Dennis Cox

I attended the University of Utah and took one art class and some general education courses back in 1972 before realizing that a guy from Salt Lake City had very little chance of making it in the graphic design world. I dropped out and have been working as a service technician for the local gas company ever since.

Drawing caricatures has always been my forte' ever since drawing my parents likenesses from the back seat of the car while on vacations. I have been the unofficial illustrator for "the gas company" since drawing a caricature on the blackboard of a company school. After being beat up by the victim of the drawing, management decided to have me do retirement illustrations, company calendars with employee caricatures and Intranet graphics.

I have also done the inside illustrations for a local computer magazine, Computer Credible www.credible.com since 1995. That has given me most of my ideas and repertoire of illustrations lately.

The Internet has changed the notion that a guy from Salt Lake has very little chance of becoming big in the graphics field. I'm by no means professional and feel very honored to be asked to share this spotlight with the previous artists. A guy with no formal art training would have almost a zero chance of being recognized even 10 years ago besides having worldwide exposure, which I've had since bringing my web site online three years ago.

I have dabbled in just about all types of media from pencil to airbrush. When I got my first XT computer and found out what could be done with it back in 1988, I have rarely returned to traditional art. I have used CorelDraw since version 1.2 but thank the editor of Computer Credible daily for introducing me to Xara. It was love at first sight and I rarely use anything else.

People often ask me what program I use to do my illustrations. On one hand I wish more people knew about Xara but secretly, I'm glad they don't because it gives me a giant edge over non-users! The illustrations invariably turn out better than expected.

—Dennis

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