Summary
Fantasy Illustrator & Painter | Game UI & Graphic Designer
I am an artist, graphic designer and entrepreneur with additional experience in sales, customer service and marketing.
Most of my career has been focused on creative pursuits in fine art and design with experience in both corporate environment and freelance work. I am familiar with both B2B and B2C sales and my long history of entrepreneurship has given me extensive experience in understanding and meeting customer needs.
My fine art career has spanned over a decade and I have focused on both online sales, as well as in-person events at shows across the West Coast. My personal focus has been on Fantasy, Comic and Pop Culture Art in both traditional and digital mediums.
My design career has also spanned over a decade and my focuses have focused on Logo Design / Branding, Vector Illustration, Product Design, Marketing and Prepress Print Optimization. I have also recently acquired a UX/UI Certification and have been learning how to merge my long design history with new UI designs that meet customer needs in new and exciting ways.
I've also started recently working on creating my own Trading Card Game and I'm doing everything on my own, from the writing, to game mechanics, design, art and marketing! Feel free to check it out at @gryphonsaeriegames on Instagram and Facebook. I'm currently knee deep in card spreadsheets, so I've only been posting promotional images for now, but I hope to complete the game by the end of 2026.
I am currently available for Remote / Contract Work.
See my online portfolio of Traditional Art, Design and UI/ UX projects at: https://the_bearded_brush_and_blade.artstation.com/
Skills
Software proficiency
Experience
- UI Artist | Graphic Designer | Traditional Artist at The Bearded Brush and BladePLACERVILLE, USJanuary 2011 - Present
-Successfully run own freelance fine art / graphic design business for over 15 years.
-Grown sales via hand-made and self-designed laser cut/engraved items to over $50k/year gross.
-Sell items successfully both online via Etsy and in-person at comic conventions and shows across the Western United States.
-Perform R&D to determine better selling items in order to drive more sales.
-Design, manage and maintain branding, website and social media channels to maintain visibility and engagement.
-Personally manage orders, inventory, assembly and shipping.
-Physical product offerings include hand-painted watercolor and acrylic pieces, leatherwork, wood carvings, and laser cut/engraved pieces.
-Digital offerings include logo design, branding and style guides, promotional item design, vector illustration, and most recently, UI/UX Design - Sales Designer at ClearbagsEl Dorado Hills, CA, USFebruary 2018 - May 2020
-Created custom branded bags and boxes to my client's specifications and industry best practices.
-Helped Customer Service reps upsell products by offering design / branding services.
-Helped the Production Team by designing schematics for new products.
-Provided quality customer service to customers and work collaboratively with many departments.
-Prepared documentation for meetings, presented new products ideas to supervisors, and worked via phone / email / zoom as needed. - Fine Arts Instructor at MichaelsFolsom, CA, USAugust 2017 - January 2018
-Instructed guided classes on watercolor and acrylic painting, as well as traditional pencil drawing.
-Created marketing collateral and ran social media campaigns to find students for classes.
-Upsold art materials used for classes.
-Grumbacher Certification for each area taught. - Director of E-Commerce | Graphic Designer at SWAG | Blue MoonSparks, NV, USSeptember 2006 - March 2017
-Designed, managed and maintained customer-centric web portals for customers to purchase either inventoried items or print-on-demand items.
-Designed forms, stationery, web graphics, advertisements, logo designs, branding guides, promotional products, posters, t-shirts, general prepress work and advanced vector illustrations.
-Processed and managed orders, quotes, database information and inventory.
-Sought out new customers and developed existing customers.
-Collaborated with and helped oversee a small team of Designers, as well as collaboration with the Sales and Management Teams.