S.L. Stinnett - Bio

I was born in ’54 in El Pueblo de La Nuestra Señora La Reina de Los Angeles. You may know it better as “LA.” I grew up at the tail end of the baby boom within the safety and relative wealth of the great Post World War Two American Suburban Expansion.

I began drawing at 7. Drawing came naturally to me. I loved comics and all things military. I drew snoopy and soldiers. At the time I couldn’t make up my mind in career aspirations between being Charles Schultz or George S. Patton.

Later, coinciding with my age of military service, the end of the War in Viet Nam put a cap on the idea of being George S. Patton. That and the astounding revelation that my drawing skills didn’t impress the United States Army one bit.

So instead of driving a tank, I studied Fine Art at El Camino JC in the South Bay of Los Angeles. I went through that school at a time when several other highly talented people where attending. Many of them are now recognized Los Angeles Artists. My instructors there were all graduates of Chounard, LA’s great Art institution and nucleus of CalArts.

In 1978 my family asked me to help them build an automotive after-market venture. I spent most of my early adult life working for that business. There I developed a great respect for entrepreneurial commerce. I view this experience as a critical part of my success as a commercial illustrator.

Although I was involved in creating marketing and support materials for that business, my primary function was sales, vendor and product development. At that time, for me, Art was more of an intense side interest. I had completely bought the myth that there wasn’t a decent living to be made in it. Later I began to express my Art largely as what some call a gallerist, perhaps not surprising given my mercantile bent.

Over the years I created two nontraditional Art Spaces, The Only Open Sometimes Art Gallery in Manhattan Beach and later Gerald Stevens Fine Art in Encino. Both were created as a type of Art in themselves, exploring the line between commerce and creativity.

In 1991 Desert Storm popped the art bubble that had been building throughout the 80s in America. The war put a rough end to my little "Art Gallery as Art" caper. In the lee of it's collapse, in an, "I'LL NEVER BE HUNGRY AGAIN" type of move, I sought training in Computer Graphics. I begged an entry level job in a newspaper graphics production firm, TSA Design - a company created by the amazing Jeff Turner - which happened to produce large parts of the Los Angeles Times

I was taught the ropes of computer graphics by some really great people, kids really, half my age, working in the intense, deadline driven environment of newspaper production. In a short time, I moved up in that firm to become the main creative for their high-end design and marketing service.

I did creative, copy and illustration for divisions of Six Flags Corporation, Postal Instant Press, Seagrams, Jafra, Time-Avnet and a host of regional businesses.

I began to freelance Graphic Art on the side in 1995, working, at first with small but widely distributed consumer products and film companies. In 1998 I expanded my services into the Gaming Industry and, through Arnie Uretsky’s company Mythic Wave Productions, the Educational Software Industry.

Since 1998 I have illustrated and won awards for the covers of over 50 software title covers and done GUI and internal art production for scores of best selling titles. I went totally freelance in 2003 and been able to step up and work with companies like Mattel, Hasbro, Riverdeep, Scholastic and WalMart.

I love being an artist. I love making art for kids. I love making art that sells stuff. I love walking into a store and seeing my art on the self. Most of all, I love living the quite, studious life of a graphic artist. I like the quiet part because my ears are very sensitive. I’m really glad I didn’t become George S. Patton because the military, as you know, is quite loud.

Steven Lee Stinnett, Tarzana CA