SI Lectures

Well, this is exciting. For about a year now, The Society of Illustrators has been cruelly teasing me with emails announcing amazing lectures they were hosting in New York. Each one sounded so good, that I was halfway to the airport when I remembered I had class in the morning. Lectures from luminaries like Milton Glazer, Jules Feiffer, Anita Kunz, and Sam Weber.

Thank goodness we live in the future, and distance is no barrier. All the lectures are now available to view via your handy information appliance.

JAW Cooper

Marie Provence had a nice interview with JAW Cooper for the Illustration 5 essay/presentation...If you haven't seen her work before, check it out!

On to the interview:


How do you feel that your personal history influences your work? Do you draw any inspiration from your travels, pets, music, etc

I might never have taken up drawing at all if it had not been for all the traveling that I did growing up. Jumping from country to country made it necessary to travel light and drawing is the perfect "on the go" activity. My mother is a biologist and illustrator and my father is a biologist and college professor so I'd say that they sparked my interest in both art and nature. I draw inspiration from a number of sources, the most significant of which are probably curio cabinets, fashion photography, and nipples. Who doesn't like nipples? Music is an important part of my process and I often create play-lists for specific projects to get me in the appropriate mood.



I love your beautiful sculptures, and I was particularly admiring the skill at which you were able to find a balance between realistic and fabricated qualities in your “Buddy” piece. I was wondering if you have ever studied taxidermy or surface design? How did you initially become interested in exploring three-dimensional art?

I've never studied taxidermy or surface design but I've always had a morbid fascination for it. I love to draw monsters and freaks and realizing one of my two dimensional designs in three dimensional reality was an extremely rewarding experience. I owe it all to an amazing class I had in college with the very talented Daniel Lim called “Experimental Illustration.” Daniel encouraged me to think big, literally and figuratively, and I ended up fabricating the first of my life-sized mutant bear rugs out of foam, faux fur, fabric, and taxidermy supplies which I named “Randal.” I sold Randal in a gallery show at La Luz de Jesus and made a second rug named “Buddy” which currently resides in my apartment... under my giant dog. I hope to make many more in the future!



Currently, who are the artists that you look to most for inspiration and what is it about these artists that you love? (Artists can be anyone, not just limited to illustrators)

Speaking generally I’d say that I have been influenced by the Japanese woodblock prints of Hokusai and Hiroshige, the oil paintings of Sargent and Leyendecker, and the zoological zeal of Haeckel and Audubon.



As an unknown, trying to establish a voice or direction for my art is a bit of a struggle. How did you come about your unique point of view in illustration? Did you stumble upon it, or was it something that came naturally to you from the beginning?

This is a difficult question that I seem to get a lot. Difficult, because it was never something I struggled with and I think that is because I was an avid keeper of sketchbooks. My junior and senior year of high school I completed one giant sketchbook a semester to accelerate my growth as an artist and to document my evolving interests and processes. My proficiency with drawing lept forward and in the process I naturally cultivated interests in the things that continue to influence my work today. The best advise I can give any artist struggling to find their voice is to keep a sketchbook and pack it full of sketches, lists, ideas, and images that inspire, and to write about it all in the margins so that you can trace your thought processes back in the future. You will naturally start to establish patterns and processes specific to your interests and way of working.



Can you share some of your promotional materials or techniques that you find work well when trying to reach a larger audience? Are you able to disclose some of your process in developing self-promotion ideas without giving away any secrets?

I promote primarily through my blog, though I do also have a facebook account, send out emails and mail promo cards. I’m working on a new set of promo cards right now, actually. In general I think it is important to have a strong web presence and to go out of your way to make connections with others in your field.



If you had one suggestion for an illustrator about to graduate from college, what would it be?

Look at as much illustration as possible, promote like crazy, make solid connections, and have fun creating work! After all, what’s the point of becoming an artist if you don’t enjoy what you’re doing?



Bonus fun question: If you were stranded on a deserted island and could only take three things with you, what would they be?

A sketchbook, some pencils, and a cow... I love milk.

