As the Sketchbattle has expanded, the amount of potential contestants has grown exponentially. For the first time ever, we are allowing you to choose one of the contestants via an online survey at http://www.sketchbattles.com. Here are our 15 confirmed contestants starting with the only 2-time champion Omar Gonzalez.
Omar Gonzalez is originally from Mexico and is currently a student at the Art Center College of Design in Pasedena CA. Omar won Sketchbattle 7 Detroit 2016 and Sketchbattle 14 Las Vegas 2018. He is currently the highest ranked competitor out of more than 100 competitors in the 6-year history of the event with 3 final round appearances on top of his wins. @omargonzalez
Casey Swanseger is the 2nd contestant and only other winner in the contest as last year’s Detroit winner is currently out of the country doing an internship and the San Francisco winner was not able to make the trip. He is ranked 2nd in this year’s competition ad is a designer at a local auto manufacturer. The winner of Sketchbattle 9 Detroit 2017. He also made it to the second round last year. @robo_squirrel
Our 3rd highest- ranked contestant is Ricky Ryan Goimarac, currently an engineer at McLaren. Ricky holds the record for Sketchbattle appearances as he has competed in 7 of the 13 previous events. While he has never won, his first event saw him eliminated in the first round and steady improvements have resulted in final round appearances in Sketchbattle 12 Detroit 2018 and Sketchbattle 14 Las Vegas 2018. 2019 may be his year but he will be competing next week with a broken hand, so it remains to be seen how it turns out. @sketchbook_audio
Ranked number 4 in this year’s competition and 12th worldwide among professionals is Borka Schwarzer. Borka is a designer at Ford and has not competed in 3 years. He was a finalist in Sketchbattle 6 Detroit 2015 but was eliminated in the first round the following year in Sketchbattle 7 @borka_schwarzer
Andres Bastidas is number 5 in this year’s competition and ranked 11th worldwide among students. He is a student at Lawrence Tech and was a final rounder in his only competition last year at Sketchbattle 12 Detroit 2018. @abastidas97
Aaron Hughes has not yet made it out of the first round in his two previous competitions at Sketchbattle 9 Detroit 2017 and Sketchbattle 13 San Francisco 2018. This could be the year for him as the owner of Hughes Design Studio and CCS graduate travels from Utah to compete. @hughes_s
The next contestant also has two events under his belt – Aurel Francois a designer at Faurecia. Aurel competed in the last two Detroit events, Sketchbattle 9 Detroit 2017 and Sketchbattle 12 Detroit 2018, where he exited in the first rounds. @designsbyaurel
Our final ranked contestant is Greg Henderson, traveling from Canada for his second event. Greg competed for the first time at Sketchbattle 14 Las Vegas this year and is ready to make a huge leap as he explained he better understands the objectives. Greg Henderson Art
The following contestants are all unranked and competing in their first Sketchbattle so we present them to you in alphabetical order.
Ryan Root is a CCS graduate and one of three designers in the competition from Ford. He is not only a great sketcher, but him along with his brother, Ryan, build modern hot rods. @rootbrothers
Drake Norte is our second contestant from Canada and a designer from Bombardier, @drake_nolte
Hyunhong Jo is from South Korea and a student at the College from Creative Studies, @sketchbook_hjo
Jess Petrarch is a designer at Aptiv and graduate from CCS @jescopet
Joshua Blundo is a freelance designer of transportation, watches and fashion and a student at the College for Creative Studies @josh.blundo
Nick Wilson is our third contestant from Ford Motor Company where he is a 3D modeler @Nickwilsondesign
And our 15th and final confirmed contestant is Sung Keon Go from South Korea and also a student at CCS @sgo_design
Please take a minute and vote who you would like to see at the Sketchbattle in the final 16th spot. The voting button is here in the upper right corner of the page. Voting ends Monday January 14th at noon.
Frank Schwartz