ZERC: 2005
Before ZERC I would tag NEON all over Santa Rosa. There used to be a concrete bench near my home but had “BERG” written all over it. The competition was real and the bench was removed, I was 10.
Growing up, I was obsessed with calligraphy. I used to fill pages with single letters, but in different fonts. I was introduced to the underground world of graffiti by PAC-MAN and quickly realized that I needed a name. "Zerc" isn't an acronym and only represents freedom - my freedom to think, practice, and act. Pac-man, if you're reading this.. where df ya at? - LOVE ZERC
In 2013, Snoop Dogg dropped "Reincarnated." I tuned in to the album and immediately began sketching. This image is my visual representation of the entire album, from first listen to finish. I was only 17 years old at the time, and before I knew Adobe Illustrator was a product, I used a free program called "Gimp" and a small grey Wacom tablet on a cheap, used HP laptop that my dad bought me at a Starbucks on the Ave.
In 2013, while participating in the High School ArtQuest program's Digital Arts course, I was inspired by a fellow classmate who designed a type of wedding dress - a beige, puffy dress. This was my first and only attempt at designing a high heel. At the time, I had no idea that Adobe Illustrator existed, so I used Photoshop to create this design. I only used Photoshop because Gimp 2.0 was unreliable, and the school provided Adobe. To this day, I prefer to use Photoshop for all my creative work, from design to illustration.
With a combination of last-minute hard work and dumb luck, I graduated high school in 2014. Unfortunately, I didn't have the GPA, money, or clean school history to get into Santa Fe University of Art and Design, so I enrolled at Santa Rosa Junior College with the goal of launching my career as a graphic designer. However, after three years of studying full time and working, I realized that I was essentially going to pay a school to teach me how to be creative - how to be an artist. I eventually dropped out, and with my dad's support, we built an art studio from the ground up. This was the true beginning of my artistic journey, as I worked to nudge creativity towards new beginnings.
Carry On Tradition - Nas