students using iPads in school “is a great idea. There’s so many things that kids can do with them. For me, there are amazing art tools on the iPads that kids can experience, be it 3-D, paint tools. Accessibility and the price is right. It opens up all sorts of doors.”

This is the fourth year Auburn has offered the conference. Since the first in 2011, iPads in classrooms have flourished nationally. Auburn teachers are considered leaders in helping students learn with iPads. Many of the conference’s workshops are led by Auburn teachers.

This year, 140 teachers and administrators are attending. Most are from Maine, but the rest come from across the country, including Idaho, Illinois, Massachusetts, North Carolina and New York. A group from Sweden is expected on Thursday.

Katelin St. Peter-Blair, who teaches at Alfred Elementary School, said she attended last year and “begged to come back.”

Her first-graders have one-to-one iPads, which she said helps students be more engaged and excited about learning. Last year at the conference, she learned about a publishing app for young students to write their own books.

“In first grade, writing in a huge step of our literacy progression,” St. Peter-Blair said. Her school district bought the app. Her students digitally published their own books researching different animals.

“We held a parents’ night. It was impressive to see first-graders presenting their books to their parents,” St. Peter-Blair said.

The student books ended with “about the author” videos. “It was really cool,” she said.

The conference concludes Friday.

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