who am i?

My name is Charles Riffenburg. I go by Chuck or Charles interchangeably.

I am a teller of stories and a maker of cool things. I am an illustrator, a graphic designer, a web designer and coder, and a marketing director. I’m also a cartoonist and comic book creator, a film and stage actor, and a stage director.  I like to cook, I’m pretty good at carpentry, I have a collection of Lego Star Wars toys, and I’m an avid video gamer with a soft spot for Zelda games.

I am passionate about being part of groups and organizations that make the world a better place. This is why most of my clients are artists and arts organizations. I believe that the arts are a powerful and passionate force for good in society, and I want to help bring as much art to as many people as I can.

why is my company called “grab bag”?

The delightful thing about a grab bag is that, unopened, it is a big sack of possibilities. The contents of that bag are limited only by the power of your imagination. And that’s my approach to challenges: We’ve got a big bag of options limited only by our imaginations, and it’s our responsibility to dig deep into that bag and find the tool that fits best for the project we’re working on.

what is Grab Bag’s history?

I adopted the name “Grab Bag Comics” when I first began publishing comics in college, and then expanded to “Grab Bag Media” when I also began producing illustrations, graphic design, and web design. As my professional freelance design business, GBM has been thriving for over fifteen years now, serving arts clients primarily in Chicago, but also in such exotic locales as New York, Seattle, Los Angeles, and London. The international date line is no barrier to a great partnership!