HOME OF TREVOR ELLIOTT SMITH
a maine-based designer, printmaker, illustrator AND songwriter
Who, or what, is a Pine Giant? It’s the design moniker of an excessively-tall man named Trevor Smith.
That’s me…a ninth-generation Mainer who grew up in the small, uninspiring paper-mill town of Winslow. As an introverted, “indoorsy" Nineties kid with no siblings, there were countless bedroom hours spent drawing elaborate comic strip series, rock-band logos, abstract imagery, still-lifes, gnarly trees, horror-movie-inspired creatures, and architecture (there may have been a little too much time lost to a Sega Genesis as well). I always clung tightly to a vivid imagination as a kid, and as I got older and traveled the collegiate path to become an architect, there was also an undying, nagging urge for other new creative horizons. Over the years, I grew increasingly torn between the detailed-oriented, schedule-driven, real-world limitations of architecture (and all of its frustrations), and the expressive possibilities of print and graphic design.
Since receiving a master’s degree in architecture back in the spring of 2009, I have donned my fair share of creative hats within the industry. Ten years of architecture experience have garnered a vast understanding of design theory, construction methods, building science, and the tedious administrative roles of project management. I've had the opportunity to design multimillion-dollar homes on the rocky coastline of Maine, often acting as project manager, sometimes even swinging a hammer or hanging cedar shingles out on the job-site. I was commissioned by several clients to design and oversee construction of bespoke furniture for their homes. During those years, there have been dozens of extensive home renovations, highly-detailed basswood architectural models, design competitions, a deep proficiency in various CAD and digital rendering software, a dabbling in landscape design, professional photography of completed designs, and participation in Habitat for Humanity’s Home Builders Blitz. In addition to the professional career track of architecture, my past is also smattered with dozens of retail positions, landscaping gigs and food service jobs. During the Great Recession, I spent a couple years working as a night auditor at a Cape Elizabeth resort hotel, making the nightly rounds, submitting tax information for the day's business, and holding down the front desk. The graveyard shift. Very Overlook Hotel in the winter months. After graduating from The University of Colorado, I was employed for a couple years in a Denver record store as a shift manager, display artist and inventory manager. I was living my own crazy, Mile-High version of High Fidelity.
While living in Seattle in 2017, employed as a residential architect, I stumbled across a three-hour Introduction to Screenprinting class offered by a local print studio. I had long ago fallen in love with the works of Jay Ryan, Daniel Danger, Modern Dog, Kevin Tong…the list goes on and on, tracing all the way back to the poster artwork of late-Sixties San Francisco. Without hesitation, I paid the $150 admission fee. Best use of three $50 bills ever. In the event that this “architecture thing” didn’t pan out, working within the printmaking field quickly became my next obvious career move. After that introductory class (and prior to the pandemic), I started hand-printing gig posters for concerts in Seattle. What began as a simple curiosity (and a much-needed distraction from cubicle life at the time) would one day lead to my current trajectory as a printmaker here in Portland. I relocated back home to Maine in 2021 after a widespread pandemic layoff within the architecture field, and launched the multi-disciplinary Pine Giant design house.
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If you are a local, regional or national band, event planner, business, or anyone else looking for graphic design, illustration, or screen-printed poster services, please feel free to reach out: