Artist Spotlight - Steph Calvert

 

 

Tell us a bit about yourself: Did you go to school for art? Are you self taught? 
I was the arty kid back in school; I can still remember getting in trouble in seventh grade for looking out the window and drawing instead of paying attention in class. Strangely enough, in high school I was fighting that and seriously thinking about going to school to be a vet - I even took classes like Latin (nerd alert!) that I thought would be helpful in college...

And then junior year, I remembered that vets deal with blood and needles.

So that was the end of that.

I went to Savannah College of Art and Design and graduated with a BFA in computer art in the spring of 1999, focusing on 2D hand drawn animation. When I came out of school, there was less and less traditional animation positions - especially for a newbie with no work experience - so I've been adapting my skills ever since.

I've worked as an in-house artist for OshKosh B'Gosh, I've illustrated two travel themed coloring books, and most recently I've created repeat patterns and t-shirt graphics for Kohl's as well as created a custom pizza box for a client that's literally COVERED with hand lettering and fun drawings! There's some really exciting new opportunities that have been coming in, but it's a tad too early to mention specifics. 

Do you work in just one medium? Several?
As I've grown with my art over the years, fresh techniques get added to my process. Within the last year I feel like I've really honed in on my "style". It's all about digital painting in Photoshop, mixing in layers of hand lettering created with either paint or markers, and bringing lots of hand drawn or painted textures to the party. It's a great way to create pieces that are easy to work with on the production side of things, but I'm not chained to the computer every step of the way.

20+ years of creating artwork professionally on computers has left me always thinking and creating in layers and workability for production. When I draw with markers or paint in traditional media - acrylics, watercolors, or gouache, I usually play around on paper, and then scan everything into the computer at as high a resolution as possible and pull together my finished pieces there. Live trace, vector bits, and smart objects are my best friends. Outside of my husband of course.

I really like the control I have in Photoshop - I can call out specific Pantones, I can get more precise, I can edit that one little stray line that isn't quite working with the rest of the piece. Most importantly, everything and I mean everything is separated out into layers so I can go back and change things easily. Photoshop gives my clients peace of mind knowing the ease of production and editing they'll experience while working with me.

What inspires you / where do you get inspiration from?
I pull so much inspiration from my life! I've been a self employed work at home mom since our son Phil was born in 2010. Nowadays, he's in kindergarten, but his little sister Joy will be in the studio with me until she starts pre-K in a couple of years. My family is hilarious - there's lots to get inspired by.

My latest collection for licensing, This is Halloween, is inspired by some decorations my son Phil and I bought ages ago at a dollar store. My kids love the fun characters and the bright happy colors - even though those little cardboard cutouts have taken a serious beating over the years, they HAVE to have them on the walls every year! I wanted to create a group that made kids smile just as much, in colors that were classic and easy to work with alongside someone's existing Halloween home decor. I've also got a few kids book ideas on tap based on funny things that we've experienced as parents, and don't even get me started on all of the greeting card designs I'm starting to work up based on hilarious one liners that have been blurted out in our house over the years!

How did you start licensing your art?
As I ventured on the path of self employment, I was finding more and more clients were asking for web design. I was happy to oblige; I was great at it and the paycheck was fairly steady. But over time, I was finding that I was becoming more and more unhappy with my work. I missed drawing. About a year ago, I slowly started to pull away from web design; I took advantage of the Black Friday deal on some Make Art that Sells courses from Lilla Rogers, I worked my way through Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way and actually stuck it out through all twelve weeks over the summer... taking the leap of faith is really what helped push me towards art licensing.

What are you working on now?
I'm wrapping up 2016 with lots of great Christmas art that'll be available for licensing, and I'm fine tuning what art I'll be working on each month for 2017. I'm playing with the idea of working within a theme for each month, a month ahead of time. So January I'll work on all things love, so I have lots of great Valentine's theme art to share all February long.

