Today we’d like to introduce you to Todd Anderson.
Hi Todd, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
Creativity and artistic ability have always been part of the core of what makes me who I am. I never had a clear plan or the goal of them being a way to make a living, they’re the most human way to know you’re alive. The genre that appealed to me as a child and still to this day is the visual artwork adjacent to the music industry, whether it be the gig posters from different regions or different decades, the cover art for vinyl records or the imagery seen on CD booklets ( I repurchased my lost copies of White Zombie’s La Sexorcisto in large part due to the album art), creating something that simply is cool to look at is the top priority whether there is a significant message trying to be portrayed is optional. After years of practicing screen printing because I enjoyed the medium, I finally caved into the request/badgering of my friends and family and turned that skill into a business – Charlietown Prints and the rest is history.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I was fortunate to already have a steady ship in being a licensed tour guide for the city since 2004. Giving carriage tours and unscripted lectures to visitors to Charleston was one of the greatest jobs in my life (also and unplanned/unpredicted role I didn’t see coming). With an already established reliable income, I never had to create artwork in order to stay afloat. Without that pressure on my shoulders as an artist, it meant that I could be proud of what I made for the sake of what it was and not for the sake of how much money I made from it. As word spread about my set of skills, eventually the time it took to print for others was too much for me to continue being a full time tour guide. Long story longer, my full time gig and my part time gig essentially would trade places.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I’m a screen printer/graphic designer who specializes in screen printing, which mostly includes fabric apparel and paper prints. My favorite commissions are printing posters for touring musicians including Deertick and Whisky Myers. Susto and I have the longest standing relationship in those regards, their drummer Marshall Hudson crushes it with the design work and I put my fingerprint on the imagery by hand printing each poster and have been working with them since around 2017. There is no particular piece of work that gives me remarkably more pride than any of the others, the most fulfilling part of the role I play is the sense of connection I get whenever I think about how many people have something I helped bring to life hanging on the walls of their house or more likely, rolled up and on the floor of their closet waiting to be framed along with dozens of other things!
Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs or other resources you think our readers should check out?
Easiest one of those to answer is favorite book, Slaughterhouse5 by Kurt Vonnegut. He’s my favorite author by far, and that book in particular is one I’ve read and listened to on audio countless times. The concept in that book of a different perspective on how time is viewed is one that resonates with my mind and is comforting to me when I imagine it. My podcast library is too big to mention them all, but I’ll give any podcast that deals with baseball and it’s history a listen.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.charlietownprints.com
- Instagram: @toddblessyall
