My Life So Far As A Graphic Design Artist

A Kid with an Eye for Design

I could say that I have been doing some form of art and design since before I could even hold a pencil… that is if you count the abstract artistry of smeared food on my highchair tray. Seriously though, I’ve always had a knack for the arts and a love for creative activities. If you need proof, just ask my mom. She would most certainly tell you that I had a fascination for coloring and drawing that was unmatched by my siblings.

The School Years

Throughout my years attending school I always excelled in art classes, and even when I was not in art class, art seemed to get me in plenty of trouble in my other courses. The teachers of my non-art classes were quick to discover that I had a severe habit of doodling and drawing while other work was supposed to be being done. I was always drawing or sketching something, but little did I know at the time that my love for the arts would eventually evolve into a career.

During those school years my art instructors realized that I had a natural eye for spacing and proportion, and a keen ability to convey my imagination through various forms of art. Utilizing this skill I ended up winning several awards, and even managed on getting some art featured on the Disney channel when I was still in elementary school.

Once in junior high school my eagerness for creativity grew even further, and I looked for other mediums outside of art class to feed my thirst. When my English instructors learned that I could write nearly as well as I could draw, they pushed me to join the school newspaper. This was a substantial pivoting point in my artistic life, because having a hand in designing for school newspapers is where I grew a true appreciation for typography and it’s relation to graphic design. I was hooked, and a new era in my artistic ability had emerged!

Here is where I’m happy to admit that I did not graduate with honors from some fancy school for art and design, in fact I have never been enrolled in any college for that matter. College simply wasn’t a financial possibility for me at the time I graduated high school, not to mention that my day dreaming nature had impacted my grades to a point where scholarships were pretty much out of the question as well. This made it an easy choice to jump right into the work force… effectively skipping “higher learning” altogether.

Out On My Own

My first few years out of school were interesting to say the least. Life as a young person living for the first time on my own was an eye opening slap in the face. I quickly learned that life isn’t cheap, so to pay the bills I went to work in the oil field… following down the path of my father.

My introduction to the gas and oil industry was on a greasy work-over rig maintaining and repairing oil wells all across Wyoming. This was the hardest work I had ever done, but the money was exceptional for how young I was at the time. It was during that period that I made the transition from a boy to a man, and also had the remarkable opportunity to work alongside my father.

Although I greatly enjoyed working with my dad, he always made a point to remind me that working in the oilfield was certainly not the best use of my talents. He had worked in the oil field most of his adult life, and he did not want that lifestyle for me. Now as I look back, I realize that it was largely due to his prompting that I decided to leave the oilfields behind to pursue my design career.

My First Real Graphic Design Job

There are not a great many design jobs to be had in WY, but eventually I ended up getting hired as a graphic design artist for the local newspaper. At the time I was highly under qualified for the position, but the advertising manager must have liked what she saw in my art portfolio and hired me anyhow. As a result, I had to self learn Photoshop, Illustrator and QuarkExpress all in the short time period of a little over a month… not an easy task I can assure you! This was a huge step for me, and I remember how proud it made my parents… especially my father.

My new job of designing ads for the newspaper was a perfect fit for me, and my artistic creativity really took off. After only a few months I was winning regional design awards and receiving a number of accolades. Within my first year I was promoted to lead artist… and under my artistic direction the newspaper was awarded the Wyoming Press Association’s yearly prestigious Excellence in Advertising Trophy several times over the next few years.

Sadly during this relatively high point in my career, I experienced one of the lowest points in my life with the devastating loss of my dad to a heart attack. He died at home on his lunch break from the labor intensive blue collar job that he had been working at for far too long. I’ll never forget him, and his faith in me is my inspiration to work hard at the life he wanted me to have.

Trying For The Big Time

The death of my father and my success with the News Record newspaper gave me the encouragement to try and move forward in my career. I was young and hungry, so I did what a lot of people do… I moved to California to try and make a name for myself. After all, I had big dreams and even bigger goals, so I figured Wyoming just wasn’t big enough for me anymore.

Well come to find out this hot headed designer from a po-dunk little town found himself a bit out of place in the Sunshine State. You see, back in Gillette I had been sort of a big fish in a small pond, but out in Cali I was just a tiny fry in an ocean of people. Although I tried extremely hard to make it as a designer in CA, I hadn’t put enough thought into just what “making it” would actually take. After only a few months of looking for work I ran out of money, so I tucked my tail and headed back to WY with just pennies to my name. It was a very humbling experience to say the least.

Back Home Again

Once back in the Cowboy State of WY, I took a job in the methane gas fields to get back on my feet. Yet again I resorted to the hard labor and long hours, but I needed the money and I was never too afraid of a hard days work anyhow.