I'm also honing in on what I want my Instagram feed to look like, because that's a great way to get exposure. The balance for me is to share enough to get art directors interested, without giving away the really good stuff. One of my strengths after so much time spent working as an apparel illustrator is coming up with funny sayings that haven't been totally overused in the marketplace. It's been interesting trying to figure out how to share without sharing too much if that makes sense.

Any great advice for our readers?
Failure is for quitters - if you don't ever give up on your art, you'll never fail.

Before I shifted focus to my illustration work, there was a lot of things I was pretty attached to - like my old business name. As I started working with my agent, I quickly started to realize that if I wanted real and drastic change in my career, I needed to be as open as possible to that change! Here we are six months later - I've got a new website, a growing portfolio that's finally showing a cohesive and distinct style, and lots of prospective projects on the horizon. None of this would have been possible if I stubbornly held on to the old ways.

And keep in mind - an illustration agent isn't the silver bullet that is going to make a deluge of work come busting down your door the second you sign on. When you connect with an agent, marketing your work is still your responsibility, but now the exciting thing is you're part of a team. There's more than one of you working on bringing in projects and licensing deals - they're an advocate for you if a project goes south, and can be an amazing sounding board as you work through the direction your career needs to take. My agent Liz Sanders has been so key in helping to shape my illustration adventure!

Anything else you would like to share with us?
I'm always learning something new - it keeps things interesting. A couple of months ago my friend Kim and I took an oil painting class for the first time, and we were hooked! I don't know how well oils would work for art licensing since it takes such a long time for the paint to dry, but I'm definitely continuing to explore this medium moving forward.

I have a group of artwork that'll be seen on girls t-shirts in Kohls in Spring 2017, and I'll also be working on a kids book pitch for one of my many ideas to start shopping around next year. I'm looking forward to connecting with a literary agent that works with illustrator authors for some really fun titles!
 
Are you an early riser? or night owl?
As much as I'd love to be a night owl... I'm definitely an early bird. Even when the kids don't wake up horrendously early on a summer morning, I'm still wide awake by 8am.

The upside? There's coffee.
 
What is your favorite food?
All of it... Is all of it an answer?

I just like snacks is all.

But if I had to narrow it down...

I'd have to say cookies, coffee, macarons, chocolate, pizza, chips, salsa, donuts, cakes, pies, ice cream, fried chicken, cream puffs, bacon, marshmallows, Jelly Bellys, burritos, hamburgers, spaghetti, crab legs, charcuterie plates, grilled cheese sandwiches, quiche, soup, deep fried Oreos, deviled eggs, the candy parts of trail mix, midnight pancake parties, muffins, steak, and all you can eat buffets. And cheesecake.

You can find Steph:
Liz Sanders Agency: http://lizsanders.com/
Email: hi@stephcalvertart.com
Portfolio: http://stephcalvertart.com
Facebook: http://facebook.com/stephcalvertart
Instagram: http://instagram.com/stephcalvertart
Twitter: http://twitter.com/stephcalvertart
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/stephcalvertart
LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/stephcalvert
Behance: https://www.behance.net/stephcalvertart
Tumblr: http://stephcalvertart.tumblr.com

Make my day! and Buy me a cup of coffee (PayPal Link in right side bar, you don't need a PayPal acct.).

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Artist Spotlight - Cathy Braffet Richardson

 

Tell us a bit about yourself: Did you go to school for art? Are you self taught?
Art to me: The constant appreciation of visual awareness is something that inspires me every day... whether working on a freelance project, creating my own line of designs, hosting a workshop or collaborating with my kids on an art project or dreaming about starting a creative business with my daughter Melissa, art and the creative process is part of my soul.

Looking back to my drawings and paintings as a kid, I have always loved bright color, whimsical line and bold shapes.​ ​From a very young age I remember creating art.... when ever I could. I vividly remember how I felt looking at colors in the sky at different times of the day, and the negative space/composition looking up into the sky through canopy of leaves in a tree. Nature’s lessons shaping my passion of graphic arts and design before I even knew what that was. I believe my creative connection with others, a relationship with nature and a spiritual trust have all built my foundation as an artist.

