Edward Carlos

I was born in Redondo Beach, California and lived in Southern California until my mid 40’s. I attended North High School and graduated from West High School, both in Torrance, California. In school, I loved art and drawing and this was the primary skill I had when I graduated high school. I began freelancing as an illustrator almost directly out of high school and I was starting to gain more clients when an illustrator friend who worked in the film industry encouraged me to switch from analog to digital, telling me it was the future of graphic art. I took his advice and bought an early copy of Adobe Photoshop (3.0). With both an art portfolio and a rudimentary digital portfolio I soon landed a job with a small digital retouching studio. The retouching studio closed after three years; however, it was there that I gained important professional experience. With a qualified digital portfolio, I freelanced as a Photoshop professional for more than a decade when I was offered a permanent position with a national educational products distributor. I stayed with this company for four years. After leaving the education company I decided to return to school for my BFA followed by my MFA. I began at Estrella Mountain Community College, which is the local school in my area, graduating with honors. Then I was accepted to Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design where, again, I graduated with honors. Subsequently I was accepted to the Hartford University MFA in Illustration program.