Today we’d like to introduce you to Steve Pietzsch. Them and their team share their story with us below:
Briefly: Born in Dallas, TX. in 1951. Bryan Adams High School graduate 1969.
BFA in Advertising Art 1973. North Texas State University (Now the University of North Texas)
First job was at the Bloom Agency (a large ad agency) in Dallas doing newspaper ads requiring layouts, paste-up, and illustrations. 1974-1976
Began new job as an illustrator at SketchPad Studio in Arlington, TX doing paintings for advertising, magazines, books. 1977-1979
Began a freelance illustration career in Dallas, TX. 1980-1992
Began a career doing digital 2D, 3D, animation for various video game companies in Austin, TX. 1993-2008
Began doing fine art paintings in traditional media from my home in Medina, TX. 2009 to present
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
My road to becoming an artist has taken several twists and turns over my 50-year career. A lot of serendipity and just plain luck have popped up along the way…all for the better! The first major decision I had to make was choosing a college degree. I had wanted to be an archeologist initially but after observing the curriculum I saw that it required two foreign languages and lots of math…so that was not going to happen. LOL! So the only other interest was art. Since I had been drawing since childhood, it seemed like the only other route to pursue. I knew I needed to find a job after college so I opted to major in advertising art.
That degree landed me a job at one of Dallas’ largest ad agencies, The Bloom Agency, where I did layout, paste-up, and product illustrations for three years.
It was there that I was exposed to the many different careers available outside agency work. During that period I met some artists from an illustration studio located in Arlington, TX. called the SketchPad Studio headed by an internationally known artist named Don Ivan Punchatz. Their work was concentrated on just painting for magazines, book covers, and national ad campaigns. Being more specialized in doing illustrations attracted me. I was eventually able to get a full time position there after working part-time on nights and weekends for a year while still at the agency. It was there that I learned all the painting techniques which serve me to this day. It was another big decision to leave my secure agency job to start a new journey into painting for illustrations.
After two years of the studio experience, I had compiled a strong enough portfolio to leave there (and the steady paycheck) and head out on my own to go freelance. Another scary decision! After a couple of years I attained an agent which kept me busy for years to come. During this time I did artwork for many national advertising images, book covers, and lots of magazine work including cover art for Texas Monthly and Rolling Stone. Twelve years later I was getting burned out from the long hours and just the grind of being a one man show. Also, the advent of Photoshop and digital art was taking away some of my work.
Serendipity or luck popped up in the form of the opportunity to join the digital age. Some of my Austin friends were landing full time jobs working for a video game company doing digital 2D, 3D, and animation art. The company was Origin Systems owned by the great Richard Garriott. This was 1993 and the video game business was about to take off. Richard was hiring artists for their art skills and letting them learn computer graphics on the job. Anyway, I drove down to see what was going on and was flabbergasted! I took a job there on the spot. So just like that, I went from working for myself using paint and paper at home to going corporate using computers in large, interesting buildings. No more burnout. Team work with really smart, talented people. It sparked new energy into my 41-year-old soul. Got to live and thrive in Austin for the next 15 years!
After the fun stint in Austin and working on computers I began to get a yearning to paint in the old traditional ways. Also, after living in large cities all my life I was ready for another change. Living in Austin helped draw me to the Hill Country and I ended up buying 10 acres with a cabin on a hilltop between Bandera and Kerrville. It wasn’t long after adding a studio room onto the cabin that I decided to retire early at 57 years old. Sold my Austin house and moved to the hills.
So this was the last crucial decision I made and hope to make it the last! I now live in a beautiful place where I have been painting with paints on canvas doing ideas of my own, using old traditional tools, and best of all…no deadlines!
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I have done artwork all my career in a variety of areas but the most consistent thing is that it is generally surrealism. I believe that is a good genre to put me into. My career during my illustration period was surreal and that is probably what I was known for most. And the video game work was of course surrealism. And now that I live in the Hill Country I paint the country around me with a dash of surrealism or what I like to call whimsy.
I am most proud of being a successful artist all my life. Advertising career. Freelance illustrator career. Digital artist career. And now “fine artist.”
Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
I was in a garage band as a teenager playing drums. Our lead singer was Bob Phillips of Texas Country Reporter fame! HaHa!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.steve-pietzsch.com
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMxRFzynsfQ
