SUMMER 2021
the journal LevinLand Media
Illustrators
FIT STUDENT WORK: An in-depth look
Front Cover Art : Matt Anderson
Publisher/Creative Director Lon Levin
The Illustrators Journal Summer 2021
Contributing Writer Leslie Cober-Gentry Contributing Writer Heather Leary Contributing Editor Jade Dressler "Be more concerned with your character than with your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are." — John Wooden
All the work depicted in this magazine is the property of the artists who created the work and cannot be used in any way without the expressed written permission of the publisher and artists.
FALSE IDOLS The Editor expresses his feelings about “Worshipping False Idols.” COREY BRICKLEY
Influenced by Spider Man and Calvin and Hobbs. Corey's work is comically fascinating and dramatic.
MARIO ZUCCA The brilliance of Mario's work is highlighted in this vibrant interview. KEVIN ATKINSON The creator of the brilliant "Complex World" series speaks candidly about his life and work. FIT TEACHER LESLIE COBER Leslie Cober takes us through an assignment for her students and the final art they created. HEATHER LEARY'S "SHOUT OUT" "Fighting the Fear of Failure" is Heather's personal account of starting a career in art and animation. WALDEN WONG The Comic Book master artist and storyteller reveals some of his secrets of success and his approach to art. DANA COLLINS An innovative artist/designer puts his own stamp on all of his projects.
Just My Opinion
false IDOLS by Lon Levin
false (fôls) adj.
Contrary to fact or truth
i·dol n.
One that is adored... often blindly or excessively More...
1. not in accordance with the truth or facts 2. irregular or invalid: a false start. 3. untruthful or lying: a false account. 4. not genuine, real, or natural; artificial; fake: false eyelashes. 5. being or intended to be misleading or deceptive: a false rumour. 6. disloyal or treacherous: a false friend. 7. based on mistaken or irrelevant ideas or facts:
For a moment step outside of yourself, the self that says How do I get my next gig? Is my work good enough?, Are my promos effective? Should I switch mediums? Was my dad really right. Should I give up art?
Now that you've gotten the context of what I want to say, doesn't the list above seem familiar? Haven't we... or rather aren't we living thru a time when every day all we hear are facts that are actually lies? Coming out of the mouths of bosses, officials, politicians, yes and even a former President of the United States.
What can you do to shed light on a subject matter you feel deeply about? Whether you execute it well or not your voice matters. It's your world, you have a say in it. Now I know there are plenty of artists online showing their wares and how they do it, but most is for show and aren't good for more than "Wow she sure can render a monster!" A unique piece of art that has something to say, that movs us in some way will stand out from the noise.
What are we to do? When I say we I mean artists, illustrators, designers, art directors, in fact all creative people. Our job is to inform through our talent. Paid or not.
Now is the time to contribute, let your voice be heard. Challenge yourself to do a creative piece in any medium and get it out there. If you're lucky someone will see it and BOOM! you've got a new gig!
B
Corey
BRICKLEY When did you first think about art as something you wanted to do? Were you encouraged or discouraged by family, friends, teachers, mentors?
than anything it gave me direction and focus and an entry point into the industry that I wouldn’t have had otherwise.
When I was a kid, I think as early as kindergarten, I had it in my head that I wanted to be either a comic book or comic strip artist. My parents and teachers, all the way up through middle school, were always very supportive of my interest, and I distinctly remember being equally fueled by both encouragement and criticism. I remember showing my parents a drawing and asking if it was as good as a real comic book artist’s, and having them diplomatically tell me that I was “getting there,” then stubbornly going off and doing more drawings and asking the same question. I think eventually to get me to stop they finally acquiesced and told me I was as good as a real comic book artist.
You’ve worked in a couple different genres with your clients. How did that evolve and was that an asset for you or a problem getting those clients?
What kind of kid were you? Where did you grow up? What were your influences? I was quiet and shy but very dedicated to my hobbies and interests, most of which were computer-related. I think from an early age I found that working hard on something to impress other people was a way I could engage with others while also circumnavigating the social anxiety I felt. I grew up in State College, PA, the hometown to Penn State University. It’s an interesting blend of liberal academia, rural countryside and college partying. When I was a kid I was mostly influenced by comics, largely Spiderman and Calvin and Hobbes. How has the background you got at the University of Arts played a part in your career? Before UArts I went to Penn State for film studies, so I was coming into the program with a head full of knowledge of avant-garde cinema, but essentially no knowledge of the world of illustration. UArts helped a lot in filling in my education and gave me a ton of incredible mentors and peers I’m friends with to this day (Also now co-workers as I’m starting my second-year teaching there). I think more
For the first few years I just put myself out there a ton and didn’t say no to anything. Over time I’ve developed a moody/eerie vibe, but I’ve also done a few more light-hearted/whimsical pieces I’ve enjoyed. I’m not sure why I was picked for those jobs given my portfolio but I’m happy to do them! How do you stay up to date on styles/process outside of your projects? What do you recommend to younger artists who are just developing their portfolios?
Personally I just kind of pursue whatever techniques/skills are of particular interest to me, either with a personal project or by shoehorning it into
client work. Twitter and Instagram are a huge wealth of inspiration that will inevitably lead to you trying new things. For me personally, I’m glad I really buckled down and learned the ins and outs of figure drawing and portraits about two years into being a freelancer—I think that’s improved my work greatly.
Who if anyone influences your work?
You do so many different types of art and design. What is your favorite area to work in?
I’m curious about how you choose what to work on. Is there a certain type of project or client you gravitate towards?
Lately in my personal work I’ve been very into doing spooky rustic scenes as well as more fantasy-oriented artwork. I think any project where I’m painting a pretty person in a moody environment is my sweet spot. Can you explain what the experience of working on animation projects is all about for you? It’s very time consuming! I enjoy doing the work but it requires a lot of effort and detail. Mostly I’ve been hired to do motion illustrations where there’s a bit of parallax motion and some small animated element. I start by painting everything in Photoshop and then bringing into After Effects to make it look “3 Dimensional." Your fantasy artwork is great. Love the “Kid Standing In Front Of A Building” piece. You used a lot of red in that piece. Using high intensity colors is something you do a lot of. Is that intentional or just your personal palette?
Thank you! After awhile I think I’ve realized that I just use red, blue and yellow in every piece. Sometimes the “red” is more pink, sometimes the “blue” skews more green and sometimes the “yellow” is pale or orange, but overall I tend to just do those 3 colors/piece, I guess because it lends itself to a lot of popping contrasts. What’s going on in your head when you work on a piece/campaign? Your fears, anticipation, confidence, etc. How do you know something is finished? I think there’s a point in every piece where I start worrying that I’ve gotten worse as an artist. Usually by the end of it when things have been fixed and changed I’ve calmed down, but often as I work I start to wonder if I’m capable of making good art. With client work, usually the piece is “finished” because I’ve hit a deadline, but with personal work (especially the more elaborate it is) I can spend a good week just tweaking and obsessing over details.
I think most directly I’ve glommed onto J.C. Leyendecker and the Stenberg brothers as primary influences. I’m also a huge fan of Rebecca Mock, Sachin Teng and Tomer Hanuka and TRY to be influenced by them, but I don’t know how much it’s rubbed off.
Lately I’ve been very lucky that my agents at Debut Art have gotten me a number of YA book covers and I’m really hoping that trend continues, as they’ve easily been my favorite projects of the past year. They perfectly combine my love of portraits/figure drawing and moody vibes. What do you do to promote yourself and get work? These days Debut Art finds everything for me! They’ve been wonderful to work with and I owe most of my career/work to them. When I was starting out, I mostly did cold-emails to art directors I found through Agency Access, as well as more personalized e-mails to a select few dream clients. What’s the future hold for you? Any ultimate goal? I’d love to carve out some time to do more personal work and explore a few ideas I’ve had kicking around, but for now I’m (very fortunately) busy with client work. I’m always open for more book covers! If you could meet anyone in the field you’re in who would it be and why? I would love to ask Tomer Hanuka how he goes about stylizing figures or Kilian Eng how he comes up with concepts and compositions, but I have a feeling the answer would be “a lifetime of hard work and practice.”
"I really buckled down
and learned the ins and outs of figure drawing and portraits about 2 years into being a freelancer—I think that’s improved my work greatly."
mario ZUCCA An Interview with Lon Levin
Mario is an award-winning Illustrator. He’s spent the better part of the last two decades drawing and creating artwork out of his home studio in Philadelphia.
When did you first think about what you wanted to do as an adult? Were you encouraged or discouraged by family, friends, teachers, mentors? Probably my first exposure to illustration as a career was when I started reading comic books in grade school. I loved the art of Erik Larsen, Jim Lee, and Todd McFarlane and wanted to draw comics like those guys. My parents recognized early on that I had an aptitude for drawing, so they heavily encouraged me to pursue art, and I'll always be indebted to them for pushing me toward a career in art and not away from it.
What kind of kid were you? Where did you grow up? What were your influences? I grew up in a small town in Western Pennsylvania and had a pretty typical upbringing. Overall I like to think I was a pretty well-behaved kid. I spent so much time in my bedroom drawing comics that it mostly prevented me from going out and causing trouble. It wasn't until high school when my friends and I started getting our drivers licenses that I started to become a little more adventurous and rebellious. Comic books were a big influence and although I was never a great athlete, I started to discover my love of sports around middle school.
Tell us how your background played a part in your choosing to be an artist?
What’s your assignment?
Growing up in a small, insular town, there's not a lot for a teenage kid to do. I think that lack of stimulation actually helped foster creativity, because my friends and I were constantly having to come up with ways to entertain ourselves. Also, I'm the product of two Italian immigrants who came to the US with very little money, built a life, and started their own business– a tailor shop that my mom still runs today. I've never met two harder working people, and I think on some level I've emulated them in my career choices– I work with my hands, I'm self-employed, and I like to think I picked up some of their work ethic.
It totally depends on the assignment. Most often, I start by sketching digitally, which I started doing because I find it to be much faster and looser, and it allows me to quickly move, edit, scale, and skew things. Depending on the assignment I'll either transfer the sketch to bristol board– where I'll hand ink it and eventually bring it into Photoshop for color, touch-upand refining – or I'll just ink and color it all digitally. Again, it depends entirely on the piece and the intended final product needed to change it again. Its only recently that I’ve felt more comfortable with drawing things in a way that feels more instinctive to me and concentrate.
You’re partly known for your very intricate artwork like the map art for cities. Do you use traditional tools or digital or both?
How did your style evolved?
It's a combination of traditional and digital media. I wouldn't say I necessarily prefer one over the other, but the last several years I've been moving toward a more digital-heavy approach, mostly just for speed and convenience-sake.
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My style has evolved pretty drastically from when I first started out in 2003. I left undergrad with a portfolio comprised entirely of concept-heavy Op-Edstyle scratchboard illustrations. Aside from the obvious shift in technique and medium, it took me several more years to realize I was trying to be an illustrator I wasn't and that conceptual illustration just wasn't my thing.
And it wasn't until a few years ago that I discovered my love of map-making. So it's been a constant process of trial & error and discovery over the last almost 20 years. Did you go to art school? How did that affect your art? Did you feel artists need to go to school to validate themselves as an artist? My undergrad degree was in Graphic Design, and I think it definitely affected my artistic development. For example, it fueled my interest in typography, and I already mentioned my early propensity toward conceptual imagemaking, which was a direct result of my school's very concept-heavy approach to design and illustration. I don't think an artist necessarily needs to go to art school to realize their potential, however I do believe there are many young artists who can benefit greatly from the guidance, feedback, and structure that art school provides.
