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Author
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Comment
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artsfan
Unregistered User
(8/16/03 9:13 pm)
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Favorite Fairy Tale Illustrations & Illustrators...
Since I was young, I had a profound appreciation for book illustration.
The causes for this are the many books I used to rent from the school
library when I was in grade school. I can still remember the first
time I looked at Nancy Ekholm Burkert's "Snow-White and the
Seven Dwarfs", and Paul O' Zelinsky's "Hansel and Gretel".
I loved to examine the pictures for hidden details, and it is something
I often find myself doing when I look at illustrations. I am nineteen
years old, fresh out of high school, and I consider myself extremely
lucky to own a nice collection of illustrated books of fairy tales,
which for me is all the inspiration I need for the desire to further
my education. I own books containing illustrations by Paul O' Zelinsky,
Nancy Ekholm Burkert, Charles Santore, Scott Gustafson, Arthur Rackham,
Maxfield Parrish, Ruth Sanderson, Christian Birmingham, and many,
many more. And since I am an aspiring illustrator, I often search
the net for artists I admire (and, yes, Charles Vess, you are one
of them!). Any advice from any illustrators here on how you got
started and how you make a living would be greatly, greatly appreciated!
Also, I would like to hear from all of you on who/what your favorite
illustrators/illustrations are, and why! Thanks!
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Blackwolf
Unregistered User
(8/17/03 7:54 am)
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James Gurney
Well, he's not exactly a fairy tale illustrator but he does really beautiful artwork, especially for Dinotopia. I have the two storybooks/art books - they are very beautiful. Loved the details he did for the various dinosaurian species.
Blackwolf
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Charles Vess
Unregistered User
(8/17/03 10:23 am)
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Getting started...
Well, I got started by grabbing a crayon and heading for the nearest available wall, much to my parents horror. I've always loved to draw. Anytime I found a blank sheet of paper or even a blank margin of a already 'used' piece of paper I was filling it up with lots of doodles. It took me many. many years to realize that there were people in the world that actually made a living by 'just' drawing. This realization first came after seeing Stan Lee and Jack Kirby's names in the credits to 'The Fantastic Four' comic. A simple thought went through my head, "Hey, that's what I want to do when I grow up!" . Frank Frazetta covers and Hal Foster Sunday pages of 'Prince Valiant' were primary inspirations till I arrived at university art school. It was there, through no fault of the Abstract Expressionist inclined instructors, that I discovered Howard Pyle, N. C. Wyeth, Maxfield Parrish and Arthur Rackham. All of their work struck me like a bolt out of the blue with a deep and passionate love of 'Romantic-fantasy' illustration. My love affair with those artists has ebbed and flowed but certain of them (Arthur Rackham, Howard Pyle) are still the artistic crutches that I use to hobble to my drawing board everyday. I was lucky, in that, in those university days of the late 60's and early 70's, there was a huge revival of interest in those turn of the (last) century illustrators. Numerous books were published on the four artists that I've already mentioned as well as Charles and W. Heath Robinson, Harry Clarke, Kay Nielsen, Julius and Edward Dietmold, etc. There was also a beautiful edition of GREAT SWEDISH FAIRY TALES published back then that was filled to the brim with illustrations by John Bauer. Bauer's work still has an enormous influence on me today and I've accumulated quite a few books containing his work. In
the late 70's I moved to New York in search of illustration work. There followed several years of laundry in the bath tub and far too many peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Every week I was out pounding the pavement , bouncing back from many. many rejections, in a continual struggle to pay the rent and put some food in my belly. I came up against a certain wall again and again.
