My name is Leandro Escobar, and I am based in Tacoma, Washington. My background is a mix of raw creativity and military training. As a lifelong creative who has also spent more than two decades serving in the U.S. Air Force, my path has always been a fluid balance of discipline and structure from military operations, and my ingenuity.

Design has been my outlet for as long as I can remember. I grew up as a Coast Guard brat, and we moved a lot growing up. Most of the places we lived didn’t have kids my age to play with, so my younger brother and I were raised interestingly. My mom was all about arts and crafts, and my dad was very tech-savvy. We had our first family computer when I was seven. This was unheard of in the early '90s. One of my fondest memories as a kid was playing DOOM on MS-DOS without sound because the computer didn’t have a sound card. I remember when the internet came out, just to date myself.

Fast forward to high school, and I think I found my niche when I joined the yearbook club. I was introduced to Adobe Photoshop. I gravitated to it like a fish to water. The internet wasn’t like it is now, but I self-taught myself the basics over the years. Keep in mind, this was way before YouTube. I also learned how to read and write HTML through websites like Black Planet and MySpace. I had a little side hustle of burning CDs and making album covers. I wasn’t widely known around campus since I was an introvert, but the word did get out that I was an artist. I didn’t think anything of it, just something to do for fun.

After high school, I took on a few jobs until I decided to join the Air Force. My passion switched to working on cars and mastering my career field as a fuels specialist. I still dabbled in art here and there for projects like designing shirts, coins, and other ephemera. This would go on for many years. As you know, life got in the way and I strayed away from art, but my creativity was always in my back pocket, and I applied it in many other ways.

Now that I'm late in my military career, I feel like I am coming out of my artistic retirement, but a lot has changed. I’m not hip to the newest trends, and artificial intelligence has pretty much taken over, but I’m not deterred. The military has taught me blind resilience, so I decided to go back to school at the beginning of coivd. I completed my bachelor's in graphic design. I want to re-enter the industry with my dormant passion.

As of late, I have been drawn to bold visuals, retro‑futuristic aesthetics, and storytelling that connects with people on an emotional level. Personally, my inspiration has always come from the '60s and spy flicks. I also have newer influences from Saul Bass and Herb Lubalin to Kevin Dart’s modern retro style. I now love blending mid‑century clarity with contemporary.

On the other side of the house, my military career shaped me in ways that still guide how I work today. I’ve led teams in high‑pressure environments, managed complex logistics, and kept missions moving when the stakes were at their highest. Those experiences taught me how to stay calm under pressure, lead with empathy, and solve problems.

Even now, while I’m still in uniform, my creativity is never far away. I’ve redesigned digital platforms to make resources easier to access, streamlined mobile apps to connect people with benefits, and run workshops that help service members, teammates, and friends.

My extensive military resume and life story speaks for itself; if you ask me to speak on it, I will talk your ear off, I have stories for days.