H. Hargrove was born Nicolo Sturiano on June 16, 1947 in Palermo, Italy. Nicolo was raised in Marsala, Italy, where his parents, three brothers and one sister lived. During his youth, he spent every summer on his Grandfather's farm, which was not unlike those of rural America. Hargrove's earliest recollection of drawing was at the age of six or seven when he received a set of colored pencils as a gift. He was fascinated by the colors and began to draw and experiment with them. Thus began many...
San Diego native and self-proclaimed California Boy, David Willardson, enjoyed a successful career in design and illustration before teaming up with Disney. He had always loved all things Disney--from the first time he visited Disneyland as a kid in 1955, to working there as a cast member throughout high school--but he never considered a professional relationship until he received a call from Jeffrey Katzenberg (head of animation at Disney) in the 80’s. Katzenberg had seen an illustration of G...
Marcus Uzilevsky (1937 - 2015) was born in New York City to Russian and Polish immigrants. Encouraged at a young age to follow his natural inclination for art, Uzilevsky was formally trained in illustration. Upon completing his studies, Uzilevsky worked in the commercial art industry for an automobile accessory store. Though he was creating original works, Uzilevsky did not find commercial art to be the best outlet for his creativity. In order to fulfill this need, Uzilevsky taught himself guita...
Guillaume Azoulay, a self-taught artist, was born in Casablanca, Morocco in 1949. His parents settled in Paris when Azoulay was ten and by the age of thirteen, he was sketching and selling his drawings on the streets and planning his career as an artist. As Azoulay met people from various parts of the world, his interest in traveling grew, and when he was fourteen he left home and hitchhiked across Europe and the Middle East. His desire to see and be part of the life, history and beauty of the w...
Although Todd Goldman began painting in high school, he didn’t pursue his artistic interests until years later. Instead, he earned a degree in accounting from the University of Florida and worked as a CPA for six years followed by a handful of odd jobs. Frustrated with the state of things, Goldman began to doodle just as he had when he was younger, “making fun of the world through his stupid doodles.” After six months, Goldman had collected enough designs to start david & goliath, a t-shir...
Rarely does "photographic-realism" fit as accurately as it does when describing the artwork of Daniel M. Smith. Smith's watercolor renderings are so realistic that it is not uncommon for the viewer to mistake them for photographs. "At first glance it may appear that I possess no distinguishable style, but it is that apparent absence of technique that gives my paintings their photo-real qualities." Smith's powerful ability to create, with watercolors, a painting so flawless in detail and dimensio...
Stan Lee Born in 1922 in New York City to humble beginnings, Stan Lee is now perhaps the most well-known name in the world of comics and superheroes. His career in comics began when he was 16 by becoming an assistant at Timely Comics, which would soon evolve into Marvel Comics. Lee quickly worked his way up the corporate ladder to become writer and eventually editor-in-chief. In the late 1950s, Lee was given the task to come up with a superhero team to rival the popular Justice League of Ameri...
Giuseppe "Pino" Dangelico (1939-2010) It is fine art, unlike other artistic milieu, that the brush strokes come from the heart rather than the eye, says Pino Dangelico, known in the art world as Pino. Born in 1939, Pino realized hardship early in life. His father was a technician in a local university and life was simple but Pino entertained himself as a young artist. At 20, Pino spent 2 years studying at the University of Brera drawing and painting nudes, developing his semi-classical style. ...
Dan Piraro has been a cigar-smoking vegan, animal rights activist, atheist, NRA hating, ex-husband, father, stand-up comedian, painter, former host of FOX TV’s "Utopia," philosophizing cartoonist who makes his living writing and drawing a new cartoon every day, 365 days a year. His humor is inspired partly by his own real-life situations and partly by the eccentric thoughts that pop into his overly-active mind. Dan has a rare talent for ruffling feathers with scathing commentary on the mindles...
Chuck Jones (September 21, 1912 - February 22, 2002) was born in Spokane, Washington but grew up in Hollywood, California where he was inspired by the comedic talents and slapstick humor of Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. As a child, he occasionally worked as an extra in Mac Sennett comedies. Jones graduated from Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles (now California Institute of the Arts). He often drew pencil portraits for the price of one dollar each and sold them on Olvera Street in do...