Do you use social media and are you into it?? I do use social media, although I've been gravitating away from it in recent years. The platforms I still post on somewhat regularly are Instagram, Behance, and Dribble. Can any artist thrive if they are not on social media? That's a really interesting question. Given more people are aware of the evils of social media, I'd like to think fewer art directors are sourcing artists exclusively through social media platforms. So I'd like to say yes.
What do or did you do to promote yourself?
I used to do a lot of direct mail marketing, postcards mostly, but it's been a few years since I've gone that route. These days I mostly just try to maintain a robust online presence by keeping my portfolio site updated and posting frequently on the aforementioned platforms, and I send out the occasional cold emails if there's a particular client or licensing opportunity I'm interested in. What exciting projects are you working on now? Unfortunately, I can't give client info for the two biggest projects currently on my desk. All I can say is that one is a series of illustrations for a tech company and the other is a map for a running shoe company. I also just designed some graphics for a local microbrewery that I'm really excited about because I've been wanting to get into that market for a long time.
"I don't think an artist necessarily needs to go to art school to realize their potential, however I do believe there are many young artists who can benefit greatly from the guidance, feedback, and structure that art school provides."
atkinson KEVIN by Lon Levin
What kind of kid were you? Where did you grow up? What were your influences?
As a kid I did not have too many typical interests, especially sports, which I thought was very boring. I grew up in Texas, initially in a very suburban kind of place. My friends were mostly of the outsider stripe, like myself. When I was 13, my family moved to a very small, rural type of town. Really deep in the middle of nowhere. So I spent even more time than before, immersing myself in comics and art and drawing. I also got very into music, specifically stuff like the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. My early childhood influences were 60's television like Batman and Dark Shadows. Also comics, Marvel, DC, Gold Key Horror and TV adaptions. Disney animated films, Harryhausen. Lots of stuff. By age 12 I had discovered Golden Age comics, EC comics, R. Crumb and the Undergrounds. Also the golden age of newspaper comics with Alex Raymond, Windsor McCay, Caniff and all those legendary cartoonists. Painters like Van Gogh and Rembrandt. By my mid teens I discovered Heavy Metal and the Europeans. When did you first think about art as something you wanted to do? Were you encouraged or discouraged by family, friends, teachers, mentors? I wanted to be a cartoonist since I was four, in 1965. I used to copy the funny papers. Charlie Brown, Dennis the Menace and Popeye, etc. My dad noticed me doing this and encouraged it. He told me it was a job people had and comics became the one I wanted, never was interested in another career path. I was a little bit of a child art prodigy, took art lessons from age six and began winning prizes in local art shows. My teacher in first grade hung up a big piece of butcher paper and had me draw cartoons all over it while everybody else had to read or something, so that was a nice piece of early recognition.
Your style is very classic yet contemporary. Did you work on developing a style or is that what naturally came out of you? The way I work now is what I've seen referred to as automatic drawing/writing. I'm not really consciously influenced by anything as I'm working, although I think I the results come from my influences and life experience. I'm kind of a late bloomer. My style didn't really emerge until I was 28, and out of art school. When I have time and want to look at comic art, I usually go to the masters. Eisner, Kubert, Wrightson, Crumb, Moebius and many others. When I started getting my work published 30 years ago, I was also very interested in a few contemporary artists that were around, Mike Allred, Chester Brown, Charles Burns, and Dan Clowes. I'm also influenced by art forms outside of comics, like music and film. I sometimes play a lot of music while I'm drawing, Lou Reed, R.E.M...Blues and Beatles. In film.I'm particularly attracted to David Lynch.
"Cartooning was an arduous climb up the ladder. Several rungs were missing."
How did you evolve as a comic artist? What steps did you take to become a comic book artist? I always wanted to be a comic artist of some sort from age four up. But I just sort of generally drew cartoons until I was 12, when the Marvel/DC superhero bug really hit me.Then I started actually drawing strips. I wasn't really interested in drawing other people's characters at that point, though. My friend David Price and I created our own superhero universe and that kept me going for a few years. By the time I graduated high school I still had the thought in my head of being a comic artist but I didn't really know how to get there, being in TX. Comics genius Joe Kubert had started his school in New Jersey, and I knew about it, but I didn't have the nerve to go there. So I went to a regular commercial art school to get a conventional education. Comics, being a somewhat unlikely occupation, I wanted something to fall back on. I was a terribly mediocre student, though, and wasn't very interested in most of the classes, graphic design for the advertising industry being the main focus. I just wanted to draw and didn't fit in terribly well at the school. I did well enough to get jobs once I got out, but just felt like I wasn't going anywhere near what I wanted, which was a job in the comic book industry. When I was 24 I finally signed up for Joe Kubert's school and that was a really great move. Like paradise, compared to what I was used to. Drawing comics all day into the night.
