The Charcoal Found Him. Meet Otto.

Inside the Mad Mafia: Otto Jorgenson

Author

Josh Hernandez
October 13, 2025

The tension between precision and chaos

What started as self-taught sketching quickly turned into a deep dive into portrait and figure work: bold, emotional, and unapologetically human.

Alaskan born Otto Jorgenson grew up in Flagstaff and now calls Phoenix home. Four years ago, he picked up a pencil and hasn’t looked back.

He began with pencil but fell hard for charcoal, drawn to its grit, depth, and honesty. And when Mad Art Materials dropped the Woodless Charcoal Pencil, Otto knew he’d found the missing piece in his toolkit.

In May 2024, Otto met Mad Charcoal (Josh Hernandez) at a live show at The Marshall Gallery, in Phoenix AZ and the connection was instant. Since then, the Mad Mafia has been a source of inspiration, mentorship, and creative fuel.

See more from Otto @ottojorgenson & OttoChromeStudio


Join the movement. Share your process. Tag @madartmaterials or email us at [email protected] and show us what you’re building.

The MAD Essentials Charcoal Art Kit was built for exactly this, to smear, scrape, and sculpt until something real emerges. Make the sublime from the chaos. Make it yours.

Stay soft, stay savage,
- The MAD Team