The more adult publishers thought my work too 'childlike' (The art director of 'Heavy Metal" said, "Charles, your work is just too 'nice' for us.") and the children's book editors said that it was too mature for their audience. It is only now, after too many years, that I've managed to 'break' into the picture book field with A CIRCLE OF CATS. Hooray for the twice blessed Sharyn November!! But back there in the 'beginning' I did some work that I hated doing (I can't think rocket ships for the life of me!), paid the rent and moved on. Eventually I snuck in through the back door of 'Epic Illustrated' into the halls of Marvel Comics and managed to find quite a bit of work around the edges of their more commercial characters. Eventually through luck and persistence I scored large with an evocative painted image of Spider-man (Web of Spider-man #1) and from there moved on to writing, drawing and painting a hardcover graphic novel featuring the web slinger (SPIRITS OF THE EARTH, setting it in Scotland of all places, because I love the landscapes there). Eventually I hooked up with Neil Gaiman and worked on several high profile jobs with him ('Sandman' #19 & #75, 'Books of Magic' #3 and STARDUST) which pretty much put me on the map and I've been having a ball ever since. My advice is to work with the best writers that you possible can (the better the writing the better your art will be) and too keep on trying to do your best, trying to learn a little more each day. The moment you think that you've learned everything that you need to learn is the moment that you, as an artist, will begin to die. Good luck!!!
Best,
Charles
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artsfan
Unregistered User
(8/17/03 12:12 pm)
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Re: Getting started...
Charles, I want to first thank you for your advice. With no professional experience with illustration myself, it can be very disorienting to think what I may be up against in the future. I worry constantly about my future life (or lack thereof) in the illustration field. It helps that a talented person like yourself decided not to give up on your dreams. So many people have asked me what I planned on doing after high school, and when I told them I wanted to be an illustrator, their eyes grew wide and the words that came from their mouth were "oh, that's nice". They didn't have to tell me that they thought I was crazy, I could tell by their tones and expressions. It's been my experience that people don't believe that being an illustrator is a decent life to live, which is a shame. I have read up on many illustrators, and way too many of them say that starting out was rough, and there were times they got so discouraged they wanted to forget about drawing. Which brings me to a question: Have the publishers you've worked with required that you have a college education? To me, illustration seems to be one of those careers in which you're never guaranteed work, college education or not. It's a shame that publishers will look at one's work as too mature or too kiddish, rather than focusing on that particular artist's style and talent. Sad, sad, sad!
This past year at school, which was my senior year, I took an art class called Advanced Placement Studio Art. In this class, the students had to create a portfolio based on a subject of our own choosing. The subject couldn't be too broad or too complex, etc. The subject we decided on was called a concentration, and that is what we had to work from the entire year. Some people chose to do "The 80's" (pop culture from the 80's), "Ireland", "A Dog's Life" (different aspects of dogs' lives). My concentration was called "Conflict in Famous Literature". Since I so desperately want to become an illustrator, I thought this would be the perfect starting point. If you would care to know, here is a list of the pieces I did:
"The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow"
"Dracula"
"Sleeping Beauty"
"The Wizard of Oz"
"Aladdin"
"Perseus"
"The Christmas Carol"
Stephen King's "Carrie"
"The Tell-Tale Heart"
"King Midas"
"Caesar"
"Romeo and Juliet"
"The Six Swans"
"King Arthur"
"The Scarlet Letter"
Any more advice that you may have to offer would be appreciated immensely.
Sincerely,
John (artsfan)
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RymRytr1
Registered User
(8/18/03 1:45 pm)
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Re: Getting started...
"Till Death Do Us Part!" - 22 Pages
Writer - Louise Simonson
Artist - Greg LaRocque
Inker - Jim Mooney
Cover - Charles Vess
"Good on ya Charlie, me lad!!"
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Ron McCutchan
Unregistered User
(8/18/03 4:56 pm)
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Getting Started
Speaking--er, writing--from the publisher's side (I work for the Cricket Magazine Group), we don't really look at resumes and I honestly don't know which of my artists attended college, or have degrees in illustration versus phys ed versus no degree at all (I DO know which of my artists TEACH at universities, for some strange reason, but it really makes no difference).
The important thing is the portfolio, or, since we mostly work by mail, the samples you send out. We look for consistency and variety (consistency of style and level of quality, variety of poses, perspectives, moods, historical periods, etc.).
The issue of fitting a publication (that issue of too young-looking/too mature/too hip/too traditional) IS something that we think of a lot here, especially because we're a serial. Books can be more of a one-off, but in a magazine artwork needs to flow--it can't all look alike, but it can't be such an extreme change from story to story that you think maybe the printer bound the wrong signatures together. Since we publish several magazines for different ages, the artists we work with seem to have settled into levels as well, though there are quite a few who transcend the borders between magazine age groups.
