Hey everyone! So there may be some of you that know each other personally and others that have grown use to each others woot usernames, so I thought it would be cool if we learned a little more about the artists here. I’ll start, feel free to include the info I do, or whatever you feel comfortable sharing.
My name is Roger and I’m from California. I love drawing and have been doing it since I was little, but digital art is fairly new to me. I don’t have a particular medium I enjoy more than another, but I do like making more than just drawings. I love sculpting and building things. I also love soccer, I’ve been tempted to include that in designs but I feel like that demographic is small, haha.
Edit: I started to learn photoshop about 2 years ago. I’m going to try to learn illustrator but I heard the transition can be tough. I always wanted to go to school for animation but the money wasn’t there. I recently had a son named Ezra, he’s 2 months now and sleep has been hard to come by, but he’s definitely brought a lot of happiness. I love Coldplay and jack Johnson. I’m a huge Battlestar Galactica fan.
It would be awesome to get to know some of you guys. So I hope you guys reply!
'Kay.
My name is Ben and I like to do drawings. I live in Indiana, married for almost 18 years. Teacher by degree; graphic designer and engineer by trade. Self taught in illustrator and the like.
I love all things steampunk, Electronic music and bluegrass. I have a couple planted aquariums, two cats, and I love to cook.
I like surrealism, video games and long walks on the beach… oh, waitaminut!
I learned most of my illustrator abilities by participating in shirt woot! I knew virtualy nothing about illustrator or vectors when I started. If you were to take a look through the woot closet at all my drawings for woot, i think you would see a dramatic improvement… I hope.
http://derby.wootstalker.com/artist.php?artist=benjaminleebates
I could go on, but I think that should give you a glimpse.
I’ll play along…
The name’s Josh. I live in North Carolina and I’m a graphic artist , wood worker and any other craft I can get my hands on. I bailed from making a living out of doing the design thing for a newspaper publishing company… something about mass producing designs at a high rate with low pay made me feel kinda bad. I’ve been in the t design world for almost a year now and have been enjoying every minute of it. I also have a weenier dog named Bowzer that is sorta like my “fur baby” (ugh). I currently work as a customer care email agent for a large company which will stay unnamed. So yeah, that’s the gist of it pretty much. Oh, I have a deviant art page listed under Nolen85 also if anyone would like to check it out… it severely needs to be updated with more of my traditional art stuffs.
my name is fernando and i’m i live in the bay area.
i’ve bounced around from one career to the next. i wanted to do animation in college but i didn’t get my applications done in time and i got a big scholarship for illustration. after a year of illustration i jumped ship and switched to architecture. got my degree and now i’m a graphic designer 
i do all kinds of art, from pinatas and potato prints to oil painting and stone sculptures. i still do some animation, but i never completed anything.
on a more personal level, i became a sudden dad right after college when my bf’s sister passed away the following new years. i never met her and he didn’t even know he had a nephew. but he has been with us ever since and that pretty much consumes 80 percent of my free time.
edit: it’s great to know a little more about the people here.
That’s a great idea! Thanks for your recent work to improve the community.
My name is Reed. I’m from Idaho, but I’m living in Utah currently. I love drawing. I haven’t done a ton of traditional art - most of what I’ve done is digital. I’m always trying to improve, and that’s one of the reasons I love Woot. It gives me motivation to keep practicing and creating.
My favorite artists are Andy Kehoe
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and Edgar R. McHerly.
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I currently work as a security guard while I’m in school. Working on a degree in business management.
I also really enjoy reading - mostly fantasy. My favorite author is Garth Nix.
… where are the chix?
Aw! My heart goes out to you all; it’s great that, in the wake of something so sudden and tragic, he found a stable home with you guys. Mad props to you both.
I’m almost scared to post now …
My name’s Amanda – or, Amanda Mananda (as my friend once dubbed me). I graduated from college with a degree in Production Theatre Arts (with an emphasis in stage management), but graphic design/layout has always come a little easier to me (and I enjoy it more). I’m almost entirely self-taught; I started in Jasc Paint Shop Pro 6 before I landed a student copy of the Adobe CS3 Suite in college and, from there, I started working on the department’s publicity materials. I thought I’d never understand or want to work in Illustrator but, after a random urge to fire up the program one day, I fell in love and got completely hooked on vector-based design.
Due to my background, I primarily do theatrical posters, playbills, etc. in the metroplex. The last time I stage-managed was, jeez … 2011, I think. I love the atmosphere and the thrill of running a show, but I despise arrogant theater hipsters – and there are a lot of them in community theater – so I quietly slipped away and started working freelance. It’s only recently that I’ve started doing my own art; up until now, it’s always been for someone else, so the sense of personal freedom has been delightful.