Do you work traditionally or digitally? Or both? I pencil, ink, and letter my comics traditionally. I color them digitally. I've recently acquired most of the hardware and software to do it all digitally and will soon be experimenting with that. I checked out Complex World and it looks great. Love the dialogue…What’s the story behind it and is this a personal project that’s coming out soon? Complex World evolved out of the comics I did after graduating from the Kubert School in 1988. I had spent three years at the school hoping to attain work in the comic book industry and so I figured it would be best to concentrate on samples for the two major publishers who also happened to be local, Marvel and DC. I spent the summer after school let out drawing comic book pages with their characters. I showed them to Joe Kubert, and he wasn't very encouraging. He felt like I was knocking my brains out trying to be like everybody else and I suggested I try and do something more original. He thought I had more potential than to be just another superhero artist. He was right, my samples of that summer were pretty generic.Truth be told, my interest had waned in Marvel/DC product at that point. The comic book field had greatly expanded in
the late 80's and there were lots of publishers putting out all kinds of diverse books. I had enough general commercial art experience I didn't really need to try and make a living off comics so I decided to strike out on my own and pitch my work to other publishers. I got immediate acceptance from places like Ripp Off Press and Kitchen Sink Press, who were legendary in those days. It was almost beyond belief to get published and checks from those companies. The work that emerged after my discussion with Joe was unlike anything I had done before. An entirely different style, raw, immediate, darkly comedic. Many of the pages were done very quickly. I wanted my comics
to be more like the music I listened to. Expressive, emotional, directly related more to my own inner life than adhering to any company's house style. I was very influenced by artists like Crumb in that regard. My first book length work followed the exploits of a damaged character named Caleb Steel and was called Eaters, with a series title of Snarl. It was a very turbulent, time for me and the title reflected that. Snarl was a reasonable success for it's publisher, Caliber Press and I proceeded with my next graphic novel length work, Planet 29. I went into my own psyche even deeper for that piece, and ultimately followed a lighter, less personal direction for the comics that followed, a collaboration called Rogue Satellite Comics with a writer, the late Chris Reilly. The book went on for a number of issues and combined Chris' universe of characters with my own. At Rogue Satellite Comic's conclusion I decided to diversify my portfolio, and illustrated for Eureka Publication's Graphic Classics series of books. There I had the rewarding experience of interpreting, Poe, Mark Twain, H.G. Wells, Lovecraft and others. During that time I also had my singular experience with corporate owned superhero comics, working for several years on New England Comics Tick line of books. Which brings me to Complex World... I think it was 9 summers ago, 2010, for the first time in more than 20 years nobody was asking me to do anything, no gigs lined up. I began to think about what another comic, entirely written and drawn by me would be like. What came forth was Eaten by Planet 29, it's title a consolidation of two earlier story titles, Eaters and Planet 29. At first, it was just my own characters, but soon collaborative characters with Chris Reilly found their way in. After four books in the series, I changed the title to Complex World, from a spin off series I had done with Chris Reilly who had recently passed away. Complex World is currently where all my creative energy goes. I've mostly dropped out of gigs Many of the people I've worked with in the comics field have died, gone out of business or both. I don't know where Complex World and Eaten by Planet 29 will end up, with a publisher or doing it myself. I'm hitting 59 years in age and have had a few health bumps, five eye surgeries in three years. Right now I'm trying to keep my hand in, and tackle publishing later. One of the last things Chris Reilly did for me before he died was turn me on to the work of Fletcher Hanks. Hanks was a comic book artist/writer who produced very amazing work for about 3 years in the late 30s. No one noticed at the time but decades later people discovered him and his work is now widely read. I find Hank's career path inspirational and making all my original work available online for free. If I never muster the energy to publish, hopefully the work will be around long after I've stopped doing it.
What’s going on in your head when you work on a project like Complex? Your fears, anticipation, confidence , etc. How do you know if it’s working?
servicing the writing. A few years later I was lucky to hook up with Chris Reilly who was an immensely talented writer and even more aesthetically askew than I was.
I have a very simple philosophy in Complex World. I want every page to be as amazing as I can make it. Life is short and I don't want to spend time drawing anything boring. I often start with a visual idea and leave space for word balloons which aren't written, or maybe half written in my head. I think this would be called the Stan Lee style of comic book writing. There is no script, no preliminary sketches. Doing comics has become much more interesting for me if there's little or no pre-planning. Just sitting down and letting it flow. It often seems as though it's coming from somewhere else, and I'm just a receptor for it. It's always very exciting for me to start new pages as I often don't know exactly what's going to happen and I literally can't wait to find out. I set the series up like a soap opera and I hope it continues far into the future. Many of the plot threads and characters have been running for over 30 years now. The characters appear out of nowhere, but it's rare for them to arrive. Many of the characters I'm now using came about 14 years ago, in a period of about two weeks. My mother was dying and I was very distressed but I wanted to keep drawing, so every day I would do one drawing of a character that didn't exist before. Among others, my characters Devil Damsel and Mr. Mirth sprang from that, and it's that random element that keeps me entertained and interested in producing comics. I feel like the comics are working when it comes forth naturally when I was in "The Zone" and there was little sweat or effort in creating it, just having the energy to get it down. These days I find the Zone much harder to achieve with commissioned work.
Who if anyone influences your work?
What made you focus on this style of comic book art? When I was in the Kubert School I was just desperate to get into comics and be the next inker of Iron Man, or whatever. The classes were diverse and you had to please a lot of people. I had a great teacher named Dennis Corrigan for the humor class and he emphasized cartoonists like Kliban and a wide range of stuff. I was really able to hone in on a humor sensibility there. Then at the end of the courses it was helpful to have Joe tell me I was trying too hard to be a dime a dozen superhero artist. He told me I had the potential of a Walt Kelly, (Pogo creator) and not really having the chops for that sort of rigorously muscular art, I thought it was smarter to go with that. I needed stories to draw and I was going to have to write them myself. I'd always watched things like Saturday Night Live and read Heavy Metal and Underground comics so humor seemed to be a through line to whatever I was doing. The art style evolved out
I once met Will Eisner and he asked me who influenced my work and I told him he did, and R. Crumb. He was surprised by that as he thought the two artists were diametrically opposed. I don't really think so. They both have a certain comic fluidity and mastery of black and white ink work that I'm attracted to. I also greatly admire the film work of David Lynch, and his ability to create arresting visual images combined with thematically challenging and mysterious concepts. I also get a lot from the music I play as I work, such as the narrative story telling and poetry of artists like Lou Reed, Dylan and the Blues. I’m curious about how you choose what to work on. Is there a certain type of project or client you gravitate towards? Currently I'm semi-retired from commercial work. If I need to make money I will try and draw anything the client asks, period. What do you do to promote yourself and get work? I have several Tumblr Blogs full of my comics and good old Facebook. What’s the future hold for you? Any ultimate goal? I hope to stay healthy and keep drawing. If you could meet anyone in the field you’re in who would it be and why? I've met some of the greatest in my field already. Kubert, Eisner, Crumb, Wrightson, Kurtzmanand Gil Kane. David Lynch is film maker but he also paints and draws so I'll say him. I also would've liked to have met Aubrey Beardsly and Edward Gory.
