Design Inspiration

JESSICA FORTNER

2010-11-02T09:37:00.000-07:00

Jessica Fortner creates unique one of a kind sculpted illustrations. She combines her knowledge of design, sculpture, photography and digital post-production in her illustration process.

Jessica is one of the few illustrators whose process involves hand-sculpting key elements in the illustration. Her sense of visual and conceptual problem-solving creates a one of a kind aesthetic, sense of humor and approach to storytelling.

Jessica’s illustrations are memorable in that they combine the textures and palette of the real world with the surreal possibilities of painterly illustration. She is known for her interesting characters and distinctive style.

Website: http://www.jessicafortner.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jessica-Fortner-Illustration/284189225685?ref=ts
Twitter: http://twitter.com/JesFortner

When did you first decide to become a graphic designer/ illustrator? Was there a pivotal moment?

It wasn't until after I graduated from The Ontario College of Art and Design (now OCADU) that I discovered my passion for sculpting, and in turn, my interest in sculpted illustration. I always knew that I wanted to make art in one form or another. While I was at OCAD I experimented with a lot of different techniques, but focused more on printmaking.

I have always been fascinated by stop-motion, the work and craftsmanship that goes into making an animation. After I graduated I discovered the work of illustrator Chris Sickels. His work introduced me to the world of sculpted illustration. It was so unique and different, and yet reminded me of sets from some of my favourite animations. It sparked an uncontrollable need to try this strange, yet beautiful technique.

Who or what inspires you?

My family, friends and peers are a constant source of inspiration. However, sometimes when I find myself stuck in a rut, I look for inspiration in how-to videos and special features of my favourite stop-motion films. I just love how real they can make things look on screen and how ingenious they are at figuring out what works best on the set and for the animation.

Where does your training come from? Self-taught? College/Art School?

I attended the Ontario College of Art and Design, where I studied printmaking. I took very few sculpting classes and no illustration courses. After I graduated and realized that sculpted illustrations were what I wanted to do, I had to learn some basic sculpting techniques, and started to develop my sculpting style. I watched a lot of how-to videos on YouTube, and learned a lot form various books and artist sites.

How do you keep "fresh" within your industry?

I don't often think about what is fresh in the industry. My technique is already quite different and it definitely creates a unique aesthetic. I just focus on making my work the best it can be, and let the style emerge naturally. That being said, I do think that it is important for artist/illustrators to constantly be trying new things, and evolving, (even if it's personal work that you wouldn't necessarily show a client). I often like to experiment with new materials, which forces me to approach the illustration/concept differently.

What are some of your current projects?

I just finished my latest addition to the series "My Woodland, My Nightmare" called Deadly Sins: Sloth Meets Greed. I'm in the middle of preparing for an upcoming show, all the while, sketching ideas for an illustration on transgenic foods. I'm also working on illustrating a short book.

Which of your projects are you the most proud of? And why?

I really love the project that I just finished with Brighter Books Publishing. I illustrated a book cover for their "Tales From The Amazon" book, due to be released in February. The book written by the editor, Angela Jurgensen, is an anthology of Amazonian folktales. It was great working with Angela, and I'm really pleased with the end product.

Are there any areas, techniques, mediums, projects in your field that you have yet to try?

Books, books and more books. I would love to do more book covers as well as illustrating a children's book. Though illustrating a full book can be demanding, I think I'm up to the challenge. I've also wanted to do some gig posters and cover art for CDs. I would also like to try my hand at animation, in particular a short stop-motion animation. The furthest I've gotten so far is an animated illustration, which I did in Flash. Still, there are tons of areas that I'd like to branch out to, but time is always limited.

Any advice to the novice designer/ illustrator?

Practice, persistence and patience. Maybe that's not very helpful, but I'm still in the process of figuring things out myself.

What makes a designed piece or illustration successful?

I would think that a combination of composition, concept and execution is important, but then again, somethings just resonate better on an emotional level. If I ever figure it out, I'll be sure to pass it on.

What do you do to keep yourself motivated and avoid burn-out?

It's important to know when to stop working. Sometimes, especially if you work from home, it can be hard to turn off. To avoid burnout, it's good to let yourself take a step back, and enjoy some of the other great things that life has to offer. Allowing yourself to be put in a different frame of mind. Putting yourself in a different environment, is sometimes all you need. Going for a walk, or going out with friends, are always a help to me.

Finish this sentence. "If I weren't a designer/illustrator I would have been a..."

… Marine Biologist

And finally, what is the best thing on prime-time TV right now?

Honestly, I couldn't say. I don't have television, and I haven't for the last 2 years. Although, I did watched Star Portraits online the other day with David Suzuki…that was pretty good.

SAXTON MOORE

2010-09-06T12:33:00.000-07:00

Saxton Moore is an award winning animation director, and children's book illustrator. He has worked in the fields of design, animation, and illustration for clients such as Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, Penguin Publishing, Hasbro Toys, PBS Kids as well as American Greetings. Saxton has recently formed Pixel Pirate Studio to focus creating entertainment, publishing and fun merchandise for children of all ages.

http://pixelpiratestudio.blogspot.com
http://sacks10.blogspot.com

When did you first decide to become a graphic designer/ illustrator? Was there a pivotal moment?

I've always loved to draw since I was a kid. The Muppets actually did it for me at a younger age. I won a Muppet coloring contest in a local newspaper and they showed it in the paper (in my eyes, that made me famous). I knew I wanted to draw from then on out. I lived in front of the TV as a kid watching cartoons like a fanatic. This inspired me to draw as well. I never focused on anything other than drawing. Before I knew it, I was graduating from High school and had to figure out what I was going to do with my life (reality kicked in). Drawing was all I knew I was good at, so I had no choice but to do it for a living.

Who or what inspires you?

My kids, childrens books, Some anime (not the main stream stuff), music, fine art, tattoo art, Gordon Parks, Basquiat, Walt Disney, M. Sasek, Charley Harper, Saul Bass, Mike Giant (Rebel8), Ralph Bakshi, Tim Biskup, Simone Legno, Dawud Anyabwile, Lesean Thomas and the list goes on. I encounter new inspiration daily.

Where does your training come from? Self-taught? College/Art School?

I pretty much taught myself how to draw. But I really started adapting the ability to draw many styles from working on commercial bumpers for Cartoon Network. I did a ton of those spots with different show styles. Anything from Scooby Doo to Johnny Quest, Power Puff Girls, Ed Edd and Eddy, Johnny Bravo, Tiny Toons, Porky Pig. You name it, I've animated it (as far as that network goes). We animated things traditionally back then. It was like illustration boot camp for me.

How do you keep "fresh" within your industry?

I dunno. I try to do my own thing. I love looking at the work of others, but I try to make my stuff look different. I have many styles that I explore from time to time. Loose and wavy, blocky and abstract. I love to experiment.

What are some of your current projects?

I'm currently self publishing a series of kids books. I'm using Kickstarter.com to raise money for the printing costs of my 1st book "Yin the Master of Yo". It's about a kid who loves yo-yo's that goes out of his way to get peoples attention. I've also started my own company this year (Pixel Pirate Studio) to house all of my concepts and projects. Kids books being the 1st thing out of the gate. I still do freelance animation and illustration gigs through there as well. I recently finished animating 17 History and Heritage segments for Nick Jr and Nickelodeon, which will air all year around. These segments celebrated inventors, explorers and black history. I even did one on President Barack Obama.

Which of your projects are you the most proud of? And why?

At this time, I'm proudest of my 1st self published kids book. It's taken several years to do the illustrations between jobs, now it's finally done. I think it's the first of my own concepts to ever reach completion. I love animation and all the work I've done in the past, but nothing beats holding a body of work in your hands. If you're interested in getting your hands on an advanced copy, go here... http://kck.st/b61cmV

Are there any areas, techniques, mediums, projects in your field that you have yet to try?

I've really been interested in tattoo art lately. I want to learn how to draw on people's skin. I also want to design more toys.

Any advice to the novice designer/ illustrator?

Be persistent, Inquisitive and stay focused. Also, surround yourself with other artists that are as good as or better than you. They will help keep you driven.

What makes a designed piece or illustration successful?

That's the million dollar question. If you ever figure it out, let me know.

What do you do to keep yourself motivated and avoid burn-out?

I'm burned out now! Haha. I try to go to art museums. Venturing out alone helps too.

Finish this sentence. "If I weren't a designer/illustrator I would have been a..."

Chef or a Musician.

And finally, what is the best thing on prime-time TV right now?

True Blood ROCKS!!!!

STEVE MACK

2010-04-29T14:33:00.000-07:00

My Name is Steve Mack and I am Illustrator living on a small farm in Canada. I do mostly greeting card and children's book work. I am represented by Painted Words and I work digitally in Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop.

http://www.illustrationfarm.com
http://www.spotillustration.com

When did you first decide to become a graphic designer/ illustrator? Was there a pivotal moment?

I actually went to college to be graphic design visual communications know-it-all. Just before graduating from Design School I found a book by Bob Staake in the library called “The Complete Book of Humorous Art” I have always related more to illustration than design and this book opened my eye's to the fact that one could make a very good living drawing fun illustrations. This book change my total perspective of what I wanted to do after graduation. I used my design education to land design jobs until I had built up my illustration base to the point where I no longer needed a day job as a support net.

Who or what inspires you?

I have a lot of influences based mostly out of the 1950 -1960 children's illustration period. Illustrators like Mary Blair, J.P. Miller, Alice and Martin Provensen, Lowell Hess and so many other of that era.

Where does your training come from? Self-taught? College/Art School?

I am mostly self-taught even though I went to a design school. The school I went to didn't educate me on how to become an illustrator. It was only through my passion for drawing and hard work did I obtain that goal.

How do you keep "fresh" within your industry?

Being in the business for a while you can get to rely on old crutches and formulas. I like to try new little things just to keep myself interested, I also like to read all I can about or industry so I've got my RSS reader bursting full of other illustrators news and portfolio feeds. I like to keep an ear to the ground and get inspired by other current illustrators.

What are some of your current projects?

I am always working on greeting cards for one company or another. I've also got a group of children's books on the go and I've started writing my own children's books.

Which of your projects are you the most proud of? And why?

I always feel good about my greeting cards. It's really fun for me to go into a Hallmark or American Greetings, Target or a Walmart and go on a safari hunt for my work. I've always found greeting cards to be very satisfying work. You spend your time on making this 2 or 3 page illustration and you move onto the next one. Always keeping fresh. Greeting cards are immediate and experimental for me. Always fun.

Are there any areas, techniques, mediums, projects in your field that you have yet to try?

That's a good question. I do try to paint and play with real media from time to time to get away from the computer and refresh my creative mind. As far as the work I produce for clients, I stick with Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop.

Any advice to the novice designer/ illustrator?

Find out which market you are most passionate about and focus your portfolio on that specific area. For me it's the juvenile market. For others they may choose editorial, humour, advertising and so on. I've always found it best to focus on one main area and be the best you can in that niche.

What makes a designed piece or illustration successful?

I focus on quality of line, texture, scale and form. Those are my four main areas of concern when I do an illustration. I think if you hit those four on the head you'll come up with something fun to look at.

What do you do to keep yourself motivated and avoid burn-out?

I usually keep pretty motivated by reading up on daily blogs and checking out other illustrators work. I've never felt burn out and wake up each day feeling pretty lucky to be illustrating for a living. There's nothing I'd rather be doing!

Finish this sentence. "If I weren't a designer/illustrator I would have been a..."
... guy with no job.

And finally, what is the best thing on prime-time TV right now?

I watch a lot of boring old science and history shows. I am usually tuned into a History or Discovery channels.

MATTHEW DALEY

2010-02-12T01:40:00.000-08:00

My name is Matthew Daley, I was born in Toronto to Mac and Gail Daley and grew up in Brampton, Ontario. As of this period in time, I'm a freelance illustrator and sometime cartoonist. I create illustrations using non bootleg Adobe products combined with found objects and hand rendered textures. I'm currently represented by the nice bunch of folks at Three In A Box. I like my coffee strong, my music loud and the DC universe over Marvel. I will have been married to the lovely Lindsay Gibb five years this summer and our cat is the greatest in the world...

main website- www.shinypliers.com
blog-www.shinypliers.blogspot.com

When did you first decide to become an illustrator? Was there a pivotal moment?

When I was in the 8th grade I developed a large comic book buying habit. Two books in particular that blew me away around this time were "The Dark Knight Returns" by Frank Miller and "The Shadow" as illustrated by Kyle Baker. I loved to draw from a young age, but by the time I'd become that serious comics nerd, I decided that's all I wanted to do for the rest of my life.

Who or what inspires you?

In the past few years, I've been inspired by look created by 50's era illustrators/animators such as Jim Flora, Mary Blair and Gene Deitch as well as modern European illustrators like Olivier Douzou, Nicholas Mahler and Gaëtan Dorémus. I like the balance of "minimalism" with the playful wackiness.
I've also been influenced by disturbing stop motion animation (Brothers Quay, Jan Svankmajer) , Dadaism, great comedy like the Kids in the Hall and Monty Python, the punk rock ethos and bands like the Melvins, The Residents and Devo. Like many people should be, I'm trying to be a better student of immortal words of C. Smaaloochi: "one can either produce or become produce". Words to live by, kids...

Where does your training come from? Self-taught? College/Art School?

I was a student in the illustration program at Sheridan College from 1994-1997. I learned a good deal about the nuts and bolts of illustration and design while there. I spent the first four years or so after graduation refining what I'd learned and teaching myself how to use software like Illustrator to keep in tune with the industry. I also really became bored with painting, so work on the computer was a new challenge.

How do you keep "fresh" within your industry?

I try to keep track of what's in vogue stylistically at the present moment all while trying to forge my own style that I hope's distinct and consistent but not too alienating and that satisfies me as well.

What are some of your current projects?

There's my recurring online strip Mr. Monitor (link) which is up to it's sixth installment. It's proceeding slowly due to the fact that it's my baby and I don't want to half ass it (also my terrible perfectionist tendencies play a part). There's also my blog (link above) which I update from time to time with personal and fun projects. I'm also in the planning stages for a couple of different book projects that I'm collaborating on with friends. We'll either try to shop them or do them DIY, depending on our financial situations when they're finished.
I'm trying to cut down on the gallery shows I've been appearing in, but I've been invited to participate in the "Manimal" show, which is supposed to happen in Toronto at the end of March.
Aside from that, I'm doing regular work for magazines like Broken Pencil, This, Tidings and Taddle Creek. As well it looks like things are starting to pick up in the world of freelance, and I hope I'm not cursing myself by saying this.

Which of your projects are you the most proud of? And why?

My contribution to the "Lonely Robot" show that took place in the summer of 2009 entitled "A Bot in the Belly", is something I've been proudest of in recent years because I enjoyed the subject matter and i think the final piece had a great combination of absurdity and loose fun. Even though I don't give it the attention it needs, I've been happy with how Mr. Monitor's been progressing and much of what I've been experimenting with while doing that has crossed over to my illustration and design work.

Are there any areas, techniques, mediums, projects in your field that you have yet to try?

I'd love to do something in the world of animation, whether it's a short film based on my own ideas or providing designs for something larger. I still love the medium, although I get the impression that the industry politics are ridiculous. I'd also love to do work within publishing, either graphic novels, kids books or designs for covers. The steady work is definitely in editorial, but I'd love to branch out for sure. I'm pretty comfortable with the media I work in (digital), but there's always some way I can re-work my approach to things to make my technique less cumbersome. It often depends on who's work is really influencing me at the moment.

Any advice to the novice illustrator?

Like any profession it has it's ups and downs and it might take you a long while to become established, but stick with it. Learn how to put your artistic temperament aside when dealing with the commercial aspects of what you're doing. At the same time, keep yourself busy with personal projects to stay sane and to keep things fun. Learning how to juggle art and commerce is a hard skill to master and may not come easy.
Know that being a professional illustrator is a job and you're still working for somebody else, which should be respected. It can sometimes suck the fun out of things, but the beauty of freelance is the ever changing nature of the types of jobs you might receive. Sometimes the jobs might suck and the clients can be frustrating, but there's much worse ways to make money.
If you enter contests, don't get too bummed out if you don't get in. In many ways, I'd suggest skipping those things altogether, since you're spending your own money to have other people judge your work. I admit that I still submit from time to time, but "the recognition of your peers" isn't the be all end all and I often think that I must be doing something right if I'm not getting in these things.

I'm still learning how to deal with all of this myself, so writing this is a good form of catharsis.

What makes a designed piece or illustration successful?

If it tells the story it needs to tell and the client is more than happy. In turn, if I'm happy enough to actually want to look at it again, that's the truest sign of success in my books. It's a cliché, but I'm my own worst critic.

What do you do to keep yourself motivated and avoid burn-out?

I like to take long walks to break free of my office or turn my computer off mid afternoon. Most of my walks end up at book stores, comic shoppes or the library, so I use them for research or to discover something new and interesting.
Talks with my friend Rich Marsella are great for motivation since he's a multi disciplined workhorse full of great ideas and inspirations. He's had his fair share of setbacks here and there, but none of them have kept him down for any significant period, and they cause him to be even more determined. He also happens to be my favourite collaborator on the "fun" projects I'm so into talking about.
I also try to know when to call it a day if I'm just spinning my wheels or when my body tells me I need to break away and get some sleep. Sleep and healthy forms of procrastination are good for recharging.
I've been learning the drums for the past couple of years, so I'll either schedule a lesson to spice up my routine or go pound the shit out of my practice kit when I'm wound up. I think that's why I still love listening to aggressive music while I work. It keeps me going.

Finish this sentence. "If I weren't an illustrator I would have been a..."

...Toronto Star carrier unsurpassed by any other.

And finally, what is the best thing on prime-time TV right now?

At this moment (winter 2010), I'd say "Death Comes to Town". Once it's finished in four weeks, I'll go back to saying either "Community" or "Parks and Recreation"

MICHAEL CHO

2009-11-21T08:24:00.000-08:00

Michael Cho is a freelance illustrator and cartoonist who lives and works in Toronto, Canada. He's been drawing all his life, and has been making a living at it for over 15 years now. Most of his time is spent working on illustration assignments for clients like the New York Times Book Review, Canadian Business Magazine, Nickelodeon, Random House and Penguin Books. He also writes and draws comics, a couple of which have won awards. He is currently working on a graphic novel of interconnected short stories and completing illustrations for an opera.

http://www.michaelcho.com - my sketchblog
http://www.illoz.com/michaelcho - my portfolio
http://www.transmission-x.com/_papercut/ - my webcomic (on hiatus)

When did you first decide to become an illustrator? Was there a pivotal moment?

I've been drawing since I was 3, and I've wanted to be an illustrator since I was in the fifth grade, when my parents signed me up for a Saturday afternoon art class. There I met some instructors who were working as illustrators and that seemed like a really cool job. I took a few detours along the way and graduated art college with the aim of being a painter. However, after spending some time being broke and not being able to sell any paintings, I started taking any art related job I could find.

