PeopleFrom Billboards to Balloons: Charlie Markert's Sky High ArtA career as a billboard pictorial artist paved the way into the niche of hot air balloon painting.Better LettersJan 2, 2025 3 min readThe incredible hot air balloon art of Charlie Markert.Sign painting often precedes different and tangential career paths, but few have moved into a niche quite as narrow as Charlie Markert and his work on hot air balloons. In the video below he describes himself as "really unique in what I did", and it was his extensive experience as a billboard pictorial artist that paved the way.The journey started while he was working for Naegele Outdoor in Minneapolis, and a request came in to have the Golden Grahams cereal packet painted on a hot air balloon. Charlie recalls exclaiming, "Oh my gosh, hot air balloons; that sounds interesting!", and the rest, as they say, is history, which Charlie recounts in this interview.Charlie Markert Interview on YouTube.Charlie Markert at work as a billboard pictorial artist for Pacific Outdoor in California.Charlie Markert following the move to Minneapolis and joining Naegele Outdoor.Work-in-progress and the finished hot air balloon from Charlie Markert's first commission for Golden Grahams and Whittaker Balloons.Charlie Markert at work in the barn that he remodelled for painting the fabric used for hot air balloons.Thank you to Brent Jones for bringing Charlie Markert's work to my attention. The photos below are of a restaurant they worked on together, and the picture at the top of this page is from a still from the The Most Beautiful Hot Air Balloon in the World on YouTube.More PeopleMore Films