About Me
Steve's Biography (Short version)
I have been drawing and creating artwork since the age of four and have been a freelance professional graphic designer since 2000. I have served clients including world class museums (The Getty Center, LA), indie and mainstream rock bands, comedians (Joe Rogan, Jeff Ross, Bert Kreischer) internet entrepreneurs (Tom Woods, Logan Paul, Jason Stapleton, Adam Kokesh), and small and large businesses (Movement Mortgage, Panasonic, Google) in fields like film, marketing, real estate, manufacturing, publishing, and apparel. I am also a painter and illustrator, though for the last ten years I've been focusing more on caricature, illustration, and digital art rather than traditional painting. My clients hail from 6/7 continents, for which I am grateful. (No penguins from Antarctica have ordered yet, but I can hope!)
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Social Media
Please follow me on MeWe, Minds and Steemit. My major social media links are on the bottom of the page, but I believe alt tech is the future! However, currently Instagram is your best bet to see all my latest drawings; link is on the bottom of the page.
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Qualifications
I earned my Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University. I made the Dean's List all 8 semesters, and at commencement I was given the coveted Paul Robeson Emerging Artist award.
In 2022, I studied under celebrated Mad Magazine caricature artist Tom Richmond.
I am very experienced in print, web, and corporate identity design. I also have a little bit of experience in video editing and apparel design. My first love, however, is illustration.
(I also have experience in direct sales, marketing, and customer service. I have planned, staffed, manned tables, and delivered speeches at trade shows and industry conventions. I can provide excellent references from former clients and employers.)
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Interviews and Media
JoyEnergizer II
Erica's Pin Up Pop
My lovely wife is an artist/illustrator too! Please check out her website by clicking here.
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Artistic Influences Or: Artists Who Are Better Than Me
Certain artists and art critics say that there are two types of fine art: Art that appeals to logic and reason and art that appeals to emotion. I’m definitely more in the logic and reason camp. The "left brain" is the more analytical of the two hemispheres, and it responds better to line work, composition, and form than to color and brushstrokes.
I'm also a populist at heart, and as such am a big fan of the pop artists. Some obvious examples are Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns, and Roy Lichtenstein. Some other favorites of mine (in no particular order) are M. C. Escher, Stuart Davis, Lisa Yuskavage, Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, Hieronymus Bosch, Jeff Koons, Marcel Duchamp, Piet Mondrian, and Tim Burton (his style rather than his narratives). I’m also a big fan of minimalism, typography, and dada.
From top left to bottom right: Warhol, Davis, Escher, Mondrian, Koons, Johns, Duchamp, Eisner, Miller, Mignola, Lichtenstein, Gibbons, O'Neill, Lee, Bernini, Bosch, Yuskavage, Templesmith, McKean, Burton, Caravaggio
In the past decade, I've also become very interested in comic art. (I think my recent work obviously reflects this.) When I was a child, I was never really interested in comics since I didn't care for superheroes all that much. (Although I've always loved Batman.) I was more interested in animation, cartoons, and Star Wars. I wasn't aware that there was a huge market for adult graphic novels spanning a wide variety of more mature issues and topics. I think comic art is a highly under-appreciated art form. Lichtenstein helped bridge the gap between "high" and "low" comic art, but it's still seen as "kid's stuff" by many. Some comic artists I admire are Frank Miller (his art, not his politics), Dave Gibbons, Dave McKean, Kevin O'Neill, Mike Mignola, Jim Lee, Will Eisner, and Ben Templesmith.
As for illustrators and caricature artists I like and admire, I have too many to list here. Check out my Instagram and see who I'm following.
Batman Poll
Thanks for reading to the end! I'm a bit of a Batman fanboy, are you? If so, get 10% OFF my caricatures if you take my poll about the Dark Knight. If you just want to see the results without taking the poll, click here.