Meet JOHN DUBIN | Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with JOHN DUBIN and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi JOHN, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
Try new things…. always. Get out of your comfort zone. Once you’ve mastered something it’s easy to stay in that circle. It’s easy to stay there because you found something you are good at. However, to grow as an artist and increase your skills you have to leave those comfort zones behind. Attempting to do things you might not consider yourself good at are the best things to take on.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Well, it all started with me winning the cover art contest for the school district poetry book they published while I was in the third grade. I was always the kid that could draw in school and that’s what i was known for. I kind of enjoyed it. I just stuck with what I was good at. I am self-taught. Well sort of in the sense that all self-taught artists studied artists the artists they loved and tried to emulate those styles inevitably developing their own style influenced by those other established artists. I’m really best at ideas or conceptualizing or in various industry studios it’s called visual development. The challenges for becoming a professional artist are all the same for the most part, I think. Sticking with it till you find your niche and not giving up till you do. I’m most proud of the children’s book and characters I illustrated called Fisci the Fire Safety Fox & Friends for the city of Cambria in central California which was later adopted the San Luis Obispo County Firesafe Council in California and is available for downloads on their website. https://firesafeslo.org/downloads/

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I would take her on a road trip up to the central coast of California to Cambria. It’s got some of the most beautiful coastline in the world. We would spend a few days there going into Paso Robles for wine tasting and then head up towards Big Sur do some more sightseeing along Californias amazing coastline and end the trip in Monterey. Julia Moonstone beach, Heart Castle, Wine country, Ragged Point, Julia Pheiffer Beach, 17-mile drive, Monarch butterfly groves and plenty of amazing places to stay and restaurants along the way.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
A few of my students have gone on to great success and all I did was show them where the path starts. I have two in particular that I would like to shout at lol. Nare Mnatsakayan and Jozef Banuelos. Both started out as my students. Nare has become one of the best most talented Computer Graphics teachers around L.A. at Schurr High School in Montebello. She’s really my legacy in the district and I couldn’t be prouder of her. Jozef is an extremely talented U.I. designer for software and apps and earns more money that me now. I couldn’t think of a better more creative guy and proud to count them amongst my friends.

Website: www.johndubinart.com

Image Credits
All artwork created by John Dubin