One day, a friend knocked on my door and told me about a theatre company that was looking for illustrators to paint some images that would be projected onto the stage. So I took my meager portfolio over there and faked my way through the drawings. And on opening night, when I saw that they had taken my gouche paintings and fabricated elements of them into stage props, I was completely floored. I used to be the guy who had to climb scaffolding and do that kind of thing, and instead I was on the other side, creating the little drawings for people to work from. After that, I decided I wanted to work as an illustrator.

Who or what inspires you?

That's a broad question. Everything inspires me -- walking on the street, books, music, other artists, etc. I remember reading a book about Hal Foster, and realizing just how integrated everything in his life was -- how well his life and art merged. Like, he would go on a trip to the middle east for a family vacation and sketch the architecture and people there for fun. Then eventually that experience and research would show up his comic strip -- Prince Valiant would go on a crusade to the holy land, for example. All that first hand experience would come out in his art. I hope to someday achieve the same kind of thing -- I want to learn how to squeeze everything I've ever experienced in life through the tip of my brush.

Where does your training come from? Self-taught? College/Art School?

I'm a graduate of the Ontario College of Art and Design, but I studied contemporary painting there, and didn't take any illustration or design courses. So most of my illustration training is "on the job" or self taught. I got some excellent advice through-out my career from Tim Davin, one of the best art directors in Canada, who took the risk of hiring me for magazine assignments early on, and he was very helpful in his guidance.

How do you keep "fresh" within your industry?

I don't really think about keeping 'fresh' or staying current with styles or anything like that. My aim is mainly on trying to focus and express honestly what I have to offer, rather than keeping up on trends. I usually find myself looking at older artists than checking out the new and hot ones.

What are some of your current projects?

Right now I am working on a series of illustrations for an opera in Montreal. I'm also trying finish up a long form graphic novel, on which I've been working on and off for a while now, as well as an art book of urban landscapes to be published by Drawn & Quarterly next year. Aside from that, I've completed some recent book covers for Penguin Classics and for Random House Canada.

Which of your projects are you the most proud of? And why?

That's a tough one. I really can't pick a specific one that I'm proudest of. I try to give my very best on every job i do, and I don't let anything out of my studio unless I'm satisfied with it. I think the projects that I've gained the most enjoyment from are the comics that I've written and drawn myself, like in my webcomic Papercut (www.transmission-x.com/papercut). Those stories are probably the ones I feel closest to.

Are there any areas, techniques, mediums, projects in your field that you have yet to try?

I'd love to one day do a comic adaptation of Hamlet. I'll probably wait until I'm 50 or so, since the market is saturated with cheap manga adaptations of Shakespeare right now. Other than that, I'd also like to eventually figure out how to paint in watercolour -- I'm terrible at it! I can paint in gouache, and I'm ok at oil painting, but watercolours are a real weakness of mine.

Any advice to the novice illustrator?

Well, I always tell illustrators that are coming out of college to be more varied in their portfolio and find a way to love drawing everything. It's cool if you like drawing goth skeletons, but you also have to learn how to draw cars and landscapes, you know? As an illustrator, you will be asked to draw a lot of different things and you have to be good at all of it. Consistency is a professional trait. Anyone can hit a home-run once, but a pro hits them regularly, and off of all different types of pitches.

What makes an illustration successful?

A good illustration to me conveys atmosphere and shows the emotional investment of the illustrator. You can tell when something is very polished, but lacks that spark of inspiration. For me, Inspiration trumps talent.

What do you do to keep yourself motivated and avoid burn-out?

I change up my working process from time to time if I'm feeling burned-out. Like, I'll draw all my roughs with a marker instead of a pencil, or I'll draw standing up, or work really big or something like that. If I need a quick burst of motivation, I just look at the work of artists who've influenced me, or listen to music.

Finish this sentence. "If I weren't an illustrator I would have been a..."

...broke manic-depressive. I've wanted to be an artist since I was 6 years old, so I don't have a fallback plan.

And finally, what is the best thing on prime-time TV right now?

I don't watch any TV. I catch the NewsHour on PBS online occasionally, since I only used to watch the news when I had a TV in my studio. The only thing on TV that I've really loved in the last 5 years has been "the Wire". I've watched all 5 seasons of that show a few times now -- and man, do I miss it.

DAVID HUYCK

2009-10-31T17:38:00.000-07:00

David was born in the suburban flatlands north of Chicago along Lake Michigan. With the schoolyard half a block in one direction and the candy store a half a block in the other direction, his childhood was an interesting balance of motion sickness on the tire swing and a sugar buzz from Hollie’s corner store.

That high-fructose queasiness frequently shows up in David's illustrations yet today. With clients such as the City of Chicago, CVS/Pharmacy, Gary Fisher Bikes, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and honors from Communication Arts, Print, and HOW magazines, it is apparent that David's work has found somebody's sweet tooth. Remember to floss.

http://www.cloudyco.com/
http://www.cloudycollection.com/
http://www.cloudycloudy.com/

When did you first decide to become a graphic designer/ illustrator? Was there a pivotal moment?

I was an art major as an undergrad in the late 90s, but when I went out to make my fortune in the world, I discovered I had learned nothing of how to practically begin a career in art. However, at the time, the internet was jumping, and so I decided to teach myself some HTML and sell my skills as a web designer. That quickly led me to learning JavaScript, then Perl, then ColdFusion, then PHP, then ASP, not to mention MySQL and SQL Server.

By the end of that sequence, I was almost entirely working on database design and management. Clearly things had steered wildly off course form my art roots. Fortunately I was working at a fantastic design shop in Madison at the time (Planet Propaganda - http://www.planetpropaganda.com/), and some of the principals there noticed my meeting doodles. They offered me a chance to do some poster design and printing, and I jumped at the chance. One of the resulting posters ended up in Print's Regional Design Annual, HOW International Design Annual, and Communication Arts Illustration Annual, and that was it for me. I did a Threadless shirt, some pieces for the Art-o-Mat, and then it wasn't long before I decided to go back to grad school for art, making a clean break from all the programming and database design.

Who or what inspires you?

What doesn't? My peers, my heroes, my students, my family... I am primarily driven by stories and storytelling, so any work that tells a story or has a narrative component sucks me in. In terms of genres, that means I love children's books, comics, and illustrators like Steve Brodner, Sam Weber, Jillian Tamaki, Meg Hunt, Little Friends of Printmaking, Chris "Elio" Eliopoulos, and a bunch more.

I also read around 50 comics online everyday. Both through RSS and through the newspaper comic syndication websites. Some of my favorites lately are Richard Thompson's Cul de Sac, Scott Campbell's Double Fine Action Comics, Kate Beaton's Hark! A Vagrant, Johnny Ryan's Blecky Yuckarella, Jessica Hagy's Indexed, Les McClaine's Johnny Crossbones, Anthony Clark's Nedroid, Graham Annable's Dunk, and just too many to keep listing.

I also love designers whose work leans towards illustration, and illustrators whose work leans towards design. This often manifests in great typography and/or custom lettering. Marian Bantjes, Ray Fenwick, Frank Chimero, Nick Feltron, Seb Lester, Aesthetic Apparatus -- oh my god, this is so hard to do!

I have a hard time listing inspirational artists because the list is very long, and I know I'm going to forget some people, and I just hope nobody takes it as a slight - just know I love your work, too, and I'm looking at your work all the time, believe me. My Cloudy Collection project means that I have a long list of artists whose work I love. There are currently over 100 artists on the list, and I'm inspired by each and every one of them, and by more that I haven't yet put on that list.

I guess I'm mostly looking at my contemporaries these days, but I also love some of the bigger-name art stars like Egon Schiele, Mark Rothko, Saul Bass, Ed Ruscha, Jim Nutt -- oh man I'm going to stop because this is just turning into an insanely complicated genealogy of my inspirations. So-and-so begat so-and-so, and this-and-thus begat...

Where does your training come from? Self-taught? College/Art School?

I never took an art class in high school, but I majored in Fine Art in undergrad. After graduating, as I mentioned, I wandered away from art for a while, but my re-entry felt like a self-education as I taught myself Photoshop and Illustrator in my attempts to mix my traditional art background with my design-y surroundings. Then, when I went back to grad school, again for Fine Art, I re-rooted myself in traditional media for my coursework and thesis, but I kept doing design work for my supplemental employment, again more self-taught than anything.

So I guess it's a weird mix of self-education for my design work, with more official art school education for my traditional artmaking. It's a constant process. Now as an educator (I teach a foundations course at Washington State University), I feel like I am teaching both things that I have been taught, as well as things that I have taught myself. I learn a lot each semester I teach, and it's always amazing to be there for a student's "aha!" moment. That makes all the craziness of teaching worthwhile.

How do you keep "fresh" within your industry?

I think my best advice for keeping fresh is to just to stay aware of what others are making, but not *too* aware. I read a lot of comics and blogs and books, but lately I've been cutting back because it was starting to feel like I was consuming more than I was producing. I'm working towards more balance. For example, my RSS reader has over 1,000 unread items in it, and I'm feeling fine with that. As Kate Bingaman-Burt's print for the third Cloudy Collection print set says: "Talk Less, Do More" - or in this case, "read less, make more."

What are some of your current projects?

I'm working on another logo for next year's UNC Kidney Center's Kidney Kare Run, I've got the next Cloudy Collection print to design, I'm plotting some new comic ideas (I was incredibly inspired by attending SPX this year!), and I've got a number of personal projects that have been back-burnered that I am trying to bring back to the fore (preparing for SPX kept me crazy busy for a long time.) My client work has dropped off a bit lately with all the things I've been trying to get launched, but I'm working on ramping that back up now. (Hear that? I'm for hire!)

I've also got some non-commercial work going on right now. My studio practice is all out-of-whack since I finished grad school in 2007, but when I do get in there, I've had a lot of fun experimenting and continuing to pursue some ideas that I've been exploring. In grad school I was working on ideas about how childhood violence (like bullying) develops over time. That's evolving into a more general exploration of how children sometimes act like adults, and how adults often act like children.

Which of your projects are you the most proud of? And why?

I always love the illustration projects that result in a series of related illustrations. The CVS/Pharmacy Halloween work I did last year was so much fun, and I love the "Ween the Candy Fiend" character that resulted. The Gobees project I worked on with Capsule in Minneapolis was a fantastic opportunity to design a whole cast of characters too. In both projects I got to develop not only the look of the characters, but I helped flesh out their backstories, which really made the characters come to life for me. They become personalities that I can refer to when I am trying to design poses and compositions - the technical junk just flows because I understand
their motivations. It's just so much fun!

I am also immensely proud of the Cloudy Collection and its successes. A huge thank you to all of the artists who have participated so far! I feel like the project has taken on a life beyond what I've put into it already, and the response from people has been fantastic. Beyond the (wonderful and loyal!) collectors of the prints, there are two different books in the works that will be including prints from the Cloudy Collection, which is so exciting for me and the artists involved. Those won't be out until sometime next year, I think. Also, there are plans in the works to build on the successes of the Cloudy Collection into the future, and I'm working out a format for a
subscription model for next year's Cloudy Collection releases.

Are there any areas, techniques, mediums, projects in your field that you have yet to try?

I actually think I need to cut back on experimentation. I've done animation, comics, spot illustration, children's, editorial cartoons, copy layout, web design, lettering, traditional media, digital media, hybrids, etc. I love all of it, and it's been amazing to have the opportunity to work with the media and clients and mentors that I've been associated with, but I'm working on focusing my work and my habits a bit more. I can't really give up any media that I've worked with (I love them all!), but in general I'm trying to take on only those projects that have a little more meat on their bones conceptually. Those are the projects I love to work on.

Any advice to the novice designer/ illustrator?

Build slowly and with purpose. It's hard to know when you're starting out, but try to keep aware of the kinds of work you really love to do, and focus on getting those kinds of projects. I love to try such a wide variety of things, so personally I couldn't have followed this advice when I was starting, but I think the people who are masters of their craft were into it early in their careers, and just kept plugging away at it. Once you master your one thing, opportunities to branch out seem to appear naturally.

What makes a designed piece or illustration successful?

I think the best illustrations tell a story all by themselves. The piece that I always go back to as a prime example is Steve Brodner's illustration of President George W. Bush as Mickey Mouse from the Sorcerer's Apprentice. He's chopping up the magic broom with Saddam Hussein's face on it, and each little shard is turning into a new broom with Osama bin Laden's face on it. It's just this little box filled with lines and color, but you get so much information from that pithy little picture.

http://stevebrodner.com/wp-content/gallery/editorial/iraq-fantasia-for-new-site.jpg

Design is all about communication. If the piece is to be successful, it has to quickly and concisely deliver its message. When I worked at Planet Propaganda, we called our process "Simplify, then amplify." First, get to the core nugget of your message and trim away everything else. Then you can go ahead and amplify that focused message for the greatest impact. It sounds obvious, but it's not instinctive.

What do you do to keep yourself motivated and avoid burn-out?

Well, I am never short of ideas, so that's definitely not my problem. Usually my issue is picking which idea to work on next. Lately I've gotten much better at single-tracking my time, so I stay focused on one thing at a time and just crank through until it's done.

I don't think I could ever burn out on making things in the long-term. I can get tired from staying up too late too many nights in a row, but that is usually near a deadline. I watch a lot of movies when I'm not working, but even then, I've got a sketchbook in my lap and I'm doodling. I can't help it, I just love to draw.

Plus, my daughter is about 15 months old now, so she's learning to walk and talk, and she's pointing things out every time she knows the word for them. We talk a lot about apples, hats, shoes, and all sorts of animal sounds lately. Between balancing my time with her vs. my work time, plus getting re-fascinated with the things she is excited about, the world is a very interesting place for me right now.

Finish this sentence. "If I weren't a designer/illustrator I would have been a..."

I've actually always been fascinated by human anatomy and problem-solving. I worked as a student athletic trainer (working with injured athletes) in high school and all through college. I was pretty sure I was going to be a doctor when I started my undergraduate education. But then I took a drawing class and it all went out the window. I still get to include the problem-solving part - both design and illustration are about figuring out how to communicate an idea visually in the most effective way possible.

And finally, what is the best thing on prime-time TV right now?

I don't have a TV anymore. I don't miss it for the most part, but I would like to see a few of the shows that my friends rave about, and I'd really like to watch a few episodes of Yo, Gabba Gabba! since I have a few friends who have worked on animations for the show. Oh, and I stream the Daily Show everyday at lunchtime - I love Jon Stewart.

KATIE MCDEE

2009-10-06T06:00:00.000-07:00

Mc• Dee (muhk-dee), Katie, 1981-present, n. 1. Freelance illustrator working from her hometown Carlsbad, CA. 2. Childhood tomboy who traded rope swings and building forts for lunchtime ultimate frisbee and cleaning house. 3. Pop culture and science fiction junkie. 4. Late night boba enthusiast.

http://www.katiemcdee.com/

http://katiemcdee.blogspot.com/

http://www.childrensillustrators.com/illustrator.cgi/katiemcdee

When did you first decide to become an illustrator? Was there a pivotal moment?

My parents might say I had decided my future when I was 3 years old. 2 questions were posed to me...

1. "Katie, what do you want to be when you grow up?" My answer, "An artist." (Okay it was actually a 'Disney artist', but I was 3 and that was the only kind of artist I knew about)

2. "Katie, who do you want to marry when you grow up?" My answer, "MacGyver." (Sooo not related to this interview but I think it's hilarious)

So, I was 3 when I first decided to become an illustrator. But the pivotal moment when all the planets aligned, the clouds parted and an anvil dropped out of the sky to hit me with the realization that I was going to be an illustrator came in college.

I had spent 2 years at various community colleges switching majors. I bounced from elementary school teacher, to music teacher, to choral music teacher, to general art major until one day I walked into a CSULB Illustration 100 class hoping it might be more interesting than ceramics. There have been a few happy accidents in my life that completely changed my life's course, and that day in that class was one of them. I walked out with a new-found passion for illustration and have never changed 'majors' since.

Who or what inspires you?

The color orange. That's all I need. Oh, and some other stuff, like: Bill Peet, Mercer Mayer, Dr. Seuss, Mary Blair, Norman Rockwell, Maurice Sendak, Shell Silverstien, Chuck Jones, Peter Deseve, Disney, Saturday morning cartoons, newspaper comics, animated movies, countless children's books, artists' websites/blogs, humor, my friends and goofy kids like my neiphlings.

Where does your training come from? Self-taught? College/Art School?

My time in college as an art major was invaluable and every childhood drawing and high school art class helped shaped me. But I really feel that most of my training has come from working. As a graphic artist at a glassware company I learned the Adobe programs on-the-job far better than any class could ever teach me. A summer drawing caricatures at Legoland made me more aware of capturing age and likeness, working quickly and even selling art. And making the leap into freelancing has undoubtedly trained me the most. Each project I take on is another opportunity to stretch myself, to learn something new and create something to be proud of. When I look at the work I was producing 3 years ago compared to now, the difference is amazing. I can't wait to see what I'll be producing 3 years from now :)

How do you keep "fresh" within your industry?

Fresh... hmm what is fresh? What's fresh one minute is stale the next. I don't know if anyone could call what I do 'fresh'. Maybe they do. I just try to create work that makes me smile and hope others enjoy it too.

What are some of your current projects?

I have a couple projects in the works. An educational children's book and some learning activities for grades Kindergarten thru 3rd. I'm also working on a few personal projects right now. My interests vary, so I'm working on gallery pieces, a picture book idea and an iPhone app.

Which of your projects are you the most proud of? And why?

All of them! Though, I do have a few favorites. I've designed/illustrated a few game boards for Lakeshore Learning Materials that I still look at and think, "Heh, cool. I did that?" Caricaturizing (that's not even a word) Indiana Jones and Star Wars characters for Topps' sketch trading cards was a blast. And I had the pleasure of designing some mini games for a video game that is set to be released Sept 22nd. 'Spyborgs' by Bionic Games/Capcom for the Wii. It was new and challenging to create assets to be animated. I can't wait to see how the game turned out.

Are there any areas, techniques, mediums, projects in your field that you have yet to try?

I haven't tried silk screening or printmaking yet. I would LOVE to try my hand at either of those techniques. Hmmm, maybe I'll register for a class...

Any advice to the novice illustrator?

In this day and age there are a LOT of artists out there. And truthfully, a lot of them are better than you and me. Being a new fish in a big pond can be really intimidating and overwhelming. Just remember that it's OK. Breathe. Instead of hyperventilating, let all that amazing artwork motivate you into improving your craft and learning new things.

Remember who you are, what you love, and that YOU DO have something to offer.

What makes an illustration successful?

I had a teacher in college that told us to make art that is so delicious to the eye that the viewer will want to lick it. LOL. I love that. And I'm not just talking bright and colorful illustration/design. We're talking anything that makes you want another helping every time you look at it.

What do you do to keep yourself motivated and avoid burn-out?

The 3 'tions, yo! Inspiration, destination and starvation. Lemmee explain...

Inspiration: Every day there is at least one thing that inspires me to want to create. Whether it's a random blog/twitter post, a funny looking person sitting at a bus stop or even my friends' saying silly stuff.

Destination: I've got goals. Who doesn't? Goals or even dreams–there shouldn't be a difference in my book. The world is your oyster and you can make those dreams a reality, baby.

