Biography

The short and sweet version

     Michael White was born April 24, 1964 in Campbell California. He grew up in Rock Hill South Carolina Where he started freelancing art at the early age of 14. By the time he was 17 he had won a great deal of recognition and awards including a scholarship from the Rock Hill Artists Guild which allowed him to attend the Ringling School of Art in Sarasota Florida. He graduated as an Illustration major from Ringling in 1985. Before graduation Michael supported himself and his education by continuing to freelance. Since then, Michael has gone on to build a busy career in illustration. He has done everything from album and CD covers, to logos, t-shirt designs, board games, theatre posters, billboards, animated CD Rom games, card designs and comics. Some of his most notable clients are Delta Airlines, Amoco Oil, Tropicana, The New York Times, The Atlantis Resort, Comcast Cable, FPL, Lakewood Ranch, Sarasota Magazine and Marvel, DC and Topps Comics. Currently Michael teaches non-credit classes at Ringling and continues to do freelance illustration full-time.

Now in 2009, thanks to several high profile assignments my career and self esteem are booming. So if you want to hire me do it now while I’m hot. While you think about that look for the Circus Sarasota Poster I painted for this season and try to catch my work in the next several issues of Sarasota Magazine. I’ve been illustrating a fiction story called “Designing can be Murder” by Bob Plunket. It’s very interesting because it features local places and people. Another art job that recently popped up may help my artistic reign of terror spread out of town. I just finished the cover for the next issue of “Go Momma” a monthly insert for the St. Petersburg Times. All this and a flurry of high paying caricature gigs in and out of town have helped me ward off the bill collectors. So in conclusion I’d like to say, you never know where art will take you but I’m glad it brought me back here to Sarasota especially in the winter. 

MY BIO IN MY WORDS...

The long drawn out version

     Well... I was born. April 24, 1964 in California. I could have been a surfer but my parents divorced and I ended up on my Grand Pa's country farm in York, South Carolina. It was like some sort of twisted reverse version of the Beverly Hillbillies. Actually it wasn't a bad trade off. The country allowed me to indulge my imagination and embrace my creativity without the congested distraction of city life. I had plenty of invisible friends to play with and I loved digging clay from the nearby creek bed and making all sorts of stuff from it. I liked to dry my clay creations out on the old wooden porch where my Grand Pa sat to read. I painted them with smashed berry juices because I enjoyed pretending I was an indian. It probably went down like that because we were pretty poor and my Mom probably suggested it to save money on paint. I also remember loving to draw on the cardboard backing from her panty hose. Kids don't know they are poor so I just went on creating like it didn't matter.

     Eventually, around age 8 my Mom remarried and we left the country for the nearby city of Rock Hill, South Carolina. All of a sudden I was surrounded by children again and I can't say I liked it. I took refuge in my art. I had been drawing since I was 2 years old and I was good before I realized how valuable my skills were. In the public schools of Rock Hill my talent helped me gain popularity and protected me from the usual social difficulties of school age children. It was like "Michael, he's cool, leave him alone he can draw". It didn't take me long to see that my love for art could be a ticket to almost anything I needed or desired.

     At around 11 years old I discovered comic books. I fell in love with the art form and without delay created my own comic series. "The Cobra Strikes Back". I started on notebook paper for the first 12 issues and then advanced to sketch pad paper and eventually on to poster board so I could ink them and reproduce them on a zerox machine. I was experimenting with a lot of styles and mediums at that time. I was making art out of everything. I even illustrated my book reports rather the teachers wanted me to or not. I was clever enough to know that If my report wasn't the best then my art would help my grade. Another reason I was creating so much at that point was to win ribbons at the county fair. Every ribbon was worth a certain cash prize amount so by the end of it all I made out pretty well. I've always been motivated by money.

     My career took a big step when I was 14. I painted a mural for a local church and the newspaper wanted to do a little story about me. When the reporter and photography came out they discovered all the different art I was doing. I guess they liked my work because The Evening Herald newspaper hired me to do court room sketches at a local trial. Through that opertunity my work appeared in the paper for a week or so and I got paid. Things snowballed from there. I wasn't just popular around school anymore I was known around town. It was great! I got freelance jobs for logos, card designs and more murals plus received scholarships to drawing and painting classes regularly.

