We caught up with the brilliant and insightful JOHN DUBIN a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

JOHN, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. I’m sure there have been days where the challenges of being an artist or creative force you to think about what it would be like to just have a regular job. When’s the last time you felt that way? Did you have any insights from the experience?

Am I happy as a creative artist and do I wonder what it would be like to have a “regular” job? Not in the slightest. I love my job as a high school art teacher, as well as my illustration business. I’ve been a High School teacher going on 25 years now teaching graphics, illustration and animation. I also have a part time illustration business and have been honored to illustrate multiple books. I’ve always loved to paint and enjoy participating in art shows and galleries. It’s all the same thing to me being creative and coming up with ideas and expressing those ideas through art. It’s what has always come naturally to me. The primary inspiration within my Illustration business is helping others communicate their thoughts and intentions through art. In my role as a high school teacher, I enjoy helping my students embrace their unique, creative talents. I’ve had several students achieve their dreams, including two who have gone on to win Emmy’s which is incredibly gratifying as a teacher. Many former students are now working in various industries from game development to illustration. Witnessing and supporting my students move toward their future dreams is one of the best parts of being a high school teacher. I believe in my students and helping them on the early steps of their path is why I do this work. It has also been an honor to support other teachers in my district as they hone their talents as well. One former student now teaches the same subject at a different High School in my district.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’m a fine artist, painter, illustrator and graphic designer. I am also a California native who loves cats, nature, sea life, birds, and animals, especially throughout the central and northern coasts of the golden state. When creating illustrations, fine art, and graphics I love using multiple traditional and digital mediums. My clients often need help realizing what they want for their projects, and they share that I have a knack being able to creatively develop and draw out exactly what they’ve been looking for! It is an honor to help my clients bring a notion or glimmer of an idea into a full visual realization through my illustrations and artwork.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

As an artist, I find that the variety of the people I work with, and the projects I am hired for incredibly interesting and fun! Additionally, I am the creator of a character, “Fisci the Fire Safety Fox” ™ and illustrated a book for kids which is used by the San Luis Obispo Fire Safety council. Prior to teaching high school, I was a certified gemologist and trained through the Gemological Institute of America, the world’s foremost authority in gemology. I have many interests in geology, rocks, fossils, and minerals and anything Sci Fi genre that continues to this day. I love to travel, and I think that my sense of adventure and good-natured humor, along with my care for the environment, and animal advocacy, influences so much of my art.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I’ve been navigating life as an artist, finding myself on my own in my late teen years. After exploring Iceland, I returned to California and was diagnosed a few months later with a rare heart condition in 2019. I’ve lived through 6 heart surgeries over the last 4 years and am currently on the heart transplant list. Not at all what I expected at my age, but I am learning to live with my condition, and am grateful and thankful for each day of my life as no one is promised tomorrow. Healing from a surgery in 2022 is when I created Fisci the Fire Safety fox and began illustrating the book I collaborated on with my life partner, Mari.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.johndubinart.com

Image Credits
All artwork created by John Dubin