Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to David Geister. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

David, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Are you happy as a creative professional? Do you sometimes wonder what it would be like to work for someone else?

I am quite happy working as a freelance artist. At this point in my life – 59 years old – I feel like the luckiest person in the world. I get to draw, paint and sculpt on a fairly regular basis. The variety of clients, projects, and media keep engaged and interested in creative problem solving, without a hint of mind-numbing repetition.

David, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

A childhood fascination with stories from the past is at the core of my career as an illustrator and history painter. Even when working odd jobs outside the field – UPS loader, retail, etc. – in the early days, I kept coming back to that childhood interest in history and it sustained me.

Time spent working as a costumed historian at Historic Fort Snelling lead to a long standing creative relationship with the Minnesota Historical Society. I have drawn and painted many scenes for various historic sites over the last 20 years, which in turn lead to other work for other historical organizations.

This is also lead to illustrating nearly 25 picture books, for different publishers.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

I truly enjoy the process of visualizing a story for my client, It might be a single painting showing a moment in time or a place, or a whole series of illustrations for a story. I think of myself as a storyteller with a paintbrush.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

After working with a partner in the early 90’s, creating backdrops and props for various commercial houses and photographers, the decision was made to close up shop and concentrate on more personally fulfilling art.

This lead to nearly a decade of on again-off again work in a variety of fields, not all art related.

The one thing that kept me forging ahead was an overwhelming desire to create and to tell stories from history. I continued to paint in my spare time, honing my skills and developing an even stronger desire to create full-time.

After a decade of wandering, so to speak, my art was seen by enough of the right people in the history world, and small commissions began to trickle in. This ultimately lead to more work, and eventually I was able to focus exclusively on illustrating picture books and creating artwork for museums, historic sites and collectors.

Contact Info:

• Website: davegeister..com

Image Credits
For portrait of me sitting in front of canvas / credit Steve Timmer