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Since I was a little boy, I have always found
myself drawn to the visual aspects of life (pun intended). I have been making
art for the greater portion of my life, and professionally since the early
2000’s. I am formally trained in the
Studio Arts and hold a Bachelor’s of Fine Art from the University of
Missouri-Columbia (2002). However, I did not start off with Art as my main
career focus. Before Missouri I went to Mississippi State and thought I was
going to be a baseball player while pursuing a degree in the Sciences. After
two great years, with even greater friends, I jumped to Rockhurst in Kansas
City for a year of study. I took an Art class here and there, but always looked
at a career in that field as my back-up plan. I loved making the art, but was
young and did not know what I wanted to really do. At the end of that academic
year, I knew I no longer wanted to directly pursue medicine and started to
focus on the creative part of my life. Three years later, I had my BFA and was
ready to take on the world as an Outside Sales Rep for a chemical company. SAY
WHAT!?
Yep, initially I took the road more
traveled instead of following my passion. Most of my friends went out and got
quote, ‘Normal Jobs.’ So that was the safe path that I understood and then followed in. I did this type of work for six months, and I was pretty good at it, but I was entirely
unfulfilled as a person. I thought when I am forty, if I am still doing this type
of work that is killing my creative soul, I am going to Superman off of the roof
(just kidding). That is to say, I knew what I wanted to do with my life now and
I was not on the path to achieving my goal. So, I quit my safe little ‘Office
Space’ job and pursued a career in the Arts full time. I hit the streets
hustling every single day and by the end of that first week I was part of a group show.
This was a very difficult transition, extremely hard to do, and exceptionally challenging
to explain to everyone. Pretty sure most of my family and friends thought I was
insane! However, I knew it was the right path for me and if I worked harder
than everyone else I could make it happen.
The illustration part of my career came
in a couple years later in life starting in Graduate School at the Savannah
College of Art and Design (SCAD). It was at SCAD I studied with an extraordinary
faculty and talented group of fellow students as I went on to snag a Master’s
of Fine Arts in Illustration (2007). During my studies I gained a deeper appreciation
of how my Commercial Art and Fine Art were two separate parts of my creative
spirit. To let both forms breath, I opened Gallery 108, a studio and showroom,
for my Fine Artwork in Savannah’s Historic City Market. This allowed for me to
stay focused on my Illustration career at home and in the classroom. Just
because I was developing as a Commercial Artist, I did not want to lose touch
with the artwork that had delivered me to this point. I feel strongly that I am
a more successful Illustrator today because I never stopped making the other
creative work.
I now have been a working artist in
various creative environments for over a decade and have started a fun and
successful academic career path as well. I currently teach Illustration at both
the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) and the Illinois Institute of Art-Chicago
(ILIA). I love being in the classroom and in many ways learn as much as I teach
my future artists. They are also a big part of why I am doing ‘Crack the
Cover.’ On one level this blog is for me to push myself and feed the creative
within. On another level, it will provide my student-artists, peers and anyone
who stops by a chance to see what I am up to and the actual professional
process I use when working with a client. I look forward to sharing my
successes and failures with you and hope you enjoy this little Chris Arnold
Project! A*
P.S. It would also be pretty amazing if
The New Yorker actually uses one of my images on their cover.
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