Actually, at this point I was doing quite well, and quickly worked my way up the ladder. It wasn’t too long before I found myself the operator of my own rig, with a company truck, and a crew of a couple guys to oversee. The cash flow was excellent, and things were going great, but I constantly had the nagging feeling that the job I had was not what I was supposed to be doing.

It was the during this period that my girlfriend of the time decided to attend Montana State University in Bozeman, MT. I wanted to be closer to her and get back into graphic design scene, so I looked at jobs in and around Bozeman. That is when I saw a listing for an ad designer for the Bozeman Daily Chronicle, and knowing that my resume fit the requirement, I sent them my info. A few weeks later after negotiating some terms of employment, I was hired. I packed up everything I owned and moved to Montana… I was taking a huge pay cut, but I figured the sacrifice was worth it to immerse myself in the design world once again.

Designing in Montana

Designing ads for the newspaper came back to me like riding a bike… and I quickly back in the routine. I wasn’t making very much money though, so I worked only worked for about a year as an ad designer, before I realized that I could make better money selling the ads than I could designing them.

The need to make more dough helped in deciding to make the switch to selling ads for the Chronicle, and I did that for a few years successfully. Although I was a pretty good sales person, the whole time I kept getting in trouble from the ad designers because I was always designing my own ads for my customers. I guess I just couldn’t help it… I simply missed designing!

I have to admit that life at the newspaper was pretty good, and during my time there I was even responsible for changing the way the Chronicle sold color advertisements. It just wasn’t enough though… I still had a desire to grow my design skills, so I eventually left the Chronicle to pursue opportunities elsewhere.

Smaller Publications – Bigger Opportunities

Throughout the next several years I had the pleasure of being employed by a number of different regional publications that helped me to expand my skills and make connections in the industry. I owe a lot to these publications, and they granted me the opportunity to both challenge and showcase my talents.

Almost immediately after leaving the Chronicle, I took up shop as the layout artist for the Tributary. This was a new challenge, because I was completely responsible for the layout of the entire publication, as well as the lead designer for most of the ads. At the time the Tributary was locally owned and operated, which I found very appealing. I loved the independent nature of the Tributary, and the people I worked with at were simply amazing!

While designing for the Trib, I got the chance to work on it’s sister publication Explore Magazine and also made connections with the Big Sky Weekly. My connection with the Big Sky Weekly ended up being instrumental, because after only about a year with the Tributary it was bought by a larger state-wide publishing group. I soon found the changes and provisions of the new corporate ownership not to my liking, so in turn I quit and began working for the Big Sky Weekly soon after.

Yin Meets Yang

I attribute working for the Big Sky Weekly as being another pivotal point in my career, because it is where I was first introduced to Philip Downer. A funny thing to mention here is that due to some interesting circumstances at the time of our meeting, Philip and I had an honest dislike for each other at the beginning of our relationship. That still makes me laugh when I think about it today.

My first few months at the Big Sky Weekly I was working on selling ads, designing ads, and the complete layout of a new magazine called Custom Homes of Southwest Montana. While I worked on the magazine, Philip was responsible for a myriad of duties on the newspaper. Over the course of a few weeks though, it wasn’t too long before Philip and I buried our hatchets and began helping each other out.

Working together Phil and I made some realizations… we liked the same music, we had very similar interests, we were both self taught designers, and oddly enough, we even liked almost the exact same foods. After only a month or so of working side by side, we had actually become great friends.

A Partnership Takes Form

It did not take me long at all to realize the great number of talents that Philip possesses, and he thought pretty highly of my skills as well. It didn’t take us too long, to start having discussions of starting our own web development and graphic design studio. With Philip’s knowledge of the web and design experience coupled with my graphic design skills and artistic flare, we figured it was a no-brainer. A few months later we decided to give it a shot, and to our delight Manifest Creative was formed.

It has been over three years since then, and Manifest Creative just continues to build momentum. Initially both Phil and I started out running Manifest only part time, while holding down full time jobs as well. This did not last very long though, and to our pleasant shock, our client list grew rather quickly as we started taking on bigger clientele. Knowing we did not want to compromise our customer service, Philip made the choice to go full time about a year ago, and a large portion of Manifest Creative’s growth can be attributed to his efforts.

As for me, I also made the switch to go full time with Manifest several months ago. Although my true strengths are deeply rooted in print design, I have also been dabbling into web design quite a bit lately. I think my design skills will be utilized in the web arena more and more as time goes on. Even with the recent economic downturn, the future of Manifest Creative, and ultimately my future looks brighter than ever.

So Far and So On…

My life as a graphic designer up to this point has been pretty great so far. I truly believe I’m currently producing some of the best work of my career, and I’m excited each time I am faced with a new design challenge. Of course I have no idea what the next few chapters of my life have in store for me, But I can assure you that if I have any say in it… it can only get better from here!