Who is Ron Godby?

A bit about me

First, I want to sincerely thank you for visiting my website today.

I am a people-person, a family man, a great friend, a philanthropist, a designer, a leader, a strong believer in humanity, and I love my children.

I grew up on Star Wars, He-Man, Looney Tunes, Tom & Jerry, Scooby Doo, Super Friends, and a love for comic books and drawing super heroes!

Secondly, sorry this is so long, but people keep asking me how I got into design and art and it’s easier to just put it all here.

Third, I'll tell you my story...

I came from a small town called Hapeville, Georgia. It sits next to the Atlanta Airport and is the home of the very first Chick-Fil-A restaurant. It’s also the hometown of Jeff Foxworthy. If you drive about two miles in any direction, you're out of the city.

I have friends I've had all my life. I met my best friends in nursery school and third grade and we've been best friends ever since. I used to camp out in the back yard in the Summer in a pop-up camper we had sitting out on the patio and we'd stay up for days eating Little Debbie's Brownies and drinking Yoo-Hoo drinks.

I've always been fascinated with art.

I've been drawing since I could pick up a jumbo crayon. Mostly on walls and furniture way back then, but once I turned about 5 years old, I discovered paper and started drawing things on that instead. I think the first super hero I drew was Batman.

When I was in the first grade, I had a favorite Anime cartoon that I would watch every day after school called 'Battle of the Planets', which was an American version of 'Gatchaman.' The characters on the show flew in a spaceship called 'The Phoenix.' I started drawing the ship for my classmates. My teacher seemed impressed. Suddenly I was drawing all sorts of stuff for everyone and was enrolled in art classes.

In third grade, I started attending a different school. One of my favorite shows on TV was 'The Woody Woodpecker Show' and so I started drawing Woody. Same story - I began mass-sketching Woody Woodpecker for everyone. This led to me designing and painting backdrops for school plays in elementary school, designing costumes for the students actors in high school, and having a love for more than just sketching, but all forms of art.

I took every art course I could take in high school and entered art contests often. I won several awards for my work, and even had a piece hanging on display in the High Museum of Art in Atlanta for an entire month as an award for best piece. I ran out of Art courses to take, so the teachers spoke to the Board of Education and the school superintendent and they unanimously agreed to create an Independent Art Study class so that I could continue to pursue Art in school. My entire senior year I was referred to as the only "student-teacher" in the school. I taught courses to the freshmen and sophomores entering Art study and graduated in 1991 with the only award given to a student for Honors in Art.

Through the years, I studied graphic design, illustration, anatomy, marketing, psychology, and found that I have a knack for all. They each assist my creative talent to conceptualize and create designs for select target audiences.

My first job was working for a commercial printer named Wally. Together with Wally and his typesetter and graphic designer, Tim I started learning more about commercial printing and marketing. I worked on several projects designing logos for Wally’s clients and discovered I had a knack for people.

I reluctantly left Wally in 1991 due to travel issues and started working at a car wash closer to home where I utilized my design talents to create menus and flyers for the products and services we offered. My designs combined with my customer service skills helped me achieve the role of manager from 1993 through 1997 where I led my team to be voted the number one car wash in the Southeast by the Southeastern Car Wash Association for 4 years in a row.

Years went by as I continued to grow in my talents and skills. In 1999, I walked into a Kroger store for some milk and to respond to a sign in the window that read...

NOW HIRING GRAPHIC ARTIST

APPLY WITHIN

I applied, met the Graphics Coordinator for the store named Jeff. He rolled out a sheet of butcher paper that was about 4' x 6', handed me some banner markers and an ad for what the store had on sale in the meat department. He said, "Show me what you've got, I'll be right back." And as he walked away to his office, I drew up a banner to sell the product, complete with a cartoon character of a cow I named “Chuck”. He came back, smiled and said, "You're hired!"

I worked for Kroger store #444 in Alpharetta, Georgia with Jeff for about three months and together, we made the store look awesome! We were winning all the store display contests for the Atlanta division and even the vendor display contests. Pop Secret, LaChoy, Kraft Foods, Kettle Brands, Coca-Cola, Tide, Bounty, and many others. We called ourselves Team Awesome.

The store manager noticed the customers noticing.

The president of the company at the time, Paul Smith, was impressed. He loved the "family appeal" to what we were doing. The Senior Graphics Coordinator for Zone M in the Atlanta KMA Division named Joe, caught word and came down to the store to meet me and see what the talk was about. He was impressed, too - so impressed that he gave me my own store, #384 in Woodstock, Georgia, made me Graphics Coordinator, and bumped my salary considerably.

I was beyond grateful!

I spent over a year designing banners and displays for the store. We moved inventory, sold products, and won contests and prizes. It was one of the best times of my life in graphic design and art! I learned a lot working with Jeff and Joe.

What have I done since?

I taught Art at the Cherokee County Arts Council in Canton, Georgia in 2003. More specifically, I taught Cartooning! I was told by the council that my class had the highest success rate of enrollment the center had seen in years and I was awarded 'Art Educator of the Year' for Cherokee County Schools in 2003. It was such an honor and good feeling! My name is still inscribed on the board at the art center as you come in the door. I also taught the Summer Camp there called 'Camp Imagine', where my students learned drawing, painting, and crafting with teamwork and designed a working game that they each had fun playing.

I developed my own curriculum course of study for cartooning and have developed it for young children to follow in such a way that anyone can learn to draw by simply following my Basic Shape principles. My course was called Cartooning with Captain Ron and was a big hit at the art center.

I also taught at a few other public and private schools in Cherokee County and Cobb County for honorariums.

I have freelanced graphic design to many different companies. I have created business cards for some, flyers for others, webpage layouts, and for some I've even developed their whole brand image from the ground up.

If you tell me what kind of business it is, what kind of customers you intend to have, what age demographic you intend to target, and a bit about your values as owner, I can create your brand image within a matter of a few days and have you all set for your business start-up. You’ll have an image that is sure to turn heads, a logo they won't soon forget, and a tag line that's so catchy they'll think of it every time someone mentions the kind of products or services you have for sale.

How?

Without sounding self-serving, I know people. Whether it's six-figure executives or the guy who delivers your pizza, it's just people.

I do the work.

I stay on top of the latest trends, the latest craze, and the latest phase. I have the latest Adobe software and the years of experience to what works best with whatever generation you’re targeting. I know what the young people are into and what the older generations want to see more of. I deliver top notch designs that appeal to every demographic.

I don't know know why I can do it or even how. It just comes to me out of nowhere. I just "see" it. I can design great layouts and marketing material because it's just something I'm good at. Not every graphic designer fresh out of college with a degree in graphic arts and a tablet can do that. That makes me unique and original. I’ve learned from my mentors that it also makes me non-expendable.

I can draw anything you can imagine. Illustrations combined with graphic design layouts speak to the largest masses. It’s not clip art. It’s not hashed together with filters. It’s not AI-rendered junk. If I create something for you, you can bet it’s real, it’s original, and it’s all yours.

                           But wait, that's not all...

Music production for jingles. Video Production and Direction for commercials, promotions, and sales. Coordinate events for PR with the public, vendors, execs and families like yours. Market the products and services. And I'm a pretty nice guy and can get along with just about anyone! That make me sort of a concierge of creativity. And I also do voice-overs and voices in general in many different dialects.

As of 2023, I now live in Oak Ridge, Tennessee where I run a successful Etsy shop and an online t-shirt business with my business partner, Steve. My youngest son lives with me, along with my girlfriend, her youngest son, all nine fur-babies, and her aging mom. My oldest son lives in Villa Rica, Georgia with his wife and my grandson. And my middle son lives in Knoxville with his wife and my granddaughter. My childhood best friend also moved to Oak Ridge. Together, we make a pretty good team of creative minds!

Thank you for your interest in me and my work. In closing, thank you also for stopping by my site today. I really appreciate it more than you realize! Take care, my friends!

-Ron Godby