Hi my name is Mitchell Carlos Rivera and I am originally from Long Island, NY from a small township called Tangle Wood Hills which is located on the borders of Port Jefferson, and Coram, NY. I am of European Puerto Rican descent, and my father was the first Puerto Rican Citibank VP by the early 80's. As a child I attended a catholic school called Infant Jesus in Port Jefferson, NY and began to draw comic books around the first grade because my older brother was an avid collector. As a youth I was considered the best artist in my class, along with my friend Nick Liberis, and was selected to draw the art for the yearbook. My friend is now a well known architect in New York City.



I have two sisters, one is a nurse, and one owns part of a US Defense welding company. I also have two brothers and one is also a nurse. As a child I was heavily inspired by the artwork of Todd Mcfarlane, and Jim Lee.. I also found inspiration in John Byrne, The Buscemas, Bart Sears, Dale Keown, Art Adams, Marc Silvestri, and Ron Lim. I dreamed of one day becoming a comic book artist for Marvel, and developing my own brand. I went to High School at Saint Anthony's in Huntington Station, NY, and moved out of Port Jefferson when I was around 17. During this time I also got into music because people who lived around me in Brentwood, NY were artists and made music with SONY. I still continued to draw but when I graduated HS I opted to pursue business management at Stony Brook like my father who was a Sr. Director with Citigroup. While I was an undergraduate in business the field of graphic design, particularly web design became a huge thing,, and so I simultaneously taught myself design through books while making the Dean's List at Stony Brook in Business Management. I also won the Phoenix Award there which was given to me by the present head of CUNY's Student Affairs at Queensborough. I had a lot to do at the time because I also had a daughter and had one of the highest child support rate's in the US. And so I attended school full-time while trying tp work full-time.

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My mother passed away the year that I graduated college in 2005, and I worked for a few years in corporate jobs in NYC, one within the IT field for a small salary.Then in 2007 I began the process of having 4 corrective surgeries, and could not work. In 2001 I had an unnecessary surgery of my right nasal bones after I was hit. The X-Ray did not reveal a fracture but the doctor operated anyway. and I was subsequently left with the inability to sneeze in multiples when I had allergic symptoms. So in 2008 while I was having surgeries I was able to sell one web design for $10,000 that was coded with XHTML, CSS, and Javascript but I eventually needed social security. I however continued to draw, and design here, and there throughout the process, and completed multiple certs, and training programs in graphic design, coding, and audio engineering.

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I have  coded with HTML, CSS, Javascript, built lightboxes, forms. I have also trained in CSS Grid, Flexbox, and Bootstrap more recently. I am proficient in Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, In Design, Dreamweaver, Clip Studio Paint, Fresco, Dimension, and more. I have completed college coursework in design, and studio art to complement my business degree while maintaining a 3.925 GPA in addition to design, and coding training. I also hold a cert in audio technology, and music production so I can produce advertising banners, etc. with original scores. In addition to music I enjoy sketching original comic book characters, and can create mascots, and cartoon logos very easily. All I ever did as a youth was draw

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Aztera Maikoa is the name of my brand which I created and an umbrella name for the totality of design, and art related projects that I have done. My logo also showcases my talent for corporate branding. Please see my resume, and contact me with any questions.

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