About

The Short

Andrew McBride is a creative problem solver and versatile designer looking for new artistic opportunities. He has well over a decade of experience as a Senior Graphic Designer in the Pop Culture collectibles industry. He has designed high-end art books, tradeshow booths, apparel, custom packaging as, well as a vast array of projects for the top Pop Culture brands, including Star Wars, Disney, Marvel, DC Comics and more.

Contact info

Docendr@yahoo.com
www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-mcbride-a64458b9
Resume

The Long

I have always had a love for art and drawing. Growing up, comic books and skateboarding opened my eyes to bold graphics and clean design and I would redraw my favorite comic characters and skateboard deck graphics. Continuing to draw and take art classes in my early education, I realized that art and design could be much more than a simple pastime, but it could be my career and life’s path.

I followed that passion for creativity and earned my Bachelors of Arts degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara in the College of Creative Studies. A small interdisciplinary College comprised from a collection of the university’s top students, it was designed as a graduate style program for undergraduates, where Fine Art was my area of study. I had fallen in love with printing, specifically screen-printing while starting my studies at Santa Barbara City College earing an Associates of Art degree in Fine Art and Multimedia Design. Being able to combine all my interests of art, print and design I earned a degree in Book Arts and Fine Press Printing, graduating Summa Cum Laude from UCSB’s College of Creative Studies.

Upon Graduation, I worked for a Promotions company and designed t-shirts, banners, trophies, signs for businesses, car wraps, vinyl signs and countless other items. Getting experience, talking with clients and helping to visualize their ideas was rewarding and a creative puzzle to solve. This experienced transitioned into starting my own print shop, freelance design business and fabric prototyping, while running a six-color manual and pneumatic press as well as dye-sublimation printing. However, the desire for new challenges and growth lead me to a new adventure in my creative career, focusing on graphic design and packaging design in the world of Pop Culture collectibles.

I began working as a Graphic Designer for Sideshow Collectibles, the preeminent manufacturer in the world of Pop Culture collectibles. As a freelance designer I had prototyped samples of 1/6^th scale camouflage fabric for their G.I. Joe line of collectible figures. When I was brought on, I helped establish the company’s ability for in-house fabric prototyping, something they had never been able to do.

My involvement with the company continued to grow, creating unique and custom packaging, apparel, tradeshow booth designs, marketing assets and campaigns. I established the Fine Art Print program and led in strategizing the structure and creation of a business plan to generate a new source of income, something that had been overlooked as a viable revenue source. The print program included custom high-end fine art framing and matting. Coordinating with licensors, artists, and outside vendors in the concept, approval, sampling, production and manufacturing of fine press printing and framing. I laid the foundation, which has developed into a multimillion-dollar fine art program.

With my degree in Book Arts, I wanted to explore publishing as a means to further the company’s offerings and artistic outlet. I was given the opportunity to be the project lead of the Graphics Art Department publishing efforts, an area that previously had been ignored by the company as a creative outlet. With my direction, Sideshow created several books series: Capturing Archetypes, a multi volume collection of photography and behind the scenes look into the creative process. Next was an “Art of” series with a look into the creative process and complete production release of all products from the Star Wars galaxy, with a second installment covering all the products from DC Comics universe. Lastly, the Fine Art Print publication series, a collection of released art for each subsequent year of the print program.

Like all things, there is an end, but also there are new beginnings. With growth and creative development, you must leave to find the right environment to support and foster new evolution. And my creative path is no different. Recently I returned from traveling and seeing the world abroad while riding a BMW GS1250 motorcycle through the Alps in Italy, Austria, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. Exploring, getting a renewed sense of creativity, has been revitalizing as I begin to look for new opportunities to share my creative experiences and knowledge, while still evolving and growing and adapting to new challenges and obstacles.