A STUDENT REVIEW
with FIT Teacher
Leslie
COBER students were asked to create 30 initial thumbnail ideas of the four words, later revising the sketch ideas over a two week time period, under my guidance. The students then chose one word, revising the word into several sketch ideas after each bi-weekly classroom artwork critique. The chosen sketch idea would then be completed in any medium, on an 8.5 x 11 vertical full color illustration.
Illustrating the Written Word: Student assignment by Leslie Cober. As an illustration professor at the Fashion Institute of Technology, NYC, I am regularly looking to link my illustration students to real world professional assignments. I am a frequent consulting/writing contributor to the Illustrator’s Journal Magazine, I conveyed a collaboration idea to Publisher Lon Levin. Lon is always open to ideas, and I hoped that The Illustrator’s Journal and my current FIT class “Illustrating The Written Word” (that is filled with junior year illustration majors) could be a perfect display for the talented student’s illustration assignment, and a perfect opportunity for the Illustrator’s Journal to support young, up and coming illustrators of the future. Lon quickly agreed to the creative collaboration of printing at least one student’s illustration work.
Lon presented the Illustrator’s Journal background to the class on a virtual call, presenting his agreement to collaborate with the students by giving them a showcase for their completed illustration artwork. Four weeks later, Lon again joined the virtual classroom, where he watched and contributed to their final critique of this assignment. The results are a wonderful collaboration between upand-coming illustrators of the future and the publisher of “The Illustrator’s Journal.” Thank you, Lon Levin, for your generosity in presenting the Student Issue.
As their professor, I presented the FIT students with four words: Fixation, Compulsion, Rage, Desire. The
- Leslie Cober 17
Abena M. Nkrumah Illustrated Word: Compulsion Piece Description: My piece explores the word “compulsion” in regards to the drive for perfection many artists can have. Personally, I feel the need to draw and erase and fume over a piece until it’s perfect, often to the detriment of my personal well-being. The work looks good but my mental and physical health can suffer greatly. For this piece, I looked more to performative arts, ballet in particular, and how grueling the practice can be to produce a graceful and beautiful performance. I was inspired by the 2010 thriller/drama film, “Black Swan,” which focused on a talented ballet dancer whose drive ambition pushes her to unhealthy and dangerous limits. The idea of a dancer pushed and pulled to perfection, beautiful but painful to look at, is what came to mind when thinking of compulsion. Each frame shows a dancer strung up like a puppet, blood pouring from where the strings attach to her body, but when she dances it flows gracefully with her movements. As the sequence progresses, she slowly begins to break free of her bonds and in the end, her free arm hangs limp at her side, the compulsion losing its hold on her.
Artist Statement: Ever since I was a kid, drawing and painting were my way of understanding the world around me and trying to be understood. As I grew I would use art to explore mental and emotional concepts like dreams, anxiety, ADHD and stream of consciousness. I like to use art therapeutically and think of it as a way to filter my thoughts when my mind gets too crowded. Acrylic and gouache have been my medium of choice but digital art has also become a favorite of mine. My style is very whimsical and kind of childish. I want to build up my skills so I can dabble in a wide variety of illustrative fields like children’s books, editorials, animation, etc. Whatever the medium or format, I want my art to tell stories that others can relate and connect to.
Nathalia Rivera Illustrated Word: Desire Artist Statement: I wished to depict the pain desiring someone/something can cause us while perusing it, I decided to paint a woman burnt by the sun she so dearly holds.
Cynthia Gaviria Illustrated Word: Desire Artist Statement: There is no desire greater than the desire to be one’s true self.
"The students then chose one word, revising the word into several sketch ideas after each bi-weekly classroom critique." Jessica Sheehan Illustrated Word: Fixation Artist Statement: My piece’s theme is “fixation,” and the medium I used were gouache and Procreate. I tried to recreate the feeling of being fixated on by prying eyes. Personifying different emotions and experiences is something I really like to do with my art. Characterizing those things makes them both simpler and more complex since people can be easy to get along with but difficult to understand.
"I presented the FIT students with four words: Fixation, Compulsion, Rage, Desire."
Julianna Lee-Cassara Illustrated Word: Fixation Artist Statement: For this work, I chose to focus on the word “fixation.” While recent advancements in technology have provided further safety and security for our communities, the desire for increased surveillance has leaked into all facets of American society, including the family home. New online apps can now track exactly when a family member arrives home. Concerned parents can now check that their children are safe at school or a friend’s house with the click of a button. However, the ability for parents to constantly monitor their children’s lives can feed a helicopter parent’s paranoia and allow them to fixate on their children at any time. In this new digital era, safety and security is a priority, but very little goes unseen, and the watchful eye of others can often feel inescapable.
"The results are a wonderful
collaboration between up-andcoming illustrators of the f uture and the publisher of
“The Illustrator’s Journal." Yarlen Paulino Illustrated Word: Fixation Artist Statement: As a collector myself, I wanted to make a piece about someone’s collection. I think the word fixation has some negative connotations to it so I thought I’d portray something fun and light hearted like a girls clown collection
"The chosen sketch idea would
then be completed in any medium, on an 8.5” x 11” vertical full color illustration."
