F. Riojas Outdoor was the name of my Dads‘ operation as a sign painter. I was an apprentice to my father, more of a helper, (aka free labor) and learned the in’s ans out’s of the sign biz. In the late 90’s digital printing became more prevalent and by the time I graduated high school painters were no longer needed. Before that though I had planned on starting my own business, mostly focusing on low brow hot rod inspired art and the occasional religious mural… thus came forth Krooked Eye Designs. I had always been a fan of the arts, from Dali to Davinci with a soft be spot for contemporaries like H.R. Giger, Piet Mondrian, Picasso and of course Ed “Big Daddy Roth and Kenneth Howard aka “Von Dutch”. It still amazes me how these guys were some knuckleheads tooling around in hot rods’ and painting their own worlds in their style who were pioneers. I always wanted to be that. A pioneering Knucklehead who can inspire others and maybe motivate some to find their own self awesomeness…

Anyhoo… at Krooked Eye Designs I hope to make art that everyone enjoys and pays homage to those who inspired me to be an artist. Truth be told it wasn’t until just a few years ago (in my thirties) that I considered myself an artist. Having said that my dream is to keep making art available to everyone. The last few years have been tricky.

I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis and it’s changed things up!

Extremely changed.

Physically it’s apparent with walking and talking issues but the affect this incurable disease has had on my mind is the most troubling. Issues with memory are endless and sometimes even speaking words in a cohesive manner is a challenge. What’s scarier is that more and more I notice the effects it has on my artistic endeavors. It’s hard to hold drawing and painting tools and it makes the artistic process even more challenging. Luckily a lot of my digital art helps in that my digital lines are much straighter that its hand drawn equivalent.

I’m still here though and I love to paint and draw and make people smile and if my art can do that then trust that no incurable disease can stop me.

Let’s paint the world!