I received my BFA from Syracuse University's School of Visual Art, where I learned creative discipline and confidence that I could be one day be successful doing what I love. THIS, and supportive parents were the key to the start of my professional life as an artist. After college I studied abroad in Europe through a post graduate semester at Parsons and found my passion of printed fabric and architecture. Both geometric, and organic forms and the repetition in both design disciplines have also shaped my style and visual presence. During my early 20s I lived and worked in NYC. My first graphic design position was at Kick Design where I learned what licensed character art "was". The impact of how the design process of licensed consumer goods was a field I would eternally be connected to. In the mid 90s I was hired by The Walt Disney Company in Los Angeles as a staff designer at Disney Consumer Products​. ​This to me was an artist's dream come true.​  ​
Learning about licensing, design in consumer markets from my mentors during this time of my life helped me build confidence in own art style and brought me to where I am today. My licensing agents, Paul and Marcy at Creatif have been wonderful helping me grow as an illustrator. My clients help me to grow professionally but also allow me to keep current in market trends and ​in​ technology.
​Most importantly, ​​my family teaches and supports me daily with creative balance and bless my life. This is an art of itself.

Do you work in just one medium? Several?​  ​
​On a daily basis I work in Adobe Illustrator and have a love affair with vector points for sure. That​ said, it is my natural joy to paint and draw in a mixed medium format with acrylics/dyes/pens brushes and textures in my sketch books. Creating art with others in either a one-on-one or workshop format “fills my cup! And gets the creative juices flowing”.

What inspires you / where do you get inspiration from?​ 
I find inspiration from my kids; their interests, their lifestyle markets in apparel, home goods, social media trends, music and actually their dreams and desires. I also have always found inspiration through color palettes in fashion and in nature, amazing visual artists, activists and yogis and of course our beautiful Texas Sky....

How did you start licensing your art?​ 
Throughout my career I have worked with entertainment licenses ie Disney etc, designing art for a license OR designing art-product for a licensee. I thought for many years, if flowers I create for Minnie Mouse can sell and be admired, "MY" Flowers for Cathy B. can sell too! Creatif, my agents and I found each other at a perfect time and the story moves on and up from there :)

What are you working on now?​
Currently I am freelancing for The Disney Stores and saving up my pennies to start a creative business with my daughter Melissa. We are so excited to create & sell "our art line" on t shirts and other products! Its WIP and very exciting!!!! I am also working on a line of baby prints in a watercolor style which is sort of new for me.

Any great advice for our readers?
My advice to any creative person, is DON'T GIVE UP! And to ​have an ​open mind to see and hear others in a creative process. I have learned there are MANY ways and many directions to take something and always areas to grow - a project, a career direction and a dream. Knowing or experiencing what you "don't like" is just as important as knowing what you LOVE.  Don't be scared ​professionally ​to share your art with others. Supporting other artists, trusting in creative collaboration is amazing! Respect, have gratitude and embrace the "art" of communication and connection with others, with your art and with your creative environment.

Anything else you would like to share with us?
I would love to ask the reader a question, What is your life purpose and what is your mission with your art? This is something I have been working on personally for the past few years and has been extremely important to me in my creative and professional journey. What I have come up with is this: AND I LOVE it. It have brought a deeper purpose into my art and my direction.

care. create. communicate 
This is my mission and my creative purpose.

Gosh, I'd love for you all to check out my website. In the new year, it will be updated with some really fun new and current projects​ as well as a link to "our store" My daughter and I are opening up a very special little business!  www.cathybdesign.com ​

Are you an early riser? or night owl? 
I am a total night owl and some of my best work comes from working all nighters and sometimes even last minute deadlines! (shhh!) :) ​Finding your groove with sleep patterns/creative process for sure helps​ with starting and or finishing a project! Now that took years to figure out.....