Matt Anderson
Obi Agwam
Illustrated Word: Compulsion
Illustrated Word: Desire
Artist Statement: Growing up, I loved to make my own drawings about the ideas I had in my head. Whether it was grand cruise ships, gross monsters, or goofy cartoons; I wanted to draw it all, and I still do. I wish to inspire and entertain with the environments and characters I create. And I hope to explore many different narratives, through many different mediums, with all sorts of varying subjects. Like I said, I want to draw allllll of it.
Artist Statement: A piece reflecting on the word compulsion, specifically the compulsion to lie. The artwork features a man with many faces, all displaying different emotions. These many faces derive from the term "two faced", a phrase said by many in response to those who lie.
Thought process with this piece: I chose to illustrate the word compulsion through one of the most obvious compulsive behaviours we humans of the 21st century can all relate to; screens. I wanted to take a nuclear, end of the world looking approach as well as the monotone, hazardous waste looking palette. The commentary in this work is pretty grim on the direction our society is heading. We’re always going on our phones, so what happens when we can no longer get out of them? Cyberspace is eternal, serving as a prison long after we’ve organically lived
I want to thank the students and Leslie for allowing me to be part of their assignment and for sharing their thoughts and work with you the reader. In addition I want to mention that the cover of this issue was done by one of Leslie's students, Matt Anderson. There was other student art that was as deserving as Matt's piece but the timing and the execution of the imagery seemed to resonate with us the most. I hope you enjoy this work as I did reviewing it. And I wish all of the students a career of achievement and joy. - Lon Levin/Publisher
Danny D'Arcy
Joseph Rivera
Illustrated Word: Desire
Illustrated Word: Desire
Artist Statement:
Artist Statement:
The word I chose was ‘desire’, and for me it meant a desire to feel normal. I have chronic illnesses, POTS and Fibromyalgia, which often cause me to be unable to feel my hands and feet, or feel like all is static, which I’ve represented as literal static, isolated in my own world. My piece is mixed media, done with acrylic paint and digital painting.
I created my illustration representing “Desire” I used the pastel colors of purple,lavender and a hot pink to represent the feeling of being desired.
"The results of this collaboration are a wonderful collaboration between up-and-coming illustrators of the future and the publisher of “The Illustrator’s Journal.” - Leslie Cober
HEATHER LEARY 'S
SHOUT
OUT
Fighting the Fear of Failure Like others there have been a lot of changes in my life due to Covid, the biggest change in my life was moving home after living in Los Angeles for 6 years. I felt I failed due to not being able to get a studio job before moving back home. My drive to work on my art was gone and I just did not know where to start.
"I was beginning to feel like I would never get past my fears of failure." The one thing I thought of to help push me to work was rearranging my room, to have my equipment placed in an area that felt a little more like an office space rather than an entire bedroom. It took a few times before I found an area that really worked for me.
With my room rearranged and more organized, I felt that the best next step was to watch webinars and take art classes to inspire me and learn some new skills along the way. I started scheduling for days to get out of the house and go for walks to clear my head. I found that doing this helped me to relieve some of the pressure I felt. I still struggled to improve my portfolio. The frustration was overwhelming, and I was beginning to feel like I would never get past my fears of failure. I expressed this to my mom, looking for a new perspective on the matter. She looked at me and said, “You just have to start! Even if your artwork is not perfect, put it on your portfolio so when you have what you need you already have your portfolio design planned out.” I took her advice to heart and did just that.
"If I had let my nerves get to me it would only have hindered my chances of finding work."
My mom spent the weekend with me, helping me to stay on task and giving me her thoughts on how I was arranging my portfolio. I accomplished so much that I finally felt the fear of failure dissipate. Since then, I have been on top of my tasks, sure there may be a bad day here or there, but at least I know to get it done you just have to start despite it not being perfect. The most important thing I learned through this journey is that it does not matter how fast you accomplish things; you need to enjoy the journey so not only will your art grow, but yourself as well. Fight the fear of failure! Heather is a regular contributor to The Illustrators Journal and has worked with the editor on various projects. You can find Heather's work at https://www.artstation.com/ heatheraaleary and her animation at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JnQqdDwUGk
CONTACT: Levinlandstudio@gmail.com 818.268.9953
Walden WONG An Interview with Lon Levin
When did you first think about art as something you wanted to do? Were you encouraged or discouraged by family, friends, teachers, mentors?
What kind of kid were you? Where did you grow up? What were your influences?
I didn't start seriously thinking about what I wanted to do as an adult until I started attending San Francisco State University. I've always wanted to be some kind of an artist, but not sure what. So I've entered the school thinking I can go into Business Marketing and Engineering then Business Marketing where I can do package designs. Both those fields had something to do with drawing and that was what I enjoyed doing as a child. It wasn't until I graduated and started seeing work in those fields that I wanted something that was closer to what I love, which was comic books and creating them. Growing up as a child and wanting to be an artist, I was always discouraged. Comments such as "it's hard to become a professional artist" and "You want to be a starving artist?" would always be spoken to me. But I loved drawing and I still decided to give it a try.
Borned, raised and still residing in San Francisco, I was always the quiet kid that would be sitting in the back of the classroom drawing. Just keeping to myself and I would just draw almost every day. When into my college years, I was still doodling and drawing in the margins of my notebook. I would constantly get into trouble for not paying attention and constantly drawing. As a kid, I learned about classic artists such as Van Gogh, Monet, Pacasso, Rembrandt and Dali. It wasn't until I started wanting to become a professional comic book artist that I would study some of the current comic book artists a couple of years before the Image Comics boom. That's when I was studying the process of how comic art was created, how lines were drawn and the dynamics of comic book art.
