Katsola
Creative Director
August 2000 – Present

I am a freelance designer, illustrator, artist, and muralist in Houston, TX. I have always found having freelance projects to be a great place to gain new skills, create wonderful personal projects and experiment with new disciplines. Most of my freelance projects are for individuals, small businesses, global and national brands.

In addition to client work, I have created a personal line of work including; “Kawaii Katsola, formerly ‘Kawaii, Harajuku & Goth Lolita'”, “Nadeshiko’s Tea Party” and “The Eel and the Lonely Sea.” I have been commissioned to do a couple of projects for other brands in the “Kawaii Katsola” style.

Clients include:
A Dog Day Afternoon
Asia Society Texas
Blacksmith Coffee Co.
Burger-Chan
DCM Art Services
Dream Tacos
Creative Mornings Houston
Houstonia Magazine
HUE Mural Festival
European Wax Center, Ax the Pink Tax
Jenni’s Mini Sweets
Jenni’s Noodle House
JuiceWell
Mellow Mushroom Spring
Miro et Emma
Miradela “Sweet Like Pan Dulce”
Nippon Daido Grocery
OCA Greater Houston Big Bao Battle 3
Poodle Floss
Solvay Chemicals Inc.

Skills:
Adobe Creative Suite
MS Office Suite
Social Media
Copywriting
Illustrations – Digital and Traditional
Murals
Web
Print – small and large format

Jenni’s Noodle House
Creative Director, Designer, Brand Manager
July 2007 – October 2021

I have been working for Jenni’s Noodle House since July 2007. I am responsible for creating various print, web, social media and mural projects for Jenni’s Noodle House. In terms of printed materials, I have created tabletop marketing postcards, posters, printed menus, magazine ads, mailing postcards, business cards, custom illustrations, and t-shirt designs. I have created HTML email campaigns, website, and social media graphics along with fun and clever captions in the brand voice of the Noodlehood. I have also created a couple of murals over the past years and as part of the process of the last mural, I created a series of vector illustrations that continue to be in use today in various printed pieces and social media platforms. My goal is to keep the message, fun, positive, inclusive, inviting with a little mischief. A young fan, whom I met while painting one of the murals, said to me “So what you are saying is, you get paid to make mischief.” This observation from one of their young fans, known as Noodle Ninjas has always stuck with me as being a vital part of the brand, to keep it light and fun.

Skills:
Adobe Creative Suite
MS Office Suite
Social Media
Copywriting
Illustrations
Murals
Web
Print – small and large format
Murals

Mplus Group, LLC
Designer
October 2006 – November 2015

I worked on various print, web, email, social media and branding projects for local, national and global brands. I worked with global brand standards for companies such as; Shell, BP, Solvay, and Conoco Phillips. Some projects included newsletters, email campaigns, print ads, marketing booklets, and illustrations.

Clients:
Bayou Bend, MFAH
Batsche Design
BP
Grand Parkway 99
MAS
Shell Oil
Solvay Chemicals Inc.
SureTec
Transwestern
Total Energy
Transwestern
WACH
ConocoPhillips

Skills:
Adobe Creative Suite
MS Office Suite
Social Media

Acumen Design
Designer Print and Web

2001 – September 2006
I worked with various local, national and global brands. A majority of the projects I worked on were printed materials.

Clients:
AmReit
Avalla
Randall Davis Company
Coca-Cola
City of Houston Youth Initiative
St. Luke’s Charities

Skills:
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Indesign
Adobe Dreamweaver
MS Office Suite

CompuBank
Designer

February 2000 – March 2001

CompuBank was an internet-only FDIC insured bank. I was responsible for creating marketing projects for both print and web.

Skills:
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Illustrator
Cold Fusion
MS Office Suite

Shell Services International, Inc.
Art Squad Contract
Web Producer & Designer

August 1997 – January 2000

Designed and produced intranet websites for internal clients within Shell Services International.

Skills:
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Illustrator
HTML
Javascript

Fine Artist Shows:
Apama Mackey Gallery, MKT Bar Art Show

Kimono Zulu:
MFAH Gift Shop
Cindy Lisica Gallery

Rockin’ Rollin’ Steamroller Event

“NeoPopStreetFunk 5”, M2 Gallery, December 13, 2013

Sketchy Neighbors: Co-Founding Member
sketchyneighbors.com
“Help Yourself”, Nicole Longnecker Gallery, August 16 – September 6, 2014

“Sketchy Neighbors Puppet Slasher Film Festival”, Puppetsploitation X” Bobbindoctin’s Annual Puppet Show, April 4,5, 7 and 11, 2014

“Caution Live Snakes Art Show”, Art Crawl, 2013

“Vignettes of Regret”, Sparrow and the Nest, July 13, 2014

“A New World Horder”, Puppetsploitation IX” Bobbindoctin’s Annual Puppet Show, April 5,6, 8 and 12, 13 2013

20th Annual Art Crawl, November 17, 2012, Gribble Stamp Building

Scion’s 2nd Annual Skatestock, October 20, 2012, Lee and Joe Jamail Skatepark

“Creature Feature 2”, Burning Bones Press, September 15th, 2012

“The Saddest Love Story Almost Never Ever Told: Based on a True Story”, Spacetaker, ARC Exhibitions, December 10th, 2012

“Imaginary Time Travel”, Gribble Stamp Building, September 19, 2013

“Scion’s Skatestock”, Lee and Joe Jamail Skatepark, October 22, 2013

“A Double Dog Dare: Your Concept. Your Material. We Make it.”, Spacetaker Fan Participation,

“Sketchy Neighbor T-shirt Factory: Free Association Blunder, 2011”, Record Ranch Gallery, August 20th, 2011

“The Worst Thing You Can Do is Forget Them”, Many Mini-Residency at Skydive Art Space, July 14th, 2011

“Absurd Reality of an Amputated Ego: Art, Music, Skate”, Arlington Street Studios, December 3rd, 4th, 2010

“Creature Feature Print Show”, ISMA Estudio, July 24th, 2010

“Poetry and Art on Demand”, Spacetaker and NANO Fiction, June 23rd, 2010

“Accelerando Nonsense”, Record Ranch Gallery, May 8th, 2010

“Outside the Exquisite Circus”, Arlington Street Studios, October 16-17th, 2010

“The $29.95 Polyphonic Art Score” Record Ranch Gallery, July 18, 2009

Education:
Stephen F. Austin State University
BFA, Design/Fine Art
1990-1994

Professional Memberships:
AIGA Sustaining Member
September 2018 – Present