As a kid my pops would take me to car shows with his kit and would hand-letter showcards, toolboxes and everything else metal. It was then and there I fell in love with hot rods and could see how art played a role in the culture.
The two are almost synonymous for me. Besides singing in bands, I've developed brands for start-ups and have also designed alongside other creatives for larger brands. Brands worn by bands. And fans.
Don't Lose Hope is both a screen print shop and private label brand that I worked with Summer 2024. Outside of normal customer design needs, I provided all their graphics for the 2.0 release of their brand. These peeps rock in every way.
Kustom Kreations is screen print shop I worked at where the primary focus were graphics specifically for the Alaska, California and Oregon Outdoor Retail Market. Ironically, I've lived a majority of my life in those 3 states.
I love a modular approach to design, where assets have to play well as a team and individually. Sports Programs Criteria typically calls for simplified graphics and color palettes to be spread out among multiple peripherals.
Some logos need to work for signage and menus where a canvas is more finite with embedded rules. Same can be said of label design and printing for bottles and cans, just clap your hands, just clap your hayands.
My career really took shape in Central Coast California. I started with one surf shop and built forward and outward from there. Needs included surf laminates and apparel for shop and private label branding.
The highlight of my career has been my time at Nike. I worked in the Men's Sport Culture Division, where our focus was geared more towards what's worn off the field or court. We provided graphics for quickturn and storyline programs.
My first job out of Art School was working at an electrical sign shop.
I worked my way into running the Pattern Dept. where everything was done by hand at actual size. It taught me proper letter structure and spacing at any scale.
Las Vegas is what you make it. I really grew as an artist there working in the high-intensity advertising field. I landed a job as an Art Director by cold calling every place in town and my ability to do thumbnails and tracing overlays to sell an idea.
In 1990 my first business name was 'Pencil Rides' which evolved to 'Drawing Near', then it was 'Thrillustrate' for many years. 2025 highlights 'Cawthon Custom Co' as my new footprint. Only so people can learn to pronounce my name better.
