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

Josh, appreciate you joining us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

Back when I was a kid I was always fascinated by video game concept art, graphic novels, cartoons, and comics. rarely was paying attention in grade school and used most of my homework assignments as a canvas for many characters and designs. It was when I was in my last couple years of high school I was trying to figure out where I wanted to go as an artist. We had various college and workshop presentations come visit my AP Art class. The one that stuck out the most was the presentation given by Michael Jacques from Laguna College of Art and Design. A Fine Arts College located in Laguna Beach, I lived in San Diego, more specifically Chula Vista. Mr. Jacques taught a class on the weekends, a portfolio development class. a crash course on Figure drawing, Gesture Drawing, inking, and charcoal. I was 16 and without money or the means to get there my grandfather was kind enough to pay the 200$ tuition and to drive me up there every weekend for the next few months. It was there I learned the values of art. Something Mr. Jacques would say to his students is “To see through the form”. We would have a live model each class do poses, we would practice a 10 minute drawing, then 5, then 2, then move on to quick second drawing. To this day some of my favorite drawings and my best sketches were done in less than 5 seconds.

After High school I lived life tried applying to different Art Colleges but due to low high school grades was denied, those homework sketches seemed to have caught up with me. That’s until I was 25, when design school caught my eyes. I was classically trained but minus the photoshop class I took in high school I didn’t have computer skills to bring my art to the level I wanted them to be. I enrolled and attended Platt College San Diego. Design school was an incredible experience and of the best decisions I could have made to propel my art forward. My understanding of art only helped my studies and projects. there where projects where I would use a certain color pallet then see other students use the same later. Platt had some amazing instructors and fellow peers who where happy to share their knowledge. Knowing what I know now I would have jumped straight from high school to Design College. Happy to say that I graduated Platt College San Diego with a 4.0 GPA with a Bachelors of Science Media Arts in 2021.

During this time I researched a lot of artists and graphic designers and emulated some of their work into my own. Artists such as Alphonse Mucha, J.C. Leyendecker, Saul Bass, Mel Marcelo, Ken Sugimori, and many more. Studying other artists is fantastic way to put yourself in another art’s shoes but also develop your own style. Art Nouveau is a style I have embraced and continue to develop to this day, my illustrations I play around with Femineity and Masculinity to create pieces that can be used for posters and more. when It comes down to my Graphic Design style I take more of a Saul Bass simplistic approach. Making something look easy after spending days and nights on something is not an easy task, and something I continue to strive for.

Now I focus on continuing to hone my skills as both an Illustrator and a Graphic Designer. over the past year I taught myself how to use Clip Studio Paint which I use for my illustration work. the hardware used is a Cintiq Wacom tablet. Also this past year I have had the honor of working for House of Blues San Diego creating mini posters for musicians and San Diego Pride working alongside making to create Social media posts, Large format banners, and various other marketing materials. If there’s any advice I could give to fellow artists and designers it is: Do the work, Don’t get in your own way, choose the path you think is right even if it’s hard.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My name is Josh Moats, I am a creative graphic designer and Illustrator based in San Diego, CA. I am both classically and digitally trained. My classical training was at Laguna College of Art and Design (LCAD), learning the ways of pencil, pen, Gesture drawing, and Figure drawing. My digital education began at Platt College San Diego Learning the Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator.) Along side Graphic Design, I minored in 3D Modeling/ Printing.
I have had the pleasure of creating marketing materials for organizations AHF (Aids Health Foundation), Platt College San Diego, and San Diego Pride. Currently wrapping up a illustrative project with House of Blues.

I enjoy creating posters both large and small formats. While at San Diego Pride I was given the task to create a bill board and also banners. So I am no stranger to large format printing. On top of my design skills I also have a talent for drawing and painting. Usually comic book characters and pin-ups inspired by J.C. Leyendecker Alberto Vargas, and Alphonse Mucha, as well as more contemporary artists such as Mel Marcelo and Adam Hughes. My style is derived from pin up art, comics, and art nouveau, with use of eye catching colors. My work is best suited for Digital and Print. The best of both worlds.

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

I have been drawing since I could hold a crayon as a child. I was always artistic and felt the strong urge to do something creative. when in grade school I had a difficult time following the program and was diagnosed with a learning disability. There were some teachers who were not very kind about it. The disability haunted me most of grad school. So when I finally when I became a young adult I didn’t tell anyone in admissions about my disability. I graduated with a 4.0 gpa. I made it my goal to not let labels get in the way of my goals. I continue to challenge myself as a creative and continue to be a student of the Arts.

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

Creating is such a beautiful experience. Picking up a pencil, pen, some clay and making something out of nothing, its alchemic. After graduation I took up some odd jobs that school didn’t have I worked for a screen printing place, I was a sign painter for a grocery store, designed posters for bars. These where all building blocks for projects I was able to work on this past year. Seeing art I had been working on digitally come to life through print has been the most rewarding. Seeing the texture of the vinyl or the colors translating to a billboard (and making sure things were sized correctly) That has been the most rewarding.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://moatsart-designs.webflow.io/about
• Instagram: Moatsart
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-moats-554a87177/
• Other: Tiktok: Moatsart09
  https://www.deviantart.com/moatsart9