Don’t pull in a string section when a guitar will do, but don’t rely on a piano when you need a full orchestra.
Jason Stout
Executive Producer
Jason Stout is a designer and illustrator based in Austin, Texas. Using digital and traditional tools, he has crafted a clean, vibrant style, which he uses to take complex concepts and create evocative, readable, and memorable work from them. An efficient, economical harmony between detail and negative space is the ideal: don’t pull in a string section when a guitar will do, but don’t rely on a piano when you need a full orchestra.
His career began in 1987, when he took a job on the Production crew for the daily student paper as a freshman at the University of Oklahoma, a job he kept all through college. He learned the essentials of graphic design on the job; typography, layout, illustration, writing, copy editing – and the importance of high-quality work on a tight deadline. He spent the early 90’s producing and designing custom t-shirts, playing guitar and writing songs, and spending some time in Providence, RI before landing in Austin.
In Austin, the doors flew open – a respected independent record label to release his band’s music, plenty of graphic design work, and his first paid freelance illustration jobs. The creative hum of Austin brought opportunities for all of his varied interests: editorial design and illustration, poster art, album art, book covers, ad design, identity design, and animation, including work as an animator on Richard Linklater’s feature film ”A Scanner Darkly.” His art has been featured in shows in NYC and San Francisco, and in several shows in Austin.
After spending 12 years as a go-to illustrator and designer for the paper, in 2007 he became the Art Director and in-house illustrator for the Austin Chronicle, the largest independently-owned alternative newsweekly in the US, a job he proudly kept until 2020. During his tenure as both Art Director and as a freelancer, The Chronicle won several Association of Alternative Newsmedia Awards for design, and in 2016, Stout won First Place for Cover Design.
Most recently, what started as a simple illustration job turned into Stout’s current position as Art Director at OnChain Media + Entertainment, and designing for Web3. Stout is excited about the blockchain frontier, and for the amazing potential that NFTs have for creators and collectors.