Starvation: If I don't work, I don't eat. I like to eat. Food is good.

Keeping from burnout can be as simple as getting out of the house. Believe it or not, playing ultimate frisbee a few times a week really helps. I get out in the sunshine, move my work induced atrophied limbs around and tap into my inner puppy who just wants to catch that shiny floating disc. It's so great. I get to play with really inspiring people, too. A bunch of video game artist/designer types who have kind of become my own version of coworkers. We talk shop, and vent frustrations and it has really helped me not feel so isolated as a freelancer.

Also, breaks. Taking a day or two off from the grind every couple weeks is essential. Not only to keep from burn-out, but also to help you remember that your home is home, not just work.

Finish this sentence. "If I weren't a designer/illustrator I would have been a..."

really, really rich person.

And finally, what is the best thing on prime-time TV right now?

I still enjoy Lost (as confusing as it is), I'm getting into Dollhouse (Joss Whedon, how I love thee) and I'm in season 3 of Supernatural, which is pretty fun. Netflix rocks!

DEREK GORES

2009-09-18T10:00:00.000-07:00

Derek Gores was born in New York in 1971. He's best known for ripped paper collage portraits, made using recycled magazine pages and other found parts. He's had a hot year to date, with several shows and pieces selling for five figures. In addition to his fine art, Derek has worked as a commercial illustrator and designer for 15 years, with clients including Lenny Kravitz, U2, Van Halen, Kings of Leon, Madonna, Lucasfilm, ESPN, the National Football League, Harley Davidson, Adidas as well as many others. In January, Derek was honored to be featured at the Manifest Hope DC exhibit in Washington, prior to President Obama's Inauguration. The exhibit was juried by Spike Lee and fellow artist Shepard Fairey, among others. Currently, he has a large solo exhibition and a group show that is open through September 25, 2009.

Derek lives in Melbourne, Florida with his wife Jamie and their three daughters.

website: http://www.derekgores.com

CURRENT SHOWS:

TORN: solo exhibition of large scale collages - 321 Agency in
Melbourne, FL. Through September 25. http://www.321agency.com/gallery

MEMENTO MORI: group show at the Parlor Gallery, Asbury Park, NJ -
opens Saturday August 22. http://www.parlor-gallery.com

When did you first decide to become a graphic designer/ illustrator? Was there a pivotal moment?

I've just always drawn. Really really make a conscious career move? Probably the summer after college when it was time to turn it into a job, my first was making art for the Grateful Dead. Great experience, since we made hundreds of tees for the band, and yet they didn't want photos of the band in any of the designs. Started me digging deep into visual metaphors and weird imagery. Tried to expand the idea of the band, not just illustrate what already existed.

Who or what inspires you?

Subject-wise, I love the figure. The living body. The pulsing, moving, living being and all the space around it. And I contrast that with study of man made things. Engines, schematics, things that aren't supposed to be art. Process-wise, I make these collages for the feeling of having my brain and senses surprised and confused while searching for the image. Here's the deepest thing I've ever said about it: I try to make an experience, instead of just a picture of an experience. The history each viewer brings to the art affect the perceptions, of course. The inside of your head is the real canvas. See? Deep, right?

Where does your training come from? Self-taught? College/Art School?

Gotta start with Dad, drawing the Brewster Grist Mill on Cape Cod. Star Wars had me inventing worlds on my own. Peers had me doing tag team doodles which I still love. Exposure to local bad-asses, guys who wanted to make their own luck instead of waiting to be invited into galleries. I did go to art school at RISD. Faves there included the mystical life force searching of Victor Lara, the noble craftsmanship of Tom Sgouros, the swashbuckling of painter Dean Richardson. Toss in a little David Macaulay communication, some Mahler Ryder bluntness and one great speaking engagement with Brad Holland, who would only show up if it was student-organized. I was fortunate too to attend RISD at the same time as Shawn Kenney, Scott Conary and Robert Moody. I call him Bob. Then I jumped in with a huuuuuge company, art directing, developing the vision thing and the leadership thing. I consider all that part of my training for now. Current teaching comes from a spider web of compatriots here in Florida. Artists Cliffton Chandler, Ryan Speer, David Burton, Cynic, SLOW, Casey Decotis and many art-support folks who together make stuff happen.

How do you keep "fresh" within your industry?

Just by living and doing new things. Parenting. Combining the senses, drawing, trying music. Collaborating. Actually the collage stuff is the latest in a long line of deliberate moves toward staying out of my own control, channeling randomness. When I was 18 I was on the path to precision. Boris would have liked me.

What are some of your current projects?

Just finished a commission for the health care reform campaign- a 24" x 24" collage all in blues, made of words and phrases from the President's speeches and ideas. On the lighter side, some tour tees for Kings of Leon and Depeche Mode. Just had my first solo show opening- TORN, produced by 321 Agency in Melbourne, FL. http://www.321agency.com/torn It includes my largest works yet, some of the collages are six feet tall. Next up is a group show at the Parlor Gallery in Asbury Park, NJ. Opens August 22. Hoping Springsteen pops in.

Which of your projects are you the most proud of? And why?

My kid self is excited I did the artwork for Alex Van Halen's drums (and several of the tees) on the last Van Halen tour! In terms of big time honor, gotta go with being selected as 2 of the 15 pieces chosen for the Manifest Hope DC exhibit prior to the inauguration in Washington. Shep Fairey, Yosi Sargent, -- I think Arnold Schwarzenegger stopped in. I even have the President's autograph on one of my prints. Wow. More personally, the latest collage works are going so well. Huge engines, samurais, beauties emerging from shadow... I just had the longest period of sustained adrenaline I've ever felt. And ready to apply to new stuff asap! But the real real real juice comes from the viewer, the collector's reaction. I sometimes see it in their eyes, cheeks, throats even...

Are there any areas, techniques, mediums, projects in your field that you have yet to try?

I'm hinting at 3d stuff. Did my first laser-cut plastic piece this year. 7 layers. I think the collages need to be 3d at some point. Project wise it is funny that I've worked for tons of private collectors, big campaign commissions, lots of product merch, music packaging, but very little in the area that most interested me while in collage- magazines. Maybe this year I'll go looking. The collage stuff translates so well in print.

Any advice to the novice designer/ illustrator?

Explore, explore, draw, draw, read, read. I like Marshall Arisman's advice that your focus ought to be the 5 things you know the most about. I know the body, machines, intimate spaces, nightlife feels, pop stuff. So I feel no need to do the business man with briefcase ascending the bar graph staircase. Don't be generic, figure you out and be aggressive with it. Figure YOU out in the art, the promo, the networking, the living. Art isn't just rectangles on a wall. The whole
life is the art project, as a friend of mine likes to say.

On the subject of school, I've seen artists with big time educations who never got out from under the weight of their training, never found the personal purpose. Had the how, but no why. And I've seen self taught people really break new ground. So, key is to own your own education, however you get it.

What makes a designed piece or illustration successful?

If it takes the viewer's mind to the right place to receive the accompanying text, story, show, message. Doesn't have to be literal. Actually I'm wary of symbols, because they rely on intellectual memory to tell you what you are supposed to be feeling. I'd much rather see a piece that achieves a feeling, an actual felt response- even if the particulars might be hard to discern. Brad Holland was first to show me it is possible in the illustration/design world.

What do you do to keep yourself motivated and avoid burn-out?

Fresh stimulus. Weird art tools all around. I tend to do the art in waves- a wave of thinking, researching, discovering, uncovering, then finally a new rush of work. I despise doing work that has the idea at the beginning and then the rest of the time is laborious execution. I like surprises along the way. I've gotten very good at harnessing all that for a client too.

Finish this sentence. "If I weren't a designer/illustrator I would have been a..."

No idea. Can you get paid to walk the Appalachian Trail? I haven't done it yet, but I'm into it if pay is good and there are benefits.

And finally, what is the best thing on prime-time TV right now?

The less TV the better. But you can catch me watching those HD live concerts on Sundays.

GEORGE COGHILL

2009-09-03T14:45:00.000-07:00

I am a freelance humorous illustrator/cartoonist who specializes in custom mascot character creation for logos. Wait—can you call it freelance when you do it full-time? I'm not really a "cartoonist" in that I don't create cartoons per se, rather cartoon-style illustration. But now I am starting to sound over-analytical…

http://coghillcartooning.com
http://georgecoghill.com/blog
http://twitter.com/gcoghill
http://flic.kr/coghillcartooning

When did you first decide to become a graphic designer/ illustrator? Was there a pivotal moment?

I can't recall a time in my life when I didn't want to be an illustrator. As a very young kid, I was always drawing and getting "how-to" books out from the library so I could draw skeletons and monsters. As I got a bit older, I was blown away by all the artists in MAD Magazine—Mort Drucker, Sergio Aragones, Don Martin, Jack Davis. Just about all the MAD artists inspired me in some way.

I used to love to draw the "Asia" album cover by Roger Dean (the ocean dragon chasing the pearl). I would tape together two pieces of notebook paper so I had enough room to work! I continued to draw monsters and creatures as well as plain fun cartoon characters. At one point in time I thought there was an actual "job" of "heavy metal album cover artist" and that was what I wanted to do—draw monsters and get paid!

Who or what inspires you?

Although inspired by many different forms of art—commercial, illustration, fine art, film—my true inspiration has always been anything with clean line art. There is just something about the language of line art/graphic art that has always and continues to fascinate me.

As mentioned above, I was hugely inspired by the artists in MAD Magazine as I was growing up. And as a monster/creature and monster/horror movie fan (duly subscribed to Fangoria of course!) I recall the special effects in John Carpenter's "The Thing" as a big "wow" moment for me in regards to creativity and out-of-the-box thinking. That film just blew my mind and continues to top my list of fave films of all time. There's always been a latent urge in me to become a special effects makeup artist.

As far as artists, Robert Williams has always been a big fave. I'm also a big fan of visionary artist Alex Grey. Stephen Blickenstaff's art as well. And B.K. Taylor's "Odd Rods". Sebastian Kruger, Coop. I'm probably forgetting a bunch of others right now.

Where does your training come from? Self-taught? College/Art School?

I would say I was primarily self-taught, although I did take art classes in high school and graduated college with a fine arts degree. I started out in the graphic design program as it was the avenue to pursue an illustration degree, but as I went through the program I realized they were grooming students to become graphic designers, not illustrators. And on top of that, the university did not see the coming boom of computers transforming the industry, which I saw coming miles away. Not wanting to switch schools, I became a fine arts major and finished my degree focusing on painting and drawing. And bought my first Mac with student loan money right before graduating.

While I had many great professors and learned a great deal about traditional arts, my art at the time started to focus on what I thought was the expected route at the school—contemporary abstract painting. I kind of lost my childhood focus of illustration for some years. I never really wanted to be a "fine art" artist, although things were starting to head in that direction.

Just after graduation I was fortunate enough to connect with a local entrepreneur who was re-starting his cartoon character licensing company. He needed and artist/cartoonist/designer. This was a very laid-back "job" and as my Dad put it, kind of like a graduate school for me. I had the freedom to rekindle my love of drawing cartoon characters, hone design skills and most importantly, self-teach myself Illustrator and Photoshop, which proved to open a whole new door of creativity for me.

With Adobe Illustrator, I was finally able to create artwork I had envisioned for years in my mind's eye. I was limited in the past due to the lack of training in traditional media illustration: ink and brush techniques and all the years of practice it takes to master that art. I really lacked on the technical side of art—which ironically is exactly what I wanted to be taught in my art classes. Unfortunately I chose poorly at the time and picked a school that had a dichotomy
between graphic design and contemporary fine art. Nowhere could one learn techniques and practices for the kind of illustration work I wanted to learn, both on the skill side as well as the technical/production side.

That probably explains why I devoured Adobe Illustrator and continue to do so. I think I was so starved for this kind of infomation growing up that when I finally had an avenue to pursue it, it just took over!

Some people express a disdain for digital art creation tools, but I see them as just that—tools. No different than a pencil or a brush. Graphic art software will not create the art for you; it's just a really fancy pencil. I apply the same level of self-discipline when creating artwork with vectors and pixels as I would with any other medium.

How do you keep "fresh" within your industry?

Personally, I only stay "fresh" in regards to my software tools. I do try to keep a pulse on admired artits via RSS feeds of artist and art portal blogs, and keeping in contact with other illustrators via Twitter and Flickr.

As far as the work I create, I have always been on a certain path that is kind of a "I'll know it when I see it" kind of thing for my own artwork. In recent years I feel I have finally found that wave, and I stay fresh by constantly finessing the style of work I create.

What are some of your current projects?

At the moment I am working on a series of illustrated avatar portraits for the Cleveland, OH visitor and travelers bureau, as well as illustrations for their current destination guide magazine including the cover. I also have a typical slew of mascot/logo projects for businesses around the globe. Some of these include dog mascot cartoon characters for an upcoming dog toy retail chain, alien characters for an alternative coffeeshop/bar in Texas, and cartoon-style shoe designs for toddlers, a monkey in a fez, and a sexy business woman.

Which of your projects are you the most proud of? And why?

To be honest, I am proud of almost all my work. One of my "techniques" for creating client art is to take on the mindset that I am creating something that I would love as if I were creating it for myself. I make a point to want to show off all the work I do, and to be proud of it all.

If I did have to pick some, I'd say my "Girl in the Moon" pinup is a personal fave right now.

Jeep Creep" and some other hot rod monsters I have created were also some illustrations I really enjoyed when they were finalized. My cartoon U.S. coin series also are some illustrations I think came out well.

Are there any areas, techniques, mediums, projects in your field that you have yet to try?

As mentioned above, there's always been an itch to work as a special effects makeup artist for Hollywood films. And who knows, maybe even as a concept artist for one of the FX studios developing monsters and creatures? More immediately, I want to start developing more personal artwork—created digitally and then transferred and finalized as physical, unique works of art where I can have a gallery show.

I feel as if I am finally at a point technically, skill-wise and experience-wise where I can combine the talents I have cultivated in the commercial world and extend them into a more non-commercial setting. I'm looking forward to expanding everything I have learned and combining all of the experience from the different fields I have worked in throughout my life.

Any advice to the novice designer/ illustrator?

Draw, draw, draw, draw, draw. And take some business/marketing classes.

What makes a designed piece or illustration successful?

It's all about balance. Whether the line art, the color, the overall design, everything needs to work together as a whole. Pay attention to all the details, those are where the illustration transcends into "wow".

What do you do to keep yourself motivated and avoid burn-out?

I guess I am lucky in that I don't need to keep myself motivated. I am stoked on a daily basis that I get to realize my lifelong dream of creating artwork for a living, and that in itself motivates me more than anything.

Burn-out I avoid by reminding myself that I am doing what I love for a living. Sometimes one can get caught up and see it all as "work", but by reminding myself what kind of work it is, I usually recharge the batteries. Of course, a trip to the Florida Keys or a round of disc golf doesn't hurt either. And if that doesn't work, I pick up my guitar and write some songs. Sometimes another form of creativity can be a very helpful release.

Finish this sentence. "If I weren't a designer/illustrator I would have been a..."

…cryptozoologist.

And finally, what is the best thing on prime-time TV right now?

Prime-time TV only? Have to say I am a 'Lost' junkie.

LEIGHTON HUBBELL

2009-08-15T09:00:00.000-07:00

My name is Leighton Hubbell. I'm the guy behind the one-person design shop, Leightonhubbell.com. I've been designing logos, corporate identity systems, promotions, packaging design, illustration, print, web design and television for over 20 years. Throughout my many adventures, I've worked with one-person entrepreneurial companies, education facilities, nonprofit organizations, government agencies and major international corporations.

Even with such a diverse set of design skills, I am most widely recognized for my logo design work. I've somehow lost count, but I'm sure there are literally thousands of logos in my archives that I have designed for this client or that. Clients have included businesses and organizations throughout the United States and other foreign countries. Larger clients have included Sheraton Hotels, Purina Pet Foods, Hanes USA, Lions Club International, Nestlé USA, Samsung and many others.

I have received over a hundred regional, national and international awards for my advertising, logo design, graphic design and illustration efforts. My work has been featured in HOW, Print and Graphic Design:USA. Over two dozen books on the design of logos, identity, and graphic design have presented my efforts as industry examples.

Portfolio: http://leightonhubbell.com
Blog: http://leightonhubbell-blog.com
Company: http://hubbelldesignworks.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/leightonhubbell
Facebook Fan Page: http://bit.ly/kdBtV

When did you first decide to become a graphic designer/ illustrator? Was there a pivotal moment?

I had always been interested in art since I was very young. My parents were always very encouraging with my creative abilities – anything from sculpture to drawing to painting. My great grandfather was a label and packaging illustrator in the Santa Clara Valley of California.

It was probably when I was about 12 years old when I thought I might want to be a 'commercial artist'. There was an older student at my school that was a very good artist. He was kind of the 'rock star' of his senior class and everyone knew how good he was. In his senior yearbook entry, he said his goal was to go into commercial art. I don't think I was entirely sure what that was, but it sounded like I could be an artist for a living. From there, I always worked on my goal and continued to take art and drafting classes in school and had a few private lessons.

Before I graduated from high school, I knew I was going to go to art school somehow and worked toward getting accepted. I went to a year of community college to find out more about the field and soon found out that the assignments were challenging and fun. From there, I went on to art school with a much more direct focus and very excited about the future.

Who or what inspires you?

I had a lot of different influences that got me interested in art and illustration. Some of my favorites are MC Escher, Salvador Dali, Andy Warhol, Chuck Jones, Paul Rand and the Bauhaus. Current designers and illustrators I admire are Michael Doret, Michael Schwab, Lou Brooks, Neville Brody, Von Glitschka and many, many others.

I have a wide range of interests including old WPA and vintage show posters, typography, packaging, painting and digital art as well. Naturally curious on how things work, I love to find out how to make, construct and do things. I gotta be the one behind the scenes.

Where does your training come from? Self-taught? College/Art School?

Well, as I mentioned before I have been doodling and tinkering with art for most of my life. But, my formal training was graduating from the Colorado Institute of Art in graphic design and afterwards graduating from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, in advertising design.

Although both of those programs are very focused on the specific major, I took additional courses in illustration and rendering in addition to my curriculum work.

When I graduated from CIA in 1987, photo-realistic airbrush illustration was all the rage. I didn't really fit into that style, so I kind of gave up on that and focused more on design. I still missed it though. It was only later that I realized that there was a place for my style(s) of illustration and rendering within the industry and to possibly rethink my direction.

Over the course of my 20+ year career, I began as a graphic designer, worked my way up in advertising, then promotions and then, back to graphic design. My first job was still using the traditional photostat camera and darkroom setup–artboards and everything. Some time after that, the computer was gaining ground as a graphic tool. Because of the type of design we did and the imagery we had available, I would sometimes use my own illustrations in my work. Over time, colleagues of mine were asking if I would do some illustration for their design work.

Eventually, I took the plunge and started marketing myself as an illustrator. Because of my strengths in design and my rather illustrative style, I had adopted the term 'illustrative designer' from some others with very similar skill sets in the industry. I didn't invent the term, but it seemed to fit me pretty well.

