I’m Craig.
I’m a Graphic Designer, Illustrator, and Photographer.
I’m a commercial artist with a background in management and artistic direction. By day, I’m the digital media manager for Burnside Clothing in Houston. By night, I’m an illustrator and creative director for a small publishing company in Austin called Artimorean Art & Media.
My skillset includes project management, photography, retouching, graphic design/page layout, printing, and illustration.
In 2020, I graduated from Houston Community College with an Associate's degree in Graphic Design. I am now pursuing an Associate's in Photography.
Aside from my two main jobs, I maintain several reoccurring freelance gigs, including formatting textbooks, retouching products and portraits for other photographers, event and wedding photography, portraits, and product photography for local businesses.
If I'm not binge watching Star Trek or cartoons at home with my wife and five pets, I can be found at the Richmond Arms Pub drinking local brews. (Elissa IPA!)
I might sound like a busy guy - and in fact, I really am - but don't hesitate to contact me for your project. I'm always happy to meet new people and challenge myself creatively.
Use my contact page or email me directly at craig@craigtrahan.com with inquiries.
Favorite movies
Seven Samurai by Akira Kurosawa is my favorite movie of all time.
I’m also a fan of bloody Tarantino flicks such as Kill Bill, Death Proof, Pulp Fiction, Django Unchained, and Inglorious Basterds. Street Fighter (Sonny Chiba) and Drunken Master (1972) will always have a special place in my heart.
I’ll watch American Psycho, Natural Born Killers, or Eyes Wide Shut as many times as it takes.
Watching Jason and the Argonauts on repeat as a child gave me a real love for everything skeleton and mythology related. It also gave me a healthy fear of sword-wielding skeletons so there’s that too.
Favorite books
For years, I thought that Slaughterhouse Five was the best book ever written until I read The Sirens of Titan. Oh what a fool I was! Kurt Vonnegut is hands down my favorite author, and also one of my favorite human beings.
I read a lot of fantasy as a kid - including the Hobbit, the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, and the Silmarillion. Piers Anthony and R.L. Stine were my most frequently read authors growing up.
I also love reading the works of Carl Sagan, Christopher Hitchens, Henry David Thoreau, Michael Parenti, and Thomas Paine.
Favorite music
My parents raised me on a strict diet of Patsy Cline, ZZ Top, Bob Marley, Cat Stevens, and The Beatles. I’m pretty sure that listening to the Power Rangers and X-Men theme songs growing up turned me into a metal head, though.
Acid Bath is probably my favorite band of all time.
Beyond that, I love a little bit of everything. Highlights include Black Sabbath, System of a Down, Thundercat, Mayer Hawthorn, Tonetta, Steel Pulse, Modest Mouse, Horse the Band, The White Stripes, Daft Punk, The Darkness, Talking Heads, Death Grips, The Goldeneye 64 Soundtrack, Action Bronson, God of Shamisen, Between the Buried and Me, Earl Sweatshirt, Necrophagist, Black Flag, The Katamari Damacy soundtrack, Jethro Tull, Hall and Oates, Nile, Joy Division, Ol’ Dirty Bastard, Sade, Willie Nelson, Run the Jewels, Prince, Insect Warfare, The Moody Blues, Rush, Pet Shop Boys, Hank Williams III, Dio, The Gourds, Shinyribs, Chromeo, The Sims Soundtrack, Patsy Cline, Genesis, Rob Zombie, Dead Prez, Slayer, and Jungle.
The perfect Marvel vs Capcom 2 team
Guile and Sonson are my two main characters with a rotating third spot - usually Captain Commando, Iceman, Iron Man, or Amingo.
Anyone can smash the competition with Storm, Sentinel, and Magneto. That’s not very fun. Now Servbot, Dan, and Sentinel? That’s kinda fun.
Shoot me a message if you think you have a better team.
My artistic influences
My favorites include Jean-Michel Basquiat, Pablo Picasso, Piet Mondrian, Ron Spencer, Mark Rothko, Yoshitaka Amano, and Franz Kline.
Anything Abstract and/or Expressionist appeals to me.
I strive to have the artistic spirit of people like Bukowski, Gary Larson, ODB, James Randi, Bill Watterson, Henry Rollins, Robert Picardo, and Mike Vallely.
Hieronymus Bosch is my spirit animal.
Artistic Pursuits
I was born with a crayon in each hand. You couldn’t stop me from drawing any combination of dinosaurs, pirates, or robots when I was growing up. Not a day goes by that I don’t draw something.
Digitally, it all started with Kid Pix and Mario Paint. I discovered Photoshop in high school when I joined the yearbook club. There, my love for layout, typography, and copywriting grew. Photography came soon after. As of now, I have nearly 20 years of experience with Adobe suite, and over a decade as a freelancer.
After freelancing for half a decade, I made the decision to pursue commercial art as a full-time career in 2017, after leaving a rather unfulfilling (yet successful) career in management and logistics. I continue to seek out new challenges and opportunities in my field, always trying to hone my craft and improve my skills.
Want to put my skills to use? Use the contact me page to reach out!