ABOUT THE ARTIST

ABOUT THE ARTIST

I am 24 years young and have lived in California all of my life. Born and Raised! Since I was about 6, drawing really caught my interest. My babysitter used to call me "the little artist." I am a left hander, so naturally I am "right-brained", which is the creative side of the brain. I didn't seriously get into drawing until I was about 13, when a guy at school made a comment about how "girls can't draw" After that, I began doing portraits off of magazines and pictures just to prove him wrong. :)

Aside from drawing & painting, I like to work on my website, write poetry, read, spend time with friends & family, dance... I love many different types of music. When I draw, I like listening to music from other countries, tropical music, relaxation music or electronica...something relaxing to make my mind wander into a different dimension. I really enjoy working with computers.

As far as education is concerned, I graduated from San Pedro High School in 1996 and am currently attending Golden West City College. I took a couple of years off from school thinking I could make it based on talent only, but recently realized that was not a smart choice. I began attending school again and hope to eventually transfer to either Long Beach State or an Art Institute if I can afford it.

I currently work for a marketing company as one of their lead graphic artists. I have been working there since July 2002 and have been learning a great deal while I've been there.

My specialty is Adobe Photoshop 7. I use filters such as Alien Skin's "Eye Candy", Xenofex, KPT (Kai's Power Tools) 3.0, etc. I have used Corel Draw & Paint 8.0 & 9.0 and found it extremely useful in enhancing photos and graphics. Also I have used Paint Shop Pro 5 and Animation Shop, both of these programs work very well. Ulead, Font FX, and other Font programs have been of good use for some of the fonts/animations that I have used on my web pages. Every single graphic, drawing, and painting on this art section of my site was created by yours truly, Michelle G. Curiel.