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Illustrator, character designer, visual storyteller, and creative director with 27+ years of experience creating engaging visual experiences for children and families, including 21.5 years at Children’s Museum Houston. I translate stories, emotions, personalities, and ideas into cohesive character-driven visual worlds—developing concepts from early sketching through refined artwork and production-ready assets for print, digital, environmental, and large-format applications.…Illustrator, character designer, visual storyteller, and creative director with 27+ years of experience creating engaging visual experiences for children and families, including 21.5 years at Children’s Museum Houston. I translate stories, emotions, personalities, and ideas into cohesive character-driven visual worlds—developing concepts from early sketching through refined artwork and production-ready assets for print, digital, environmental, and large-format applications.

Gerald JAMES RHODES

Creative Director, Illustrator, Character Designer, +2

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Illustrator, character designer, visual storyteller, and creative director with 27+ years of experience creating engaging visual experiences for children and families, including 21.5 years at Children’s Museum Houston. I translate stories, emotions, personalities, and ideas into cohesive character-driven visual worlds—developing concepts from early sketching through refined artwork and production-ready assets for print, digital, environmental, and large-format applications.…Illustrator, character designer, visual storyteller, and creative director with 27+ years of experience creating engaging visual experiences for children and families, including 21.5 years at Children’s Museum Houston. I translate stories, emotions, personalities, and ideas into cohesive character-driven visual worlds—developing concepts from early sketching through refined artwork and production-ready assets for print, digital, environmental, and large-format applications.

Available to hire

Illustrator, character designer, visual storyteller, and creative director with 27+ years of experience creating engaging visual experiences for children and families, including 21.5 years at Children’s Museum Houston.

I translate stories, emotions, personalities, and ideas into cohesive character-driven visual worlds—developing concepts from early sketching through refined artwork and production-ready assets for print, digital, environmental, and large-format applications.

Skills

Experience Level

Expert

Expert

Expert

Expert

Expert

Expert

Expert

Work Experience

Senior Creative Director of Branding / Creative Director at Children's Museum Houston

January 1, 2004 - January 1, 2026

Developed visual experiences designed to engage children and families through illustration, character concepts, exhibits, campaigns, environmental graphics, interactive experiences, and visual storytelling. Created original visual concepts, characters, graphics, and campaign assets supporting museum programs, exhibitions, educational experiences, and special events. Built visual storytelling approaches that translated educational and cultural concepts into accessible, engaging experiences for young audiences. Applied character, expression, composition, color, typography, scale, and visual hierarchy to communicate emotion and narrative. Managed multiple creative projects while maintaining quality, consistency, production standards, and deadlines. Collaborated with educators, exhibit designers, marketing teams, leadership, fabricators, vendors, and multidisciplinary creative teams. Produced print publications, digital media, environmental graphics, signage, exhibitions, large-format appl

Creative Director | Illustrator | Character Designer at Creative Studio / Freelance

January 1, 1999 - Present

Created original illustrations, characters, visual concepts, identities, campaigns, and storytelling systems for organizations, businesses, cultural institutions, and independent projects. Developed character concepts with distinct personalities, visual traits, and expressions designed for storytelling potential. Translated written narratives, concepts, and briefs into original visual directions, building cohesive visual worlds to maintain consistency across applications. Produced digital illustrations using Photoshop and Illustrator, including drawing, composition, image manipulation, and typography. Collaborated directly with clients and creative teams for feedback-driven revisions, managing projects end-to-end from concept through final delivery while balancing creative development, revisions, deadlines, and production requirements.