THE ARTIST
Once upon a Fourth of July, a brown-eyed girl humbly came into this world along with fireworks in the sky. She was born on a far-off sunny island, in a house embraced by guava, mango, and banana trees.
One of her earliest memories involves a pink crayon in one hand and her face as the canvas. Being tickled pink was no accident.
Island to island, she roamed the open seas, drawing paper dolls, rescuing beached turtles, and was almost swept away by a giant gust of wind. Eventually she found herself on yet another "space ship" headed towards a "planet" called "America" where she discovered the joys of drawing "Donald Duck" and the number "2" obsessively in pages of her encyclopedias.
By 7th grade, she drew her first portrait for fun, and was so surprised by the resulting likeness, that she fell in love with drawing faces and filled her sketchbooks with nothing but faces. By age 16, she sold her first commissioned piece. A family friend saw her potential and asked her for a portrait. She felt uncomfortable receiving cash for something that she was happy to give away for free. Reluctantly, she accepted payment.
Years passed and the girl turned into a courageous anteater and studied Studio Art from the University of California, Irvine. She started off pursuing Biology and painfully attempted to study Chemistry. Though she did enjoy Calculus, ultimately, her heart was pulled in the direction of the Arts. It would be some time later that this ardent aardvark would actually pursue a career as an artist.
Her career as a netnerd came first. From LOL to BRB to the hey day of the "Y2K", she worked tirelessly in the fast-paced internet industry from 1998-2006. Compulsively hand-coding, optimizing graphics, and designing wireframes became her passion. Her accomplishments include working for clients such as Disney, Allergan, Energizer, Midway, Honda, Mazda, Toyota & Entrepreneur Magazine.
With a mouse in one hand, and The Mouse on her monitor, she became very much aquainted with the Disney brand by building various websites for Mickey (disneyworld.com, disneyland.com, hongkongdisneyland.com to name a few).
After many moons, she finally traded a mouse for a marker, but could not stay away from the Big Cheese. Happily, she was part of the original crew of caricature artists who drew at the doorstep of the “happiest place on earth” in California: Anaheim's Downtown Disney where she worked from 2010-2012 for Kaman's Art Shoppes.
Sometimes, she can be found drawing non-stop, covered in sunblock, as a vendor at the Fiesta Hermosa. Known as the “largest arts & crafts fair in Southern California” this sun-kissed festival takes place in balmy downtown Hermosa Beach, California with the warm sand and the ocean just bare footsteps away.
In the past, you could find Millie drawing under the Southern California sky at the Irvine Spectrum, where she opened her own booth under the name “Smug Mugz”. Known as Orange County’s prestigious dining, shopping and entertainment destination, guests live locally as well as visit the Irvine Spectrum from all over the world. She's well-known for engaging her guests and capturing their uncanny likenesses in a fun, flattering style.
Since her decision to become a professional artist and goofball extraordinaire, Millie has drawn thousands of faces at various places: corporate shindigs, romantic weddings, fun-filled birthdays, farmer's markets and more.
Recently, she has discovered much pleasure in combining her digital skills with her drawing skills by sketching on her ipad or computer. If she is not busy drawing with a marker or digital pen, she enjoys making art by painting with red wine, soy sauce, or black coffee on cold-pressed paper.
This island-born girl is no island and enjoys communicating with other artists as an active member of the International Society of Caricature Artists (ISCA) . She also volunteers as a docent in a program called “Young At Art” to share the love of art with budding students, who may or may not like pink crayons.
To see more art by Millie Velasco, please visit her website. Thank you! |