Caitlin Hackett Interview

“I almost became an Illustration major, but one of the professors really didn’t like my work. A lot of the older professors have this strange idea that there’s a really big delination between drawing and illustration..it’s a break up I’ve never understood.” - Caitlin Hackett


Here's my phone interview with the artist, Caitlin Hackett If anyone else wants to share their Illustrator interviews, e-mail them to 23spades@gmail.com!

Do you do your Illustrations for a living?
“No, I actually work full time on top of my studio career. I don’t get enough time to work on my art as much as I’d like, it’s actually pretty crazy. I waitress full time…I also work for a video game company doing creature design so I work 80 hour weeks.”

How did you get the job at the video game company?
“I found it right as I was graduating Pratt..I saw an ad on craigslist. I never really thought of doing design because I was a fine arts major. I’ve been working there for a year and a half.”

How long have you been out of college doing this?
“I graduated Pratt in May 2009…like a year and a half now?”

How did you get yourself out there as an artist?
“A lot of it was luck with my senior show…a lot of people came who were friends of professors that were curators. It’s kind of a small world, especially in New York…a lot of the curators knew each other.”

Is there any story behind what got you started drawing the monsters you draw?
“A lot of my inspiration comes from endangered species…when I was growing up I planned being a wildlife biologist and I ended up being an artist. A lot of my concerns are based on environmental problems. It’ll kind of come just randomly…I’ll read an article about a certain animal and I’ll be like ‘I like that’. It may have started as a certain species but the drawings take a long time and they change. It’s definitely a long process…when I start it’s about a specific species, but you know how it goes…a piece when you work on it long enough…it definitely changes over time.”

Is there any other process you’re fond of besides large ballpoint pen drawings?
“I definitely pretty much use only ballpoint pen and wateroclor, I would like to get into oil paint …I’ve been interested in trying other methods with the paint.”

I read in your interview in Hi-Fructose that negative opinions from a teacher got you started on your large illustrations. Were there any other hi lighting experiences from your college career?
“Yeah, I had a couple really fantastic professors…an oil painter Chris Wright, I was in one of his classes before I switched from painting to drawing major. I never really preferred painting…as you can see from my art I love line. When he saw my personal sketchbook, he said ‘If that’s what you like what to do, that’s what you should really do’ and I think that’s one of the other turning points I really had. If I want to draw the things that I’ve always thought of, then why not?”

What are you up to right now?
“Well my apartment is my studio, I’m working on a bunch of small works for a show next month. It’s a group show, and all of them are under 11x12, which is hard for me because I like to go outside the bounds of the page. Endangered backyard birds that ended up as creepy mutations…they’ll all be up on my site soon. I’ve got to finish them today.”

Harry Potter Sequential Art by Lucy Knisley

In lieu of the new Harry Potter movie coming out/the HP craze in general, super awesome illustrator/puppeteer/comic artist Lucy Knisley has done a series of sequential images from each book and has posted previews on her blog.

Jen Wang Interview on...MTV?

I recently discovered Jen Wang, and I'm kinda in love with her art. I found out she did an interview for, of all things, MTV! Here it is, and the currently secret comics-based website MTV is concocting is located here. Apparently the director of True Life is now interviewing comic book artists in their studios? Kinda awesome.

Ming Doyle

I love Ming Doyle. Hopefully you do too! There's a rad interview with her here discussing her process, comics, and culture. Check it out!

Lois van Baarle

Alex and I have been discussing our mutual love of Illustrator/Animator Lois van Baarle lately. She's a Dutch animator who specializes in really, really cute drawings of Disney-esque ladies and has mind-blowing digital painting skills.

One thing you learn from looking at her art, however, is that no matter how skilled you can be technique-wise, if you don't work out your anatomy or the basics of your image, it can still fall apart slightly in the final. (A few of her images lack the attention in her hands than are shown in her faces, and tend to distract from the images as a whole.)

Linzie Hunter

First off, hey cool I'm Illustraton Rep! Second off, I wanted to show off this cool Illustrator I found. I might possibly do "Illustrator of the Week"(s) digitally. Or more than once a week, because I constantly find cool people that everyone should see. Lately, I've been really interested in limited linework in Illustration, and just that "cut paper" feel accomplished digitally, which Linzie Hunter does perfectly.

Also, relevant (sort of) to comics students, she does her own lettering. Extremely well.