I got a late start.
In high school, I was pretty much completely unaware of the field of graphic design, or any other “artistic” careers. I was simply told by my mom, that I couldn’t be what I wanted more than anything; an artist.
I was a super creative kid, and I ended up going to community college. I only took a year of art classes in high school, but I took to art classes in college like a starving wolf. I loved them, and I did pretty well. I’d spent the last 4 years really concentrating on playing bass guitar in my various bands, and hadn’t given too much thought to artwork, though I considered myself an “artist”.
I had to take lots of other classes in college of course; math, science, history, and english. I had a really difficult bout with depression my senior year of highschool, and ended up taking bone-head english with a bunch of kids that had avoided it all 4 years. I was pretty suprised and happy that I tested high for english, and got to skip a bunch of classes right away.
Once school started rolling, I began lying to my family about what it was that I was going to school for. I’d decided to become an Art Major; I told my family that I was considering becoming an Art Teacher, something that I have little true passion for.
This went on as I transfered between Oregon and Washington a couple of times, which really means that I simply lost a bunch of credits in the mix. I dropped out of college, got married, and then got divorced just about as fast. I ended up at Eastern Washington University as a Senior, but short a bunch of credits to graduate. That’s when it happened.
My buddy Travis Trent told me to tell my other buddy Brent Carey, that there was a graphic design job open. While not totally rare, graphic design jobs are not all that common in Spokane, Washington. I quickly called Brent, who’d recently attended the Art Institute of Seattle. Brent, having a look at the work that I’d been doing for fun, suggested that I too apply for the job.
Brent’s encouragement and generousity was a truly pivotal point for me. I ended up getting the job, which was a graphic designer for a local t-shirt shop. They pay was terrible, but the experience and start was incredibly helpful.
There, I learned how to use a stat camera, cut amberlith, and make art separtations. I met some really great and cool artists who helped guide me to figure out what the hell I was trying to do.
It was great. I dropped out of school, and have never really looked back.
So, a big thanks to Travis and Brent, along with the artists that really helped me out at Buffalo Inc.: Patrick O’Neil, Shannon Potratz, Sheila Evans, Dan, Mike Roche.
Next episode, I tell you my entire frikkin’ life story.
- Daniel
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hmmm. it’s funny that a lot of us who start out doing t-shirts end up doing vector-based art.
I think dropping out of school usually works out best for artists.
The only class you are passing is Animation! No BMW 7 Series for you……..
Have you ever seen Tokyo Breakfast?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgjwjaBJ5Do
I can relate to a lot of your story there. And I want to agree that dropping out of school usually works out best for artists. Most of my favorite creators of any kind all dropped out of school. It still always heartening to hear, since I too never finished school myself.
LOL I love Illustrator- ’cause, y’know, trapping in Photoshop is oh-so-fun. I started off in t-shirts, did a bunch of other stuff, and was doing t-shirts again a few years ago! I swear though, if I ever have to do another bar crawl t-shirt I’m gouging my eyes out with a spork!