Today we’d like to introduce you to Christopher Serrano.
Hi Christopher, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
In high school I did horribly and hardly graduated, but right after I went to the Art Institute for Graphic Design and actually did very well. So, I knew I had some type of eye for Design. Interned for Soupgraphix during which was awesome/Harsh. I had a few whatever design jobs for a couple of years, mostly in Apparel. Also have been doing freelance for people since graduating. (logos, brand, apparel) Then Eventually landing a job at Funko by meeting my current Boss Mike becker. Who was doing “Flophouse” at the time with Diego Estolano. It started off with us three in the office, then five years later, there were 12 of us. Making me the youngest in the office, but being the Lead Artist. Meaning I was in charge of a lot of the creative direction. We were basically A design team that did everything and anything design. In the mean time, I was building up my @cheeezo Brand, just drawing things for fun. Mostly just a passion project. My personal style has been influenced by Rat Fink, Mad Balls, Garbage pail Kids. Creepy monster art that paved the way for current Lowbrow art. I guess I can keep going, but that’s kind of the shortened version haha you can tell I’m not much of a grammatical guy too.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I think I’ve had my struggles, but I’ve always known I’ve what I wanted to do as far as my career path and have always been prepared whenever a door has opened up for me. But I guess my biggest struggle was early on I had cruddy design jobs with cruddy bosses and felt like there was nothing out there for me. The way I landed my job now was funny. I asked my friend Alyssa Ibarra to look at my portfolio because I wasn’t getting any responses for jobs. She showed it to her Boss, and the next day asked me to come in for an interview. I’ve been working for him for six years now.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I have three Gigs. My 9-5 is Funko. Mostly Apparel, But everything and anything graphic design. My second Gig is freelance. People find me on Instagram and ask for commission pieces, and that’s under “Cheezy Designs.” My third Gig is my Cheezo art. I draw monsters for fun and sometimes make stickers, prints, shirts and merch for it. I specialize in Vector art like logos and shirts. But also draw, but I don’t consider myself an Illustrator because I know some really good illustrators I can’t compare.
We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up?
Hanging out with my family in Mexico.
Contact Info:
- Email: chrisserrano1991@Yahoo.com
- Website: https://www.etsy.com/shop/CheezyStuff?ref=seller-platform-mcnav
- Instagram: @cheeezo
- Other: https://www.behance.net/CzoGraphix