     I can't say that all my early success was happening only because of the article. Another big reason I was enjoying the spotlight was because key members of the art community had taken me under their wing. All of a sudden there was help every step of the way. It went like this... for years I had been gradually more and more involved in the local Rock Hill Parks and Recreation scene and through free art programs for children I met an art teacher named Lynn Carter. She helped me with my work and hooked me up with the right people to get my art career on the fast track. Through her I got involved with the Rock Hill Artist Guild. I was a kid of about 15 then and most of the members were over 60. It was weird but so what they loved me and offered me the world. At 17 the Guild gave me heaven in the form of a scholarship to attend the Ringling School of Art in Sarasota Florida. Along with student loans and some money I had saved I was going to art school.

     But before I could go to college I had to graduate High School and save some money. I had one more summer to prepare. In spring I auditioned at Carowinds Amusement Park to do pastel portraits in front of the log ride. I was hired and another door to my success was opened. I was among 5 or 6 otherartist that set up and drew people mostly on weekends. The experience was incredible. I'm still making money off of the things I learned that summer. At the end of it all I loved pastels and was good at getting a likeness quickly. By the end of the season I had saved a substantial amount of money for a 17 year old kid. The future was looking bright and I couldn't believe I was on my way to college in Florida!

     At The Ringling Art School in Sarasota I was in my element. The competition and comradery between kindred souls was just what I needed. I excelled. I won awards and got my work published in the nationally distributed magazines, 'Computer Pictures' and Marvels 'Epic Illustrated'. In the mean time I created logos, t-shirt designs and any other type of art work I could get to help pay the bills of living out on my own. I gained a lot of experience this way and most importantly gained confidence and competence.

     Besides art I took normal employment too. The rest of my income came from serving as a banquet waiter at the Hyatt Hotel. That job was fun and paid off later when I was able to use my employee benefits to visit other Hyatts for free. I used this benefit at the end of my junior year to go discover the mysteries of New York City. While in the area I was able to meet and hang out with several professional artists. Seeing their studios and doing things with them gave me valuable insight into what life might be like for me in 'the real world'. My comic artist friend Mike Zeck known for his work on 'Captain America', 'Secret Wars' and 'The Punisher' helped me get into Marvel Comics' main office to see how the comics industry works. I simply fell in love with NYC and started making plans to move there sometime after graduation. The anticipation made this one of the most exciting times of my life. I graduated the following year as planned, worked through the summer then along with a friend loaded my comic books, record albums and motor scooter into a U-Haul truck. We headed north. However, as fate would have it, I ended up in New Haven Connecticut instead of NYC. That was close enough to take advantage of the city from a safe distance.

     New Haven was fertile ground for beginning a new life and a career. It had lots of young people and a healthy art community. It was small enough to be comfortable yet big enough to be a challenge. I took a job at Kayes' art shop across from Yale University on Chapel Street. That proved to be a wise move as I met everyone in town connected to the art business. I was quick to make some contacts and get some freelance art jobs and eventually other full-time employment. I left Kayes' and started working for Yale University. I was there for a few years with full benefits as a photo assistant.

     Then I got my 'big break'! An exciting contract with an artist agent and a gallery out of Louisiana. They put me on a project to paint a series of oil paintings depicting the plight of the homeless in America. They paid me more money than I had ever made for my art and then reproduced my work into a limited edition poster series. Through this project I was flown to New Orleans and then out to LA to the annual LA Art Expo to show my work. Things became a bit surreal when the gallery put together a star studded Hollywood art opening for me featuring my homeless paintings. In attendance were several famous actors and actresses including Rip Torn and Carol Laurence. Also in attendance to keep me humble were several members of my family. I was 23 years old and on top of the world.

     Thank God the regular freelance continued as the homeless project dissolved quietly from underneath me. I was never really informed of what actually did or didn't happen but the 'Big Bang' we had braced for never took place. I figured that for reasons I didn't have control over, the project had died! But if anybody won out it was me. I got paid to paint, travel and hang out with famous Hollywood stars plus met, for the first time in my adult life, my fathers family. I spent 4 more years in CT. building my career, doing my thing and exploring NYC.

