This Is My Journey

A few weeks ago someone asked me if I wanted to be an artist when I grew up. I thought, ‘I’m an artist? For real?’

I’ve been drawing since I was three. My mom shares stories about me getting in trouble at school, because I often forgot to put my name on assignments. Teachers knew it was me ‘cuz of the sketches on the paper.

Back then my art looked like pixelated Atari characters. When Thriller came out and Pepsi released the Michael Jackson Pepsi Generation TV ad, I drew him doing the moonwalk in everything. That’s when I started drawing realistic shapes.

I wasn’t the brooding, artistic type. I just drew because I could. And truly, I thought I was doing what everyone else was doing.

“The Hard Way,” 1997, spray paint and color pencils, by Rob Generette III.

When I won a drawing contest my mom decided to nourish this part of me.

She’d say, “Draw me a flower.” If she didn’t like it she’d come back, “Draw it better.”

That got me thinking critically about what I was doing. I’d come back and be like, “All right, here’s a bag of flour.” I wasn’t being a brat. I realized that part of design and drawing is the artist’s interpretation. And there is infinite freedom in that.

“Tears of a Clown,” 1997, spray paint and color pencils, by Rob Generette III.

Recently, she saw a picture of me on Facebook. I was at Adobe MAX in Los Angeles, sketching on an iPad Pro. She posted, “Looks like you were in your element.”

That’s when it hit me. Maybe I am like guys I admire; Aaron Draplin #DraplinDesign, James White #Signalnoise, Joshua Smith #Hyrdo74, Zombie Yeti #zombieyet, and Brian Yap #brianyap. They’re creative giants doing what they love without apologies and with complete integrity.

I’ve got two rules for my work:
1. Don’t do it just for the money
2. Don’t be a part of someone else’s mistake.

So yes, I’m an artist #rob-zilla.
This is my journey #ArtistWorkflow.

Robert Generette III is an illustrator, teacher, and vector art monster based in Maryland. He is sharing his workflow to create and build a Blurb book, Eject.