The Pumthuggee Underground
Welcome to the Digital World of Jon Barnes
06.14.2010
About

Jon Barnes Bio

What is the Pumthuggee Underground?  It is the digital army collaboration station of Jon Barnes and his legion of ultra digital ninja warriors.

Who is Jon Barnes
Jon Barnes is an author, artist, writer, businessman, musician, producer and thinker. He is not allergic to pancakes, does not take NO for an answer and has brought back small animals from the dead by the sheer power of his will. Jon loves cars, movies, music, art, creating digital content, thinks Jesus is awesome and is considering becoming his own country. The Pumthuggee Underground is a group of dedicated artists, visionaries and creative people dedicated to creating an artistic and purposeful future.  If you want to join the digital army of awesomeness please visit our Facebook Page.


About Jon Barnes
“For most of my middle school and high school years I was completely set on going to school for automotive design and eventually designing cars for a living. That was always “my thing” and what I stood out at in art class. I never really thought twice about it and during my senior year applied and was accepted into the College for Creative Studies in Detroit. This was the place to be for car design and I knew it would be an intense experience. Every minute there was a learning experience and well worth it. But after a few months I felt like this wasn’t what I wanted to do with my life. In fact, as much as I loved cars and designing, I knew I wasn’t going to come back the next fall. This was strange because as far back as I could remember I knew this was my passion and I had a talent for it. It was a disorienting moment but I felt like I was learning something profound about myself. What I ­finally learned was that my gifting was not in something so precise as “cars” it was something deeper, it was “being creative.”

After my year at art school I came back to Maryland and switched educational gears completely with a degree in youth ministry and theology. My time in youth group in high school was very important to me and I felt like working with teens in the future was something I wanted to do. After graduating I spent the following 6 years as youth pastor at my church leading middle school, high school and college student ministries. The strange part was that even though I wasn’t a career “artist” I was still pushing the creative envelope, launching art projects, teaching, learning, using technology, the web, photo, video, everything. I felt like I was doing what I was meant to do- be creative, think like an artist and communicate my passion.

Just in the last year or two I experienced another shift, this time to pursue my art and design as CEO of my own company. I ­finished my work at church and am now running my own design and consulting business creating websites, graphics, video content and more. I feel like each stage of my life makes sense now looking back and each period of my life was valuable for helping me become the person I am today. I’m still in touch with the friends I made in art school 10 years ago, as well as people from high school and even middle school.

If I can give any advice to students just starting out into their college years it would be this: Learn all you can from each stage of life and each person you meet. It doesn’t matter if it fits into some kind of “plan” you have in your head or not. Be aggressive, soak up everything and challenge yourself with what doesn’t come naturally to you. If life takes an unexpected turn or if it’s not what you planned, don’t worry, it will make sense later when you look back.”

advice for young designers article

Read my “Tips and Advice for Young Designers” Article.