Anthony Gargasz first used Photoshop at the age of 12 when his friend showed him Photoshop and now works at a design studio in Hollywood. In this interview, learn why Gargasz decided to be self-taught despite receiving $30k in scholarships and how he was able to improve his artwork through feedback from other artists.

Thank you for interviewing with us Anthony! Can you introduce yourself to our readers and tell us how you got started? What are some resources (books, websites, etc.) that you used to learn digital art?

You’re very welcome, it’s my pleasure. My name is Anthony Gargasz & I’m a digital artist & designer. I first got into digital art when I was about 12 years old & my friend showed me photoshop. My mind was instantly blown. Seeing how pristine everything looked compared to MS Paint made me very keen to learn what could be done with it. From there I started making forum signatures, and eventually adapted my concepts to larger canvases. The magical internet was the single greatest resource for learning digital art. I learned most basic techniques from popular tutorial websites, but the digital art collective EvokeOne was the most helpful of them all. It was a place where I could receive great feedback & criticism from awesome artists. Showing my work to others who I thought made cool work & receiving their feedback helped me develop a vision that I could translate into art.

Exhale

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On your website, you mentioned that you’re 20 years old and self taught with a month of college. How is self-learning compared with going to school? Which do you prefer and why?

Self-learning is the way to go with anything creative. I think that teaching myself taught me to absorb & interpret things in my own way. When I got to college I had already been passionately pursuing digital art for about 6 years. Starting off in fundamental classes drove me crazy. They filled in some basic design principals I had never picked up, but I didn’t see it being worth it in the long run. On top of that I had no interest to learn general education classes such as math & english. Seeing some of the graduating portfolios & experiencing terrible work be praised over hype inspired me to drop out. I didn’t want to work my ass off for a piece of paper that said I went to a fancy school & am now a fancy designer. I wanted to show my work to the world & let them decide what I was capable of.

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22 responses to “The 20 Years Old Designer Who Learned It All Himself – Interview with Anthony Gargasz”

  1. Maidul Islam Avatar
    Maidul Islam

    This is really fantastic. The unlimited access makes it even better thanks for shearing!

  2. zeal budhathoki Avatar
    zeal budhathoki

    splendid and fantastic grate job.

  3. Eric Spivak Avatar
    Eric Spivak

    #PROGRESS #INSPIRATION #DESIGN

  4. regina Avatar
    regina

    Very nice work! I’m currently teaching myself photoshop at age 27 and love every minute of it. Keep up good work and inspiration!

  5. Ali Avatar
    Ali

    Nice article but one thing is missing..

    The actual process of learning he used

    I.e what books did he study? What sites for tutorials did he use?

    Whats the order/process of self teaching ones self Graphics design in terms of both the Vast theory side and the Adobe CS6 side application.

    Otherwise awesome article

  6. Samantha Zinn Sáenz Avatar
    Samantha Zinn Sáenz

    Your art work is amazing! I’ve been teaching myself Photoshop since I was 15 (2011). I’m seventeen now and I believe that the better way to learn is by experiencing it by yourself, creating something different and unique and make it yours. Although I am studying in the academy of Communication Arts, Film and Digital Media in my Senior year, I will never stop learning what I love to do by myself.

    Oh, and congratulations for all your success!

  7. Darius Sykes Avatar
    Darius Sykes

    Anthony man, you don’t know how this just inspired me to push for even greater! You are an ICON in my eyes and at such a young age! Hope life keeps getting better for you

  8.  Avatar
    Anonymous

    wow man, you’re an inspiration. Thank you!

  9. Nora Avatar
    Nora

    He’s so genuine… congrats on everything !

  10. Mom, dad, & Crissy Avatar
    Mom, dad, & Crissy

    Mom- That’s my BOUY!!!!HBB… Love Love Love It- Lyle Lovette!

    Dad- What a great MIND!!!!

    Crissy- U R so amazing!!! I can’t wait to see how much more u r gonna do! One of the greats!

  11. Shawn Meeks Avatar
    Shawn Meeks

    wow man, i like your stuff, im 17 i’ve learned photoshop on my own. i also use Cinema 4D for 3D logos, etc. You inspire me, thats what i need is some feedback from some good artists to keep me going.
    -Meeks Designs

  12. Paula Avatar
    Paula

    Fantastic art. I look forward to seeing more of it in the future and hopefully some tutorials to help those of us that haven’t been gifted with your talent.

    1. Anthony Gargasz Avatar
      Anthony Gargasz

      Thank you so much! I have some tutorials on OtherFocus, a design blog I write for. More are soon to come! http://www.otherfocus.com/category/resources/tutorial/

  13. Justin Ngai Avatar
    Justin Ngai

    Nice stuff! Do you use Photoshop brushes?

    1. Anthony Gargasz Avatar
      Anthony Gargasz

      Thanks Justin, I use basic photoshop brushes with adjusted presets for lighting techniques. I try to stick to stock images for textures.

    2. Justin Ngai Avatar
      Justin Ngai

      Thanks for the reply. Which brushes do you recommend for lighting techniques?

  14. Victor Avatar
    Victor

    Those designs are very very good i must say,i myself just started using Photoshop and already i’m blown away by the software’s capability of manipulating pics. I hope to work with Anthony someday when our roads meet.

  15. Bitte Avatar
    Bitte

    Very nice!

  16.  Avatar
    Anonymous

    my favorite artist!

  17. NazarBE Avatar
    NazarBE

    Wowee!! The artjunks design is the best. How did u go from $15k prize to $30k?

    1. Anthony Gargasz Avatar
      Anthony Gargasz

      Thank you very much! I received $15k for the pictured artwork & another $15k for their Advertising Portfolio Scholarship (creating a mach ad campaign)

  18. Evan Avatar
    Evan

    Mind= Blown

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