ME

So, i've been doing some blogging from time to time but never really put it into full gear. At this point in my life I have sooo much going on: creating art, selling art, curating art shows, playing in a band, making my own music, working with sick kids, working on my graphic novels, developing an online web series, teaching art classes, doing freelance promotion work, trying to have a social life,  that i figured now's the perfect time to start writing about it...cuz I have that kind of time.
Most of my posts have been alerts to when i am teaching  free art workshops at local libraries around LA, some have been a bit more creative i.e., a hand drawn comic of a discussion between Toho's Godzilla and The Cloverfield monster which comes to an abrupt awkward end when Roland Emmerich's American bastardization of Godzilla tries to join in and an in depth analysis of of the possible design process used to come up with a billboard. other than that, This blog has been quiet. today I am attempting to give it a kick start, blogging abot the three things I know alot about: ME, MY ART, MY MUSIC.
without being too boring (hopefully) i'll bring you up to date on these three subjects and then will post in each of them separately often! Here's me in a nutshell:

ACT I   The Mommas Boy

I have an older brother, he did everything i was scared to do: argue, smoke pot, curse, sneak out of the house, throw parties that were shut down by LA's finest. Growing up we were somewhat close, we are 5 years apart so that makes for pretty separate lives. He was the risk taker and I was the mommas boy, I would be the one to run home injured and crying from playing and he would get yelled at by our mom. We spent select moments together, being driven to school, walking home from it and on the weekends staying at our dads. Our mom worked at a bank as a back room processor so she would always bring home vast amounts of computer paper, the kind with the light blue stripes across it, this was christmas to me, i would draw on that paper for what seemed to me to be an eternity- Spiderman, Superman, Aquaman and of course my own creations and thus begun my love for art, I grew up with 80's cartoons, Spielberg movies and KROQ, i had no lack of atistic inspiration, i remember getting in trouble around halloween time at school for drawing Jason holding up a decapitated head dripping with blood in one hand and a machete in another, the schools counselor was troubled by the drawing but for me it was the mose life like and detailed drawing i had done to date, i wanted it to look like a poster that you would see walking into a Friday the 13th film! To me, it was an acheivement! That's when I realized that i wasn't seeing the world like everyone else.

ACT II  Disney and Scientology Made an Artist Out of Me       

One day, on a routine drive to Eagle Rock on the 2 fwy with my mom, something caught my eye - "Art Classes" - in big letters on the side of a building in Verdugo. I asked my mom if we could stop and investigate and that led to my life long love of classical art. I began taking classes at Mission Renaissance Art classes in Verdugo and learned the basics of fine art, years later, In Jr high and high school i was naturally drawn to art class. In high school I submitted one of my drawings to be part of an experimental art training program to prepare kids for college art and was accepted to the "Herbert Ryman Living Masters" art program, sponsored by Disney and funded by the foundation of Disney legend, Herbet Ryman. This program exposed me to all different kinds of art materials and processes and opened my eyes to the vast world of art that was awaiting me! 

in 1994, after high school I began looking for a job and went to what i knew. I found myself being interviewed by the creator and owner of Mission Renaissance, Larry Gluck, an avid Scientologist. I was put to work teaching youngsters about classical art, and in order to do this, I myself took classes at Mission renaissance to hone my skills and let me tell you, everything that would ever need to know about painting, i learned during that time. Say what you will about Scientology but Larry's "method" of teaching fine art concepts were ingrained in my head forever...

fast forward to college- life drawing classes, painting classes, sculpture classes.. i compared all subsequent art classes to what i learned at M.R. and was convinced that i had received proper training there.

Act III    Homer Simpson and Punk Rock

Fast forward to Art Center College, I had been offered a half scholarship but couldn't afford to pay the rest - end of story. in 1996 After a few years of working retail, I took classes at Glendale City College with a teacher named Dave Brain. I had gotten a tip from another art school i was attending at the time Associates in Art, that Dave was teaching beginning drawing at G.C.C. so I enrolled there and impressed him. at the end of the semester, he took me aside and told me that i should take my art to his company "Film Roman" and submit it. I did , and a few months later, i was working on "The Simpsons"

Recycler (Craigslist in paper form) : Bassist looking for punk band, influences Minor Threat, Primus and Eric A. (Bassist for Janes Addiction) and thus started "Harmful if Swallowed" my punk band, more on this later.

After working on The Simpsons and a few episodes of King of the Hill, I was let go, there was no money to be made in animation at that time and animators were a dime a dozen, so i began doing freelance art work for Disney theme parks, Universal Television and a slew of private and independent productions. In 2003 i landed my longest job ever, as a visual artist at Children's Hospital Los Angeles, i am still there to this day doing the same work and loving it. 

In terms of my band, we hooked up with a former child star and punk front man Brandon Cruz and under his wing, we had a crash course in punk rock! at the tender age of 17, we were playing concerts along side of Bad Religion, Green Day and Face to Face! it was CRAZY!! being interviewed by Flipside Magazine in a van we borrowed from my dear friend Vicky on our way to play a show in Arizona, having to leave right after shows because we were under age.. then a few years later, we and Brandon went our separate ways. in 2003, after hanging out as friends for a few years, Greg Josh and I, the original members of Harmful if Swallowed, started working on new material, it was our re-birth. since then we have had our music on KROQ FM, MTV and Pandora, and have played with the likes of Korn, FEAR, Far East Movement, I am Ghost, Strung Out, Stiff Little Fingers, TSOL, Unwritten law, TSOL and a bunch of others I cant recall at the moment. well, that pretty much brings you up to date as to what i'm doing with my life... Cheers