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LOGAN MABEArt teacher Eric Milan is helping families reflect their personalties with custom murals.
CITRUS PARK - As far back as he can remember, Sickles High School art teacher Eric Milan knew he wanted to be an artist.
"Believe it or not, I was in kindergarten and I used to draw all the time for my parents," said Milan, 37. "Then, my teacher had me doing things for the big bulletin board. I remember doing a whole winter wonderland scene. When I was in the second grade, the principal asked me to do posters for the media center."
Milan, who grew up in the Bronx, got a lot of inspiration from his teachers at P.S. 79, where they exposed him to rhythm and blues and jazz as well as pastels and watercolors.
Milan's family moved to Tampa when he was still in grade school. He's a product of the county school system, having attended Philip Shore Elementary, Oak Grove Junior High and Hillsborough High School.
Then it was on to the University of South Florida, where Milan earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in fine art.
Milan began teaching in the school system in 1989, getting his start at Mort Elementary. He moved up to Sickles High when it opened in 1997.
Eager to spread his artistic wings beyond the classroom, Milan has always kept busy creatively, dabbling in drawing, watercolors, oils and sculpture. In years past, he has shown his work in the Gasparilla Arts Festival and won the "Best of Show" award at the 1991 Harbor Island Festival of Arts for his collection of oil paintings.
Now Milan is taking his art big time, literally. He's branching out into wall-sized murals done on commission for homeowners looking for art that will fill a room. Married for seven years to his wife, Eva, Milan got the idea to do home murals when he did one for his 2-year-old son Anthony's room in their home in the Lake Magdalene area.
"I wanted to get my work out there," said Milan, who has been doing the murals commercially for about a year. "I just wanted to do it professionally, and the murals were a great outlet for that."
Recently, Milan did two children's rooms for Mia and Martin Revello, who live in Heritage Harbor. One room is a planetary dreamscape while the other is an underwater motif.
"I do whatever the client wants," said Milan, who has done 15 murals over the past year. "I take the client's ideas, then work out a few renderings on the spot. But some people say, "You're the artist, go with it.' That's a lot more fun because I can use my creativity."
Some of Milan's other murals feature playful streetscapes, stock car racing, Spider-Man, manatees and a golf course scene from historic St. Andrews in Scotland.
Depending on a mural's size and complexity, Milan can finish one in a day, or it can take up to a week or two.
"You have to be focused because you're spending a lot of time on the subject and it's a continual process," Milan said. "You can't really stop and come back a week later. You're working for a client so you have to be in and out as quickly as possible."
Milan prices the murals based on their square footage and complexity. But the real payoff, he said, is when the customer gets a look at the finished product.
"I love to see kids' faces when they walk into the room," Milan said.
- Logan D. Mabe can be reached at 269-5304 or at mabe@sptimes.com
For more information about Milan's artwork, go to http://milanfinearts.com