ROBERT TINNEY PORTRAITS
P.O.Box 778 Tel: 1-337-826-3003 Robert Tinney Portraits accepts all 3 major credit cards.
331 E. Carriere St.
Washington, LA 70589
Cell: 1-337-280-9443
E-mail:
robert@tinney.net
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Although Robert Tinney was born in upstate New York (where his father grew up), his family took up residence in Louisiana only 3 months later, where Robert grew up and attended the public schools in Baton Rouge, graduating from Istrouma High in 1965. The Spring of 1969 found him graduating from Louisiana Tech in Ruston with a degree in Advertising Art, and the Fall of that same year saw his induction into the U. S. Army.
After 2 1/2 years in Panama, and with army life behind him, Tinney finally kicked off his career as an artist in Houston in 1972. Neither personal computers nor graphics software were anywhere to be found in those days, and Tinney started at a drawing board in a Houston public relations firm, laying out ads and newsletters -- with a few spot illustrations tossed his way now and then. 1975 found him at another drawing board -- this time in a jewelry manufacturing firm -- writing and illustrating company brochures and producing glittering airbrushed jewelry renderings. At this point, however, fate offered a change in direction.
In late 1975 the phone rang in Tinney's north Houston apartment. It was long distance from Carl Helmers, a friend Tinney had met in Houston several years earlier.
"We've just started a new magazine called BYTE," said Carl, "and I'm the Editor-in-Chief. Would you be interested in illustrating the covers?" Helmers sent Tinney a copy of the first issue, September '75. (One of the ads offered readers a whopping "4K RAM for your Altair for only $185 assembled!") Tinney didn't really know what "4K RAM" might be, but he did hear opportunity knocking, and his first BYTE cover appeared on the December 1975 issue, at the very beginning of the personal computer revolution. The theme of that issue was, "Computers: The Ultimate Toys."
During the '70s and '80s Tinney produced well over 100 BYTE paintings; his popular BYTE covers have been shown at the prestigious Computer Museum in Boston, and he has received numerous awards for the technical excellence and inspired themes of his illustrations. His clients include Motorola, Ford Aerospace, JDR Microdevices, QNX Software, Actel, Inc., Haestad Methods, Information Security Bulletin, and many others. His haunting images are among the most recognized in the computer industry.
In recent years, as the computer industry has turned more and more toward the Web, Tinney has moved into computer graphics, producing wholly digital images for Internet companies such as WebMovie.Com. He has also produced 3-D models and animations for multimedia entertainment, using the industry standard modeling application 3-D Studio.
In 1978 Tinney married and moved back to his home town of Baton Rouge. Ten years later he and his wife, Susan, moved to the little town of Washington, just north of Opelousas, where Susan had grown up. The artist's progressive moves from big city to small town life have been accompanied by a change in his artistic focus. Although he continues to serve several of his PC industry clients, his business has turned more and more toward oil paintings and portraits.
Tinney creates his portraits and popular images amidst the bayous and live oaks in the heart of Cajun Louisiana. His studios claim the upper story of his historic, antebellum country home, The Crawford House (circa 1850), which he and Susan named after the nineteenth century steamboat captain who built it. Listed in the National Register, the home is also operated by the Tinney's as a Bed & Breakfast for travelers visiting Acadiana.