As a child I always had a propensity for drawing and building things. At the age of twelve and with the help of an insightful teacher, I was enrolled in an art school. After two years of exploring various creative disciplines, I focused on package/product design.
Upon graduating, I went to work in a corporate art department. In those days, product design was not considered very important so it was begrudgingly handled as part of the advertising responsibilities. This meant I was also required to design ads and catalogs along with an array of promotional items.
For the next eleven years I moved between large corporations and small design studios where I handled product design projects. Slowly over time, the importance of package/product design became apparent and broke off as a speciality.
At that point, I left the corporation I was working for and opened my own design studio in New York City. For the next thirty-five years I did product, package and conceptual design for the cosmetic, fragrance and fashion industries world wide.
When I eventually retired, I needed a long overdue break from drawing and sketching which had been an intricate part of my work process. During the next six years I pursued other creative outlets and did not put pencil to paper.
As my life progressed, I began to feel a strong desire to draw and paint again but this time it would be just for me. I chose to work in pastel because it did not seem like a very large leap from colored pencils which had previously been my presentation medium of choice (besides, I was never thrilled at the prospect of cleaning paint brushes.)
In order to develop my pastel technique, I have mostly painted what is around me. All the objects, people and animals that are visually familiar.
I recently had a lot of fun doing graphic design and a few illustrations for a book I wrote last summer. I have never imagined myself as a writer yet for awhile, I was plagued by a recurring dream where a story unfolded.
One day my wife, Kelley said, You should just write it down. Well I did, and it became Journal 97 The Case Notes Of E.R.Satz which at this point is available in twenty six countries.
At the core of this odd story, are a group of unlikely people eventually connecting with each other emerges. It illustrates that through trust and dedication, an unexpected group of individuals can come together for a common purpose to change their lives for the better. In the end, as fate would have it, everyone receives what is ultimately meant for them.
Ben Kotyuk joined Pixels.com Licensing on May 17th, 2012.