How do you keep "fresh" within your industry?

I do love to collect art books and am a voracious magazine reader–much to the chagrin of my wife. I like to collect different images and objects and paste them into my sketchbooks for reference later. Stuff like type treatments, illustration work, logos, icons and interesting photography. I even collect receipts, notes - whatever. It's much easier on the brain, than trying to remember everything cool you've seen. Plus, it's great to mash things up from the familiar into something new.

I also try to stay abreast of what's going on with several of the logo design sites, blogs and current events. It's hard to keep track of it all really, and easy to get overwhelmed with information overload. Every once in awhile you have to do a design world 'detox' and take a break. Although I am always watching what's going on, I am not big on trends. Trendy work is often just that – trendy. I try very hard to create something with some legs and timelessness for my clients, which is not always easy.

What are some of your current projects?

Some of the projects I've recently completed are a set of icons for Viva Aerobus' En | Viva magazine. I got to work with some very talented people on that project. The challenge there was creating icons that would communicate in both Latin and American cultures, without the need for words.

Late last year, I completed work on the logo evolution for the Lion's Club International. Initially, the agency Lipman Hearne hired me to illustrate the lions' heads, but as we got further into the project, I contributed to the whole logo design. That was interesting because it is such an American institution and has had an established look for quite a long time. Fortunately, that has led to additional assignments with the agency.

As a logo designer/illustrator, I have some work for a college in the Southwest that is having me redesign their sports team mascots. There are three different mascots, and they were trying to get a more cohesive look for the group. That should get approval and released very soon. Stay tuned for that one.

Which of your projects are you the most proud of? And why?

It's hard to say really, because that changes all the time, but I did a series of promotional logos for Purina Latin America a few years ago. I think there were about 12 total to produce with a very short time frame. I had 3-4 days from start to finish as I recall, because of the time needed for Spanish translation. I was the sole designer working on it, and I managed to crank out the entire series within the deadline, with some of my best logo work to date. Not all of them were used, but it was a challenging assignment. You didn't really have time to doubt your initial thoughts, just get them down on paper. As it turned out, my gut instincts turned out to be pretty spot on. Part of why I am proud of the work was the overall task, the other were the results I was able to produce. Sometimes you surprise yourself.

Are there any areas, techniques, mediums, projects in your field that you have yet to try?

Fortunately for me, I've tried a very wide range of mediums and project categories over the years. One of the things I haven't tried, is working in animation. Whether in After Effects or Flash, that would be cool to try. I'm very open to new techniques. That's the great thing about our industry, there's always something new around the corner to learn.

Any advice to the novice designer/ illustrator?

Pay your dues. Be honest. Work hard and promote yourself. Avoid burning bridges. Always, always, always work on your portfolio. When you make mistakes (and you will), try and learn something from them.

What makes a designed piece or illustration successful?

How does the communication make you feel when you view it? Does it evoke the emotion or action that was intended? To me, it's not just the technique, it's the concept, the color palette, the message–the whole package. Good work should trigger an emotion or an action with the viewer, whatever the medium – whether it's advertising, editorial or collateral.

What do you do to keep yourself motivated and avoid burn-out?

It's very easy to get down on yourself – especially when you see so much great work out there. Time away from all of this stuff is always a good thing – especially now with all the ways you can use to stay connected. Sometimes, it's just too much already! I try to get out on my mountain bike and bomb a few trails a few times a week to stay fit and keep some mental balance. While you're cranking up the climbs, you can sort things out in your head.

As we've all experienced in this industry, there are some projects that try and suck the life out of you. When the client gives you the parameters – whether it's budget, colors, preferences or whatever, I work very hard to get the most out of the project. Whatever constraints are presented, I ask a lot of questions and try to maximize the production value out of every piece. Most of the time, I can get something I'm proud of and want to show in my portfolio. THAT'S what keeps me going. Not just the imagery, but the challenge of getting the best out of the situation – for the client and myself.

Finish this sentence. "If I weren't a designer/illustrator I would have been a..."

an out-of-work comedian.

And finally, what is the best thing on prime-time TV right now?

I'm not much for the weekly drama network stuff. For me, it's gotta be Mythbusters, Dirty Jobs or The Office.

ERIC MERCED

2009-07-28T17:00:00.000-07:00

My name is Eric Merced. I'm an Illustrator and Comic Book Artist based in Worcester MA. (as we pronounce it around here: Woos'ta) . I've been illustrating and drawing comics for a few years now and I cannot think of a better job then this one.

http://www.ericmerced.com

When did you first decide to become an illustrator? Was there a pivotal moment?

I've been into comics, I would say, all my life. That's basically my main thing. But a good friend of mines who happens to be an awesome illustrator just kept pushing me in that direction. I guess, you can say, he saw the potential of going beyond comics into another field. It's been just recently where I've decided to take him at his word and I've been shaping my style into a more illustrative friendly look versus the comic book look. What has resulted, I think, is a combination of both. A very stylized look that fits easily into both fields.

Who or what inspires you?

I have a lot of artists whose work I like. Both in Comics and Illustration. But Drew Pocza, Sherwin Shwartzrock, Von Glitschka, Jerry Shamblin, those guys are the ones that come out on top when I think of illustration. Comics, two guys are responsible for shaping my art hands down. Mike Mignola and Arthur Adams. Those guys were ahead of their time.

Where does your training come from? Self-taught? College/Art School?

I am self-taught, with helping hands along the way of course. When I started Adobe Illustrator I must have hackled Drew Pocza to death with my questions. But as far as drawing, that's all self taught from books and studying and constant practice.

How do you keep "fresh" within your industry?

That's one of the hardest parts I guess. I mean, you can do something and get so accustomed to it that you become stale. In other words, there is no growth. I had a point in my career where I got that way and it felt depressing. I felt I wasn't really getting anywhere. So a part of remaining fresh is doing what I love. Not trying to be like anyone else, or draw or illustrate like anyone else. Just basically doing what I love, how I love to do it. I love cartoons. In fact, I started drawing because of Disney cartoons. So, I try to bring that to my illustrations. I used to take jobs that required me to draw realistic. How did that make me feel? Depressed. So now if someone calls and says, I need this photorealistic drawing, I say, sorry, thanks for contacting me but unfortunately I'm not your man. LOL. It's a hard thing to do when you're pressed for money but, why do something that's going to get you down in the end? I know tons of illustrators who can go back and forth. But I have decided that's not me.

What are some of your current projects?

I have found love in doing work for charities. There's no actual pay in it. You do it for free. You do it because it's an opportunity to do something helpful with your art. So I just wrapped up two sketch card sets for March of Dimes. One based on Archie comics characters and the other on the old Greatest American Hero TV series. Those were just so much fun to do and so fulfilling.

Along side of that, I'm just wrapping up a children's comic book for a small publisher, and I have a huge job to illustrate a huge project, and another project to illustrate for a DVD documentary which, unfortunately, I'm not allowed to talk about any of them. Isn't that wonderful how that works? LOL. I get these jobs and I'm told "don't say anything. Keep it a secret!". So I'm bursting inside to open my mouth and yell it out by I can't LOL. And apart from those the usual jobs that come by.

Which of your projects are you the most proud of? And why?

I love all of the projects I've had the wonderful opportunities to work on. I mean, what better job then doing what you love and getting paid to do so. But as far as pride, I guess it would have to be the charity work. I mean, I love to get a call back or an email from a client who's grateful and happy for the job I've turned in. And that's fulfilling in it's own sense because as an illustrator you're main job is to bring the clients vision in and make it alive, give it flesh basically. So when a client is thankful I know I've done my job. But the charity work is something you're doing for little ones, to be specific the March of Dimes charity work, who can't really do anything for themselves. It's fulfilling to know that your work, your art, is being put to good use to help the needy. That is an awesome and rewarding feeling.

Are there any areas, techniques, mediums, projects in your field that you have yet to try?

I like oil painting. And digital painting. Never tried oil painting. I have tried digital painting and, so far, I have failed at it. But I admire digital and traditional painters. That's an area I would love to expand and get good at some day.

Any advice to the novice illustrator?

Advice. Let's see. What can I say. I think the most important thing is truthfulness. Being true to yourself. Going out there and doing what you like as opposed to becoming a mold or stamp or carbon copy. Being true to yourself will bring you fulfillment. Take for example Von Glitschka's work. This guy is unique. Different. Why? Because he's true to himself and his art. And that has caught on. And when you're true to yourself and you try your best, the world takes notice.
Another thing is practice. You really need to put in time to grow and expand your skills. Experiment with it. Don't settle for less. Challenge yourself and don't be lazy.

What makes a designed piece or illustration successful?

As a professional visual artist, whether you're an illustrator, designer, or even a comic book artist, your job is to communicate, visually, a given idea or ideas. When you're hired by someone to communicate an idea, you're hired to flesh that idea out. To give it form, shape, life if you will. That illustration, design, piece of art or what have you, has to clearly communicate that given idea. If it doesn't, you've failed. If it does, you've succeeded. A successful illustration then communicates, in a clear format, an idea that most everyone can understand at first glance. That idea can be geared towards a specific audience or group of people. If the illustration manages to "talk" to that group, then you've succeeded. But take my word for it, it's much easier to describe what makes a successful illustration or design then to actually do one! LOL.

What do you do to keep yourself motivated and avoid burn-out?

I had a project, a graphic novel to be exact, that was very long. The longest body of work I have ever done in comics so far. In the middle of the project I started to get burnt-out. It was horrible. I wanted so much to work at full force but I couldn't. I did finish the project, thankfully. But I learned a huge lesson from that. And it comes back to my early comment about being true to yourself and doing what you love, and how you love to do it. So I keep myself motivated by not taking on projects that I know off hand will burn me out. Also, looking at other artist's work. I have a Deviant Art account and, man, I'll tell you, that place is an attraction for some wicked crazy artists. I look at their work and instantly I'm motivated to do more. To push myself. It's a humbling experience because you get the rude awakening that, you're not as good as you'd like to think you are and you have a lot of room for growth.

Finish this sentence. "If I weren't an illustrator I would have been a..."

Photographer. Or maybe a detective. Or a Navy Seal. LOL

And finally, what is the best thing on prime-time TV right now?

Prime-time TV You're going to look at me like I'm an Alien for saying this, but I don't watch prime-time TV. It's true. I don't have time for, well, for that kind of stuff. I know everyone raves about Lost, but I don't get into that kind of stuff. I do however enjoy watching movies. Either at the theaters or on DVD. That's my entertainment. That, music, and comics. But not many comics. Just a small handful.

And this is the part where I lift my hand up, part my fingers in the middle and say, Live long and prosper! LOL

BRIAN BRASHER

2009-07-17T23:42:00.000-07:00

I'm an illustrator, designer, pixel pusher, quasi-typographer, and all-around mostly nice guy from sunny Alabama. I've reached the glorious zenith of having some totally ludicrous selection of artwork decorate thousands of t-shirts, a tidy sum going into my coffer for a minimal amount of totally enjoyable work. I've plumbed the lowest abyss of having to rearrange the contents of a full-page automobile dealership newspaper advert so that instead of 25 new cars and 150 used cars the ad would have 15 new cars and 225 used cars ... per the car dealer's after-hours demands ... with only minutes until press time. I've lost count of how many UI icons I've created over the last few years, but it's safe to say that it's somewhere in the thousands. My career has been - and will probably remain - all over the graphics map, but I think I like it best that way.

portfolio: http://etherbrian.org/
blog: http://etherbrian.tumblr.com/
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/etherbrian/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/etherbrian
Alamofire: http://alamofire.com/

When did you first decide to become a graphic designer/ illustrator? Was there a pivotal moment?

I enrolled in college with no clear direction in mind, only a fuzzy vision of the El Dorado that would be my lifestyle as a rich and famous artist. My high school art teacher was a highly-educated and passionate lover of classic art, and she regularly chided me for creating art that was "too stylized". But in college I sat under the tutelage of a lively and expressive German lady whose father, besides hiding Jews from the Nazis, was an expressionist artist of no small importance. It was she who introduced me to the high graphic arts, and I never looked back (nor did I take any oil painting courses).

Who or what inspires you?

Pre-internet loves: Albrecht Durer, Gustave Dore, Hieronymus Bosch, Jan Van Eyck, Jack Kirby, John Buscema, Sal Buscema, John Severin. These days, with bajillions of jaw-droppingly talented artists hanging their artworks all over the cyberwalls, there are too many inspirational people to keep track of: Cartoonists, photorealist painters, urbanseque designers, pixel pushers, etc, etc. Also: Film noir, googie, arabesque pattern work, populuxe, psychedelia, funk, soul, retro tech pixel graphics, Chuck Jones, and Tex Avery.

Where does your training come from? Self-taught? College/Art School?

Desktop publishing was only just beginning to make inroads into college courses when I was a student (the three Macintoshes at school weren't nearly as powerful as those which I was using at my part-time job in the art department of a newspaper). I would say that I was self-taught, but I don't think I set out to actually teach myself anything. It's more accurate to say that I was in the right place at the right time and that a little curiosity on my part caused a lot of what I needed to know to topple over and fall on top of me. I had little to no internet access then. If I had, perhaps today I'd be Art King of The Universe! *cough* Ahem.

How do you keep "fresh" within your industry?

I don't keep fresh at all. If by "fresh" you mean staying on top of illustration and design trends, I don't really play that game. Good or bad, right or wrong, for richer or for poorer I do things the way I like. As Mr. Sinatra sang, I do it my way. I'd likely be much more successful if I jumped onto whatever trendy bandwagon happened to be parading down Main Street, but I'd be squirming miserably with every pen stroke or mouse click. Don't get me wrong, there's usually genuinely beautiful work to be found amongst all the trendy stuff, but too many people are sacrificing their originality only to ape the latest trend. And they end up being indistinguishable from the art/design masses. If, on the other hand, by "fresh" you meant being up-to-date on tools and technology, I do so as the money allows. My motives, however, aren't noble or industrious. Tech is a toy to me, and every boy needs toys!

What are some of your current projects?

I've been with Alamofire for the last two years (and was with it two years prior when it was called Firewheel Design). I've created a beaucoup of artwork for Alamofire's Facebook-based game PackRat and am currently generating tres beaucoup iconic items for a new location-based iPhone game by the name of Gowalla. For the last few months, when the sun goes down, I've been trasnforming pixels into cell phone UI's for a company in Oslo, Norway. On a lark I began throwing together various art elements recycled from rejected and abandoned projects into tshirt designs and have made a reappearance at Threadless. What can I say? It's a dice roll for some easy money. Speaking of shirts, I don't know why, but I don't like wearing the ones I've designed. Except, that is, this one. Go figure.

Which of your projects are you the most proud of? And why?

To be honest, I can't put my finger on just one, so will you indulge me if I detail a project of which, in contrast, I'm absolutely ashamed? I was asked by a newspaper to illustrate a penguin for use as a mascot in a free classified advertising scheme (I never figured out that bit about the free ads). Unfortunately, instead of just letting me illustrate the flightless bird in my own style, I was handed two pencil drawings of penguins and was told to create modelled vector renditions of both. One was by somebody in-house (who had more ego than talent and who nobody had the guts to tell to buzz off) and the other was by another freelance artist (who, I believe, was going to charge a lot more than me for the job and only got paid for the pencil drawing). I then had to take the "3D" penguin based on the freelancers sketch (though I was unable to escape the "pleasure" of having to deal with Mr. Ego) and I had create various versions of the penguin carrying/handling/fondling some some crap he wanted to unload via a free classified ad (I never figured out that bit about the free ads). I hated every illustration I created. Not because I didn't do my best but because they were hack work, and long and passionately have I hated hack work (most of which begins with a statement like, "I love your work. I need you to illustrate this like >INSERT SOME OTHER ARTIST'S NAME HERE<."). Little did I know that my hack work would be appearing everywhere. It was, of course, spread like a rash throughout copies of the newspaper, but it was also on posters and paper boxes and static clings and billboards. Anyplace they could find to tell the world about free classified advertising (I never figured out that bit about the free ads) there were those accursed penguins. Thanks for indulging me (and thanks for overlooking and the parethentical stuff)!

Are there any areas, techniques, mediums, projects in your field that you have yet to try?

I have a tablet but have yet to spend any quality time with it. Besides using it to mimic ink work, I'd like to try my hand at some digital painting, but if that will ever happen only the Shadow knows. I've pondered the notion of using an opaque projector to super-enlarge some of my drawings onto plywood. I would then trim the wood to the each drawing's edges and paint them. There are a few art galleries in town as well as an enormous annual show-and-sell in the park, and I think it would be keen to dabble in that world with my plywood pieces. Coming back down to earth, I'd like to revisit font creation. Just a few days ago I received an email asking permission to include a font of mine on a CD that will accompany a Japanese magazine. That's nice (and it's nice that they actually asked), but those fonts are old and horrible and I need to create something to cancel them out!

Any advice to the novice designer/ illustrator?

If I offered any advice it would be something disingenuous that I just made up. The planets aligned for me in my pre-ubiquitous-internet world, so my steps and missteps aren't very helpful to anyone not abiding in that time period. Anyway, with our economy in the achey breaky state that it's in, recipes for success that were fool-proof just six months ago may soon be nothing but fluffy pink daydreams about Way Back When. Am I a ray of hopeful sunshine or what? But seriously, improve your craft whenever and however you can. Even if you're a god among mere mortal artists, assume you're not and keep striving for perfection (most folks who assume they possess the godly attributes are usually and sadly far from having attained them).

What makes a designed piece or illustration successful?

Without getting all zen in my answer, if it enriches somebody, even just a single soul, then it's a success. How does one define success anyway? The client gladly pays a princely sum for it? It meets the approval of the Keepers of the Divine Design Flame Who Must Be Obeyed? It convinces dunderheads that if they don't purchase the product emblazoned with it they will go to their graves tragically unhip? I think most people reading this probably greatly appreciate the work of some person who operates (or operated ... R.I.P.) in relative obscurity. That the work makes a connection, that it touches you (be it design or illustration or film or literature or a blueberry pie or whatever) then it's a success.

What do you do to keep yourself motivated and avoid burn-out?
When I'm able, I divorce myself completely from my work. I get away from the tools that I use to work. I get away from things that even remotely remind me of work. That usually allows me to return to the task mightily refreshed. Also: Love it or hate it, employ it or avoid it, herald it as brilliant or blame it for the demise of Western Civilization, Twitter has been for me a silly yet fabulous little something to take the edge off things when the edge needs taking off.

Finish this sentence. "If I weren't a designer/illustrator I would have been a..."

Contender.

And finally, what is the best thing on prime-time TV right now?

It must be something on Japanese television that I've never seen because there's little I can stomach that appears on my American TV set. How do I love thee, Netflix? Let me count the 100,000+ ways!

