Today we’d like to introduce you to Michael Grasseschi.
Michael, before we jump into specific questions, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I started my journey as an illustrator and designer while touring with a band I played with for about six years right out of high school. We needed flyer designs, t-shirts, stickers, all that kind of stuff. When I was in high school I took digital media and photography classes and scored the Adobe suites for free, so I had Photoshop, Illustrator, and all the other Adobe software on my computer. I would laboriously digitize my sketches in Photoshop, no stylus or tablet to sketch over things, just a trackpad and a laptop. I started having other bands ask me to design merch for them, album art, tour flyers, etc. At the time money was really tight so it was nice to have a little extra cash while I was on the road. A little over a year ago I decided to step away from music and focus on my illustration business. Since then I’ve worked with tons of amazing clients from bands to nonprofits to music festivals. I’m now working on developing a print collection as well as some merch like stickers, shirts, etc.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It rarely is a smooth road, haha. Especially in art when you’re constantly criticizing yourself and comparing your work to that of your peers or those who are more successful than you. I’ve found over the years to just be loving to myself and where I am at in my creative journey all while supporting my friends who are artists – there’s enough work out there for all of us and I’ve never felt competitive with any designers out there!
I’ve also spent so much time learning new software or optimizing my work setup which is not something I would have thought of when I started all of this. I’ve been fortunate to have a decent computer and now a great iPad tablet which was a huge leap forward for my design process, but there’s always room for improvement. Even learning how to design websites and all of that which is not really in my wheel house has been super beneficial for me.
I’m grateful to have grown up seeing my dad open his business and witnessing all the hurdles he came across, and I’ve had a lot of those work ethic values instilled in me from a young age. I’ve never expected running a business to be easy or for things to just fall in my lap, which makes me so grateful when things do!
MICHGRAS Media & Design – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
I’m a freelance designer and illustrator specializing in minimalistic artwork and graphics. I love using muted and subtle color palettes paired with soft textures and draw a lot of inspiration from the colors I see here in California summers as well as the southwest, where I spent a lot of time when I was touring. I try to create thought provoking art that feels peaceful and intriguing, while also being beautiful and simple. When I’m drawing, I try to think of what I would want to see on my walls in my own home, since that’s been one of my goals from the start – to have a print collection.
I guess something I’m proud of would be the times I’ve needed to get outside of my comfort zone creatively to deliver a job for a client that wasn’t something I would normally draw. I always end up really loving those pieces because I see all the hard work that goes into it and I can still see the traces of my signature look even though it’s not necessarily something I would have come up with on my own.
I think the thing that sets me apart from other designers is I am down to try anything. I always love pushing the envelope and growing creatively, and I think that’s really the joy of art is growing and trying new things, even if they don’t always work out.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
There have been so many projects I’ve felt so proud of that it’s hard to choose just one, but I was especially excited to be approached by Shabang, a local music festival here in SLO, to design some shirts for their festival. They are a huge cornerstone of our local music community and I was honored to be chosen! Unfortunately, the festival had to be cancelled this year due to coronavirus and my shirts never saw the light of day, but I’m hoping to work with more music related projects in the future. I’ve designed a lot of album artwork as well for different bands and it’s always awesome to see the response when their new music is released.
Contact Info:
- Email: michgras.ca@gmail.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/michgras
Image Credit:
All illustrations by Michael Grasseschi; Photo by Michael Grasseschi
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