I live in Texas with my dad and brother. A lot of personal stuff went down around 2012, and I had to drop all my design contracts; it’s been difficult getting back on my feet financially since then. I have three cats and my brother has two; it sounds better than saying, “We have five cats” – which still makes me cringe. Otherwise, I’m an expert cooker of eggs over-easy, and I have a recipe for Carrot/Coconut soup that’ll blow your face off. I’m also a huge fan of coffee; french press is divine nectar.
Oh, and also: vidja games. Although, I’ve been too busy to partake lately. Excuse me while I go whistle, “Getting To Know You” and make myself some coffee. -
Great idea, momoshwing! Huzzah for artistic camaraderie!
Small note: It’s not a big deal, but my handle is more like “Kaede x99”. Again, video game nerd; I grew up on JRPGs, so the “x99” calls back to item inventories. - Not that I care what people call me; I’m easy. Just thought I’d mention it.
Hey Guys, just wanted to point out we nixed that rule about the popular movie characters in the preview for the Emotion derby that launches on Thursday. Just be careful of IP and copyright.
lol, there’s a serious lack of chicks on this site… plus lots of sn’s i thought might have been chicks… but are not.
Awesome, your sn makes so much more sense now.
mine is actually mec os. stupid woot and their handle rules.
Hey guys! I’m Kate. I’m currently living in Northeast PA but was born and raised in the Hudson River Valley, NY. I have a Bachelor’s of Science in Visual Arts with a concentration in ceramics and a minor in psychology. (Yes, I have a BS degree in art 
) Though I love and miss the pottery wheel, after I graduated college I didn’t really have the resources to continue ceramics so I searched for other creative outlets. In my final semester of college I took the only graphic design course I’ve ever taken. I only learned the bare minimum of Illustrator and In Design— and have next to 0 experience with Photoshop. I have been trying to discipline myself enough to learn it, as it would certainly expand my abilities. I’ve been submitting to Woot for a few years now and am enjoying it more than ever. It’s really awesome that Woot has been printing the honorable mentions and allowing artists like me who aren’t usually in the spotlight to make a few bucks! Other than that I’ve always been artsy—always painting or drawing, I’ve been into jewelry making and other arts as well.
I currently work as an adoption coordinator at an animal shelter here in PA. I live with my boyfriend and we have a cat, a dog, and a rabbit but you can often find our home full of foster kittens or other critters.
Though I hear what you are saying-- whatever girl! They are amazing creatures and the shelters are overflowing. Great to hear you are giving 5 of them a loving home! Mine is currently telling me it’s dinner time
My boyfriend and I love to party—we are always going to concerts and music festivals! We enjoy binge-watching shows on Netflix and playing video games. I’m currently obsessed with Outwitters (for ios and android.)
Oh, and although I keep to myself, I’m really not that quiet—this screen name was from high school and I used it on Woot out of pure laziness. Once my designs started printing I couldn’t really change it, lol. Unless someone knows how I can change my screenname without losing the connection to my designs.
I appreciate the work you do as an adoption coordinator; I know it can be a thankless job at times, but I have mad respect for the time and patience it must take to do such things.
One of ours was a bonafide adoption. Two others wandered onto our property and made their case directly. One came from a friend who was going to give her to a flaky pet owner, so my brother stepped in. And the youngest actually beat the odds and ran up to us (as a tiny kitten, even) after we stopped our car to check on him. We were going to fix him up and adopt him out ourselves, but he had a bite wound on his leg that abscessed. By the time he was healed and tested for disease, he was already firmly entrenched in the house – due, in some small part, to the adorable fact that he plays fetch with his toy mice.
Feeding time definitely makes the house feel like a cattery. -;] But, nah, I love ‘em to death; don’t regret a single one. But I can just see that look on peoples’ faces when I say “five”. - Judgmental butts.
So awesome to learn more about fellow art folks here! Great idea Roger, and congrats on little Ezra! I jumped ship from Illustrator a ways back (haha except for the live trace tool) so lots of kudos for taking on a new approach to creating.
My real name is Taylor Rose (I mostly keep the sn simple like that so it’s easy to find me in other areas of the interwebs) I have a BFA in Illustration, originally from New Hampshire but adventuring in Oregon now. I use pen and ink for everything and paint digitally. Most of my work is much more illustrative (still new to the t shirt biz) and I’m a full time freelancer right now but my ultimate goal is to create backgrounds for cartoons and immerse myself into the animation world.
If anyone is curious about more illustration work I’m also at: http://www.taylorrosemakesart.com/
I’m an avid snowboarder, backpacker, cartoon watcher, and have a somewhat healthy obsession with hobbits and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Woot has a really awesome group here, glad to be on board with all these creatives!
PS- I’m also trying to get a little community art critique going for daily subs if anyone else is interested: http://shirt.woot.com/forums/viewpost.aspx?postid=6369275&pageindex=1&replycount=1
Awesome stuff guys! It’s really cool to get to know you all a little better! Hope we get more!
