My Story

It has occurred to me that some people out there may be interested in knowing how I arrived at where I am today, or where my plans lie in the future, so dig in:

I was born here in Mesa, Arizona, and have lived here my whole life.  Throughout my childhood I had many interests, for instance I played the Alto and Tenor Saxophone for years.  But art has always been my first love.  It began with the wonder of Dinosaurs and Zoobooks, which I curiously reproduced in drawing after drawing.  Then, of course, there were Disney movies, cartoons like Loony Toons, and comics like the Far Side and Calvin & Hobbes.  My mom would often take me to work (she was a high-profile bank programmer, so had to work long hours) and I got to just draw and draw, then show everyone in her office my masterpieces.

As I matured I honed my skills, and nearly mastered graphite and charcoal, but it wouldn’t be till a few years later that I began to experiment with other mediums.  My first major graphite project was recreating the famous National Geographic cover of the Afghan refugee girl, which I can say without bragging that I did an awesome job on, and won best of show at the State Fair (check it out yourself ).  I began doing portraiture for friends and family, but my love was always in crazy creatures and fantacy/scifi characters. I was lucky to net an Illustration job around 19years old with Action Illustrated, held that job for about 4 1/2 years and decided to net an associates degree while I was at it.  I focused on writing and art (of course) but I still have an affair with writing that I will never let go.  I may never show off my poetry or short stories (mostly because I fear for my Intellectual Property) but perhaps some day I will let the internet in on the secret.

I loved my job, everyone there was like a second family, and then the economy slapped me across the face.  Profits became the bottom line, I lost my job, and after one week of thinking & a little moping, I put my face to the grindstone and delved into the world of freelance.  It has been 2 years now that I’ve been doing freelance, and I’ve come a long way.  I went back to school full time, and now have this semester plus two more to finish up my Bachelors (unfortunately an asscociates doesn’t directly transfer over as 2 years).  I still do freelance here and there for T-shirts, Children’s Books, Logos, Mascots, and that sort of thing, but I am ready for a new era in my life.

If you check back here in the next year or two you will see some major changes.  I am buying a Wacom Cintiq, a new desktop, CS5, and I plan on casting away my meager vector illustrator and graphic arts roots and delving deeper and deeper into illustration.  I have done a few paintings all ready, I own an Intuos 3 that has paid for itself and then some, and have taken numerous classes at both ASU and SCC that have taught me an endless amount of information to help improve my painting skills.  Soon I want to focus on Covers, Children’s Books, and Concept Art for games, TV, maybe even Movies.

For those of you who are looking to hire me for Vector art and things like T-shirts, I’m still available don’t fear.  But I will only have enough time to take on a few, so don’t take it personal if I turn you down, but definitely contact me because I am worth it and I will do my best to work everyone I can in!  For the rest of you, keep coming back here to check out my artwork and I guarantee it will just get better 🙂

Chris-