LoranJSkinkis

My career.
It has been an interesting and constantly evolving creature.
From 1996-2011 my career only had one identity: Illustrator / Graphic Designer.
I worked for just 2 firms.
My first job, I was pretty lucky. Landed it right out of school. Worked there for 8 years.
My second job lasted 7+ years. When I left that job (my last Design position) in 2011, I took some time to explore other fields. Up until that point, Graphic Design was the only job, other than my 6 years of service in the United States Marine Corps Reserves, I had ever known since 1996. Perhaps, I theorized, a little change was needed.
Over the span of 4 years I've worked several jobs that were not associated in any way with Illustration / Design.
I worked some retail jobs...hard work & low pay.
I Worked at a school district as a Noon-time Aide and as a Paraprofessional...hard work, fun to be around kids and the pay was a little better but the hours were not plentiful.
I worked briefly at a Diary...hard, HARD work and the pay was indeed better. 23 year old "me" could have stuck it out but 43 year old "me" said, get out of there!!!
I worked as, and still am, a Supervisor for a Security Firm...interesting work, I'll just leave it there.
I learned a lot about dealing with people and learned a lot about myself.
One of the greatest lessons you can learn as an adult is humility.
I never looked down at blue collar people who worked retail, dug ditches or delivered the mail.
Now though, I have learned a whole new respect for those folks.
The "Golden Rule" has a much deeper more valuable meaning to from my experiences of the past 4 years.
During all that time I still continued to work as a Freelance Illustrator / Graphic Designer.
Now I believe I've come full circle.
I feel in my heart that I'm ready to go back to the Design World.
I found some aspect or another of all of those jobs interesting but not as "fulfilling" as I felt when I could stand up, step back and take a look at something I toiled for hours to create. At the end of the day I worked hard, but still felt the need to be creative.
My career has evolved. 
My career has broadened.
My career has stamina.
My career will be changing!
On that note....stay tuned!
-L.
3-5-2015

Less than 48 hours from now, my son, my best friend and I will be sitting in the theater waiting for "The Dark Knight Rises" to begin. I was lucky enough to be a paid extra in this feature last summer while they were filming in Heinz Field, Pittsburgh, PA. I may or may not be in a close-up shot of the "shocked crowd" after Bane blows up the football field and wheels some kind of shinny black bomb looking device onto the field. The funny thing is that the reason I got into the shot was because I had to go to the bathroom. The day they filmed this in Heinz Field was really hot (in the movie it's supposed to be winter time and we had to wear winter coats while filming). I drank TONS of water to try and stay hydrated. They loaded us (about 500 people) into and out of the stands all day. At one point in the afternoon while getting loaded back into the stadium, I had to leave the line to go to the restroom (I had reached critical mass and there was no turning back!). When I got back, I was at the end of the line and loaded into the back rows of where they were filming. Somewhere along the line, the assistant director said "Let's take everyone from the back row and bring them to the front so we get some different faces in the shot...". The Imax camera panned across no less than 5 feet from my face as I looked on in horror at what has just happened on the field. There's a good chance I'll be in the film since they typically don't waste a lot of Imax film due to the cost of each reel. Either way I'm really happy to see this film and hope it turns out to be as good as it looks in the trailers. Oh yeah, and the Man of Steel trailer has me so excited for a Super summer 2013!

There was a time not too long ago that I didn't have any work to do...now I seem to have a bunch! I just need to clone myself and/or figure out how to function without sleep and I'll be good-to-go!

Well, today is the day. I finally hit the 41 mark but I don't feel a day over 40 so that's good. I think I'll treat myself to a frappe then get back to work. No rest for me.
-L.

I'm going to be scanning and uploading a TON of stuff over the next few days. Hope you all enjoy it. If so, please let me know!
Thanks!
-Loran.