Tell us how your background played a part in your choosing to be a comic book artist? I've been an artist for as long as I can remember. In fact, I still remember when my kindergarten teacher had me bring my parents to a conference and the teacher said all I did was draw in class, and not really pay any attention. It was pretty much like that my whole life, in my own little world, just drawing whatever came to my
You’re known for your inking ability. Do you use traditional tools or digital or both? Which do you prefer? I do both drawing and inking with traditional tools as well as digital. Both methods are fun for me and I can do both well. Depending on the project I work on these days, that's when I decide if I'll go traditional or digital. For example, if there's a foreseeable collectibility of the completed art, I would create that art traditionally. So when done, there is a tangible piece of original art that people can collect. If the art is something that's not as popular and I don't think people would collect it, then I'll proceed with creating it digitally. There are also times where I would mesh both traditional and digital art on a piece of art work that I created. There are many ways I would proceed creating art and I'm not stuck with one way. Both are good for me. What’s your process?
mind and escaping reality. It wasn't until High School where I was asked by the school to draw posters for school plays and fashion mind. Moving onto college, I was always the designated student to draw the class projects. And when I was working part time as a bank teller while going to college, I was recruited by district managers to draw posters for the banks. That's when I thought maybe I can become a professional artist and do this for a living.
If speaking about the process of inking alone, I would usually ink faces, hands, background and then the figure. All in that order. I feel if I make mistakes with faces, I could easily start over. If I worked on everything and did the faces last and constantly mess up, It would be hard to scrap the whole page and start all over because of the time spent on everything else. Have you come up with your own idea for a character. Is that something you’d like to do? I do have ideas of my own characters from when I was a child growing up. But I've never made those characters into publications. For the most part, all of what I work on are characters that are created by publishers such as Marvel Comics, DC Comics and so fourth. (continued)
"I do think that if students go to school for
art, they will learn faster and can become a professional artist sooner. " I get to play in their sand box and it's always fun. That's not to say that I would never bring out my own characters one day. That's always in the back of my mind. But I still enjoyed what I'm doing today. Did you go to Art School? How did that affect your art? Did you feel artists need to go to school to validate themselves as an artist? I never went to art school. I did, however, take two drawing classes and two painting classes in high school. Everything else is self taught and having the urge to learn anything art on my own. I believe if I started the path of wanting to become a professional artist soon, that I would have been able to become one sooner. As opposed to figuring out if I want to do that kind of work or this kind of work. I do think that if students go to school for art, they will learn faster and can become a professional artist sooner. The more anyone can absorb, the faster they can learn. I'm self taught and the majority of what I learned is myself seeking what's out there to learn. Not knowing what I can learn or if it's even something to learn about. Attending an art school, everything is presented to students on a silver platter. They will learn much quicker and more targeted. Explain your experience on your social media and why you’re into it? I like social media. This may be because I went to SFSU and obtained a degree in Business Marketing. Being an artist and not being able to market yourself, one will never be known. For example, an artist can create an amazing piece of art, but if nobody knows you exist, you're still that kid in the back of the classroom doodling on the margins of your notebook. The more an artist can show what they create on social media, the more eyes will be able to see what you create. Social media can also be a full time job as well as being a professional artist. But if you manage them well, it will work with any artist. Can any artist thrive if they are not on social media? Yes, I believe any artist can thrive without social media. In fact, when I became a professional comic book artist, there was no such thing as Facebook, or Twitter or Instagram. It was just myself, a telephone, conventions, and the postal system. All I did was send submission packets out, attend comic book conventions, call publishers and show them my work. If there's a will, there's always a way. Having social media today, it just makes things so much quicker and faster. No need to snail mail packets to publishers and no need to wait for the next convention to show your work. Just post something on social media, and at a click of a button, it's out there for the whole work to see within seconds.
Sometimes I depend on my wife, Aleithia, to convince me that all is well and to hit the send button that my index finger has been hovering over for 15 minutes. So, there is fear before I begin, and after I am finished, but while I am working, it’s pure contentment. What made you focus on children’s books? Who if anyone influences your work? After I completed the digital art class in 2008, I still was focused on doing some kind of comic strip. I knew my digital skills were not up to par yet, so I set up a goal for myself. I’d illustrate three digital pictures a day for an entire year. I figured by the end of a year, I would have 1000 illustrations complete and hopefully a better skill set. So after a year, I posted some of my best work in an online illustrator group. One of the members, John Blackford, saw my characters and emailed me. He said that he knew a publisher that was on the lookout for someone with my style. And would I be interested in doing children’s books. Well I hadn’t really thought about it, but thinking back on those 25 years of rejections from the newspaper syndicates, there was a mention a time or two about trying kid’s books. (But I was too stubborn to consider deviating from my cartoon strip dream) Now, I was open to the idea. (It only took about 28 years to get through my thick head LOL!) I submitted a very minimal portfolio along with a query, and to my surprise, Guardian Angel Publishing hired me to do two books!
What do or did you do to promote yourself? What exciting projects are you working on now? To promote myself, all I do these days are post my work on social media as often as I can. Daily if possible. I also have a YouTube channel under the name of www.YouTube.com/WaldenWongArt. In fact, all my social media handles are under the name Walden Wong Art (Facebook, Instagram, DevinatArt, Linkedin, Ello, Vero, Twitter, Pinterest, Patreon, and more). Including my website www.WaldenWongArt.com I'm currently working on some new and exciting projects that I can't really mention. But if anyone follows me on any of my social media, I'll drop sneak peeks here and there. Also, on my website, there's a blog and news section where I constantly update and post. Check it out when you can.
www.levinlandstudio.com
COLLINS
DANA
An Interview with Lon Levin
“I grew up with my sister and
mother. I grew up in a Navy town within a very conservative machismo military culture, isolated on an island (Whidbey Island, in the Puget Sound.)”
When did you first think about art/design as something you wanted to do? Were you encouraged or discouraged by family, friends, teachers, mentors? I was doing design actually before I knew what it was. I played in a punk/hardcore band from age 13-20. We toured, made records, the whole shabang. We would make our own flyers, stencils to graffiti with, xeroxed record covers … etc. After the band, I worked at a small newspaper company. The company published five or six small neighborhood daily newspapers. I used to work and maintain the stat camera, spec type for the typesetter, do paste-up, cut rubylith …this was around 1988 just before computers came along and changed how print work was produced. I was doing these things but wasn’t aware of the term graphic design.
Shortly after that, I went to Seattle Central Community College, and was accepted into the graphic design program there. It was an excellent program. I went in thinking that I would be an underground comic book artist. I really had no idea what graphic design was—even though, in some very low to the ground ways, I had practiced it. My first year of school, I struggled; I just kept getting in my own way. I equated graphic design with what you saw at shopping malls and banks. Every shitty brochure I saw at a dentist’s office or whatever-I thought that was the be-all and end-all of what I was being trained to do. It didn’t feel right. I was quickly losing interest. Claudia Meyer-Newman, an instructor there, pulled me aside and asked me about punk, my record collection …etc … and finally told me “this (punk) is what you should be doing with graphic design. Be who you are, stop trying to play it safe.” She lent me her Neville Brody book and ended up giving it to me. I started barreling through my record collection linear notes to figure out who designed what. Not long after that, the student AIGA group invited Art Chantry to speak.
I wasn’t familiar with him or his work. I almost didn’t go—I thought this student group was a kind of a pretentious butt-sniffing party for a particularly annoying clique. Claudia suggested I should go regardless. At the talk, Art walked in and it immediately dawned on me that I have seen this guy at punk shows for years. We were kind of sizing each other up ala-familiar. We struck up a conversation. After I graduated, He hired me for freelance work at The Rocket, a monthly music newspaper in Seattle. Charles Burns, Matt Groening, Lynda Barry all had quarter page comic strips in the pages of The Rocket. Before Sub Pop was the now famous record label, it was a music column in The Rocket, written by Sub Pop founder, Bruce Pavitt. What kind of kid were you? Where did you grow up? What were your influences? I guess I was maladjusted for a lack of a better way to say it. My Father was a Navy pilot. He flew an A-6 Intruder. He was shot down over Laos during the Vietnam war. He was a radar jammer—flew
low and fast through mountains—a hazardous occupation by its very nature. I guess the “enemy” had a lock on him, he tried to shake ‘em, was fired upon, and flew into the side of a mountain at 600mph. I was born in 1967. He died in 1969. I don’t remember him (or at least I don’t think I do). I have what might be my only memory of him or maybe it was a dream—I honestly don’t know. In this memory-or-dream thing, he was wearing formal Navy digs, white gloves, the black and white barrel hat, shined shoes, black lapels with gold stripes, medals…polished to the nine’s…while he was teaching me and my sister how to eat spaghetti without making a mess. I grew up with my sister and mother. I grew up in a Navy town within a very conservative machismo military culture, isolated on an island (Whidbey Island, in the Puget Sound, about an hour north of Seattle). You were either a rich officers’ kid, or enlisted and living in a trailer-court or on-base housing. I was supposed to be an officer's kid, but ended up being neither. I tried to fit in early on, but around 5th grade, I was pretty fed-up with it all. Skateboarding and punk rock ended up being my safety valve. I spent a lot of time by myself. I was avoidant, flippant. In 7th grade I met the only other punk rocker on the Island. His parents where stationed in from Oxnard/Point Hueneme.
That’s when the band started; With us two. It was a “ok you sing and I'll learn the drums” kind of thing. We got a healthy ration of shit on that Island. You were either a stoner or a jock there. There wasn’t any room for deviation. I would tell my mom I was going to school, and would head to Seattle to practice with the band, go to record stores, get loaded … etc. We would book little two-to-three week tours to Eastern Washington State, Vancouver, Victoria, Oregon, San Francisco, Montana, Idaho …etc. I would tell my mom I’m going, she would protest. I would go anyway. I ran away a few times. I was living in one place, but my life, my people were in another. How has the background you got at Art Center played a part in your career? I went to Art Center midway through my career; I was 42 (I am 52 now). My stint at Art Center is referred to as “the midlife crisis” in my current household. Before Art Center, before moving to L.A. I cut my teeth art directing at a weekly newspaper in Denver, Colorado called Westword. This was from 1994-2000. I was very much influenced by the editorial illustration work of the 90s; The stuff found in the American Illustration annual.
—Jordin Isip, Melinda Beck, Marshall Arisman, Rob Clayton, Gary Baseman, Mark Ryden … etc. I was also delving into graphic design history head first; where I discovered such luminaries as David Stone Martin, Richard Powers, Fritz Kahn, Ben Shahn. Brian Stauffer was an art director at a sister paper in Miami (Miami NewTimes). Miami NewTimes and Westword where both owned by the NewTimes Corporation. He was doing his own illustration for the covers at Miami. I would call him and bug the shit out him, but he always answered the phone and spoke with me anyways. I think with Art Center, I was (admittedly) being nostalgic, grasping back for that era in hopes of re-stoking that flame to some degree. You’ve worked in a couple different styles. How did that evolve and was that an asset for you or a problem for art directors? I would sift through all the illustration annuals, would ape those I liked, would experiment by mixing and matching. I spent a lot of time (probably too much time) trying to find that “silver bullet” style … totally overthinking the shit out of things. I was (and still am) very intrigued with what I regard to as “the 3,” Chris Ware, Daniel Clowes and Charles Burns. I am a comics/graphic novel dilettante at best, but those three guys are my favorite within this industry (design and illustration). The humor, the narrative, the beautiful hand-done typography, the inking, the level of obsession behind it all … never gets stale.
How do you stay up to date on styles outside of your projects? What do you recommend to younger art director/designers who are just developing their portfolios? Claudia had it right (see my answer to the second question). I believe we all have a “something-or-other” that is unique to each of us; a psychological/emotional slant on things that is unique, like a fingerprint.
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