Sean Martines grew up in New York, and shortly after graduating high school, spent a few years in Miami taking art classes by day and working at night. When the heat finally got to him he found his home in Colorado in 2001 and has lived there ever since. He studied painting at Red Rocks Community College and later received his Bachelor of Arts in Visual Effects and Motion Graphics from The Art Institute of Colorado. He’s a lifetime painter, and founder of Domo Avocado Design, with many of his clients coming from the restaurant industry, where he also spent 15+ years working part-time in many front-of-the-house roles. When Denver’s iconic institution Vesta Dipping Grill closed its doors in 2020 as a result of the pandemic, Sean found himself on unemployment for the first time, like so many others. With a pregnant wife and many clients that would not return even after the pandemic, he decided to pursue his career as an author and illustrator.

Sean published his first book, a middle grade/YA graphic novel called The Haunted Case of the Octopus last October, and since has presented as an author/illustrator to hundreds of kids in classrooms over zoom calls. This has enabled him to connect and learn from his young readers, and he in turn helps them understand how book publishing happens. He’s now hard at work on a 5-book series to continue the adventures of the magical case in Milly McBowman and the Hurricane Suitcase. He’s illustrated kids books for other authors, too, and creates blank books and journals for kids in the same age range for Domo Avocado Design.

Over time, Sean has realized that the act of writing and creating is just as important as the resulting creations, and he came to this reflecting on his routines he has built around ASMR. He is now developing an all-ages ASMR coloring book, which features art paired with various ASMR trigger categories, links to ASMR videos that can be played/listened to alongside the coloring art, and journaling space to document your own path through the ASMR experience!

Since 2013 Sean has been featured at his desk drawing pictures and listening to people run their hands over microphones for at least 10 hours a week. When he isn’t drawing pictures he enjoys standing and walking around while interacting with other humans and dogs. Sean was born under a moon that is sometimes invisible but always follows him.