My interest in graphic communications goes as far as my sophomore year of high school where I would choose graphic design is my major at the High School of Art and Design. I have always expressed my interest in advertising a product or idea especially if it involves music. As a huge lover of all things music related, my dream job is to create album artwork, logos, or even merchandise designs for any type of band or musician. Without music I would never get the influence for half the art work I create every year since some of the best lyrics, ideas, and themes comes from a song that lasts only a few minutes or even an album that has an original concept that goes along with it.

When starting my freshmen year of college at New York City College of Technology I did know what to expect. Coming a from a small art school in the Manhattan to a much bigger school that consists of different buildings in Brooklyn was a bit nerve racking but I knew if I stick with art then I would have to go to much more unique places in life so I might as well start now. So far its been very interesting, in my first semester I passed all my classes with Bs but it wasn’t without stress and frustration especially when two of your professors often gave very bad lessons for math and Graphic Principles 1 who would mad when asked minor questions. I was fortunate enough to also have two other professors for English and Foundation drawing that was very easy going to do not make me nervous to ask any type of question.   My second semester is going much better then I planned, all my professors are very nice and feel more comfortable then I would have expected.

The knowledge I have in graphic design and all the Adobe programs comes from my high school. My teacher for three years was a man named Mr. Benscko and he was an amazing teacher who broke down every program and made them simple to understand. After a lesson on new features in Photoshop or Illustrator we would have freedom to create an advertisement or concept however way we wanted as long as it reached the goal of maintaining the message. To this day I continue to learn more about these programs but it wasn’t without the massive push I got from him for three of the four years in high school. Influences I have when creating my art are Tim Burton and Vincent Van Gogh. Tim Burton changed my life when I went to his MoMa exhibit back in 2009 and made me realize how amazing these unique ideas were and how people would become so attracted to them. The day after my style of art changed almost 100% with people seeing his influence as well the techniques of Vincent Van Gogh. All my paintings are almost always abstract expression pieces and the loose strokes and colors come from the way Van Gogh would assemble his paintings with constant strokes. Designers such as street artist KAWS and my former teacher Andrew Benscko encourage me to try new ideas everyday now matter how people might react. KAWS is famous for creating many album covers for many famous musicians such as Kanye West, Rihanna, and much more and he is so famous that many people have never heard of him which always intrigued me. Mr. Benscko is also an abstract painter who started graphic design very late in his life but managed to balance both as a career and a teacher, which is something, I see myself possibly doing, as I am currently as assistant teacher in a figure drawing class in Chelsea. There is so much I want to do but currently getting my education and learning about art is my priority at the moment.

KAWS website: http://www.kawsone.com/shop

TIm Burton website: http://timburton.com