Mini Bio

I've had quite a few people ask me a lot of questions here these past few days, so I figured I'd post some answers here, rather than respond to every message and comment. But first I'll start with a mini bio since that gets a lot of the "where did you come from" questions out of the way.

I've been an artist for a long time. According to my mom I was drawing almost before I could speak, apparently. Early on, I went through phases of drawing all sorts of things, but I always ended up using my imagination as inspiration. From dinosaurs and comic strips, to designing cars and even shoes when I was a young kid, I always wanted to draw stuff that reality had not yet shown me.

It wasn't until I went to high school that I realized comic books existed.  At 14, comics were the first thing I had ever encountered that really gave me the idea that being an artist could actually be a job. Of course, I played tons of video games as well, but back in the SNES/Genesis days, pixel art seemed pretty disconnected from the act of drawing on paper. Anyway, I spent a few years drawing comics, and going to shows and getting critiques from Pros. I was still a kid though, and my parents seemed intent on sending me to college. So, I honed my abilities, and applied to a few art schools on the east coast, and even CalArts on the west coast. RISD, MICA, SCoA, CalArts, I got into all of them, but due to circumstance, and my desire to live in NYC, the east coast comic mecca, I decided on Pratt Institute College of Art in Brooklyn. Because I got accepted early, the guidance counselor dude (forget his actual title) told me and my parents that it would probably be a good idea to enroll in some painting classes, since I'd never tried color before in my life. So that summer between 11th and 12th grade, I took a plein aire painting class every day for a few weeks. It was just acrylic, but I learned a lot about mixing paint.

When I jumped into college the following summer, I worked harder than I ever worked before, and lost tons of sleep, in between having my first roommate try to kill me, and having someone deface my art. For the record, I'm not a douche. As the years went on, I jumped majors several times, trying to find what kind of art I wanted to do, all the time, doubting whether or not the school was the right choice. Almost none of my professors had any kind of passion or desire to teach, so it wasn't really the best learning environment. Then in 1998, I discovered Photoshop 4.0. There were zero classes on it, but I taught myself, using a mouse only, how to crudely paint my own drawings. They truly sucked. And they continued to suck throughout the rest of my college experience. I graduated in a haze, having not really learned much at all. As I said, there were no photoshop classes, and none of my professors would even let me use it for assignments. There were also no figure drawing classes outside of freshman year, and no anatomy classes whatsoever. As i said, I learned little.

After school, I spent time trying to get hired for first comic books, and then video games. For a year and a half I had nothing happen, outside of nibbles and potentials that went nowhere. I even applied to Blizzard several times, to no avail. My portfolio was seriously lacking, and after a $200,000 art education, I felt a bit discouraged, until I decided to start learning again, and really teach myself. I went to Barnes and Noble, and purchased books on Photoshop, Maya and Max, and spent months really learning. After a few months, I had built a portfolio that was good enough (still totally sucked) to get a few looks from employers, and I eventually got my first industry job, as a 2d Artist for Konami in Hawaii.

Hawaii was 3000 miles from home, LITERALLY, but I went. The money really sucked--I got 19k a year, with 800 a month going to rent. Do the math, I was well below the poverty line. It didn't matter though. I was making games, and making art!! It didn't matter that the games were shovelware, and it didn't matter that I almost starved. In the end, in less than 3 years, I helped make 4 Frogger games, 1 Yugioh game, 1 Ys game, and 2 DDR games, playing the role of pixel artist and animator, texture artist and modeler, and eventually concept and character artist.

But Konami was pretty horrible to us. The pay sucked, and the 7 day weeks, 15 hour days were beyond rough. So  I started to mull my options. One of my best friends, Pat Burke (who also 2 years ago joined the WoW Dungeon team) had then told me a friend of his, a Mr. Jimmy Lo, (also a good friend nowadays) worked on World of Warcraft, and I thought maybe it was time I applied again. So I again spent a few months honing my portfolio and getting some more relevant art together to apply. Jimmy had told me that building my portfolio to Blizzard's standards and style were key to getting hired, so I did that. I applied and very quickly I got a response, and in the end I got hired as a Character artist on World of Warcraft.

Getting into Blizzard made my life. I'd never been around so much talent before, particularly artists, and the desire to improve is something that is just seriously ingrained in the DNA of the company. The character art team on WoW in particular was filled top to bottom with the most incredible range of artists, and in my mind nearly all of them are still better than me. I spent nearly 3 years working side by side with them, making weapons, armor and creatures for The Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King.

All the while though, I had been working on trading cards for the WoW TCG, in order to improve my painting skill, which while better than before after years of industry experience, still totally sucked. It was 2008, and at 30, I still never learned to paint, lol. I just basically colored my line drawings without the knowledge of why I was making the painting choices I did. Then, Glenn Rane posted an internal listing for a Creative Development Illustration position. I had met Glenn several times before, and he knew I was interested in full time illustration work, but I had no idea I had any chance in hell of landing the gig.

Well, after an art test, which Blizzard is prone to do with everybody, btw, I got the job, and started in CDev in January 2009. Very quickly, Glenn realized how green I was....I had gotten to the point of being hired as a house illustrator without ever knowing how to paint.....HAH. He then began to teach me, and like the Renaissance Masters and their Apprentices, eventually I started to pick things up, and make more conscious decisions about color temperature, composition, anatomy, posing, form, lighting, and especially Value.

Anyway, I've worked as an Illustrator for Blizzard for almost 3 years now, and I am finally starting to feel comfortable that maybe some of my art doesn't totally suck, and it is 100% thanks to my sensei, Glenn Rane. The man is an art god, and even though it never should have been his job to have to teach me how to paint, he has helped me year after year, until now I can finally say I am able to make art that I don't hate. Honorable mention to Wei Wang as well. You can't help but be inspired by that man's art, and sitting next to him these past few years has without a doubt, given me something to shoot for in terms of excellence.

So thanks for reading if you've gotten this far. You know, I've never put my bio onto (virtual) paper before, and I've got to say, it's a bit therapeutic. FYI, I am always up for chatting about art, and I love a good critique, so feel free to contact me for feedback. I can't guarantee, though, that I'll get back to everybody that messages me, however.

CHEERS!!!


-JP-