The story of how I found my career path is a crazy one so let me set the stage for you.
As a family we have always moved all over the place. 10 places by the time I was 10, is my go to line. Barely staying still long enough to unpack at times. But looking back, it was an amazing part of my life. It opened my world up to so many areas of life at an early stage. I would meet hundred’s of incredibly interesting people from all walks of life and eventually find my passion in being creative.
We moved around a lot for my parents work. Ever changing and always interesting. The moving around gave me lots of alone time. To occupy myself I would doodle and create all sorts of great and terrible things. I never really thought much of it at the time but looking back these were the moments that seeded my passion for digital art and design. Drawing things the way I would like them to be or escaping into worlds I could create. However it took a long time for me to realize this was something I could get paid for.
Somewhere along the way I had got it into my head that art and design wasn’t a real profession and so I missed many early opportunities
By the age of 19 I had dropped out of college after the first year. Having taken Business & Economics, Psychology and Sociology, thinking that these sounded professional… It was a huge mistake. I enjoyed the subjects but with no real passion for them. I quickly lost interest and started spending most of my time over in the photography and art areas of the college. Some friends were already taking these classes. It was here that I got a real idea of the opportunities in the creative world.
That Summer we moved from Shropshire, England to Las Vegas, Nevada. Easily the biggest move we had made yet. Everything was so much bigger and louder! It was great! The things to see in Las Vegas compared to Shropshire!
Once in Las Vegas as a dependent on my fathers VISA I was unable to work. College was also out of the question with the fees so high. I decided to teach myself. I had a passion for video games and computers and decided I would discover all I could about digital art. I spent the next 2 years learning what I could from the internet and putting it into practice. At the end of this time we had moved on again, this time to France.
I was working for my parents company after we moved and beginning to have second thoughts on my career. They would do seminars and events for their clients and I would help out in the setting up and running of the days. In the times between I would doodle away at the back of the room. Sketching the people in the room or creating characters and funny images. People would come and check out the images during the day and eventually one of the clients asked if I would create their logo for them and then another and another. It turns out I had a knack, The client’s loved the designs I created for them.
That evening Eternol Design Studios was created and I started working at it full time almost immediately.
I soon picked up a camera to add to our creative possibilities. I fell in love with taking photos and the possibilities it allowed. Photography quickly became a major part of the business.
You may be wondering where the name Eternol comes from and no it’s not a typo of eternal. One of my first online pseudonyms had been Ternol. The name stuck and I later added the E to bring it more in keeping with the digital design area. I have used the name for 12 years now and has become quite special to me.
Today, 4 years in and I am only more excited to see what the next 4 bring.
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If you would like to know more about how we started and what we can do for you and your company, contact me directly at jon@eternol.com or by filling out the contact form here.
