Monster Commute – a Traffic Novel

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