Eric Melton is a Kannapolis, NC native who started showing interest in art at the age of 5 years old. Eric’s older brother Lloyd who was in junior high school taking drafting classes got tired of Eric always pestering him to draw things for him, gave Eric the advice to “go draw it yourself”. With years of practice and passion, that is exactly what Eric has done.

Taking art in high school, Eric discovered he had a real knack for art winning numerous awards including the first in A.L. Brown history to bring home a national scholastic art award.

After graduating from High School in 1993 Eric started a summer job at local amusement park Carowind’s drawing Caricatures for Kaman’s Art Shops concession. After that summer was over, Eric went back to his high school job, working at local grocery store Winn-Dixie.

The following summer Eric was looking forward to another summer at Carowinds only to find out they had been bought by Paramount and had kicked out all the concessions including Kaman’s. Being one of the top grossing artists the previous summer, Kaman’s offered Eric a seasonal position at Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio, which Eric happily took for the summer of 1994.

Spending time away from NC and family and friends took a toll on Eric, so he decided not to pursue a long term career with Kaman’s and decided to instead look for opportunities at fairs and festivals and eventually find a permanent spot. His cousins who were both good artists as well helped Eric draw at several festivals and eventually with the help of family they landed a spot in Myrtle Beach, SC at Family Kingdom in the summer of 1995. After one season, Eric’s cousins decided the business was not for them and left to go back to NC. Eric remained for 9 more years, working summers at Family Kingdom and different day jobs during the winter, including one winter helping the park maintenance refresh the rides and paint and one winter working at Ripley’s Aquarium in general services. Eric’s mother also moved down with him, and they shared expenses and eventually moved Eric’s grandmother in to care for her when she was diagnosed with dementia.

During this time (1999) as mentioned, Eric was working at Ripley’s Aquarium and became enamored with the ocean and SCUBA diving. Eric became a certified diver as he feels it also feeds the artistic and spiritual side, as well as a needed escape from the death and sickness he was experiencing around him. Connecting with the dive shop, he spent several winters traveling back and forth to Crystal River, Florida, documenting 5th grade school trips to swim with the Manatee through photos and video.

In 2003 Eric reconnected with “the one who got away”. Sandy and Eric had been mainly just friends in high school, although Eric was Sandy’s first official kiss at 14. At the time the age difference was too great for them to date, but years later after Sandy joined the Marines, married and later divorced with 2 children they reconnected. Eric and Sandy married in summer of 2004 and shortly later decided it was time to move back to NC and end the seasonal amusement park life behind. Reconnecting with his fellow artists, they have all built a longstanding camaraderie, acting as friendly competitors, choosing to give each other bookings and referrals as opposed to the cut-throat mentality that exists in some other markets.

Eric and Sandy have both built a wonderful life together and both have flourished in their careers, pushing each other to be bigger and better. At 50 years old, Eric has started to shift his focus more towards his fine art and pet portraits. Still drawing caricatures for events, Eric plans to slowly switch focus more on time with family and his other passions, including the diving.

Eric has always had a strong work ethic and has never stopped being eternally grateful for the opportunities and life he has been able to enjoy through God’s grace and provision.

To be continued..