I checked out your woot closet, your old stuff wasn’t so bad but I can definitely see the improvement. It’s way better than my stuff, haha, I began in flash because my friend gave me his copy. I quickly realized that wasn’t the right tool for the job and have since taught myself Photoshop. What do you teach? And what kind of video games are you playing?
Haha, fur baby…I love that his name is Bowzer. I have one of those too, its a Chihuahua mix named Logan (Yes after wolverine, haha). I love the heck out of him. I’ll have to check out your deviant art page. It would be really awesome to see some of your wood work, I’ve always thought that stuff was amazing. We have this guy where I live that has a wood work store on the side of a highway and his stuff is pretty awesome.
Major props for stepping up like that. It is really amazing that you’d be so selfless and take on a responsibility like that. You’re from the bay area? That’s awesome! So am I! We should totally try to meet up some time.
That’s one of the reasons why I’m here as well. I’ve got my day job that pays the bills and woot gives me the drive and opportunity to do what I’ve always loved. I use to read a lot more reading than I do now, I’ll have to keep that author in mind.
That’s awesome, I’d love to see some of your posters. I have a coworker who is a stage manager (I assume she volunteers because I don’t know how she could do both) and she loves it. It seems like a pretty cool thing to be involved in (minus the hipsters, haha). You do really good work so I’m sure you land back on your feet in no time. Haha, and 5 cats isn’t that bad, animals are awesome and you’re bettering their lives by adopting them. Carrot/coconut soup sounds interesting, I’ve never tried it before. What games are you currently playing? I’ve been working on Far Cry 4, and Batman is next.
Haha, and thanks for explaining your handle. Mine is my old Xbox gamertag which my brother and I came up with by combining a bigfoot cry from a surprisingly sad bigfoot documentary (Momo) and shwing from one of the greatest films of all time, Wayne’s world.
Ceramics! I loved ceramics. The pottery wheel took me a while to conquer but oh man it’s so fun to work with it. The HM’s have been really cool, there’s been a lot of designs that haven’t had the votes but were greatly executed that have gone on to be printed because of it. It would break my heart to work at N adoption center, so major props to you! Haha, I’ll admit I assumed you were a quiet girl but just really proud of it.
that would be cool. and how pretentious of us to imply there are no other bay areas other than SF
Can’t resist jumping in; lots of common ground. My name is Brian, I’m 31, and my little boy named Ezra just hit 3 months. I live in the Philly area with my wife and 3 little boys. I’m a software engineer; I did my own Android apps for a few years and now work for a local software shop on their Android team. I’ve dabbled at writing, music, and website stuff, but my favorite and now all-encompassing “hobby” is being a dad.
My name is Jon and I live in Michigan. I’m currently doing motion graphic design and video production for a living, but I have always loved drawing and doodling. My girlfriend convinced me to start entering the derbies a couple years ago, but I a bit slow and meticulous about my drawings so I tend to not enter the derby very often.
I’ve always loved the work of artists I see on here. It makes me super jealous of all of your skills.
Thinking about it now, I was always intimidated with illustrator as well. I think it has a bit of a learning curve especially if you are only used to raster based graphic software, but once you get over the initial hurdle it becomes much easier. Keep it up though, the advantages of Illustrator are great.
Good idea momoshwing… My given name is William, everyone calls me Bill, although my Father always called me Willie. Which was his Fathers first name. Hailing from Atlanta, GA. I started drawing at a very young age and fortunately my parents supported my talents by keeping me supplied with all of the tools needed along with their support. I graduated from the ITM College of art (I Taught Myself). I started my adult art career by pinstriping cars and motorcycles. Then I moved towards the sign industry, building, sculpting and painting large monuments and statues. As I was doing that in the day I was still steadily building my side business of custom painting, airbrushing and pinstriping cars, trucks and choppers at night. I soon left the sign shop and went into business for myself doing custom paint work on motorcycles and choppers. Not to sound like I’m bragging, but I was very successful at it. Having multiple cars and choppers featured in magazines, calendars and on TV. Hell, I was even taped for a TV show doin’ my thang. Unfortunately the economy crashed and the first thing that people stop spending money on is luxury items. That’s what I provided, a service that wasn’t always needed. Soooo… All of the motorcycle shops that I did work for eventually closed their doors and I had too also. I decided to go back to the sign industry. I helped a friend of mine start his family’s business by designing their standard models. Which can be seen at http://customfoamfabricators.com/
Although the sign industry may not sound fascinating, I actually enjoy it. Everyday is different and brings new challenges. Plus, as of the last few years I’ve worked on a ton of movie projects mainly for Marvel. But, I will say that the best thing that’s happened to me in the last several years is getting married to my beautiful and awesome wife Deborah and our family!
P.S. The woot designer family also kicks ass !! There are a lot of good and talented people that submit designs here. We’ve had the pleasure to meet and hangout with a few of them. Shout out to J5 and Oakenspirit… cdrewlow, you need to give us a heads up next time you head towards Atlanta! We hate that we missed ya last time… Cheers!