ED HALL

2009-07-06T17:00:00.000-07:00

Born in Jacksonville, Florida, Ed Hall received his B.D. in Graphic Design, and his M.F.A. in Painting from the University of Florida. While in college he did political cartoons and illustrations for The Florida Independent Alligator, UF's school newspaper. After college, Hall worked for several weekly publications in and around Jacksonville, and finally settled at The Baker County Press in Macclenny (just outside of Jacksonville) where he continues to work as the weekly cartoonist. He also does weekly cartoons for The Ponte Vedra Recorder and a monthly cartoon for The St. Johns county Business Ledger.
For the last 12 years, Ed has owned and operated Design Alternatives, a home-based residential design service. And for a few years, he was an adjunct professor of drawing at Flagler College in St. Augustine and at The University of North Florida, Jacksonville.
Ed's cartoons and political illustrations have been featured in The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The Tallahassee Democrat, The New York Time's Scope Magazine and on CNN Headline News. Overseas, his cartoons have been featured in Eulenspiegel, Germany’s premiere humor magazine.
Over the last 12 years, Hall has won 9 Florida Press Awards, 3 Newsmaker Awards, and numerous fine art awards in national and international competitions. In 2003, Ed was presented the 53rd Annual Green Eyeshade Award for weekly cartoons by The Society of Professional Journalists. He has also won the Florida Press Club Award three times (2003 & 2006, 2008), competing with cartoonists from newspapers up to 75,000 in circulation.
In 2003 Ed was invited to join Artizans, a Canadian based syndicate. Through Artizans, Ed’s cartoons appear weekly in publications and newspapers across North America.
Hall's cartoons and figurative art work have been displayed regionally and nationally, most recently at the American University Museum in Washington DC, the Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, the Fowler Gallery in Provincetown Massachusetts, and the Laredo Center for the Arts in Laredo Texas. He was also awarded a one-person show at the Reddi-arts Gallery in Jacksonville Florida. Other recent awards include best of show in Behind the Mask, Inside the Head a Jacksonville Coalition for the Visual Arts exhibition in 1997, and best of show for Figures of the Millenium, a St. Augustine Art Association show held in 1999.

In 2003, Hall published his first book of Political Cartoons entitled, Code Red – Editorial Cartoons by Ed Hall. His second collection entitled Diversions and other Political Observations was published in 2006. His cartoons are also consistently featured in Charles Brook's "Best Editorial Cartoons of the Year (2001 through 2009)."
Hall is a member of the Jacksonville Coalition for the Visual Arts, the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists, the Florida Press Association, and the Society of Professional Journalists. His work is also held in the permanent collection of the St. Augustine Art Association.

www.halltoons.com
www.halltoons.blogspot.com

When did you first decide to become a graphic designer/ illustrator? Was there a pivotal moment?

I had been in college for about 18 months, majoring in Architecture, but I was finding the calculus courses to be a little overwhelming. I had taken art classes all my life (both private and in high school) but had never really considered making it my vocation in life until that Summer. I can clearly remember dreading the phone call to my Dad to tell him that I was changing majors. But much to my surprise, he never batted an eye; he just said to do what I loved. I’ll always thank him for that. So the next semester I enrolled as a Graphic Design Major. Interestingly, I had to make a very similar telephone call my last semester in Graphic Design, to ask if it would be OK to stay in school and get my Masters Degree in Art. Once again, without hesitation my parents agreed that this would be best for me. I think that their belief that I could really make a living eventually with my art, helped me to believe in myself.

Who or what inspires you?

Everything inspires me. Movies, architecture, music, theater, ballet (well maybe not ballet). I studied the German Expressionist almost exclusively in college. Egon Schiele, Kokoschka, Gustav Klimt. Those guys were getting it done at a time when I would have liked to have been working. The raw energy of the Expressionists still fires me up to this day.

Where does your training come from? Self-taught? College/Art School?

I’ve always been able to draw anything that is set in front of me. My parents noticed it early on, and really pushed the art thing. Especially my mom. She was a huge influence on me becoming an artist. She would sit me down in the middle of the kitchen floor with a huge roll of butcher paper and just let me go nuts. I guess that was better than me drawing on the walls! Although, I have 6 years of higher education (Masters Degree) under my belt, I think you definitely learn more out of school than in. The University environment is WAY too political. I found this out when I was teaching studio art after college as well. The professors all have their own agenda, so anyone who comes in with the students in mind, (and the students begin to like) is immediately drummed out because they are seen as a threat. Kind of counterproductive huh? Check out Art School Confidential. They got it right.

How do you keep "fresh" within your industry?

I keep fresh by trying to stay involved in the local art community. I’m a member of The Jacksonville Coalition for The Visual Arts, and attend a figure drawing session every Sunday at the local community college. I enter shows whenever possible. I also try to seek out liked minded individuals and creative types. Attending gallery openings, concerts, etc. all opens up your mind to new ideas about art, and keeps you sharp.

What are some of your current projects?

I’m currently working on character development for a comic book/graphic novel that I want to publish. I’m assembling a team of writers and pencilers, and I plan on doing most of the inking and coloring myself. I also have my syndicate cartoons, and political illustrations that I do every week. Those keep me pretty busy.

Which of your projects are you the most proud of? And why?

I like the covers that I’ve done for The Washington Post. They’ve allowed me to use both my cartooning skills and my figurative background to produce some pretty eye-catching illustrations.

Are there any areas, techniques, mediums, projects in your field that you have yet to try?

I’m intrigued by tattoo art. The fact that it incorporates the human body on a very physical level - ink on skin. I think it would be cool to re-think this medium in a whole new way - like with a full-sized figure tattooed onto a full-sized figure.

Any advice to the novice designer/ illustrator?

Don’t worry about sending too much stuff to an editor or art director. It’s their job to sort through stuff. They’re used to it. I used to fret over pissing off editors by sending them tons of cartoons until one of my editorial cartooning buddies gave me this piece of advice. And you know what? It worked. I kept sending and within a year I got a job with the publication I was soliciting - The Washington Post.

Oh, and draw all of the time, even in your sleep. Keep a sketchbook active at all times, and look for the beautiful mistakes in there - those are the things that can be magic.

What makes a designed piece or illustration successful?

The single most important thing (and the thing most usually ignored) is composition, and the play of positive AND negative space. It is what starts the drawing out on it’s course, and if it is not considered at the beginning, the illustration is doomed.

What do you do to keep yourself motivated and avoid burn-out?

Draw from life - a lot. I find that keeping busy, be it sketching from the live figure on Sundays, or studying the structure of the skeleton I have in my studio, helps to rejuvenate me.

Finish this sentence. "If I weren't a designer/illustrator I would have been a..."

Professional surfer - the wave kind, not the internet kind.

And finally, what is the best thing on prime-time TV right now?

Without a doubt, it’s got to be Rescue Me. It’s gritty, it takes chances, the characters are believable, and, having friends and family roots within the Jacksonville Fire Department, I know these guys know firefighting. It’s also politically incorrect, which I absolutely love.

GONZALO FLORES

2009-06-23T12:00:00.000-07:00

Gonzalo Flores lives in the countryside of a city named Patagonians´ Gate, Bahía Blanca, Argentina.

After graduating as an Animation Film Maker (Avellaneda Cinematographic Art Institute) and receiving his degree in Graphic Design (University of Buenos Aires), he embarked on his career as an Illustrator, concept artist and animator.

He has integrated the Art Department of several leader Spanish and Argentinean enterprises, as "Torneos y Competencias Sports"(TV network), "Telefe" (Film and TV Production Company) and "Arbol / Promofilm " (film and TV Production Company), designing and performing concepts and animation works. He has been a part of several important productions, including animated features for TV, both for the Latin American and International market.

Over the next sixteen years, he has amassed an interesting portfolio with special emphasis on fantasy, science fiction, iconic designs, characters, creatures, costumes, cultures, environments and technology.

He is also a Fine Artist and his paintings have been displayed in England, Italy, Spain and Argentina in exhibitions organized by The National Academy of Antique and Modern Art of Italy (Accademia Nazionale d’Arte Antica e Moderna d’Italia), the European Community of Art Critics, A.C.E.A.’S (International Federation of Fine Artists), the Society of Wildlife Art (S.W.L.A) of U. K., among others.

http://www.gonzaloflores.com

When did you first decide to become an illustrator? Was there a pivotal moment?

I´ve grown up among oils and brushes. Since I was a child, drawing and painting were my most important languages. Eventually I realized that my drawings could get life and movement and I fell in love with animation and the Disney universe. I dreamed of spending my life among these fantastic characters. But I think the pivotal moment in which I realized that these wishes could become real was when I was chosen among a lot of graphic designers to work for a leading TV Channel's art department. There I came to understand that I could make a living with my craft.

Who or what inspires you?

There are a lot of things that inspire me, but mostly I find inspiration in the process of drawing. There I find a way to understand the world, a way of knowledge. Drawing and painting from life reveals to me the beauty which is hidden out there. I also pay attention to what other artists are doing and I try to understand their way of seeing the world.

Where does your training come from? Self-taught? College/Art School?

I graduated from The Avellaneda Cinematographic Institute and I have a degree in Graphic Design from Buenos Aires University, Argentina. But I actually learned the method to understanding form and color from my professor Carlos Marchi. I studied with him for six wonderful years!

How do you keep "fresh" within your industry?

I try to find ways to improve myself in each work. Each illustration implies a challenge for me. Sometimes I research a specific type of light. And sometimes I experiment with composition and perspective. In addition I visit as many art exhibitions as I can.

What are some of your current projects?

Presently I’m working in a Star Wars RPG book and I have a project of my own: I’m working on a full color graphic novel. I’m in the very beginning stages of the project, designing characters and environments. I’m also planning a series of big oil epic paintings.

Which of your projects are you the most proud of? And why?

Definitely, the Star Wars covers I made in 2008. They were a huge challenge for me. I’m really happy with the results I reached on these covers!

Are there any areas, techniques, mediums, projects in your field that you have yet to try?

Oh yes! Fortunately there are always techniques and mediums to explore. I’m interested in getting deeper into watercolor technique, I love this medium and I want to improve my skills in dealing with it.

Any advice to the novice designer/ illustrator?

I think is important to keep in mind what Picasso said: this craft is 90% work and 10 % talent. Illustrators have to train themselves every day in several topics and use this knowledge to improve their expression skills.

What makes a designed piece or illustration successful?

Well is really hard to understand this matter. It’s a very interesting question. I think it’s a mix of a good technique and understanding of the medium we are using and a fresh soul reflected in that piece. Something like an old man and a baby living into the same person.

What do you do to keep yourself motivated and avoid burn-out?

I always try to set myself a specific goal to achieve and I keep my mind focused on that particular topic. I enjoy the challenge of getting into the language of painting the several materials that I have to work on: metal,leather, cloth, skin,hair.

Finish this sentence. "If I weren't a designer/illustrator I would have been a..."

...I would work into the film industry, in the field of special effects.

And finally, what is the best thing on prime-time TV right now?

I’m so sorry but I don’t watch TV.

KAREN CALDICOTT

2009-05-11T06:30:00.000-07:00

Photo credit Matt Aarvold

Karen Caldicott is from England. She is a sculptor/illustrator, who lives and works in Upstate New York. Once upon a time she would ride her bike over the Williamsburg bridge to Manhattan to deliver illustration assignments that were strapped to her back. Now she is happy that the internet allows her to live in the middle of the woods, miles from any where. When not modeling clay heads for the likes of New York magazine, The New York Times, TIME and many other major US publications, she can be found gardening or gathering wood for her pot belly stove. She's a dab hand with the 2 chain-saws she owns and also with her pool cue, (eight ball being her preferred game). She misses her old pool table from her Brooklyn loft days but instead of riding bikes through the crowded cavernous NY streets, she rides through the corn fields and serene and windy lanes of Columbia County: horse country. She lives with 3 cats and has a nice boyfriend who visits from the big city.

http://karencaldicott.com/
http://littleclaybits.blogspot.com/
http://www.dripbook.com/caldicott/splash/

When did you first decide to become an illustrator? Was there a pivotal moment?

From my early childhood, once the realization set in that I wasn’t going to be a professional athlete or pop singer, I knew I’d end up being an artist of some kind. However it wasn’t until I received my first commission, (a book jacket), soon after graduating from the Royal College of Art, that it sunk in, that yes, I could make a living doing this thing I loved. Those days my work was very painterly and loose. I hadn’t much idea how it might be applied in the commercial world, so receiving that call for my first job was pivotal.

This was the late eighties, and obviously before websites etc. I would walk around London with a portfolio that was so large it would barely fit in the elevators. I carried the same book across the Atlantic and walked the streets of New York with it.

Who or what inspires you?

In my early college days I was very easily influenced, Philip Guston and Jean Dubuffet come to mind. My work went through all periods, shamelessly unsure of my own voice..... It took a while, but I got there in the end, I think.

Inspiration or ideas at least, comes from a whole manner of things: for instance, my daily walk through the woods to the top of the hill (I live in a very rustic, rural setting), or my trips to NY City and a ride on the subway.

If I had to name just one illustrator who’s surely an inspiration to a lot of us its Mr Christoph Neiman, his work is just so damn smart.

Where does your training come from? Self-taught? College/Art School?

On my sixteenth birthday, I left home and began what would become 8 years of stumbling, bumbling and in the end learning... something at least. Luckily, way Back then in the UK, the government paid students to go to college!

The first 2 years of the Loughborough foundation course were the most intense schooling of my life ( I often think how it might be wonderful to redo them) 10 hour days, drawing, drawing, drawing.

Some times drawing in rooms blacked out, the only light source on the subject (a naked body) being a single candle. Other times work would be ripped up and thrown out of windows, humiliation being the order of the day.

After “foundation” I moved to North London's Hornsey school of art, a fine liberal institution who's walls were the historic Alexander Palace, which sat on top a large hill surrounded by park land. Attendance however was not required, you were left to your own resources which was fun for 3 years.

Before moving on to the Royal College of Art in London for my Masters degree I took a year off traveling through-out Europe and Asia, all the time filling sketch book after sketch book.

How do you keep "fresh" within your industry?

I’ve gone through numerous reinvention's from simple line drawing to loose painting, it wasn’t until many years after college that I even began to investigate the possibilities of 3 dimensional illustration. Now I continue to keep my self fresh by constantly refining this process. Perhaps this Joey Ramone bust (for Rolling Stone 2000) illustrates how my process has developed over the years.

What are some of your current projects?

For the first time one of my clay busts is being transformed in to a bronze. Its been an exciting process and I’m now looking forward to producing many of my previous celebrity clay busts as limited edition bronzes.

Recently I've also been making clay objects and clay words, it’s not only portraiture that receives the plasticine treatment.

Which of your projects are you the most proud of? And why?

I would say the year long project for New York magazine was up to this date, the best job I ever had, thanks to (then) creative director Luke Hayman, I was commissioned to make a celebrity portrait in clay, weekly for a year.... more than 50 heads, each one in 7 or 8 different poses. A lot of clay! They ran as small spots that accompanied the listings pages at the back of the magazine, the characters would be seen enjoying a night out (dressed in evening ware) dining out (clay food props included) or just hanging out enjoying the city. Making a clay bust under such a tight deadline, pushed me to work very efficiently.

Are there any areas, techniques, mediums, projects in your field that
you have yet to try?

I'd like to be able to make these characters move and talk, I’ve delved in to stop motion claymation but I would like to take this much further, a short feature would be nice. I’d also love to get in to advertising; my heads would enjoy that!

Any advice to the novice illustrator?

Find your voice and then keep at it, never give up, push your self hard and then harder.

What makes an illustration successful?

It should stop you in your tracks, wow you, make you want to rip it out the publication and keep it in your cupboard, or at least provoke a Google search.

What do you do to keep yourself motivated and avoid burn-out?

No worries there, the thought of the alternative, a regular job, should keep any one motivated. I'm lucky in that I’ve never had one of those errrr.. 9 till 5 things, but I’ve come close!

Finish this sentence. "If I weren't an illustrator I would have been a..."

soccer player.” If I’d been a child of the 80’s instead of the 1880’s I could have been a contender.

And finally, what is the best thing on prime-time TV right now?

All things football... English premier league, champions League etc. If I lived in Europe this would be prime time tv viewing, as it is, my prime time occurs over breakfast or lunch.

Photo credit Matt Aarvold

JOHN MALLOY

2009-04-01T12:15:00.000-07:00

John Malloy is a commercial illustrator, fine artist, apparel designer, and comics artist/writer. Born in rural Pennsylvania to a cemetary caretaker and a coal-miner’s daughter, he began drawing cartoons and rock stars at around age 6. He later earned a background in painting with a highly skilled trompe l’oeil artist, and began a short-lived, albeit mildly successful career as an illustrator at 19 – working for alternative newspapers and Magic: The Gathering. In his early twenties, he authored and illustrated his very first graphic novel, “Amnesia”, which combined pen & ink, digital, and painted media. Shortly after its release, Malloy felt his work was too derivative of his influences at the time, and nearly gave up illustration and comics altogether. He worked as a graphic designer for Advertising Agencies, and spent a year as an art handler/truck driver, all the while painting and writing in his free time. In 2006 he came back to illustration by default, after starting work on a new graphic novel, “Channel One”, and a series of personal works as a means of pursuing a truly unique and personal style. Since 2007, his work has appeared in a variety of publications, including Business Week, Dazed & Confused, Faesthetic, Paste, and the award-winning hyper-culture magazine, Lemon. Preview pages from “Channel One” are on display at his website, http://www.johnmalloy.net, and he is currently seeking a publisher.

When did you first decide to become an illustrator? Was there a pivotal moment?

There have actually been a few pivotal moments for me. The first time was when I first got turned onto DC Vertigo comics and illustrator Dave McKean back in the 90’s, when I was a teenager. The big trend back then was heavily digital with a lot of Photoshop morphing and collage, and that kind of work was spilling over to editorial and advertising. It was really inspirational, but ultimately the heavy digital left me bored and unsatisfied. I wanted to do more work with a fine art aesthetic… something more personal and tangible, but still have my work be seen. Years later (2005-2006), I noticed a change in what could be done in the field in terms of detail, media, and the kind of gigs one could get as an illustrator. The line between fine art and illustration was blurring too. It hit me then that illustration could give me the best of all worlds in terms of opportunities to try new things, be creatively challenged, get exposure, and get paid.

Who or what inspires you?

For the most part everything, but more specifically my wife Amy, my Chihuahua Lucita, new music, comics, visits to the Whitney Museum in NY, and film.

Where does your training come from? Self-taught? College/Art School?

I went to a community college in PA where I had incredible teachers. One was a trompe l’oeil [super-realism] painter who taught me the basics of old master’s style painting, another was an art director for TV Guide back in the 60’s who gave me a great foundation in the ins and outs of what commercial illustrators do, from concept sketching to incorporating great design. Since then I’ve been self-taught via experimentation (and studying work) in painting, pen & ink, graphic design, and comics.

How do you keep "fresh" within your industry?

I think staying aware of what’s going on as much as possible is crucial for me, as well as staying on top of the infinite possibilities that lie ahead – and the limitless things I still want to try and do.

What are some of your current projects?

I’m currently working on 3 projects… the first is an album cover for the band, These United States. It’s the most detail I’ve ever put into anything commercial, and involves throngs of people in Chinatown hurling themselves into each other. Another is an editorial illustration for Paste Magazine about Booker T’s new album with Neil Young and The Drive By Truckers., whereI’m turning all of them into potatoes. I was also recently invited to do a piece as a reaction to an Asian artist’s work for Tiger Beer’s Tiger Translate Campaign and exhibition (http://www.tigertranslate.com).

