My earliest memory of learning how to draw was when I was in the fourth grade. I can still remember signing out a "how to draw ships" book from my school's library and naively but enthusiastically attempting to draw the most complicated boat in the book. My father observed me struggling to draw such a detailed ship and wisely suggested to start with something less difficult. Of course, being the head strong kid I was, I interpreted my Dad's advice as a challenge and I set out to prove him wrong. Luckily for me, I did.
Nearly thirty years later and there is still no better motivation than telling me I "can't" do something. I don't know if it's the stubborn kid in me but I'll try to prove I can do it when everyone says "you can't". I love a challenge. I'm a firm believer that what one man can do another can learn to do. When determination, dedication, and effort combine anything is possible
I became infatuated with my new found skill and began to draw constantly all through grade school. I entered every art show and contest I could in an effort to learn as much as possible. I spent countless hours in our basement drawing concepts for sci-fi movies like Star Wars which was my childhood obsession. Eventually I outgrew my Star Wars geek phase and became interested in cars.
Upon entering high school I sought to continue my art education by enrolling in the advanced art program. The program's teacher, Jim Gerard, was an incredible inspiration and friend. Jim and I both loved cars and racing as much as art and we would talk about them every class. Jim was beginning his side-career as an automotive artist at the time and inspired me to combine my love of cars and art. It was then that I decided to study at the Cleveland Institute of Art and major in transportation design.
Despite an excellent foundation program in the fine arts, I quickly became disillusioned during my time at CIA. I was expecting to be taught by the ID department professors but I soon found out that the only way you learned anything was through your fellow classmates. The Industrial Design faculty might have been good people but they were terrible teachers. During my entire three years in the program I never ONCE saw an "instructor" draw or do any kind of drawing lesson for the students. No perspective class, no rendering lesson, nothing! You were completely on your own. Thank God I made friends with two upper classmen named Jeff Puppos and Holt Ware. Holt and Jeff saved my butt by sharing their knowledge and teaching me what I needed to know to survive. If it wasn't for them I would have been lost from day one.
The only saving grace at CIA was an incredible GM/Chrysler sponsored class for car design. Once a week every Saturday we were taught by a great group of designers who voluntarily came down from Detroit. One semester was a GM sponsored project, the other semester was led by Chrysler. These car guys were the only real professors we had. If it wasn't for them that program would never had existed. They were the only real teachers I ever saw within those doors. I can't thank them enough.
Needless to say, if I knew then what I know now I would have gone to Art Center or CCS in a heartbeat. Attending the Cleveland Institute of Art was the greatest mistake of my career and I still regret it to this day. Unfortunately I didn't have the Internet and its' wealth of information available at my fingertips like today's aspiring designers do. I was limited to the info I could find in my local library or I would have surely avoided the whole CIA debacle.
Out of the four of us who were looking for car design jobs I was the only one who slipped through the cracks. Two of my fellow classmates, Rich Scheer and Phil Kucera, are working in the industry to this day. They were great guys and deserve their success.
In retrospect, not getting hired by the Big Three wasn't the worst thing that could have happened. Although I miss not being able to design cars in the "big time", I don't think I could have lived happily in Detroit given the climate and economic atmoshpere. I also don't know how I would have been able to stomach all the politics and nonsense that goes on inside the studios during these turbulent times. Working for a company that is losing billions of dollars a year has to be extremely stressful to say the least. Regardless, the most talented designers in the world work behind those doors and my hat goes off to them.
I married my lovely wife Paula and moved to Florida shortly after graduating from CIA. I bounced around central to south Florida from a variety of design jobs looking for that "perfect fit". I've worked on everything from conversion vans to sport fishing boats to web design. The myriad of design projects I've encountered has been the best real world education anyone could ask for. It also doesn't hurt that it's perpetually beautiful outside and I'm ten minutes from the ocean. Life is too short to spend half of it sitting inside waiting for the sun to come out!
I am also a certifiable, die-hard Ferrari nut! I am proud to say that I had the privilege of working at the local Factory Authorized Ferrari dealer, Shelton Ferrari (now Ferrari of Ft. Lauderdale), for over three years. I was responsible for all of their creative advertising and print including the design of the showroom. My time with them was like heaven on Earth. Everyone I worked with was like family and I got to drive Ferrari's. What more could anyone ask for?
I left Shelton Ferrari around 2000 when the opportunity arose to work on a major project for a private collector. In the course of almost 3 years I designed and created a 10,000 square foot automotive paradise to house his collection. Imagine a private Disney World for a car nut! Not only am I surrounded by exotic and classic cars all day, I am blessed to have another employer who is more of a great friend than a boss. He has taken me to places and events that I could only dream of and I look forward each day to our next car project.
The majority of my time is now consumed by Hot Shoe Studios Inc. I have returned to my roots and I am focusing on what I truly love to do, art. Although an art career is a difficult road to travel, I am attempting to give it one last shot while I still can. Too many people spend their lives chasing the almighty dollar and go unfulfilled until old age or a tragic health event forces them to reavaluate their path. I've decided to try and avoid that mistake. God willing I'll be blessed to see it through and provide for my family. I also enjoy mentoring aspiring car designers by focusing on develop their skills to prepare their portfolio for college. I really love to teach and the sense of pride I feel when helping someone acheive their goals. Hopefully I can help some future designers avoid the pitfalls I fell into.
On a more personal note, I spend my free time enjoying our endless sunny days with my beautiful wife, son, and daughter. I love to visit the Bahamas as often as possible and fish here locally with my brother on our classic flats boat that we restored named FlatsHunter. I continue to love cars and racing. I try to sneak in as much seat time as possible and I enjoy driving everything and anything from shifter karts to autocross. If it has wheels chances are I'll love it. Despite my enthusiasm and preactice time I am really slow and will never be confused for Michael Schumacher. I think it's safe to say a F1 career isn't in the cards!
