On my first day in school, my kindergarten teacher asked me what I wanted to do, and I told her “I want to draw”. The saying, “be careful what you ask for”, is sometimes true.
My father was a tool and die engineer. He was methodical, always worked from detailed plans, and strived for perfection. I inherited a number of his traits, but found my interests to be more graphical than technical. I did however take both drafting and art classes while in high school. In the end, I found that while I was strong in drawing I was challenged in mathematics, and was advised by the drafting teacher to find another area of study.
On the other hand, I found that I excelled in my art classes. After my first high school year, my teacher suggested that I consider commercial art as a profession. In those days, the term Graphic Design had not yet been coined. During my senior year I had the same art teacher for class, and he decided to give me a number of special assignments, outside of the normal class projects. Among my classes was an oil painting based loosely on Salvador Dali surreal images, a free form metal sculpture, that began from a foot long piece of 3” diameter aluminum tubing, and an auto body styling project. About that time I ran across an invitation for high school students to enter an automotive design competition. I mentioned it to my instructor who agreed to let me work on an auto style design as a class assignment. At the end of my high school senior year I had earned a scholastic award of achievement in art class. During that final year I also applied for, and was accepted as a part time student at the American Academy of Art in Chicago. After high school my intention was to study illustration while working full time at what I could find to pay for any further education.
For two full years I went to night school Tuesday and Thursday nights, while working five and a half days a week at Skill Power Tools running an armature lathe in the motor winding department.
The day arrived when I received my notice from the draft board to report for a pre-induction physical. Since I was not a full time student, I knew that I would eventually be called, so I decided to enlist in the US Navy. During that time I had little opportunity to do much drawing or design until I was assigned to an ASW helicopter squadron.
My commanding officer was Commander Bartlett, and he wanted to improve squadron morale. He noted in my service record that I had attended art school, so I was assigned to design and paint on his helicopter (helo 50) a graphic of a black bat with the name “Black Bart”. The final art was so popular with the crew, that I was given the responsibility of painting two other designs on helicopters. Later the squadron arranged for some local newspaper coverage along with photos. Looking back, I guess I can say that was my first professional graphics assignment. I am still fond of thinking of that time and of Commander Bartlett.
After my discharge from the Navy, I returned to school as a full time art student. By this time I had decided to major in graphic design, with a minor in illustration. I earned three school sponsored scholarship competitions during my studies.
At school I met two influential instructors who noted and encouraged my direct simple design approach, and took the time to share constructive criticism, including encouragement on when to use or not use illustration in my work. Both skills have come in handy, which at times makes it difficult to categorize me. One of my teachers referred me for a summer job as a production artist for an entrepreneurial computer training company located near O’Hare International Airport in Chicago. That job lead to long term employment during which I had the opportunity to design business to business marketing materials, display graphics for both trade shows and sales conferences, and audio/visual and video graphics. While there I was exposed to a number of new technologies including early examples of personal computers, videodisk technology, and desktop publishing and typesetting.
Later I rode motorcycles as a hobby. I finally gave it up after an accident, and during my recovery, I immersed myself in rediscovering my airbrush illustration skills. For a number of years afterwards I did a number of conventional airbrush renderings for college textbook designers and publishers.
After the Macintosh II computer was introduced, I made a change in my method of work, by adopting the computer as my method of design and illustration. I also beta tested an early version of Adobe Photoshop.
I became a woodworker, one of the skills I inherited from my father. I have also used my computer to help design and build a number of pieces of furniture for our home.
As we all know, nothing remains the same. I have proven myself adaptable to changing technology, and Ihave returned to school to study Web design. I have new challenges ahead learning other technical skills, but I am also secure that my wealth of past experience is a valuable asset that I can rely on.
