In the year 2000 I celebrated my fiftieth birthday. I always thought fifty was old. Now I realize, it's sixty that's old. I am fortunate to have enough talent to make a living as a artist. I thank God daily for this gift. Art has been good to me. It has not made me rich, but it has enriched my life.

I studied Advertising Design at "The Society of Arts and Crafts in Detroit", now referred to as "The Center for Creative Study" or "CCS". I am grateful for my experience at CCS and recommend it to artists who would like to improve their skills.

As an artist I have lived in two worlds. The first was precompustoric (the world without computers). The only media available came from art supply stores. From 1968, until about 1988, I worked with the traditional tools of the craft. An art project starts with a sketch using a Venus 3B on newsprint. Drawing with pencil on paper is the basis of all good art work. You may skip this step and do well, but you will do a better job after you draw it a few times.

For myself, the next phase was always brutal. A trip to the Art Directors or clients office for approval. (the equivalent of the modern day PDF) It is quite unnerving to watch the sketch you poured over for the last five hours, turned into a place mat for a Big Mac. Even worse is having an un-skilled hack try to sketch his idea on the same paper. In the Wild West you could shoot a man for that.

In order to have the un-trained eye of the client comprehend your sketch, you usually produce a Magic Marker Comp. If you have ever watched the TV show "Bewitched" The reason Samantha's husband Darren never made much sense is because him and his boss Larry were always high on Magic Marker fumes. These fumes are dangerous. Darren was in the late stages of "Brain Dead". I mean come on he married a gorgeous witch and then tells her she can't use "her" magic. He was a moron and a disgrace to the advertising world. Blue-Black's my favorite. Try not to drool on the work. Dead brain cells? Uh, I dunno, maybe. Sometimes, I see one of my past Magic Marker renderings and say "Wow, that's nice. Who did that?"

Finally, the finished work. This is what illustrators live for. I really thought that eventually I would sit in my studio and produce nice crisp finished art. For many reasons it didn't work out exactly like I thought, but it's close. I have used variety of media over the years. Airbrush, water color, acrylic, pen & ink. Whatever the client orders. That was then.

NOW, all those tools are available on the computer. Anybody can use them. They really work great too. PLUS... you can UNDO your stupid mistakes. The last 99 if you have to. What's not to like about that.

Having actual experience using an X-acto knife to cut frisket, the pssssst, pssssst of the airbrush, falling asleep at 3 am with my forehead stuck to a rubber cement can, I think, has given my work character. The "Swiss Arty Knife" is tribute to stuff, past and present, please check it out. I think we are just seeing the beginning of the computer age. I look back at the first Apple computer I bought in the mid eighties. It was an expensive joke. But those contributions to the computer industry and a steadfast belief in new technology is why we have these amazing machines today. It's hard to believe that the "State of the art" machine I am working on today as I key in this copy will probably be in a land fill five years from now.

I have honed my skills in Corel Draw®, Adobe Illustrator® and Photoshop®. I have worked with a number of other programs, but it is my intention to stick to illustration.

I humbly present some of my work. Please email me if you have any questions or comments. I will gladly share ideas with fellow artist and craftsmen.

Thank you, John Haskin