By Anna Skinner
Being in an AP Studio Art class in high school, it was no surprise that Carmel High School senior Brandt Cotherman would have to create a drawing using colored pencils.
The surprise came years later, when his work appeared in a Carlos Santana autobiography.
Cotherman’s inspiration came from watching a documentary on Woodstock, where Santana explained his experience with LSD for the first time. In the documentary, he said when he held his electric guitar, it seemed like an electric snake.
“I thought that would be cool to draw visually,” Cotherman said.
Cotherman graduated and attended Purdue University. His mother encouraged him to put the drawing on Santana’s fan website, which he did.
“A year or two or so later, his people contacted me saying they were making an autobiography and asked if I was interested in putting drawing in the book,” Cotherman said. “The book came out this year and I got a signed copy of the book by Carlos.”
Although Cotherman graduated Purdue and is currently a sales engineer, art still plays a big part of his life.
He even attended Indy PopCon and had his own booth, where he made comic collages. He also makes furniture and said his favorite medium is pen and ink.
“Art is a big hobby of mine that I do on the side and I’m turning it into a side business,” Cotherman said.
Although he is not in any galleries currently, he has a website at brandtcotherman.com.
He normally creates art or furniture for himself or to sell to his friends, but he said custom orders can be placed via email at [email protected].
His furniture pieces range anywhere from $200-$1,000 and his art pieces range from $100-$300.