As Charles mentioned, I think it sometimes IS a question of just getting a foot in the door--once an art director has worked with you and seen what you do, a narrow perception can be widened.
In the fairy tale/fantasy end of things, I've found several artists at sf con art shows, and you might investigate that (if you haven't already). ANALOG magazine lists upcoming cons--don't remember if FANTASY & SCIENCE FICTION does as well. Conventions are also good networking places, both for attending publishers and other artists who might point you in the right direction.
Your school project sounds like a good portfolio builder (in that consistency/variety sense I mentioned earlier).
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artsfan
Unregistered User
(8/18/03 5:30 pm)
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Re:Getting Started
Ron, I have a couple of questions for you, and I would greatly appreciate
any answers you may have to give. First, when you hire an artist
to do a piece, is there a contract that is signed saying that the
artist has to do so many pieces for the company, or are they just
hired for one single piece of work at a time? I have tried to look
this up on the net, but surprisingly, I couldn't get the information
I was looking for. Question number 2: Since Fairy Tales have been
illustrated so many times by various artists with various styles
throughout the years, do you feel that there is still a great demand
for new editions of them? Ever since I was young, I constantly drew
characters from Fairy Tales, and I found that I myself have created
many different interpretations. This is a dream that I have had
for so long, I can't imagine not illustrating my favorite stories.
I don't want to keep you too busy, so I will end it with this question:
Is there any chance I could send some of my work to you. I live
in a small (and I do mean small) town, and I have no clue where
to start looking for work in the art field. I would appreciate it
if you would consider taking a look at my portfolio. Thank you.
Sincerely,
John
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janeyolen
Registered User
(8/19/03 6:09 am)
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Re: Re:Getting Started
Ron--don't have your email. Could you send it to me? I am aol with the above name configuration.
Thanks,
Jane
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Ron McCutchan
Unregistered User
(8/19/03 4:20 pm)
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Art n Stuff
Jane--
Just e-mailed you, so I hope I got your address right.
John--
Feel free to send me some samples (actually, photocopies/laserprints that I can keep on file are preferable to a portfolio I need to return). You should be able to find submission guidelines at www.cricketmag.com--but you may have to poke around the site to find them. I think, too, that they're all on one page, so once you find them, scroll down to CRICKET.
As for the question on new editions of familiar fairy tales. . . That's a tricky one. There are so many out there (in good AND bad editions) that I think you'd need to have something very new to say about or bring to the text to justify yet another edition. And, given today's market, name recognition is a factor. Publishers, sales reps, and bookstores are going to take a closer look at an old tale illustrated by a name they know than the same illustrated by an unknown quantity--unless the artwork is ABSOLUTELY STUNNING. If you can beat Trina Schart Hyman, Kinuko Craft, or Nancy Eckholm Burkert, it's conceivable that a publisher MIGHT risk it.
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artsfan
Unregistered User
(8/19/03 9:58 pm)
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Re: Art n Stuff
Ron, thanks a lot! I checked out your website, and I think I found a good place to start. At this point, I'm just hoping to get some recognition before getting into what I plan to do. Just one more question: If I would get hired to do a piece, how long would it take to get notified about it? I'm definetely willing to give it a try, and thanks again!
Sincerely,
John
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Ron McCutchan
Unregistered User
(8/22/03 3:46 pm)
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Art note
John--
My off the cuff response to "how soon would you notify me?" is as long as it takes to dial you on the phone. . . but I'm not sure that's what you meant. We put artists we are interested in on file (8 file cabinets full, to date) and sometimes it's 2 or 3 years before we may have an actual assignment for you (you also have to remember that we work about 8 months out--for example, right now, at the end of August, I'm getting ready to assign the April 2004 issue). But we are assigning artwork every month. Once assigned, you generally have 4 to 6 weeks to turn around finals (with sketches generally due after 2 or 3 weeks).
Hope that answers your questions.
Ron
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