Parrish The Designer

 The Architectural/Interior Designer

Brad Parrish has been drawing and designing his entire life. Everything from creating and drawing his own comic strips as a young child that appeared in his grade school news papers to designing and building mini chopper motorcycles out of discarded engine and bicycle parts he found, to designing buildings for the Hospitality and the Industrial/Commercial industries. Brad’s graphic design work has always been a part of all the areas he has worked in, including his nationally released collection of fine art cards Christmas and note cards under his own brand MOUSEKING and through his website www.mouseking.com. Brad has been the creator of all his products and promotional material and was happiest when he was creating, designing and building all of his creations himself

While in middle school Brad was hired by a local taxi company to design a new logo for their company. Brad was about 12 or 13 years old at this time. There were other companies that had Brad design logos, signage and brochures for their companies around this time as well. A local news paper that came to Brad’s home to do a story on Brad's national successes and the fact that he was so young and was accepted into an accredited college while in middle school and they asked if he would be interested being an artist for their newspaper. This opened the door for the ongoing exposure he wanted and needed if he were to make enough money to help his mother and sister pay the bills. Brad had been doing this all along as the young man of the house, but, this would enable Brad to buy the much needed expensive art materials to further his career. This was a major step in opening the door to much of Brad’s drive to paint, create and produce beautiful works. The community newspaper serving most of all southeastern Wisconsin would give Brad the up coming stories and or features they were doing. It was Brads job to come up with drawings that would capture the essence of these stories with his pen and ink drawings. Brad, now having the necessary contacts with the staff at the news paper, worked a deal with them to give Brad a whole page ad in their newspaper reaching thousands of people. This was the first opportunity Brad had to publicly and professionally offer his services and his artwork to the public beside selling his work at all the local art shows etc. Brad designed, laid out the ad and provided all the artwork for this full page ad. He was amazed with the response and impact this one ad made. More surprising was the fact that Brad found out very quickly that people love their pets. He received many calls from people wanting him to paint their pets. Brad took it all on until he began burning out on doing the same old thing he had done for so many years before, "Pet Portraits" to help support his family. While he knew this was strictly businesses and one that paid off well, Brad yearned very deepy to create works of art from his heart and mind. He had continued to take on the graphic design jobs that companies  contacted him about during this time because the work would be stimulating to his mind. Brad also took what ever time he had available to work on his fine art, it was his saving grace when things became to overwhelming for him.

It was during Brads’ high school years that he began focusing in on and fine tuning his talents and skills. In the summer months working for an internationally renowned stain glass art studio designing stained glass windows for churches throughout the United Sates and Europe. While a freshman in high school he began paining his first mural his freshman year on a 40-50 foot wall in the schools gymnasium. He hand painted the school logo on the gym floor. He illustrated for the school newspapers, the year books and his senior year he painted the cover of the yearbook. He designed and printed school posters that were sold in the school store. Over the four years in high school painted and air brushed everything from motorcycle gas tanks to T-Shirts for cash  He started a graphic/sign company business with another classmate, a young 'want to be entrepreneur'. Their clients ranged from Laundry mats to retail stores. Brad also started his own company and rented office space not far from his home. The company was called CAID "Creative Art Illustrations and Designs. It was a place where he did all of his large signage on Plexi Glass. Brad has always loved architectural and interior design and throughout his young life designed and built models of his work. There were many renderings of his designs that were done during this time. Brad wanted to be an architectural designer as well as a professional artist. After high school Brad wanted to attend the prestigious Layton School Of Art however, the school was closing and Brad decided to pursue his other love in the architectural and interior design field.

After Brad graduated high school he took his designs and rendering to a local but very successful nationwide architectural firm, who hired him on the spot. Brad was reading blueprints and coming up with finished renderings to close all their projects with clients. His mother, a secretary at this time, was working for a major mechanical contractor in Milwaukee when a man from Chicago who owned an architectural/interior design company stopped in to speak with the president of this company. While he was waiting they talked about kids, etc.; and Brad's mother mentioned Brad and his work. He asked her to have her son contact him as he wanted to meet Brad. Shortly after they met, Brad was offered a job with this firm in which he would be designing and redesigning establishments for the hospitality industry, such as restaurants and hotels. His design work also included but was not limited to a palace, banks,  saving and loan buildings, major warehouses and corporate headquarter buildings. Brad had seen in the man a great designer. One that Brad admired and had great respect for when it came to business and design. Brad attributes much of his success in the design industry to this one man. He gave Brad the freedom to create and taught him things that  design school or college could never teach him. Brad was designing everything from stained glass, logos, actual menus and original paintings for fine restaurants and hotels in the country. From 1977 until 1985 Brad  worked in this industry  winning awards for his design work. However, it was though these very successful years in the Graphic and architectural/interior design industry that Brad was not his happiest. Brad longed to paint, to devote all of his time to his first and only true love, his fine art. It was a call from a friend and fellow designer that asked Brad if he would help her with a grand ballroom she was working on. Asking Brad to paint a large signature painting for the room, also designing the area around the painting. Brad jumped at the chance. Brad was asked if he wanted to display and sell his original paintings in the lobby of this well known establishment in  which he was doing the painting for the grand ballroom. He had approximately 20 pieces on display and the first one to sell was his piece titled "Polar Bear". It was after these works sold and Brad made more money in a week then he could ever make in a year as a head designer, that Brad and his wife decided that this was the time for Brad to pursue his destiny full time.

Brad continued to have firms contact him to do graphic design work, architectural renderings and design interior and exteriors of buildings several years after he decided to fulfill his dream of painting full time. He used all of these talents in the graphic industry in designing and producing all of his own printed material including but not limited to his beautiful brochures, adds, sell sheets and even his own line of fine art greeting cards that were debuted in New York back in 2004 at the National Stationary Show.

Brads graphic design work like his fine art pieces are a testimony to his undying love to create works of art at every level in what ever industry to achieve from nothing, something timeless and enduring. From nothing he has brought forth something of great merit and in the process given all of us something more. The diversity of this one man's talents has taken him down many roads and industries. Through his journey's  he has pushed himself in every way to be better then he ever was before, never satisfied to do the same thing over and over. Challenging ourselves to see what is possible, what is beautiful as he constantly challenges himself.

In this gallery you will see works that Brad has done with regards to his graphic works and architectural and interior works. Over the past four decades, so many of Brads works were not photographed and hundreds of his drawings, designs and illustrations have been lost. What is shown in this gallery is what we do have for you to see. Please contact us, as people over the year, to let us know that you have one of Brads works of art, designs or renderings that can be photographed and made public here on his website.