About me:
Welcome and thank you for checking out my little part of the web!
My name is Andy Yee aka Slider. My journey into art began as a fantastic babysitter when I was younger. My childhood best friend’s family owned a monument company. To entertain us we were allowed to rifle through the vast amounts of previous flashings and using the office windows traced them on to a piece of paper. I remember I could do this for hours just studying each amazing design and then the joy of getting to make my own copy.
My dad is an amazing artist, as a teenage immigrant to the United States in the 60’s he found solace in his natural talent as an artist. With a supportive High School art teacher he was awarded an art scholarship to Treasure Valley Community College in Ontario Oregon. Unfortunately his other scholastics were not strong and thus completing college was not in his cards. Falling back on the business that he knew he applied his creative skills to the restaurant industry. He and my mother successfully owned and operated two different eating establishments within their carrier. Two establishments that I grew up in with a love and passion for creating food as an art.
My older brother is also a very talented artist, his realism is astonishing. When my brother was in College one of his assignments was to create a lesson plan that taught a skill to someone. As he was into lifted show trucks at the time, using a style similar to George Trosley’s Cartoons “how to draw Cartoons’ and me being a prime test subject he inadvertently change everything in me. Teaching me the basic proportional and dimensional styling of a Cartooned version of the lifted Blazer that he had built, was the moment I realized this is something I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I was enamored by the fact that I could do that! That next semester of Junior High school I took my one and only art class in my life. It gave me a better basic foundation but alas other interest and creative passions drew me away from what I feel is truly what I love to do.
An odd crossroads began when I started to explore the creative release in traditional art, I also found my way into the worlds of music and martial arts. Tae Kwon Do fortified my discipline and leadership skills while music gave me creative and social release that needed. Art in the traditional sense went to the wayside, I dove head first into both which at the time severed me very well and still do to this day.
It all gets wrapped up in the passion of the automobile. When I found myself flailing I found what bound all my passions and creativity into one thing. On a chance encounter “via using a traditional art piece” I found myself deeply diving into the Automotive world. It’s here where I found my love and passion for traditional art again. Outlets like shop signs, pinstriping, concept art and monster shirts peaked my interest. Submerging myself into the works of those before me I studied everything I could get my hands on. From “how to books” to just quietly sitting next to masters as they do their thing I cherish every bit of it. Digital art has been an amazing outlet that has allowed me to reach more and more people. As I get older I realize I want is to share this experience with other and hope that one day it clicks within them and the subculture of automotive art lives on.