Which of your projects are you the most proud of? And why?

I think for the most part I’m proud of everything I’ve done in the past 2 years.

Are there any areas, techniques, mediums, projects in your field that you have yet to try?

I’d really like to incorporate more graphite and pencil, and try to get many of the effects I can pull off in Photoshop by hand instead.

Any advice to the novice illustrator?

Well if there’s one thing I’ve learned so far it’s that there is no one-way, how-to guide to getting the kind of work you love. Trust your instincts!

What makes an illustration successful?

In general I think if it conveys the right message, makes a certain logical sense to the viewer, utilizes metaphors well without being clichéd, and is both challenging and inspirational it’s good to go.

What do you do to keep yourself motivated and avoid burn-out?

Hiking/being around nature and visiting contemporary galleries and art magazine/indie comics stores.

Finish this sentence. "If I weren't an illustrator I would have been a..."

Graphic designer, oil painter, or if I stayed in the family business, a cemetery worker.

And finally, what is the best thing on prime-time TV right now?

Ooohh, that’s a tossup for me… Lost and the Colbert Report!

DAVID AIREY

2009-03-13T09:19:00.000-07:00

David Airey, a graphic designer from Northern Ireland, has been intrigued about brand identity since the 1990s, when he enrolled on his first design course. Having honed his skills working in the UK and the United States, he then made a conscious choice to specialise in logo design, where his passion lies.

Self-employed since 2005, David has amassed a global client-list, including the likes of Yellow Pages (Canada), Giacom (England), and Berthier Associates (Japan). He authors two popular graphic design blogs, www.logodesignlove.com and www.davidairey.com, and attracts more than 250,000 online visitors per month with approximately one million monthly page views.

www.logodesignlove.com
www.davidairey.com
www.logosdesigners.com

When did you first decide to become a graphic designer? Was there a pivotal moment?

When I was younger, I always enjoyed creative classes in school, so I thought it made sense to try for an A-level in art (A-levels are UK qualifications taken between 15 and 17 years of age). However, since I hadn't chosen art as one of my GCSE subjects (GCSEs are taken from 13 to 15 years of age), my school didn't let me. In fact, at the age of 15, they subtly 'advised' me it was better I didn't even return for A-levels, so I applied to my local college for a vocational qualification in art and design.

This new path in my life (choosing tech college over A-levels in secondary school) turned out to be one of the most rewarding.

So you could say that the pivotal moment was, after five years in secondary school, not being a good enough student to merit a return for the last two years. A blessing in disguise.

Who or what inspires you?

I'm inspired by many people, but it'd probably put you to sleep if I mentioned them all, so I'll leave it at my parents.

I was no saint as a youngster (though as I'm not yet 30, you could say I'm still just a pup). My mum put up with a lot, and it's a good thing I was able to keep some secrets. My dad has been running his own business in the tyre trade for decades, so I reckon I get the self-employment drive from him.

Nature inspires me too, and there are few things better than a walk in the hills or through forests. There's something to be said for feeling in awe of your surroundings. I can think more clearly about the important things in life when nature makes me feel small.

Where does your training come from? Self-taught? College/Art School?

I briefly mentioned my art and design course, and I spent four years studying that, specialising in graphic design. That took place in my home town of Bangor, Northern Ireland, and once complete, I then searched for a design job in Belfast.

No luck.

A couple of my friends were getting ready to move to Edinburgh, Scotland, for further studies, and they persuaded me to join them. So, off I went for an additional three years in education, this time earning my honours degree in graphic communications management.

Sandwiched between the final two years of my degree was a short spell working / interning just outside Pittsburgh, PA, for the Graphic Arts Technical Foundation. Good times. I remember them fondly, and met a lot of wonderful people.

Following a short time teaching English in Spain, and gaining a post-grad diploma in management, I returned to Edinburgh, where I began 'proper' full-time work.

To be honest, most of what I know today, in a design-sense, has actually been self-taught, because my passion for the subject seems to be ever-increasing. With that said, those first few years in education gave me a lot of social skills necessary for attracting, and keeping clients, so I'd not swap them for anything.

How do you keep "fresh" within your industry?

I think it's important to remain humble, and to see the other people you meet as a source of education. As a personal example, there are more than 15,000 comments left across my two blogs, and I've learnt an incredible amount from those who have been kind enough to take the time. That's one reason why responding to blog comments occupies quite a few hours of my working week.

There are also a few excellent design blogs to which I subscribe, and I normally have a daily check of Google's feed reader.

What are some of your current projects?

I'm redesigning the brand identity for a 7th generation French wine producer, Henri Ehrhart, and I'm working with Yellow Pages Canada to refine their 'walking fingers' logo.

Peachpit Press, a publisher in the US, wants me to author their first book on logo design, and of course I'm thrilled about that. The provisional completion deadline is towards the end of 2009, and I'll mention more about it on my blog in the coming weeks.

Which of your projects are you the most proud of? And why?

My favourite project, without doubt, has been the launch and growth of my personal blog. Had it not been for its success, I'd not be where I am today — knowing a fantastic group of people across the globe, and working with some wonderful companies.

For those designers out there who run static websites, I highly recommend starting a blog. Search engine optimisation aside, the community aspect is, for me, the biggest single benefit.

Are there any areas, techniques, mediums, projects in your field that you have yet to try?

Hundreds. Thousands perhaps. That reminds me of a saying I once heard:

"Beware of the man who says he has twenty years’ experience, when what he should be saying is he has one year’s experience repeated twenty times."

I've a lot of experimentation ahead of me, and will happily try anything once (within reason).

Any advice to the novice designer?

Never stop learning. This should be easy if you have a passion for design. Be humble, too. No-one likes a cocky git, and if you ever see or hear me being overly big-headed, you're fully welcome to throw a slap my way.

What makes a design successful?

Where logo design is concerned, it should be a number of things:

* Appropriate (for the business it represents)
* Distinctive (to increase customer recognition)
* Practical (so it works across a wide range of media)
* Containing one message (saying too much will dilute the idea)

What do you do to keep yourself motivated and avoid burn-out?

For motivation, I hope to start a family in the not-too-distant future, and my wish is to give my children the start in life that I've been afforded. We all know that 83% of statistics are rubbish, but I reckon this one isn't too far away from the truth: if you have change in your pocket, you're richer than 70% of the people on earth.

My parents have given me a strong foot-hold in life, and should I be fortunate enough to have my own kids, I want to do the same for them.

Avoiding burn-out? I love to travel. Experiencing different cultures is a great eye-opener, and although it's been a while since I caught a train from London to Beijing, or walked through the temples of Angkor, I do plan on taking a decent break once the book project is complete.

Finish this sentence. "If I weren't a designer I would have been a..."

Sky-dive instructor.

And finally, what is the best thing on prime-time TV right now?

Nature's Great Events (David Attenborough)

STEVE DOUGLAS

2009-03-08T21:04:00.000-07:00

I've been a professional graphic designer for the better part of thirty years. I've been an illustrator, magazine art director, a publisher, photographer and freelancer. Most people have no clue who I am, but many are aware of my company, The Logo Factory - a small design studio based just west of Toronto that specializes in, well, logos. Lots of logos. My 'story' has been linked with TLF for such a long time now, and reflects the ups-and-downs of "who I am", it's probably worthwhile if I tell you a little about the colorful history of my studio rather than some biographical puff-piece.

I had the original idea for The Logo Factory in 1993 as a last minute idea to save another failing business that I was attempting to run - a small sports magazine that I published, wrote, laid out and was the only photographer for. Previous to that I was a 'real' magazine art director (11 years) as well as their staff photographer, but lost my job due to internal bickering with a new editor. Specializing in logos made sense - I had always been good at designing them (the old fashioned way) but I came up with The Logo Factory idea too late (this was long before the internet - I was going to use mailing lists of newly opened businesses). The magazine was hammered by the early 90's economy and failed, leaving me with over $60,000 in debt (I did not incorporate), 3 months behind in my mortgage, and my marriage in ruins. In was at this point I began to learn Macintosh-based design. Previous to embracing Apple and Adobe, I had tinkered with desktop publishing on the Amiga platform, and used it to offer freelance design services, as well as publish 3 issues of my own magazine. I'm not entirely 'self-taught' - I'm a classically trained illustrator, attending the Sheridan School of Visual Arts in the late 70's, but for college students of the time, computer assisted illustration was something more suited to the cover of a Scientific American 'future technology' issue.

After my publication went belly-up, I went to work for a 'Marketing Company' as their 'Art Department'. I used my Amiga equipment, software, light tables, drafting tables, etc. Complete rip, but I needed the money to save my house. After 9 months of that, they owed me $8,000.00 - my debts were still piling up and I simply couldn't finance their art department anymore. I managed to recoup about $5,000 but the business relationship was finished.

I moved back into a home based office and went the freelance route. Shortly thereafter, my marriage collapsed. As did my Amiga (enter my trusty Macintosh). I managed to scrape up a few freelance gigs, design and a few book photography jobs (photography in those days paid very well). I starting sending resumes and flyers to local studios, agencies and magazines. Out of frustration (and if I remember correctly, after a few pints) I sent out a flyer that basically said - "If I can't Quark it, Illustrator it, or Photoshop it #*@*$# it!" . Funny thing was that at this point, I still didn't know Photoshop. The Amiga software Pro-Draw was almost exactly the same as Illustrator, but Photoshop was unrepresented. The Amiga bitmap-software Brilliance sucked. The flyer was so ballsy that I got a call from a local advertising agency, Crunch Inc. Communications - to help with some overload work (a pool supplies catalog). The owner liked me and I was asked to stay on. Between my work there, and efforts at home, I managed to get a real handle on Photoshop and Illustrator. The pay wasn't great, so I was always on the look-out for freelance gigs, and my experience with illustration helped me land a few high-profile jobs.

One of them was a job the City of Toronto website (they wanted me to create an illustrative image map like the old Apple e-world) and when I was interviewed they asked me if I knew HTML. I had never heard of it. In fact I had never heard of the internet at all. As part of the gig I was invited to spend two days surfing this thing called the web. That was end of 1995. I knew then that this 'triple w' thing would be big (Bill Gates didn't).

At my day gig for Crunch!, we landed a job for a show called Futurcom - a 'high tech' (for the day) display at the Canadian National Exhibition - and as a 'perk' I got free tickets for me, my new lady Sue, and my kids. We journied to the EX and went to see my work (icons, banners, etc) at Futurecom where one the exhibitors - a company called Interlog - were selling domestic dial up Internet access (2400 baud). Sue (who's now my wife) convinced me to get home internet access (she even had to put it on a credit card as I didn't have one). Part of the home access was a free 10 meg web site, and I posted a small web site (5 or so pages) that featured ALL my work. Illustration, photography, graphics, layout, and....logos. I set up an image map like the one I had built for Metro and called one section The Logo Factory (after the 93 idea). The other sections were The Library, The Gallery, Web Design 101 and The General Store. I then created the factory icon based on the house I was living in. That would later become the logo for The Logo Factory Inc.

I started getting requests for logo design from all over the world - the first was for a drum and bugle corp in California called The Black Knights. Right away I saw a business opportunity. In those days search engines were easy to manipulate and I had figured out how to get my site to #1 on EVERY directory (there also wasn't any one else doing what I was doing). I quit my day job, revamped my site (concentrating on logo design and The Factory motif) and began building the business in earnest. I couldn't copy anyone as there was no-one to copy, and I flew by the seat of my pants, making it up as I went along. There was no online credit card forms in those days - everything was by check - and business began to boom thanks to regular deliveries by Federal Express. There wasn't a day went by that I didn't get at least one request for a proposal. Then it become two. Then three.

In 1997, my site was banned by the Infoseek search engine (I had gotten carried away with keywords) and I had to quickly register a web address. I originally registered Logofactory.com, but let it expire because I wanted to be 'The' Logo Factory (despite some of the grammar problems it causes).

I officially incorporated the company and registered thelogofactory.com in March of 1998. At the same time, I made the dreaded mistake of taking on a partner (an old business associate and friend). That arrangement ended up as many do, and I had to wrestle control of The Logo Factory from him (almost giving myself a heart attack in the process) . I never recovered the money that was lost, but I managed to get the entire company (I promised him I wouldn't sue). The old studio was in his offices so we had a week to vacate. We moved into my new house (complete with designers) and turned the place upside down. Bodies, computers and Ethernet cords everywhere. It might have cost me my relationship with Sue if she wasn't, as she always is, so understanding. After 6 months of working from my house, we found a new office (our present location) - a two storey job just west of Toronto with reception, kitchen, etc. I started to hire staff and at one point (just before 9/11) had 7 designers working for me.

Since then, I have hired over 20 people full-time. We now have a staff of five, though some old staffers are on call for when things get busy. We bill $400 - $2500 for logo design projects depending on what the client is after and how long we spend. We do not use clip art, pre-fabs. etc. We try to do the best we can. Each and every day.

Thanks to The Logo Factory, I have a lovely wife, I now live in a nice house, my children are looked after and my staff are fairly content. From time-to-time we've been criticized by designers on everything from our pricing (a reflection of reality I'm afraid) to our name. That's all part of it, I guess. While a "logo factory" has some negative connotation with designers now, it didn't have when it was developed in the "pre-internet" days. It seems to resonate with our market too. At the end of the day, I'm kinda proud of where we came from and what we've managed to accomplish over the years. We were online before Google, Logoworks, Logo Design Guru or any other of the logo design companies you'll find on the internet today. I might go as far to say we were one of the first, if not THE first to hang a 'logo design' shingle on the internet. We've had mostly ups. We've had some downs. But everyone that works at The Logo Factory, and everyone that's worked with us in the past, all have/had one thing in common - a love for design. We could do things cheaper, or faster, but then we wouldn't be as proud of our little company as we are now.

http://www.thelogofactory.com/

When did you first decide to become a graphic designer? Was there a pivotal moment?

When I was a kid, I was pretty decent at drawing. My father encouraged me to draw. He's a fairly gifted illustrator himself - not professionally, he was always a blue collar union guy - and he saw whatever talent I have early on. I remember him spending hours on the living room floor watching me draw album covers (12" vinyl of course. Frank Sinatra was his his favorite crooner, so I drew A LOT of Frank Sinatras). I was always dreaming up weird things - robots were my favorite - and drawing them in pseudo-sketchbooks, or on poster sized boards that my mom brought home from work. I often got in trouble in school for doodling in my school books - I was raised in Belfast, Northern Ireland and the teachers were incredibly strict - and I was sent to the headmaster's office more than a few times for defacing my notebooks with monsters and mechanical beings. When we moved to Canada, the schools were much more lenient than those in Ireland and I became a very lazy student. I did just enough work to get by in academic classes (and to keep my marks high enough to avoid final exams), but never really put in any effort. I wasn't interested in sports and I really sucked in gym. I only gave it my all in art class. I was an 'art nerd' I guess, always hanging around the art department and taking extra classes that I didn't even need for credits. My art teacher - Miss Carlson (who I also had a terrible crush on) - recognized some talent in me and took me to life drawing classes at night (something that wouldn't happen these days) and she encouraged me to stay involved. Think she wanted me to be an art teacher - I remember her telling my parents that if I just "settled down" I could become one. I loved everything about art. Creating it. Reading about it. Learning about art history. I remember one of my art history essays - I basically called Any Warhol a hack who was conning the entire art world - caused a ruckus in the art department. While Miss Carlson loved it and gave me an A+, the head of the art department took a "who is this little punk to question the great Andy Warhol?" stance which caused a little bit of a commotion. The essay wasn't entered into some contest because it was deemed too "controversial". I was always a bit of a shit disturber - something which still manifests itself in my blog from time to time. Almost everything I was in too related back to art. I loved band logos - Yes, KISS and Rush were my favorites - and I practised getting the angles of the K and S just right. I could rattle off a perfect KISS logo in my sleep. I festooned my bedroom ceiling with a 4 foot Yes logo (by one of my favorite artists - Roger Dean). My first professional 'gig' was a logo contest - ironic, huh - when I picked up $100 (a lot of money back then) for designing my high school's radio station logo. Wasn't much of a radio station - they played music over the intercom system at lunch time - but I remember the thrill of seeing my winning entry 6 feet tall on the cafeteria wall. Don't have a copy, but the logo was an ambigram (was a mirror image that could be flipped and still read correctly) and considering the name was "Chinguacousy Radio" not a small feat. I loved logos way back then.

I also toyed with the idea of being a cartoonist - I was pretty good and modeled my style after Jack Davis (from the old MAD magazine) - but at some point realized that cartooning was a design niche inside a niche. I did a ton of cartoons for a couple of yearbooks (though I must admit to completely ripping off the little cartoons by Sergio Aragones, also featured in the margins of MAD Magazine) and was asked frequently to illustrate flyers for dances, parent-teacher nights and open houses. The one constant was my dream to someday own a "commercial art studio" (what we called them in those days) and I always planned to go to art college after high school. Which I did, signing up for the Illustration program at Sheridan College (world famous today for producing world-class animators) where I learned the basics of the trade. No, there wasn't a pivotal moment per se - I wanted to be a 'commercial artist' for as long as I can remember. Designing logos was always something I was pretty good at. I wanted to be an illustrator, but clients kept coming back with "yeah, your illustration stuff is nice, but we need a new logo".

Who or what inspires you?

Gonna sound sappy, but my wife Sue. She met me when I was at my worst, at a time when I was broke and out of work. We've been through some horrible times (some very recently) but she's always managed to prop me up while maintaining a grace and poise that, to be honest, I can't often muster - especially when under pressure. While I tend to get a little bitter and angry, she's always there with her gentle kindness and an optimistic word. If I could rewire my head, I'd like to think more like she does. I don't understand why she puts up with me, but I'm thankful she does. In terms of professionally, I get inspired by people with apparent enthusiasm about design - people like David Airey who's love for design is infectious. I find Jeff Fisher inspiring - his self-promotion is brilliant and I admire how he's turned himself almost into a 'rockstar' to younger designers. Von Glitschka is certainly someone who's inspirational - I don't understand when the cat sleeps, if he ever does - and I've never seen anyone who gives to the graphic design community like he does. I first met Von over at the HOW design forum, and we didn't like each other very much - it was during some hundred page 'hack designer' flame war and we got into it. Really into it. After lengthy back and forths and a personal e-mail from me, Von posted a public apology and offered to wear any avatar I designed - I created a Hillary for President design - for two weeks as part of our 'making up'. That showed a really good sport, took a lot of class (not to mention a hefty set of balls) and I never forgot it. I got to know him a little better after that, and followed his exploits with great interest. If any young designer wants to see the consummate professional, or to learn something about illustration, they only need to look Von's way. One of the funniest dudes in the business too. I also have many graphic design heroes from the day - Roger Dean and Patrick Nagel to name just a few.

Where does your training come from? Self-taught? College/Art School?

