Tony Peluce, digital media and art teacher, can be found nestled in his room, listening to music and playing his guitar. What you may not know is that Peluce’s journey from a family full of artists, to UCLA, to eventually teaching at Oak Park High School is certainly an astounding one.
“I grew up in Los Angeles and both my parents were artists,” Peluce said. “In fact, most of my family are artists and painters.”
Peluce’s dad was an animator for Jurassic Park, his mom was an artist and a teacher, his cousins were actors and the rest of his close family had some connection to art. However, he was never forced into art.
“My parents encouraged me and my sister to follow our dreams and passions,” he said. “Yet it was definitely a pro-art family and I took a lot of inspiration from watching my dad’s commercials and movies.”
Peluce studied at UCLA and graduated with a fine arts degree. His number one concern coming out of college was making a living as an artist.
“I did some little teaching gigs and I started working at an animation art gallery,” Peluce said. “When I was working there I was unhappy because I did not get to do my own sketches and work.”
Everything would change for Peluce when he started drawing during his lunch breaks.
“One day somebody saw my drawings during a lunch break,” he said. “They extended me a job offer and that is when I got into digital media.”
Peluce became a staff illustrator for a Burbank-based design firm and started developing his digital skills. He got hired at a company similar to what Youtube is now and got to work with Stan Lee and other famous movie producers.
“I did freelance graphic design for about ten years. It was kind of volatile so I started teaching on the side.”
Peluce got his first teaching job at Palos Verdes Peninsula High School and he never looked back. He took up teaching as his main profession and has been teaching for about 17 years total.
“I’ve been at Oak Park for about 12 years now,” he said. “Teaching’s the main gig but I still do freelancing on the side.”
Peluce enjoys the creative freedom and getting all of the hardware that he needs to teach. While he loves his job, he does have one regret about his earlier years.
“I would probably learn a little more about business,” Peluce said. “I’m trying to teach myself now, because I want to do a better job selling my designs, I think it would have helped me a lot.”
As a young artist, Peluce fully understood the social limitations many aspiring artists face.
“There’s obviously a chance of luck, some stuff you just can’t control,” Peluce said. “It is crucial that people make themselves available to opportunities.”
Peluce has one message he wants to leave people with.
“As a teacher, I want my room to be a safe place where people can just be themselves. Most of all, I want people to know that I am creative.”
