It all started...

When I was about 12. Already an artistic kid from the get go; I made things out of whatever I could get my hands on. Sure the typical drawing, painting, and clay creations were one thing. Then there were random things. Things like broken glass shards found on some steps rearranged into a sailboat with sails full of wind? Yep, I made that (but I didn’t break the window, I swear). Or maybe spray painting funky, layered polka dot patterns on the family washer & dryer, my "boombox" or even branding my bike with fictitious, hand-drawn sponsor’s logos? Yeah. I did that too. Then around the age of 12 things changed. A computer crossed my path.

I had already messed around on my brother’s Apple IIe in the late 80s. Mainly tinkering with some crude desktop publishing program or low-bit games (Blitzkrieg, anybody remember that? It was pretty decent). Then in the 90s there was this “new” personal computer. It was different. It had Microsoft fricking Paint loaded on it. Sure, it was fairly crude but it worked! It was drawing and painting mixed together in a new-to-me digital format. So I put my favorite Hotwheels, HO trains or Calvin & Hobbs comics I liked on top of the large clunky monitor and “drew” them on the screen with a chunky mouse. I still remember my brother showing me the “undo” command. That was revolutionary! I’m proud-ish to admit I still use it today. A lot. 

Anyway, I continued “drawing” on the computer. Having moved on from Hotwheels, and using the new undo command; I made up my own snowboard companies just so I could use ideas for logos or posters I came up with. I painted my logos on the bases of the crappy plastic snowboards I rode. I cut out my own stickers, painted my own graphics and made my own stencils. I was inspired by communicating a visual message to get people excited. Just like how I got excited by reading snowboarding mags at the time. I knew people were already doing whatever it was that I was doing. I didn't know what it was called, or how to properly go about it - MS Paint could only go so far. A handful of years later, and a bunch of wasted terms at the local community college I finally found out what I had been doing. It was called Graphic Design. 

Now-a-days I still put all the pieces together and make my own as I see fit. I draw (yep, pun intended) from an ever growing background of art and creating things. If it's possible, I opt to create my own original graphics rather than use stock art. I dig originality, and am in a unique position capable of making exactly what I need. Whatever the message, feeling, product or idea; I aim to convey it visually.