Rick began his design career in 1990 as a product illustrator at Multi-Ad Services, Inc. in Peoria, Illinois, generating a wide variety of vectored product illustrations using early versions of Adobe Illustrator.

During his tenure at Multi-Ad, Mr. Markum was named Shift Lead Artist as well as Lead Artist for many high-profile jobs. Rick was also responsible for creating many "spec pieces" for prospective projects. including pieces for high-profile clients such as Cadillac, Mercury Marine and Chrysler.