What is your favorite food?​  ​
Dark chocolate, my daughter's chocolate chip cookies, "The Fountain" veggie juice from Juice Land​ and yellow tail sushi.

You can find Cathy Braffet Richardson: 
www.cathybdesign.com ​

I also have a little word of mouth local"ish" side business creating personalized gifts​ ​that might be worth checking out: http://www.facebook.com/cathybdesign

Creatif Licensing: http://www.creatifusa.com/

Lastly, I want to thank Annie for connecting with me through linked in, this is such a powerful networking​ platform. Used correctly with a little elbow grease and communication skills, connecting with professionals here has been very successful. https://www.linkedin.com/in/cathybdesign

 

Make my day! and Buy me a cup of coffee (PayPal Link in right side bar, you don't need a PayPal acct.).

Don't want to miss the good stuff? Sign up for my newsletter ;-) Want to be spotlighted? email me: info@AnnGraphics.com

 

Artist Spotlight - Leslie Ann Clark

 

 

Tell us a bit about yourself: Did you go to school for art? Are you self-taught?  
I began drawing cartoons in college. I could not find a class to take so I worked with my professor and came up with an independent study. From there I ventured into the business on my own with some workshops and classes over the years. If I needed to learn something I figured out how to do it.

Do you work in just one medium? Several?
I begin traditionally with a pencil!  From my pencil sketch I go to ink. When I get my lines inked, I scan my drawing and bring it into Illustrator.  I select my image and hit “Image trace”.  It gives me a nice clean line. I save it and bring it into Photoshop to color it.  I LOVE color!  My style is evolving a bit with the introduction of my Cintiq.  It’s a wonderful tool that I recommend to anyone who works in Photoshop.

What inspires you / where do you get inspiration from?
Inspiration!  Gotta have it!  It comes from so many sources.  I have a wonderful licensing group that meets monthly.  Being around my artist friends is very inspiring.  I love looking at their art to see what they are up to.  I think meeting with others in the industry is important.  We help each other and encourage each other.

I also look for inspiration in magazines.  Color combinations inspire me. I am forever ripping out pictures and taping them into my sketchbooks. I spend some time in the library too.  I love children’s books! .. but I don’t rip up children’s book.  Haha!

How did you start licensing your art?
In the late 90’s I discovered an Illustrators group on Yahoo.  I met a lot of people who were making money with their art and many of them were going to NY.  I took a leap of faith and flew to NY for the National Stationary Show/Surtex Show.  I was like a kid in a candy store.  There was art everywhere!  I saw all the possibilities.  I had worked hard on my portfolio and brought it to the show.  I was completely OUT of my comfort zone as I lugged around that portfolio searching for art directors.  I landed in a greeting card booth behind a line of other artists who were sharing their work with an AD. When she got to me, she looked through my cards quickly and said, “Do you have anything else?”  I went to the back of my portfolio and pulled out an image of a baby.  She loved it!  She asked if I had anymore and could I email them to her.  Of course I said,  “YES!”
I drew babies all the way home on the airplane and had a nice selection ready in a few days. After that first trip, my road has taken twists and turns.  It’s quite a journey!  I am still learning!

What are you working on now?
At present I am working on some juvenile fabric designs for licensing and some work on my books.  I have written a series of five children’s books featuring Burl the bear and Briley the beaver. I am looking for a publisher now so I have to put on my marketing hat.  I am also looking for a literary agent.

My next book features a young boy named Jack who goes on an adventure in his imagination. Its great fun!  I can almost feel what Jack feels as I write his story. All of my stories show the children that all things are possible if you believe!

I am also expanding many of my lines.  My Chicz make me laugh out loud. They remind me of my friends.  Haha!

Any great advice for our readers?
The best advice when getting started is to make a place in your home to work. I started in a small corner of my living room… my art supplies began taking over so I was moved to a back bedroom, then the front living room… finally, my husband saw the need and built me my little studio in my backyard.  It’s getting smaller by the day!  My next dream is for a second story studio above a garage.
Both need to be built! … But then again, all things are POSSIBLE!