Bit of both. As I mentioned before I took tons of night courses and went to college for illustration. Trouble is, that was old-school stuff - my trained 'skills' were in the use of rubylith, Bainbridge board, Letraset, stat camera, galley type, ruling and technical pens. When I entered the workforce as a junior graphic designer in 1980 (even back then there were very few full-time gigs for illustrators) desktop computers and desktop publishing were pretty well science fiction. Everything was done by hand on acetate overlays. As I mentioned earlier, my first exposure to computer illustration and design was at home through the old Amiga platform in the mid-eighties. My parents had bought me a Vic-20 when I was 14 and I never had any fear of computers. I loved tinkering on them and when I first discovered desktop publishing and design, I was in love. I remember there were two 'professional level' design programs for the Amiga - Pro Draw (pretty well a poor-man's illustrator) and Pro Page (similar to a very basic version of Quark) - and tooling around with them allowed me to understand the technical side of things. Fairly rudimentary stuff - only came with three fonts - but the basic principles (bezier curves, kerning, etc) still applied. I had a Laser Jet printer that needed a Postscript Interpreter cartridge to print anything, and downloading to the printer often took an hour per page. At the time it was state-of-the-art. I remember telling my old boss that desktop publishing was going to change the way design was done. He laughed at me, telling me that computers were a passing fad. That's how many looked upon computers as creative tools back in the day, so most "training" consisted of learning how to do things yourself. I used the Amiga loyally until about 95 (when it blew up) and I had to borrow money from my parents to buy a Macintosh. My first was a 6100/66 (the 66 referred to 66 megahertz processing power) and I had to, ahm, borrow Photoshop and Illustrator from buddies. In those days Photoshop took about 5 minutes to fire up, there were no layers, and only one level of undo. I stayed on top of the technology by reading books (the internet wasn't really in wide use) and by practising. Lots of practise. I considered going back to night school for some courses, but I seemed to adapt fairly quickly, so I never bothered.

How do you keep "fresh" within your industry?

My shop operates pretty well in a vacuum. We try not to follow design trends. In terms of the logo design niche, especially via the internet, competition has become fierce in the last few years. Anyone can set up a website featuring 'logo design services'. But the pressure on price has forced most online logo design companies to cut price and corners. It's a sad fact but most web-based logo design companies are charlatans. They either pitch out their work to logo design contests, use libraries of categorized logo templates or off-shore the whole lot to IT companies in developing nations. There's a couple of large IT companies in Pakistan that own a huge number of logo design company 'fronts' with matching websites. Nothing wrong with that per se, but the lengths they go to pretend they're based in North America is incredible. Postal drop boxes and remote office phone numbers. All to boast $99 logos with unlimited revisions on as many different sites as possible. Marketing logo design on the internet has become solely about Google rankings and cut-throat pricing. The level of design quality is secondary. Or worse. At my shop, we've always avoided these tactics - all our designers are in-house and we try to present as 'traditional' an approach to design as possible, even when working with remote clients. We've always pushed hand-holding clients through the process and open communication with their designers throughout the project. We could be more profitable if we followed our competitor's example, but we'd lose the one thing that we need - control over our work. Now, the price point we're competing against - as are all graphic designers - is free. Design contest sites - sometimes referred to as 'crowdsourcing' (which they're not) where designers submit their design work for free in the hope of getting paid. That's a tough thing to compete against. But it's not impossible. What we do at The Logo Factory is study these business models, identify the weaknesses and pitfalls, and try to be everything they're not. That gives us some real goals to set and we can constantly strive to improve our product, our delivery and our interaction with clients.

What are some of your current projects?

At any given point we've got dozens of logo and identity projects in house. All are equally important, so I'm hesitant to focus on one or another. In terms of my personal projects, I'm working on a logo design book - though I have been for years - and one day, I'll get around to publishing it. It takes a look at logo design from a utilitarian perspective without the hoity-toity window dressing. I've always looked at design as a business, so I think I can add that perspective to the mix. I'm also working on a couple of promising web based projects, one of them is a network for decent designers with a real handle on logos and branding. On most logo gallery sites, the bar of entry is moderate, and there's a very low signal to noise ratio. It's becoming more-and-more difficult to find decent designers on the internet, which is ironic because more-and-more people are turning to the internet to find one. I'd like to create a hub of the best logo designers around - not agencies or companies like mine - but soloists who are particularly adept at the niche. I'm also working on a series of videos, though I'm reluctant to even mention that due to the amount of time it takes. Probably be a few years before I'm ready to release those.

Which of your projects are you the most proud of? And why?

The project that I'm most proud of is a stupid black and white poster I designed back in the 80s for my favorite radio station CFNY and The Live Earl Jive Video Circus. - a road show for one of their DJs. I've had my work published in dozens of books and magazines, but that one really gave me a thrill. Not my best work, but I was a huge fan of alternative music, was a loyal listener to CFNY (now called the Edge) and it was a buzz to be part of 'the scene'. Another project that I'm particularly proud of was a Aldo Shoes ad cube project I developed while working at Crunch. It was this cool 3D cardboard puzzle that could be manipulated into many different combinations and shapes. Working out the die line on that project took two months (thank God for Obsessive Compulsive Disorders) and each cube had to be put together by hand. Was really impressive once built, but stupidly cost-prohibitive to construct. Luckily enough Aldo loved the pitch and told us "just go for it". At the shop, it's hard to say what project I'm the most proud of - there's lots of material that we've produced that I think to myself "wow - my studio made that". Our logos pop up in the weirdest of places. A few weeks ago, Sue and I were out for dinner at a local sports bar, UFC fights were on pay-per-view, and one of our logos showed up on some dude's ass. They were a sponsor of a fairly high-profile competitor and the logo had been silk-screened on his trunks. I got a chuckle out of that. When our logos show up in trade books - we just received word that one of our designs is to be featured in Logo Lounge's Master Series - I still get a kick. I can't take all the credit though - there's a whole bunch of people who are behind some of our best work - Steve Rodrigues, Leah Kampman, Paul Grant, Michael Cisco, Laurie Kennedy, Mark Kurtes to name but a few. I've added some of their logos to this feature.

Are there any areas, techniques, mediums, projects in your field that you have yet to try?

I'm really interested in video and motion graphics, especially when applied to logos. I've pushed Flash and 3D Flash as far as I can, so I'd love to get into broadcast quality 3D animation. I've tinkered around with Lightwave (I originally got interested in New Tek's Video Toaster which ran on the Amiga platform and used Lightwave as it's animation engine) but haven't really had the time to master it. I keep promising myself that I'll start 'tomorrow'. I've been messing around with video editing using Final Cut. I've got it all figured out (I used my wedding video as my first project) but I haven't had the time to really learn to do it well. I like video - it lets me combine the things I dig - music, animation and design - into one moving piece. It's fun, but time consuming as hell. Alas, just don't have the time these days to really get involved. I've also become quite a fan of compsing my own music using Reason, Abelton's Live and a Korg keyboard.

Any advice to the novice designer?

Never stop sketching. Ever. If I have one regret it's that I don't sketch as much as I should and over the years I've become a little rusty. I've got several empty sketch books that I promise myself I'm going to fill up but realities of life keep getting in the way. While using tools like Illustrator and Photoshop are fantastic, there's nothing like hand-drawn sketches and illustrations. Nothing. Sketching keeps you sharp. Doodling helps you interpret things when you do use design software. From a practical point-of-view, many graphic design courses don't even teach drawing anymore - a shame really - and in a tough job market, being able to draw sets you apart. If I'm ever hiring a designer, I'll always favor someone who can draw over someone who can't. Software skills can be picked up fairly quickly. Learning to draw well takes years. And you have to keep at it or else you'll get rusty. The ability to draw is a decent advantage to have in the job search market.

Professionally speaking, I'd say to constantly up sample your skills. In general, the entry bar to graphic design has dropped significantly. Anyone can download a hacked version of Illustrator and call themselves a designer. The competition is fierce. Pricing and rates are being pressured downwards. The only real antidote is to learn new technology. I missed that boat a few years when CSS came along. I thought tables would always be cool. Now, I'm struggling to catch up and stuff that I used to do myself, I have to hire others to do. If you stay on top of the latest in technology, and even develop new skills like animation and/or video, you'll face less competition. Your value to your clients will be greater than some random low-priced designer they can pick out on the internet.

Also, keep in mind that you want this to be a career. Not a glorified hobby. Think really carefully about giving your art or design away for free. There's a ton of design contest sites which seem to popping up everywhere. They really concern me when it comes to the profession itself - especially for kids currently working their asses off in art school and college. If a designer or illustrator wants to have a career with any longevity, think long and hard before engaging in design contests or related sites (what graphic design organizations refer to as 'spec'). Not only are you doing yourself a great disservice in the here and now, you're stabbing your own future in the back. Design contests and spec sites are my bitch-de-jour and it amazes me that well-intentioned designers don't realize the 'bigger picture' effect that supporting them has. I understand - it's your art and it's your choice - just think very long and hard before giving away your talents for nothing. Design is a business. And giving design away for nothing isn't good business. I understand why the sleazeballs that run these sites do. Profit without expense. For the life of me, I can't understand why designers support them.

Risking sounding like "Dr Phil' I'd also suggest that designers and illustrators take any opportunity that comes along. And jump on it. When I had the opportunity to get involved in the internet in 1996, more or less on the ground floor, I almost passed because I didn't have a credit card. Sue insisted that I put the account on hers. We actually had a fight about it. And I caved. That simple $39.95 transaction changed my life forever, lead to the development of The Logo Factory and within a year I'd gone from being a few weeks away from home foreclosure, to earning a fairly decent living.

What makes a designed piece or illustration successful?

That's a tough question. I guess a truly successful project is one that both the client and the designer are equally proud of. I've seen projects where a client - with the purest of intentions - has butchered a brilliant design into something not so, ahm, brilliant with micro-tweaks and frankensteining bits and pieces from other proposals. I've seen mediocre designs, especially logos, that are seen by the client as 'over the moon' excellence. At The Logo Factory, a successful project is one that manages to work from the client, and the designer, point of views but ultimately, a successful design project - commercially speaking anyway - is one that the client embraces. In terms of logos, the design is their 'baby' - they'll be plastering it over business cards, letterheads and stationery, staff shirts and what have you. They have to live with it for years, while we're onto the latest, and greatest, thing. If they get invested into the design, then the project is a success.

What do you do to keep yourself motivated and avoid burn-out?

Good question. Though probably not the best person in the world to ask. I do get burned out. I do lack motivation from time-to-time. I think it's natural - especially in a business and trade that requires so much energy and self. My burnouts are (hopefully) short lived. When I get burnt out, I simply walk away. Ride my motorcycle. Play with the dogs. Got out to dinner with my wife. Trying to work through burnout is a zero sum gain. You won't produce good work and you'll end up doing things over once the cloud lifts. We all want to finish projects. We all want to jump on the next design. Designers are famous for burning the midnight oil and when they work at home (as I often do) don't get up from their workstation until fatigue has completely worn them down. Don't. As hard as it is, set schedules and schedule time off. Walk away from time-to-time. Doesn't have to be a three-ring circus - a walk in the park with the kids has an invigorating effect. And when you're with your friends or family, give them your all. Don't let the problems of the day, or that unruly client, bleed into your personal life.

Finish this sentence. "If I weren't a designer I would have been a..."

If I weren't a designer/illustrator I would have tried to become an astronaut. Seriously (though the space program in Northern Ireland was a little sketchy in the 60's). Throughout my life, and other than an artist, that's the only other ambition I ever had. I took a little sideline as a professional photographer at one point - specialized in sports - and was pretty good too. Photography was a high-ticket item in those days, and location assignments allowed me to see a lot of the world, on someone else's dime. Was only a passing phase though, and I eventually became bored. I remember my last 'photo shoot' - was shooting some local celebrity working out at a gym, and half way through said to myself - "this is my last time doing this". And it was. I still have the gear - non-digital SLRs, medium format Bronikas and a ton of Norman studio flash gear - but I haven't touched them in years. I picked up an 'idiot proof' digital camera a few years ago and I've had more fun, and taken more photographs, than I ever did with my pro cameras. More pictures of the kids too.

And finally, what is the best thing on prime-time TV right now?

Wow. That's a tough call. My never-miss shows are Dexter, Big Love, Battlestar Galactica (though it's become rather soap-operish as it winds down) and Flight of the Conchords. My guilty pleasures (don't tell anyone) are Rock of Love, and hurling obscenities at Bill while watching The O'Reilly Factor on FOX.

MENACHEM KRINSKY

2009-02-19T19:00:00.000-08:00

Some folks call Menachem Krinsky a designer he calls himself a visual thinker. Menachem is a print graphic designer who also twiddles around with photography and a tad of photo manipulation.

www.menachemkrinsky.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/krinskymenachem
http://twitter.com/MKrinsky

When did you first decide to become a graphic designer/ illustrator? Was there a pivotal moment?

Must have been when I was around fifteen, I got Photoshop on my home computer, and fell in love with it. Ever since then our love has just blossomed and grown deeper. I used to spend hours fooling around with the programs until I decided that maybe I can make some money doing something I love, and voila! My business was born.

Who or what inspires you?

Inspiration comes from anywhere and everywhere: Music lyrics, art, photography, movies, and those little designs on the backs of the ladybugs. Actually that last one maybe not as much as the others. Most of the time I walk around with a little light bulb tied to the top of my head and it tends to help me think of ideas.

Where does your training come from? Self-taught? College/Art School?

As of now I'm still all self taught, spent many long night hours trying to achieve certain looks and design techniques, I do think being self taught allows you to steer your creativity in any direction you want without being trained to think in a certain way. Although I do hope to be able to take a couple design courses in the near future.

How do you keep "fresh" within your industry?

I try everything. Nothing's off limits. When things are really low, I chat with other designers and try to rekindle the little inspirational sparks.

What are some of your current projects?

Well, I've recently relocated to Los Angeles, working with a really talented designer to open a design shop out here. We will be servicing all print related design, anything from logos/branding to billboards and theatrical posters. And I'm really looking forward to meeting and collaborating with some awesome new designers. Our website will be up and running very soon. You can take a sneak peak at www.visionaryflock.com.

Which of your projects are you the most proud of? And why?

I love 'em all. Nothing really stands out to me above from the others. They each have their own styles and uniqueness and most are targeted to specific audiences, so it's really hard to compare them with each other. If you twisted my arm, I'd have to say I really like some of the new photo manipulations I've done.

Are there any areas, techniques, mediums, projects in your field that you have yet to try?

Of course, I can't wait to work on a huge billboard, or one of those giant posters that are like 20 stories high. I don't doubt that one day as I grow in my design skills that I'll get that opportunity.

Any advice to the novice designer/ illustrator?

I feel uncomfortable, considering myself a novice, and I still believe I have long ways to go until I can call myself a really talented designer. But I really think working hard, spending the long hours and simply not giving up until you are happy, will help you grow and become better and better and remember to always stay humble.

Today with the internet if you have any design questions or are looking to achieve a certain effect, there must be thousands of free tutorials online to help you out. Check 'em out.

What makes a designed piece or illustration successful?

I think it needs to have been both visually and mentally thought out to bring out its point in a great, creative way.

What do you do to keep yourself motivated and avoid burn-out?

We all have burn-outs every once in awhile. If something isn't working, I just shut it down for a bit and come back to it later. I always find it easier to work if I take breaks, it sort of gives me a fresh look at it every time I come back. Creativity is something you can't force on someone. An occasional espresso helps a lot, too.

Finish this sentence. "If I weren't a designer/illustrator I would have been a..."

.... Hmm, hard to even imagine. I would definitely have some type of job in a creative field.

And finally, what is the best thing on prime-time TV right now?

Not a big TV watcher, I do enjoy seeing "The Office" every once in awhile.

DAVID PACHE

2009-02-15T21:00:00.000-08:00

Out of the box design, Swiss style.

David Pache is a creative consultant, a brand and identity designer in Switzerland that works with clients all over the globe to specially develop logos and more.

www.dache.ch

When did you first decide to become a graphic designer/ illustrator? Was there a pivotal moment?

I realised that I had a great interest in art from an early age but this quickly was overtaken by graphic design and technical drawing. I liked how the application of geometry was so precise and measured. Still in many of my designs today I try to make them geometrically correct. The pivotal point though was when I finished high school and took the natural progression into design school because it was simply what I enjoyed doing. It introduced new technologies to me and this made me realise it was possible to make my living from this if I was dedicated enough. This is when I started entering online galleries and when my entries received positive feedback, I realised I had the audience I needed so I concentrated on developing my skills, increasing my portfolio and continued to build a following and eventually took the plunge to launch the website.

Who or what inspires you?

I mostly take inspiration from my surroundings, I focus on creating designs which are contemporary, innovative and unique, in line with the dache "out of the box thinking" philosophy. My other interests include music, sculpture, the suprematism art movement and the works of painters such as Picasso and Mondriaan from which I am often referring to for use of colour, lines etc. I intend to travel in the near future to increase my inspiration.

Where does your training come from? Self-taught? College/Art School?

A bit of both, whilst at design school, I used my spare time to develop my craft and really get into the online arena of logo design. 4 years in college can only represent a certain amount of acquired skills and one has to keep on learning. When I graduated, I finally took the plunge to create my own design studio increasing my client base and services.

How do you keep "fresh" within your industry?

I mainly try to take each concept as an individual. I focus on logo concepts and branding identities and ensure that my designs are simple yet in line with what the clients want. I often think I can take an over-simplified view of a concept but this is not a bad thing. You will notice in logos such as Think Once and Postbox, they are almost a literal translation of the name but this is what will give the designs their unique element. I also try to vary it up and not get stuck in a style. It is good for my thought process to be constantly changing my designs.

Which of your projects are you the most proud of? And why?

AfricanTradition is the logo which gives me the greatest pride, as it was one of my first projects. I feel I achieved a timeless piece which has proved itself by receiving multiple acknowledgements from the design community. It is a project which I am sentimental towards, as I feel it was the turning point of my career which evolved my work to the professional level which I was initially aiming for.

Are there any areas, techniques, mediums, projects in your field that you have yet to try?

I have recently been editing some video clips from the camcorder and the editing software was something which I had not used since I was in college. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed the process. I never chose to pursue this area; however, I think if I could not be doing what I am doing now, being a film maker would be of great interest.

Any advice to the novice designer/ illustrator?

Really, I would give one important piece of advice which is, if you are a novice and looking to turn professional with your own business, do your homework and be as prepared as possible. Many young designers get into the industry on the back of a small handful of great logos but the business side is very different and it is a completely different thing to design logos for specific briefs and for a whole range of clients. It is tough at first as with any industry but with perseverance and a dedication to producing great designs, you will do very well. You have to love your job to succeed.

What makes a designed piece or illustration successful?

In terms of branding, it wholly depends on the client. Some clients will like a lot of control and some will even provide an idea for you to re-work. This is very limiting but necessary in some cases due to them knowing their clients and audience exclusively and can be helpful to give them what they are aiming for. Other clients however give you complete designer discretion and this is fantastic, you can be so creative when given just a few buzzwords and a sketchpad to brainstorm with. Creative freedom within boundaries are my favourite projects.

