Hot Shot!

For Steven "SteveOramA" Wilson, it seems that his love for the ocean takes him on some wild adventures. First, it brought him to Hawai'i. Now, it's helped him win the 1800 Tequila Essential Artists 2009 competition. The graphic artist's undersea scene is on a limited edition bottle of the premium tequila and garnered him the title, "essential artist."

How'd you come up with the design? The idea to create my winning design stems from my love for the ocean and marine life. I wanted to portray how humans are so quick to dive into a situation or the deep unknown due to our own curiosities. Something just happened to be waiting at the bottom for the diver...I made two simple images tell a story in an easy way and I think I got the message across.

What brought you to Hawai'i? A month after graduating from high school, I joined the Navy. I graduated at the top of my Sonar Technician class, so I was able to pick my first duty station. My main goal was to become a Marine Biologist, the Navy was willing to bring me to my school's destination and pay for me to go to HPU in the future. I was able to kill two birds with one stone; so I easily chose Pearl Harbor Hawaii.

Why did you leave? After successfully completing my term of service in the Navy, I didn't want to go the Marine Biologist route anymore. I guess 4 1/2 years of being mostly out on the rocky ocean waves will do that to a person. I decided to instead explore the possibilities of my first love: art.

What inspires you? As simple as it sounds, everyday life. Whatever I am surrounded by and wherever I end up is usually how I gain inspiration to create art. Something will just click in my head and make me think that I should design something or explore a certain subject. Hanging out with friends, going exciting places, and doing fun things are a big part of the subject matter for the things I create.

Now that you've won this award, what's next for you? What can we expect from SteveOramA in 2010? Well, I'm kind of wondering the same thing and that's the fun part for me. I am currently working on a project that will ultimately end with me having my own line of shoes through a company in Europe, so that's a pretty big deal. I'll just be looking out for the next fun, cool thing to do and go from there. I'm very open-minded and I think you kind of have to be if you want to stay working in this industry.