Jon Messer was an exhibiting landscape watercolorist in 1984 when he was approached by Carlos Diniz to join his Los Angeles architectural illustration studio. Within his first week at CDA, Jon had the opportunity to meet the late architect Charles Moore and to begin work on Ben Thompson and Associates' historic renovation of Union Station in Washington, D.C. The following eight years provided an intense and invaluable apprenticeship in technique and teamwork.

Jon Messer Architectural Illustration was established in 1992 in Granada Hills near Los Angeles. Jon is also a published children's book illustrator.