What do you do to keep yourself motivated and avoid burn-out?

I rarely get de-motivated however in these times, I remind myself that I am lucky enough to be making a success of my passion and it is this desire to succeed and have my work out their for public display which really keeps the thought process flowing. In short, I absolutely love what I do.

Finish this sentence. "If I weren't a designer/illustrator I would have been a..."

For me, it has been clear since I was in my teens of which direction I was headed but if I had to choose another path, I guess any occupation which involved me exercising my creativity. I could definitely not do an office job. It would be too repetitive for me. I need the stimulation of variety.

And finally, what is the best thing on prime-time TV right now?

Well, I am a huge LOST fan :)

CARLOS ARAUJO

2009-02-13T19:00:00.000-08:00

My name is Carlos Araujo. I’m an illustrator currently located in Brazil. I've worked as a freelancer since 2006 and have done work for the editorial market and for the web as well. My work usually takes a whimsical approach, using silhouettes and high contrasted figures.

www.silbachstation.com
www.silbachstation.com/en (in english)

When did you first decide to become a graphic designer/ illustrator? Was there a pivotal moment?

I worked as a graphic and web designer for about eight years and after some time I realized that the kind of projects that I really liked were the ones that required some kind of illustration… I enjoyed creating the illustrations so much that I decided to focus on being an illustrator.

Who or what inspires you?

I get inspiration from almost everywhere. It can be music, poetry, movies, comic-books…

Where does your training come from? Self-taught? College/Art School?

I’m mostly self-taught. (I went to design school but never finished the course...) Before working as a designer I did some comic books and for a brief time worked in the animation field (creating animation for TV ads) and I guess those experiences became a strong influence in my illustrations: A lot of them look like a scene captured from an animated movie. People say to me that my illustrations look like a part of a larger story.

How do you keep "fresh" within your industry?

Magazines and books about illustration are good sources of information. And the internet really helps me a lot. I try to get involved as much as I can, participating in discussion groups for example, and visiting illustration/art/design related web sites. Talking to and taking advice from fellow illustrators are two important things that I do as well.

What are some of your current projects?

Right now I’m working on a paper toy that I hope will be available at my web site before Xmas this year. I've done a paper toy before, it was a simple bookmarker that looked like play money, a currency called “Dollaritos” and the response was very good, people really liked it. This new one will be more of a 3d version of one of my previous drawings.

Which of your projects are you the most proud of? And why?

My favorite project was a big illustration (10 feet by 6,5 feet height) called “Cloud Station” that I did for a local business here in Brazil. Since I had so much space to work on I was able to add a lot of nice details that made the illustration very eye-catching.

Are there any areas, techniques, mediums, projects in your field that you have yet to try?

I always wanted to work with sculptures in resin. I would love to experiment and make a three-dimensional version of one of my crazy vehicles designs, like the carrousel-bus or the mechanical-camel for example…

Any advice to the novice designer/ illustrator?

I thinkwhat's most important is to try to find and develop your personal voice, that thing that makes your work unique.

What makes a designed piece or illustration successful?

A good illustration tells a story. It sells an idea or product.

What do you do to keep yourself motivated and avoid burn-out?

Well, I love doing illustration so that’s keeps me motivated. To avoid burn-out the best thing for me is to stay away for a while from the drawing table. I go for a walk or play with my nephews.

Finish this sentence. "If I weren't a designer/illustrator I would have been a..."

A chef. Or an octopus. Maybe an octopus-chef…!

And finally, what is the best thing on prime-time TV right now?

I don’t watch TV that much… I watched a couple of episodes of “Boston Legal”. It’s a good show.

SARAH LIPPETT

2009-02-07T08:03:00.000-08:00

Sarah Lippett is a freelance illustrator based in London. She created crayonlegs.com with fellow illustrator Duncan Barrett after they both graduated from the University of Brighton in 2006. Since then Sarah has had the opportunity to illustrate for numerous clients including Los Campesinos! Radio Times, The Guardian and Plan B magazine.

www.crayonlegs.com

When did you first decide to become a graphic designer/ illustrator? Was there a pivotal moment?

I think I decided that I wanted to become an illustrator when I was about 17 when I realised I could actually get paid to draw the way that I do as I knew I could never be a painter! I was an obsessive drawer from a very young age and used to draw comic strips with my brother, making fun of our sisters. However, I think the pivotal moment was when my tutor on my foundation course invited me to go and see some illustrators talk about their work at the V&A. Listening to Sara Fanelli and Korky Paul in particular was an inspiring experience and I never gave up hope from that point!

Who or what inspires you?

Music is very inspiring to me. I listen to a lot of music and radio when I am working on projects/commissions so its a massive part of my life. Most always Animal Collective are my favourites, you can find something new in their records everytime you listen and they're brilliant live. I also love Mark Kermodes film reviews on BBC 5live, hes an inspirational character. But generally speaking - inspiration is everywhere, I could list and list and list and still wouldn't be able to get down everything I find exciting that makes me want to keep on drawing.. Drawing is my way of getting it all out of my head and out into the world. Just overhearing a comment can get the creative juices going!

Where does your training come from? Self-taught? College/Art School?

I graduated from the University of Brighton in 2006 and have been freelancing since then. Its a great University but I still feel like I'm constantly learning as every project/commission passes.

How do you keep "fresh" within your industry?

I think keeping updated within the industry as to what other illustrators are up to is important. Although I think even if no one liked my work anymore, I would still keep producing it, making my own magazines and hope that some folk still like what I'm up to.

What are some of your current projects?

I am currently working on a design for a medal for a gallery in Germany. Its a design to celebrate Handel the composer. I am also creating issue 2 of my crayonlegs magazine 'Tight Fit'. Its looking really great so far - I have the superb talent of Nora Krug, Jeff Lewis and Simon Wild so far.

Which of your projects are you the most proud of? And why?

I suppose I am most proud of my Los Campesinos! album cover for 'Hold on now, youngster...' It was such great fun to work on, and the double LP version has an etching on one of the vinyl of my characters running around, so you can only play one side. Its beautiful. The great thing about working with the band is that they gave me free reign on all the covers/merchandise/design, and rarely made me change anything. They're a lovely bunch too and good fun live.

Are there any areas, techniques, mediums, projects in your field that you have yet to try?

I am interested in animation more and more, but its setting aside time to work on that side of things that's the trouble. I need to take some time out for a long period of time to focus on that element I think.

Any advice to the novice designer/ illustrator?

Get a website! I cant emphasise how important that is! And keep sending your work out - eventually they'll take note of you!

What makes a designed piece or illustration successful?

A successful piece of illustration works because it communicates. You may have the fanciest style going but if it doesn't communicate the point the illustrator has failed. Even when I worked on the Los Campesinos! project, I was communicating their style of music and if I had used dull colours and boring subject matter then it just wouldn't have worked. The artwork had to work hand in hand with the music.

What do you do to keep yourself motivated and avoid burn-out?

It helps working with my fellow crayonleg Duncan Barrett. We run our website together, promote our work together and communicate our ideas with each other. When we go through a bad drawing patch or go through a quiet period, we can encourage one another to keep going. I also think it helps creating personal work alongside your commercial work. It keeps your ideas fresh and your mind ticking creatively over during the quiet times.

Finish this sentence. "If I weren't a designer/illustrator I would have been a..."

..post lady. Ive always liked the idea of riding my bike around during the early hours when theres no one around and delivering letters to funny characters. But since reading Post Office by Charles Bukowski, I've been a little put off! So perhaps I would choose something a little more obscure..like dog training!

And finally, what is the best thing on prime-time TV right now?

Gosh, I rarely watch television these days, just re-runs of Patrick McGoohans 60s television series The Prisoner - I'm an avid fan. Do they still have Spongebob Squarepants on T.V? I love that cartoon!

MARTIJN RIJVEN

2009-01-21T06:45:00.000-08:00

My name is Martijn Rijven, I was born in Rotterdam and after 34 years
of moving around to and living in various cities in various countries
I now run a one-man design/illustration/animation operation out of
Amsterdam under the name of BOLTgraphics. I am happily married to
Sandrijn. Turn-ons: cleanliness, apples and irony. Turn-offs: crystal
meth, pavement and irony.

http://www.boltgraphics.com
http://boltgraphics.blogspot.com
http://www.youtube.com/user/BOLTgraphics

When did you first decide to become a graphic designer/ illustrator? Was there a pivotal moment?
As is the case with most illustrators, I too have been drawing "ever since I can remember". So drawing was always there and I also knew I was going to end up in a visual / creative profession quite early on (either that or being a cook I seem to remember). When it came to choosing an education and 'a future' though, I realised I wasn't too sure about turning my hobby into my job. Out of fear of getting bored with it and being stuck without a hobby (so something to enjoy and to relax). So I chose to do typographic and graphic design which was sort of a parallel to art plus it somewhat limited my chances of me ending up a "starving artist"...

Who or what inspires you?

Approaching this question philosophically I would say: life. A more practical (and less lame) answer would be: For self-commissioned stuff it can be almost anything. Sometimes I make stuff just to try out ideas, for instance when I see something or notice how light can work in a specific way I think "ah so that's how that looks" and then I go into the studio and try to do it. Which then develops into work. Some other times it can be just a weird story or a thought that pops into my head. Even things that annoy me to death (and there are quite a few things I have to admit) inspire me in a way. For commissioned work it's usually (with some luck and somewhat depending on the job) research into the subject matter that inspires me the most. When I'm stuck for ideas I usually just hit the books.... well the Googles really. Reading into subject matter usually makes the images and ideas just flood in. Oh and looking at the paintings of the old masters in real life always gives me a nice feeling which makes me want to start producing stuff.

Where does your training come from? Self-taught? College/Art School?

My illustration is basically self-taught because even-though I went to arts college I did graphic/typographic design, there was hardly any focus on illustration/drawing/painting etc. Just the basics. When I got out of college I did some internships and quite soon after I went independent doing illustration and (limited) animation besides design.

In 2001 I did a short stint at House Industries in Wilmington, Delaware and that's where I met Chris Gardner. He showed me the basics of using a brush for inking and that really inspired me to develop my skill and style. So after that, illustration more and more became an important part of my business and it's been an ongoing struggle for improvement ever since. I think most, let's say 'serious' illustrators (and designers for that matter) are constantly looking to hone and improve on their skills. There's always studying and experimenting that comes with for instance new technical developments, new software or even just having a critical eye for what you (and others) make. So the training as such never really stops and in that respect I'd have to say I'm mostly self-taught...

How do you keep "fresh" within your industry?

To be honest I'm not sure what keeping fresh in the industry means. It try to keep an open mind and always try to improve at what I do. I don't really follow the trends, but I don't really focus on being and innovator either. I read books, study work (my own and other people's), practice, learn new software, go to shows, museums. I'm constantly, quite consciously, looking at stuff basically. Never really consciously worked at developing a style. That comes out automatically I think through the tools you use and the way your mind works. Besides that I also like to think the job dictates the look and feel of the work, so sometimes it becomes really graphic and 'flat', other times really colourful and flashy. I do what I do and let the industry worry about my freshness I guess.

What are some of your current projects?

I'm really focussing on animation at the moment. I have been doing little animations in Flash ever since it came out, but recently I've been getting into more 'serious' animation. Making it connect to music, getting more fluidity and depth into them. Also just honing the skills again. Illustration is something that will never go away but apart of the fact that animation is something I've always been interested in, I also think that with tv-screens and 'jumbotrons' replacing posters and billboards everywhere, it's a handy skills to have. Besides the animations I am chronically trying to finish typefaces I've been working for way too long.

Which of your projects are you the most proud of? And why?

The Adidas "Predator vs. F50" campaign I did for 180 Amsterdam in 2006 is definitely one that I'm very proud of. In that job I hand-drew the lettering for two different print campaign designs, that all had two pieces of lettering on them and all of this in 24 different languages, besides English, German, French etc. (all the big western ones) there were 3 different Chinese dialects, Japanese, Korean, Arabic, 2 Cyrillic, Greek... the list goes on. So it was a ton of work. With all kinds of exotic lettering, making it all work in the same styles, keeping the art directors at 180 Amsterdam (the ad agency that commissioned me) and all the local and global clients happy and still keeping the quality up as high as I could.

Are there any areas, techniques, mediums, projects in your field that you have yet to try?

For a while now I've been trying to get away from my Mac a bit more. I do most everything on paper apart from the colouring, but I've been looking to get some more texture and warmth in my colours and then you just have get your hand dirty. Computer generated stuff (texture brushes and the like) will always look like, well computer generated stuff... Then again I've also been looking to integrate more computer generated material like 3d stuff into my work. I guess more experimentation is needed in any case. As I wrote earlier I've been really concentrating on animation lately too. Trying to do what I do for print (combining illustration and hand drawn type) but then adding the dimension of time. Especially in typography I am looking for new interesting ways of adding time.

Any advice to the novice designer/ illustrator?

Hmm let's see, eat well, plenty of fibres, exercise, regular showers, wash you hands before and after dinner, no running with scissors, relax, don't worry too much about being cool or the next hot-shot Stefan Carson or James Biskup... Don't look too much to other designers / illustrators for 'inspiration'. You already are a designer so why not find out what architecture, photography, sculpture, nature, choreography, music could make you think of. I don't like these 'design-books' it seems to have cut design loose from other disciplines. Architecture, product design and graphic design (and illustration and even music for that matter) used to 'leach' off each other much more in the old days. Designers and creatives used to react more to what's going on around them.... but maybe that has also changed because of clients and their attitudes have changed. But I'm rambling and getting off topic....

Just a bit more advice to tie this one up: Keep an open mind don't limit yourself with the idea of having to develop a distinct style. Having a style can be very restricting. It could make you more recognisable for potential clients, but it can also badly limit the amount of clients that want to use your services.

What makes a designed piece or illustration successful?

The simple answer: when it does it's job. When it fulfils the brief and does what it is intended to do (inform, attract attention, warn, mesmerise whatever). A lot of people (both designers and clients) don't seem to get the difference between "beautiful" or "nice" and "good". Or "ugly /
boring" and "bad" because that's an important thing. The one thing is objective and the other is subjective. In the olden day (imagine the voice of grandpa Simpson here) clients wanted work that would set them up for a couple of years and were willing to cough up a nice bit of dough for it too so it had to be really good... nowadays that seems to have changed to clients just want something that looks 'cool' or 'fresh' for a couple of months for not too much cash. So that way when it's worn out and out of vogue they still have some cash left to have some new tat done up...

Ok that's a bit of a sour comment but that has happened to a certain extent, I feel. Now (to get to my point) the definition of a successful illustration or design has changed. Or to be more exact, I
believe there's now a difference between what clients would consider successful work and what illustrators and designers would think it should be. So to me I think it has to be good (in the old way). It has to tell the right story in the right way and although it also has to be somewhat pleasing to the eye the look of it still dictated by it's function. So function over form kids. Sorry for boring you.

What do you do to keep yourself motivated and avoid burn-out?

Keeping motivated and avoiding burn-out are 2 different things to me. To avoid burn-out I'll do anything that has nothing to do with making money. I like to do sports (although you might not think so by the look of me) I ride BMX, do aikido and go to the gym regularly. Sports are a great stress release for me. Besides that there's music. I play in a hardcore punk-band and I love to go see shows. Music really helps me get my mind off my work which in turn helps me have fresh
look when I return to it. The thing that motivates me to keep at it is mainly this internal kind of anger. It sounds really negative, but it's not, it's just the only way I can describe it. It feels like an urge to keep fighting. Not quite sure what the fight is for though. For independence I guess...just fighting out of fear for ever having to be stuck in a 9 to 5 life.

Finish this sentence. "If I weren't a designer/illustrator I would have been a..."

I used to always say something like: "a patient on psych ward" But to be truthful I would have liked to be clever enough to be a biologist or a physicist. I've always been mesmerised by nature and physics. On vacations I sometimes spend hours just looking at clouds and weather especially when there are thunderstorms brewing) like a retarded monkey, just the look of the things.... fascinating.

And finally, what is the best thing on [prime-time] TV right now?

The off-switch.

JUNICHI TSUNEOKA

2008-11-03T00:00:00.000-08:00

Junichi Tsuneoka was born and raised in Japan and upon graduating Waseda University in Tokyo, he has arrived in US at the end of 20th century. After being a graphic designer for 5 years, Junichi has established a style often recognized as “California Roll Stylie,” the result of both visual and conceptual fusion of Japanese pop culture and U.S. urban culture. He founded STUDIO STUBBORN SIDEBURN to broaden his visual communication and to employ his visual language in art, illustration, and design. Junichi’s pieces are very unique, with highly communicative, assertive graphics, and contain clear signs pointing back to his strong design background.

stubbornsideburn.com

When did you first decide to become a graphic designer/ illustrator? Was there a pivotal moment?

I wanted drawing for my job for a long time but I wasn’t exactly sure how. I had a one year exchange program when I was a Junior in college in Japan. I went to Southern Oregon University. I found graphic design class there. In Japan, normal 4 year colleges don’t offer any art classes (my major was English) so it was really refreshing. There I learned more than just to draw and I thought I had a hint of how to make career out of my artistic side of talent. Then while I was hired at Modern Dog Design, They encouraged me to use my own illustration into my design projects and they let me experiment a lot too.

Who or what inspires you?

I try to look at variety of stuff. For example, when I go to bookstore to look at magazines, I force myself to look at magazines like “Vogue,” stuff that I don’t usually look at. Same as music, I like to listen to Hip Hop, R&B type of sound but sometimes I force myself to listen to Classics. I am also word oriented person. I like to write down funny phrases (at least for me) like, “monkey business” or “when shit hits the fan” etc. This kind of phrases gives me inspirations sometimes.

Where does your training come from? Self-taught? College/Art School?

I graduated from Cornish College of the Arts.

How do you keep "fresh" within your industry?

I try to make something better than yesterday. I try to experiment to my own style. I try to look at as much as art around to get influences.

What are some of your current projects?

Logo for a music label, package design for a tea company, series of music posters, sticker illustration etc.

Which of your projects are you the most proud of? And why?

Screenprinted posters I have done. Screen printed posters are not produced by machine and there is some value to it.
When I get the posters in my hand, it is a sort of piece of art for me and I really like the quality of it that any other commercially produced print doesn't have.

Are there any areas, techniques, mediums, projects in your field that you have yet to try?

I think there is a lot. Hopefully I can find my own field that no body tried yet.

Any advice to the novice designer/ illustrator?

Talent means "effort" in my dictionary. That is not something you were born with.

What makes a designed piece or illustration successful?

I would like to think if one can emotionally involve with the piece, that's a successful piece. To me, it doesn't matter if the piece makes you happy or angry.
I would rather piss them off than making them feel nothing.

What do you do to keep yourself motivated and avoid burn-out?

I try to have fun with any kind of project. I think there is a way to turn any boring project to a fun experience.
I try to remember I am doing something I enjoy and I like so much. It has never been difficult to think this way.

Finish this sentence. "If I weren't a designer/illustrator I would have been a..."

...I would have been a comedian.

And finally, what is the best thing on prime-time TV right now?

"the Office"