     When it came time to get a 'real' job again I found employment with the architecture firm Cesar Pelli and Associates as a color specialist and sometimes model builder. Cesar Pelli is a famous architect specializing in tower design and is recognized for his work on 'The World Financial Center' in NYC. This was a great job that offered a lot of creative freedom and paid me enough that it eventually gave me the leverage I needed to go out as a full-time a freelance artist once again. Don't worry I made sure to use the dental plan first. After I left I continued to consult for the firm but to my delight started getting some work from Marvel and DC comics. Most of the comic work I received was through other artists who used my skills as an assistant inker but there were some small projects here and there that were totally mine.

     Other art jobs helped to flesh out my portfolio in a more impressive way. Fine art paintings for Amoco Oil, informative cartoons for the Knights of Columbus, composites for the New Haven Police Department and covers for several local magazines were some of my triumphs. At this time in New Haven I was teaching a comics and cartooning class at The Creative Arts Workshop, publishing a small press magazine titled 'Next Phase', doing caricatures at parties all over the state while feverishly chasing every lead I could find that might be 'my next Big Break'.

     By this time I was just about done with CT. It was 1993 and I had been putting it down in CT. for 7 years. I had decided not to move to NYC but didn't know what I wanted to do. I was in a funk and then divine intervention came over the radio waves! I won a radio contest through Hot 97 FM from NYC. Along with several others winners I was sent to Universal Studios in Orlando Florida to hang out at the park and party with the most popular top 40 dance musicians of that time. It was fantastic. We all got to go on rides with the musicians in the day and attended their concerts at night. Like a lot of my life, this too was surreal.

     The plot changed when I decided that if I was already in Orlando I had to go over to Sarasota for a visit. To do so I forfeited my return plane ticket and headed to my old stomping grounds. When I arrived it was magic! Everyone was so friendly and the weather was as nice as the people. When I stopped by the Art School I heard "Michael White! where have you been, We love you and hey, do you want a job this summer?" The rest is history. I took the job, returned to CT. to put my stuff in storage and drove back down to Florida to teach at the same art school I graduated from 7 years before. I've been here ever since!

     Here in Sarasota a decade or so later, it has been everything except a step backwards. I continued to get comic work from Marvel but more importantly one of my Marvel contacts moved to Topps Comics and published some of my original work. 'Road Kill' and 'Tales of the Toxic Turtle' were some of my left of center style comics that found there way into publication as back up stories in other Topps' titles. I'm especially proud of these because I wrote, penciled, inked and letterd them. In the mid 1990's I also had the opporunity to learn and produce multi-media products for childrens' CD-Rom games. That allowed me to catch up on my computer skills. Besides that I've continued to teach several classes a year at Ringling including Pastel Landscape, Illustration, Cartooning and Caricaturing. Through that association I also get to instruct at 'Wildacres', an annual fall workshop in the Blue Ridge Mountains of N.C.. Traveling there every year allows me to get home to S.C. to see the family.

     Well, in wrapping up this bio I'd have to say that currently I'm living the life I always dreamed of. I'm an artist. I eat and breath art. I'm fortunate that through all the things I do I'm able to make a living creating. Like everyone, I've made some bad choices and some good ones but mostly I've moved forward. Since moving back to Florida I've added Tropicana, Pepsi-Cola, Comcast Cable, Florida Power and Light, Bank of America, Johnson and Johnson and Tyson foods to my resume, just to mention a few. No bad for a decades' work.

     I think so much of where we are going depends on where we have been. I'm using the wings of the past to fly into the future. Returning to Sarasota was absolutely positive for me in that I've become a part of a growing art community in a cultural meca. Here my relationship with the Ringling Art School has afforded me a degree of recognition and my reputation as a professional freelancer keeps me employed. So I still teach, draw at parties, produce art for advertisments, corporations and magazines. I also travel the world and paint landscapes that I sell through galleries. While any given day of the week I ride my bike, swim in the Gulf of Mexico, skate, read and work out. I attend the theatre and go to art openings. I relax on the beach take sunset cruises in the bay and every so often make time for higher education. I'm proud to be this age and still be in touch with the reasons I started in art. Of all the things I love I still savor creating my own original comics and therefore I stay actively involved with my other love, small press publishing. In other words I love life and thank God that mine has been and continues to be a surreal adventure worth all this typing.