Nicholas J. Tucker Jr. (Cole)

I really appreciate you checking out my work here's a little about me:

I am a multi talented artist who graduated from The School of Visual Arts (NYC) in 2014 with a BFA in Illustration. I have worked with many talented artist in different galleries over the US. As well as working in apparel.

If you want the long version:

I started my art journey by drawing all my favorite cartoons starting with, Biker Mice from Mars, Mummies alive, Bump in the Night, Ren and Stimpy, Angry beavers, Rocco’s Modern Life, Invader Zim, Cow and Chicken, Dexter’s Lab, Ed Edd and Eddy, and Sponge Bob just to name a few. I found continued inspiration from things like Digimon and Pokémon which helped me to develop my own unique art style and subject matter.

For many years I stayed far away from art classes, I felt as though being taught art by someone else I might lose what was special about my own drawings. It wasn’t until my junior year in high school that I took my first art class. My last two years in school were primarily focused on art making. After discovering magazines like Juxtapose and artist who made a living at art like Jeremy Fish, Scottie Young, and others that I began to see the possibilities in art.

I continued to peruse art by enrolling in The School of Visual arts (NYC) in the fall of 2010. I studied Illustration as I found it was the closes title that matched my passions in art. It afforded me the opportunity to learn a multitude of disciplines, from animation, painting, caricatures, screen printings, story boarding, comic making, and much more. I found I had a real draw to making apparel graphics and graphics in general. While also doing little comics and animations here and there. My senior year is when I got deep into screen printing making my own custom jackets as well as screen printed business cards. I would graduate SVA in the summer of 2014 with honors and a BFA in Illustration.

 After leaving school I found a great opportunity getting to intern with Tara McPherson at her gallery, The Cotton Candy Machine, which would evolve into my first job as a shipping assistant. I found it incredibly enjoyable and enriching to work around so many different talented artists and get a behind the scenes look at how gallery’s, art shows, and art sales are done. At this time, I also worked with a small screen-printing studio where I was able to lean even more about art and apparel. I would leave New York and find myself heading out to the West Coast, Portland to be precise.

Once in Portland I got involve with a small art gallery and boutique for a few months before landing a gig with the street art apparel company Upper Playground. I would work my way up from sales associate to store/ Gallery manager in just over a year or so. Once again finding myself in a position to make work and get involved with all sorts of artist and even put on art shows. I worked at Upper Playground for several years before eventually moving on to peruse other opportunities. I now find myself making art and products all on my own, working commissions when I can, submitting to shows and competitions, as well as figuring out what drives my art and how I can make the best art possible.

I feel I have a unique view of the world and I try to express that in my art. I’ve always been someone who likes to create, and I see no end to that at any point. I’m versatile and have been able to use my art making talents in a variety of different ways thought my life and hope to continue that in the future. If you are looking for an artist who makes original, odd, weird, slightly grotesque, cartoonish, and fun art then look no further. Have a project in mind you think I might be able to assist with? Please reach out, as I am always on the lookout for new opportunities.