My name is Tony Gines and I was born in Miami, Florida. That’s me over there when I was 5 years old (one of the better photos of me). Ever since I can remember I’ve been obsessed with art and creating. Some of my earliest artistic memories were of sitting next to my mother as she drew with soft pastels and asking her to use them. She wasn’t too interested in letting me draw with her good pastels, but she did let me use them for a little while. I think I drew a duck walking on the grass… something I draw to this day. In grade school I was enrolled in a magnet program for music and did quite well, but I had a growing desire to join the art program. I tried out for it and put everything I had into the interview but ended up getting rejected. It really was something that upset me a lot, having someone tell you that you’re not a good artist. Later, when I was much older, I found out that my music teacher sabotaged the interview and demanded that the art teacher reject me since I was “so good at music”. I think that ended up working more in the art’s favor. I dropped out of music in highschool and attended art class instead.

After high school I enrolled in college at the International Fine Arts College in Miami and studied computer animation. I’ve always loved animation and got talked into this field. While I was there I picked up on some of the Adobe products and taught myself everything I could about digital media. This was right when the internet was starting to blossom, around 1998. I’ve always had a desire to know how things worked, so I taught myself how to code HTML and Flash. I must have spent hours sitting in the book stores reading HTML books. The benefit of having formal training in graphic design and color theory helped me as I progressed through my early web designs. Contrast, color balance, and typography all played crucial roles in this field and I still use them on a daily basis.

Since then I’ve gotten married and have a son and in 2007 we moved to Tallahassee, FL. I now work for an advertising agency, the/zimmerman/agency, as a senior digital designer. My duties range from conceptualizing of websites and web applications to brand identity and banner creation. Some clients I’ve worked on include Aflac, Tobacco Free Florida, Party City, FATZ, and more. Coming up with exciting ideas for companies and our clients is one of the most fun things about working at an ad agency. I’ve been obsessed with commercials and ads since I can remember. I’m definitely not one of those people that need a DVR to skip commercials.

Bottom line is: I love what I do and I get to do it every day. You can’t ask for much more.