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Jon Garcia is an illustrator, graphic designer, and filmmaker from Austin, TX.  His illustration work varies from traditional ink and marker drawings to digital art with his primary focus being old-school NES-style pixel art. Jon attended the University of Texas Permian Basin where he “did the thing you’re supposed to do after high school and luckily didn’t go into debt” getting degrees in communications and psychology.

His career in production and design began as the topical producer and eventual creative director for NBC-affiliate KWES-TV in Midland, TX. Highlights of his career at KWES include winning a Texas Associated Press Award for best photojournalist, helping the station transition to high-definition, shooting Friday night football around West Texas, and having a knife pulled on him right before a live shot.

After KWES, Jon moved to Albuquerque, NM where he worked for the One Creative Ad Agency. Working with creative powerhouses Wendy Spalsbury and T. Payton, Jon learned high-end design and creative strategy.

It was during the day to day humdrum of working for demanding clients combined with a puppy that liked waking up at 5:30am that he picked up the pencil he put down when he was 15 (thanks to a very uninspiring baseball coach who taught high school art) and got back into illustration.  Beginning with fan art, his work eventually transitioned to creating the pixel art he loved as a gaming kid.

A big fan of collaborating with other creatives, Jon’s design work and illustration work have been used by businesses, podcasts, bands, creators, and also featured in the independent movies “Monday” and “Millennium Bugs.”  Currently, he is the lead learning and development designer for Austin-based taco chain, Torchy’s Tacos. His nights are spent enjoying whiskey and video games with his wife Jen and pups, Arya and Keeley, and working on a 2D point-and-click game inspired by the late 90’s.

What do you use to create your art?

For traditional illustration, I sketch with a Staedtler Mechanical Pencil on Bristol paper. I then ink and color with Micron Fine Liners and Copic Markers. For pixel art, I generally do rough sketches on the iPad Pro in the Procreate App. I then do the illustration in the Pixaki with final touches completed in Photoshop. All of my digital art is created in the Procreate app on the iPad Pro.