Once you get a handle on your workspace, you need to keep working! It is easy to get distracted in a home surrounding but if you get your space settled, it’s easier.

Anything else you would like to share with us?
I was able to write and illustrate two board books with Christian Art Gifts and two picture books with Harper Collins.  The little ones LOVE him. Peepsqueak had quite an introduction.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdllelLIRS4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juL0WQmK0O8

I have recently fallen in love with a new character. I call her Babe.  She is a wee little hedgehog who lives in a garden. She is part of my Milo the fox collection. I learned that in England the hedgehogs are loved and that some folks make little holes in their fences so they can get them to come into their yards.  I loved that idea! So little Babe was born.  Take a peek. http://leslieaclark.com/leslieaclark.com/Babe.html

Are you an early riser? or night owl?
People used to ask this question a lot.  My answer was always, YES!  I simply loved being AWAKE!  They say you get wiser as you get older… burning the candle at both ends quit working.  Now I am an official early bird!  I get up before the sun and go for a nice work out at the local Y, after that I am in the studio for the day.

What is your favorite food?
I would say chocolate… but then I love biscuits too… but since I was diagnosed with an extreme sensitivity to gluten my diet is radically different. I finally came up with a GF recipe for Pumpkin Cookies… with chocolate in them!  They are low in sugar and rich in all sorts of things good for you.  If you stay healthy, your brain can stay happy too and you can keep creating!

 

You can find Leslie
Feel free to visit me on my website!  You will find many more little characters awaiting your arrival!
leslieaclark.com

Make my day! and Buy me a cup of coffee (PayPal Link in right side bar, you don't need a PayPal acct.).

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Behind the Scenes of Shake a Tail Feather Collection - answering a few art licensing questions

Click images to view larger

Answering a few of your questions

 

Happy Friday Creative Souls!

One of the most popular emails I get from all of you is how do you create art for licensing. I have done a couple of posts so you can get a peek behind the scenes of how I do it. (links at the end of this post). Here we are taking a peek behind the scenes of my "Shake a Tail Feather" collection. Please realize, there is no one way to do this! There are as many ways as their are artists. I know artist who paint complete paintings and do not set up mock ups or patterns. They may pull icons out of the finished painting.  I personally like having a lot of icons (a single rooster is an 'icon') to create different image combinations with. So I will paint in steps, then scan in the art after each step. Example: Paint the rooster first, scan in the computer, paint the background, scan in the finished painting. Sometimes I just paint a background to use.

Another question is how much work do I need to have before I get into licensing?
Gosh, there isn't a magic number. You could be a stunning floral painter and only need just a couple of paintings that catches a manufacturer's eye. I lean towards having several images and/or collections. That to me says you are serious, have more than one image to sell/make money on. Everyone including you wants to make money from your art. I think I had around 12 art collections before I started approaching agents. I also set up an art licensing website. It was my personal comfort level.

Finishing touches in Photoshop

Do I worry about not having just one style?

No :-) I primarily work in watercolor and acrylic. They dry fast! Some say I have a couple of styles. Some say that they can tell that all of it is my work. I like the idea of being able to offer a manufacturer a wider variety of art for their products. 

Watercolor sample image

What programs do you use?

I am a Photoshop girl!, since I create my art by hand (not on the computer). I scan it in to the computer at high resolution, so that the image can be around 36 or more inches at 300 dpi. I may work in Illustrator down the road, right now I use Illustrator for logo design, some t-shirt design etc. depending on what my client needs. I use InDesign for magazine layout, newsletters and it works great for billboards etc.

Sprinkled through this post I am showing you some in progress photos of how I paint the "icons" first. Above, I lightened the dark brown background to get a different feel/color to the painting.
• Find more painting steps in this post here
• Find out about building a portfolio and what a collections means to me here
• More behind the scenes photos, Patriotic collection here

One of the Shake a Tail Feather portfolio pages.

