Native Yuman's artwork can be seen around globe

Jon Cannell's art must find regular canvasses just a bit too boring. Cannell's unique style of imagery seems to prefer being framed by the pages of the Boston Globe or seen on the walls of Starbucks shops around the world.

The Yuma-raised artist admits, though, that he'll never get used to popping into a Starbucks in some strange city and coming face to face with one of his mural designs. It all happens while he's waiting in line for a latte.

"It's a little weird at times," the Seattle-based artist told The Sun, chuckling. "I was just really fortunate to have worked with Starbucks. Sometimes I just pinch myself. It's something that kind of just happened in my career and I'm very thankful for it."

In all, Cannell has designed about five mural patterns for Starbucks. Those patterns are turned into wall-sized coverings that adorn hundreds and hundreds of the coffee shops. Cannell has also designed much smaller images for the company, whipping up charming holiday scenes for its gift cards or musical motifs for CDs produced by Starbucks. Talk about art that ends up going everywhere. Just one of those images ended up being printed on more than 5 million gift cards.

But even this humble artist shouldn't be surprised that his work has made such a splash on the global scene. That kind of success is actually nothing new for his fun and abstract brand of illustrations. They have been appreciated by big corporations, publications and advertising powerhouses for about a decade now.

As a commercial artist, Cannell creates illustrations that fit a wide range of applications. He's often commissioned by big companies like Pepsi, who had him design a cardboard display promoting a new vacation giveaway. Then there are the publications needing art to accompany articles, such as a recent piece about community involvement inside Martha Stewart's new magazine "Body and Soul."

Cannell's most recent illustration project is a children's book about a globe-trotting rhino. "My Travels with Clara" was published by the J. Paul Getty Museum.

But before he was painting and drawing for a living, the son of Dr. Robert and Leslie Cannell was putting pencil to paper right here in Yuma, where he first discovered his artistic leanings at Kofa High School. He graduated from there in 1985.

Cannell quickly explains, however, that he was a late bloomer in terms of art.

"Yeah, I was into art, but I wasn't drawing all the time in high school. I was more sports-oriented then," he said. "I took a couple art classes in junior high and high school, but things really didn't come together until I was in college."

Cannell originally wanted to study architecture, but then drawing classes started to really rouse his artistic side out of its slumber. A student of The Art Center in Pasadena, he eventually decided to go after a career in commercial art, not just because of his particular talents, but also out of respect for the daunting perspectives that come with making traditional art - and making money.

"Art and making a living don't usually go too well together," he said with a dark chuckle.

Cannell added that digging deep into his creativity and uncovering his inborn artistic talents proved to be enough of a challenge. He stressed that techniques did not come to him quickly, forcing him to meld emerging talent with herculean efforts to learn and improve.

"I wasn't particularly great at art. That was the funny thing," he said. "I had to really struggle. It was a long, long time before I felt comfortable with my work."

He was also challenged by the race to create a dazzling portfolio of his artwork, something most of his fellow students had begun developing years before.

"It was a pretty intense experience. The work at The Art Center was crazy, too, probably the hardest work I've ever done."

That work came with great rewards, however. Cannell earned the honor of being one of only 100 students from 30 nations invited to participate in a four-month course in Switzerland.

Then came a career that didn't take long to get great.

His job with Starbucks wasn't just one of his biggest gigs, it was also one of his first. In this case he wasn't just commissioned by the Seattle-based company to do some work. Cannell actually fed the company his creative ideas for three years, serving on an internal design group made up of 15 to 18 designers and illustrators.

"Starbucks is where I really got the chance to develop my style," he said.

Cannell quickly added, though, that such high-profile success comes with a price. Artists - just like with actors - must fight being typecast. "In some ways it can start defining who you are. Other companies may think my work looks too much like Starbucks. I've actually had to adapt my work quite a bit, using more watercolors and going for more of a loose approach."

Cannell now runs his own firm and enjoys the help of a professional representative who finds him jobs. She's found him numerous illustration jobs for national and international publications, plus his two projects with children's books. His first such book was "The Kid Who Named Pluto."

In his early days he worked a lot for various in-flight magazines published by airlines.

"When I'm illustrating for an article it's pretty quick turnaround, usually just a week or two," he said. "A lot of times they just say 'Here is the article, just show us the sketches.' I'm usually pretty free to do what I want, but it depends on the particular art editor, if they are heavy-handed or not."

His resume of illustration work for magazine and newspaper articles looks like a library's subscription list. Those publications include AARP Magazine, Village Voice, Harvard Business Review and Utne Reader.

This is where all that hard work early on has taken Cannell and he's quick to voice his gratitude for a career that's ended up being well worth the fight.

"I have followed my gut through my career and it has paid off. There are many times where I can't believe the opportunities that have been given to me, but I also know it is what I have done with the opportunities," Cannell said. "There has been a little of being at the right place at the right time, but most of it is passion and loving what you do. You just never know where that path will take you."

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Darin Fenger can be reached at

dfenger@yumasun.com or 539-6860.