From Comics Character Artist To Surrealist
I am basically a self-taught artist. Actually everything I know how to do I taught myself. From playing keyboards to writing songs to computer work I learned it all on my own.
There was just no body around that was interested in the things I was interested in and I didn't have the money to pay to learn stuff so I just went about trying to figure them out on my own. Once I figured out a few things on my own I realized that I could that with anything I wanted to learn.
I remember being about 4 or 5 years old scribbling on a sheet of paper and then turning that scribbling into a drawing of a little girl. I remember my grand mother being impressed with that drawing and saying that I was going to be an artist when I grow up.
I don't really remember doing to much with art after that until I was in Junior High school (what they call middle school now. Did I just date myself?). I became fascinated with comic books and started drawing superheroes from comics and even made up some of my own. My goal was to become a comic book artist and work for one of the big publishing companies.
However, my goals changed during my 11th grade year in high school. I had transferred high schools in order to take commercial art at the only high school in Columbus, Ohio that taught it at the time (I actually transferred to be with my best friend who went there and the commercial art thing was just the means to do it).
Sometime during that year my art teacher, Hans Rietenbach, introduced the class to the works of Salvador Dali and I was in love. That one day changed everything for me. I no longer wanted to be a comic book artist I wanted to be a surrealist.
I had to learn to paint so I bought oil paints and canvases and started working at it. Needless to say I messed up a few canvases. The one thing I would do is if I started not to like something I was working on I would just stop working on it. Then one day Mr. Rietenbach, who always believed in my talent, told me something that always stuck with me and it was just a simple thing. He said you don't know how your painting is going to turn out if you don't finish it.
From that day to now I always finish anything I start. Not just artwork, but I apply that philosophy to everything I do. By finishing my paintings I got better and better and it didn't take long either.
Hans wanted to see me get into an art college and even tried to help me out, but unfortunately at that time I was a knuckle head and wasn't doing what I should and I never made there.
After high school I still worked some on my art, but I started getting more into music. I learned how to play keyboards and I sang so I started playing in bands and I wrote my own music. I did that for a lot years, but eventually that wined down and I found my way back to art.
I did some art shows and won or placed in some art competitions and had some gallery showings, nothing really big. I even went back to comic book art and self-published a couple of comic books with a couple of my friends.
And then came the Internet. I just had to learn that and I did. I learned HTML so I could put up a website and then came eBay and because of the Internet I now have my art in collections all over the world.
I have also combined my painting talent with my first love of comic books and I sometimes do comic book character paintings.
I'm not a famous artist and probably never will be, but I am doing the art that I love doing and there are people out there that love it enough to buy it.
There was just no body around that was interested in the things I was interested in and I didn't have the money to pay to learn stuff so I just went about trying to figure them out on my own. Once I figured out a few things on my own I realized that I could that with anything I wanted to learn.
I remember being about 4 or 5 years old scribbling on a sheet of paper and then turning that scribbling into a drawing of a little girl. I remember my grand mother being impressed with that drawing and saying that I was going to be an artist when I grow up.
I don't really remember doing to much with art after that until I was in Junior High school (what they call middle school now. Did I just date myself?). I became fascinated with comic books and started drawing superheroes from comics and even made up some of my own. My goal was to become a comic book artist and work for one of the big publishing companies.
However, my goals changed during my 11th grade year in high school. I had transferred high schools in order to take commercial art at the only high school in Columbus, Ohio that taught it at the time (I actually transferred to be with my best friend who went there and the commercial art thing was just the means to do it).
Sometime during that year my art teacher, Hans Rietenbach, introduced the class to the works of Salvador Dali and I was in love. That one day changed everything for me. I no longer wanted to be a comic book artist I wanted to be a surrealist.
I had to learn to paint so I bought oil paints and canvases and started working at it. Needless to say I messed up a few canvases. The one thing I would do is if I started not to like something I was working on I would just stop working on it. Then one day Mr. Rietenbach, who always believed in my talent, told me something that always stuck with me and it was just a simple thing. He said you don't know how your painting is going to turn out if you don't finish it.
From that day to now I always finish anything I start. Not just artwork, but I apply that philosophy to everything I do. By finishing my paintings I got better and better and it didn't take long either.
Hans wanted to see me get into an art college and even tried to help me out, but unfortunately at that time I was a knuckle head and wasn't doing what I should and I never made there.
After high school I still worked some on my art, but I started getting more into music. I learned how to play keyboards and I sang so I started playing in bands and I wrote my own music. I did that for a lot years, but eventually that wined down and I found my way back to art.
I did some art shows and won or placed in some art competitions and had some gallery showings, nothing really big. I even went back to comic book art and self-published a couple of comic books with a couple of my friends.
And then came the Internet. I just had to learn that and I did. I learned HTML so I could put up a website and then came eBay and because of the Internet I now have my art in collections all over the world.
I have also combined my painting talent with my first love of comic books and I sometimes do comic book character paintings.
I'm not a famous artist and probably never will be, but I am doing the art that I love doing and there are people out there that love it enough to buy it.
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