Thank you all for your social media shares and emails. The art licensing community is fabulous! Looking forward to hearing your comments about how you create art and licensing experiences.

Artist Spotlight - Jill Meyer

Hello Annie, and thank you for including me in your Artist Spotlight.  I am honored and delighted to be included among the talented people who have come before me, and those who will come after. 

Tell us a bit about yourself: Did you go to school for art? Are you self taught?
As soon as I could hold a crayon, I began making art.  I remember sitting on the floor in Kindergarten and coloring in blissful contentment.  I wanted the coloring to go on forever.  I have always thought that the real basis for my making art is that I never seemed to be able to get enough drawing, coloring, cutting and pasting in Kindergarten! Several more years of cutting and pasting, and I earned five teaching credentials, a degree in art from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a Masters Degree in Education from the University of Southern California.

I later spent a number of years studying calligraphy.  My love for letters eventually led to many years of teaching calligraphy to adult students from beginning through advanced levels.  In an effort to put more color and art into my own lettering, I used watercolor painting, trompe l’oeil painting, paper sculpture, computer graphics, and many offshoots of these disciplines.  Rubberstamping was very new at the time, and it caught my interest. Then I did some more drawing, coloring, cutting and pasting and this time it led me to designing a line of about 300 card size rubber stamps that were produced and marketed in chain stores and stamp stores for many years.  None of these or my other art adventures would have been possible without the unwavering encouragement and support of my husband, Dave.  He truly is, and always has been, the wind beneath my wings.

Do you work in just one medium? Several?
I actually work in every medium that traffic will allow.  I bring it all together and try to make everything live happily in Photoshop.  I draw on any technique that I think will help move my work forward.  No holds barred.  If it works it stays, if not I often save it for use somewhere else.  A nice thing about art is that it has an indefinite shelf life, and can always be used in so many different ways.

What inspires you / where do you get inspiration from?
Going to a museum is always a way to drink in inspiration. But actually, almost anything can inspire me.  I can take a walk and notice something in nature, and get an idea for a piece of art.  I can look in store windows and see colors that I would like to try in combination.  I can be talking to someone about something unrelated, and for some reason an art idea will pop into my head. I usually dream my very best ideas!  When I am not thinking about art at all, I very often have a dream, which sends me down a new creative path.  I dream in vivid color.  Do you?

What are you working on now?
I have just finished a request to make 45 seamless, repeating patterns from designs I had previously made that did not repeat seamlessly.  It was a huge task, but an exhilarating learning experience for me.  I was never really intensely interested in doing seamless patterns before this challenge, but I found it fascinating, and fun, and I am eager to do more now.

I have lately also licensed and formatted 31 greeting cards, and sent them off for manufacture and sale, and I have recently finished a coloring book, with a little twist.  I realize that I am at the end of a long line of coloring book artists. However, sometimes, it’s fun to jump into the trend and see what happens.  So far, all three of these projects are getting enthusiastic support.

Anything else you would like to share with us?   What you are grateful for?
I am grateful for all of the diverse experiences that I have had doing art professionally, and there have been many.

My varied involvement with art, I think, was my best teacher.  One adventure would lead to the next, and what I had learned from the first enabled me to build for what followed.  All experience is a dear teacher, and nothing, even a negative experience, is wasted.  We learn and grow from everything we do, and we are a summation of it all.  I am grateful for all of the opportunities, which I have had, and I eagerly anticipate what is waiting for me right around the corner. I am just going to let the art lead me where it will.  It always seems to find a new, exciting, challenging and interesting direction. I’m sure I am in for more learning and growing.  I can hardly wait!

