I have always been drawing, sculpting or doing other creative things. My earliest childhood memories include making my own stop motion animation with some creatures I had sculpted from clay.
Over the next years, while I continued to groom my traditional art skills, I also discovered computers; specifically Tandy 1000 and the Apple IIgs. Games like Space and Kings Quest fed my love for animation and captured those minutes that I didn’t spend doodling or creating animations of my own.
My interest in graphic design, or taking my art into the digital realm wasn’t piqued until Photoshop 3 came along. Once I saw how I could enhance my work on a mac however, there was no stopping my creative drive. I went from simple digital illustration, on to graphic design and web design, all the while still discovering more digital ways to create my animations.
My first professional experience with design, my foot in the door , so to speak, came along when a local newspaper hired me on, while I was going to college. Known for its superb printing capability, the paper taught me from the ground up everything I needed to know about the printing world: I loaded paper with a forklift onto the Goss press, scraped the soy ink off of presses and rubbed elbows with the pressmen, who taught me everything they knew about their craft, including paste-up and negative stripping. While this whole process has gone digital today, the experience was still priceless and the knowledge I had gained in the print shop has been invaluable for my continued understanding of design.
After receiving my diploma I was promoted to become a designer for that same paper. There I designed ads, commercial print, full tabloid spreads for local companies and weekly Realtor newsprint magazines.
Eventually it was time to move on to a new challenge and I accepted a print designer position with one of the largest Banks in the Midwest, First National Bank of Omaha. My career-path with the bank was steep; I soon managed a team of four designers and two digital presses. While I know it was my drive and dedication that had lead to my promotion, I still believe that it was my solid foundation, the invaluable experience I had at my first job with the paper, that allowed me to grow into that new position as a manager of Design and Digital print.
Ever searching for new challenges however, I soon realized I had outgrown the world of print. Another industry, Web Design, had caught my eye. I left my management position to be hired on as an e-Commerce designer for First National Bank. There I created everything from banners, flash banners, emails, micro-sites to re-designing sites for First National and all of its affiliates. I love the fast-paced ever changing world of digital design and the opportunity to continuously grow within the field.
When the Bank had a need to produce internal videos, I embraced the challenge. I created video graphics and video shoots developed for the Recognition of Outstanding Achievements and Results within the organization. Produced on extremely tight deadlines, usually within 2 weeks from concept to creation the projects were a challenging test to my ever growing abilities.
The bank, as much as the paper before it, has given me the foundation for this new journey of freelance design. Running with projects that have been lining up on a part time basis for the last few years, I am now accepting more and more work on a consulting or hiring basis.
A really random picture of me. You can find more on Flickr.