My Art Saga

My name is Antoine Pierre-Paul I was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, a few decades ago and now reside in the United States (New York area). I am a Draftsman and Layout Artist actively learning about Creative Graphic Design.

My art saga started, as with most people, when I was in my early teens. As a child, I loved to draw and doodle. Probably a bit more than the average kid. Most of my drawings were of male bodybuilders showing their muscles, or cowboys and indians shooting at each other. (The popular movies of that time were either about gladiators, Hercules and other titans, or bank robbers and gunfighters in America’s old West).

As far as a I can remember, Signs always fascinated me. In these early drawings, there was always some kind of message, title or caption written in all caps. Go figure! In my strolls around town with either my father or my mother, I went absolutely gaga over the blinking neon signs.

My first drawing workbooks were also a fond memory. They had a model on one page, and on the facing page there was a connect-the-dots version of the same drawing you were supposed to reproduce. As you advance through the pages, the dots would move farther and farther apart until they disappear completely.

The paper would be all torn up from the constant rubbing with that tongue-wetted eraser. We believed that the moisture would wipe the mistakes clean and the result would be neater! The smears, the mess, the joy! Oh, how I long to go back!

Then came real art class. We had a teacher who also worked as a graphic artist. Every session, we would draw either a classic shape or some kind of Still Life he would put together with things found in the room. He would pace around and, in his soft voice, explain the principles of Drawing and the fine points of Art HIstory. Every once in a while he would stop behind one of us to offer tips and pointers. That was the whole class.

But that was where I really got my foundation. This is how I met Degas, Ingres, Raphael and the other drawing and painting masters. I learned about linear perspective and complementary colors. He was also the first one who showed me how to render any shape by first drawing a cube in perspective and putting the object inside.

After this came Technical Drafting. One of the main advantages of this training is the resulting ability to “see” through things. One learns to visualize how certain objects would look behind or under certain planes or objects. This level of “clairvoyance” is invaluable when you work with “layers“. The other advantage is the use of various drafting and design implements, pens, rulers, blades and other gadgets.

Next was the Screen Printing and Banner Making era, when I learned the real meaning of deadlines and fussy customers. I did everything from camera work to layout, paste up, film touch up, screen making, signs, banners, etc. Then, someone introduced me to CorelDraw!

I fell in love with the program. I was astonished by the level of control and power over all elements and aspects of the design. It was the time when PageMaker ruled. WYSIWYG was the thing! I have never used Illustrator or Photoshop, but I don’t miss them since I can do just about everything with CorelDraw and Photopaint (or Inkscape and Gimp for that matter). One thing I wish I could do, is learn Ray Tracing and 3D Drawing & Rendering, as in Autocad, Blender, Google Sketchup, etc. A lot of these programs are free, but one has to find the time to study them, and the learning curve is very steep.

When I have a bit of time, I try to learn and master one more feature of the programs I use regularly. For now, I just sit at home and work on rather simple Text Designs to sell online, either on Zazzle or other Print on Demand companies. Above is a picture of my design station: PC running Ubuntu Linux 9.04 and Windows Vista, two 19″ monitors (when you turn multiple, you don’t go back), Wacom tablet, Jug of water or juice, and mug of tea. I drink a lot of tea when I am working. On the left monitor I have those eighty new T-shirts designs I still have to upload.

What I really would like to do is finish those Pen & Ink drawings I started 15 years ago (like this one of a house in Norton, MA), and print a few sets of Limited Edition Serigraphs of the Drawings. But I wonder if this time would ever come…