Are you working with an agent, doing it on your own?
I have two agents, and this is the norm for me rather than the exception.  When I started out in the Gift/Stationery market, I was with an agent who licensed only wall art.  I wanted to license more broadly, in as many categories as possible, so with this agent’s blessing, I acquired another agent for all categories but wall art.  I have since changed agents, but somehow I always have two.  It seems that one agent always wanted to concentrate on wall art, and I needed to have someone else rep me for product.  Recently, my wall art agent started to take on more interest in licensing product, so she became my solo agent…momentarily!  An agent in Israel wished to rep me, and since there is no conflict in territory, my U.S. agent blessed that business deal.  So, once again, I have two agents. Seems somehow to be in my stars!  I have been privileged in the last several years to work with some of the nicest, hardest working, most ethical, and trustworthy people, as my agents.  Together we are growing our business every year. I am grateful for my warm, congenial relationships with them, and I know exactly how fortunate and favored I am to partner with them.

Are you an early riser? or night owl?
I am both!  If I have a tight deadline, I can be up much of the night so that I can be sure everything is perfect before I send it to the manufacturer.  If I have not been up at night working, then I am usually up bright and early to see if there are any requests that require my attention.  Since I do business in different times zones from my own, I need to have as much lead time as possible in the morning to fulfill requests if necessary!

What is your favorite food?
Only one?  In the interest of good nutrition, I usually (often, mostly, sometimes) try to stick to healthy foods, however,…..

A girl has got to live a little!  So, when I (infrequently?) really want to go off the wagon, I will have a nice big yummy burrito and/or crispy taco with salsa, guacamole, and chips from Tito’s, my favorite place in Southern California for such treats.  The other splurge, although much less frequent, would be a huge ice cream/gelato waffle cone.  I’ll do as many as three scoops if I think no one is watching!  :-)

You can find Jill:

e-mail:  tootseepop@me.com
web site: www.jillmeyer.com
twitter:  https://twitter.com/tootseepopjill
Blog Post ALSC: http://artlicensingshow.com/jill-meyer/
ALSC Profile: http://artlicensingshow.com/members/jillmeyer/profile/

I REALLY appreciate all of you that help spread the word about my blog <3

Do you want to be spotlighted? Send me an email: info@AnnGraphics.com

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Artist Spotlight - Melissa Guion

Check out this author & illustrator's work! Melissa was selected for the 2012 Original Art Exhibition at the Society of Illustrators!

*Note: click on images to see them larger.

Tell us a bit about yourself: Did you go to school for Art? Are you self taught?
I'm mostly self-taught. I took a few classes as an adult: drawing classes, a watercolor painting class. I had studied photography a bit in college. It was a piecemeal art education. I always loved making things, though, and that's the important thing. When my first children's book was selected for the Original Art Exhibition at the Society of Illustrators, I concluded I must be doing fine!

What inspires you / where do you get inspiration from?
I often get ideas while playing with my daughter, who is seven, and from watching animals, which are probably my favorite thing to draw and paint. They make me wonder and they make me laugh.

Do you work in just one medium? Several?
For my children's book art, I usually work in pencil and watercolor or gouache. I sometimes ink my drawings with a nib pen or brush. I also make paper collages. I almost always work in traditional media, though I sometimes scan my work into Photoshop for touchups or minor adjustments.

What are you working on now?
I'm about to tour my second BABY PENGUINS book on the East and West coasts. And I'm beginning to sketch my third picture book, which will also have an animal protagonist. Possibly a hedgehog. Possibly...a shrimp.

Anything else you want to tell everyone?
My book work is self-generated, but I have done editorial work and I accept commissions, so collaboration and working to spec are not new to me. I've never looked into licensing my work but I'd be interested in trying it!

Are you an early riser? or night owl?
Night owl. Always and forever.

What is your favorite food?
A perfect peach or a fried dumpling.  Do I really have to choose?  OK, a peach.

You can find Melissa: 

melissaguion@me.com           www.melissaguion.com

www.facebook.com/BabyPenguinsEverywhere

represented by Steven Malk at Writers House, smalk@WritersHouse.com

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