Hello, my name is Vincenzo Savastano, but you can call me Vinny. I am artist and graphic designer from Orange County California. I have a bachelor’s degree in Graphic Design from The Art Institute of California – Orange County, and I have been working as a freelance and fulltime graphic designer for about 10 years.

I started drawing further back than I can remember and it is my love of art that got me interested in graphic design in the first place. Illustration is still one of strongest attributes and you can see many examples of my work in the illustrations section of my portfolio. I began working as a graphic designer in high school. I was the singer in a punk rock band and I started designing artwork for our flyers and merchandise. This soon expanded to me doing the design work of several other bands and musicians. At the same time my brother was starting his own business and I began doing graphic art for him and his clients as well. In the summer of my junior year in high school I attended the open house of the newly constructed Art Institute of California – Orange County. Immediately I knew that I wanted to attend The Art Institute and enrolled that next year. I graduated in 2008 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Graphic Design.

During the summer of 2009 my father and I started our own clothing line, Gravehearts Design: Art & Apparel. You can see quite a few examples of our products in the apparel section of my portfolio. I designed all of our clothes and accessories and we sold them through a kiosk on Main Street in our hometown of Huntington Beach. The shirts are also sold through our online store, eBay, and have been sold at concerts throughout all of southern California with the help of several bands I have done design work for. Some of the shirts I designed for Franki Doll and the Broken Toys have been sold at Hot Topic stores throughout southern California during their in store appearances and live performances.

During this venture I acquired quite a bit of knowledge in the direct to garment printing industry and as a result was hired as a technical support member of a direct-to-garment printer manufacturing company called AnaJet. I am now currently working as a supervisor for the technical support team and have also done many design projects for the company that can be seen in the graphic design section of this portfolio. My work had been used online as well as in several print ads that have appeared in publications both domestically and internationally. 

My love of photography came about as I was working as a freelance Graphic Designer. When creating a design piece I preferred, whenever possible, to work on every aspect of the piece myself. Whenever a photograph was needed I would just as soon take it myself rather than having to source a stock photo or commission the services of a photographer. In doing this I found that I really enjoy photography and have continued developing my skills as a photographer over the past few years. Many examples of my photography can be seen in the Photography Section of my portfolio.

I get my inspiration and influences from the things around me; from the punk bands I played with in high school, to the artists and designers I studied at the Art Institute, to the people I met selling shirts at the Surf City Nights Street Fair in Huntington Beach. All of these people and experiences have gone into the pieces in my portfolio. I hope that you enjoy my work and please feel free to email me through the contacts section of my site.