Art of the Union

passinglandscapes asked: I really admire your artwork. It fits your subject matter perfectly. So first of all, great job. Since you've had a good amount of success with editorial illustration, I wanted to ask for some advice. I've been building a portfolio for editorials, and I will soon be going to New York to hopefully convince art directors and editors to give me work. (I talked to Jason Seiler, and this was what he did.) Other than that, I don't have much planned. I was just wondering how you've gone about it.-Jacob

Thanks! I can definitely give you advice. My main piece of advice would be don’t ever let anyone tell you that you can’t. I had so many teachers tell me “everyone wants to be an illustrator” and that it can’t be done, I’ve also been turned down by every annual in the book. 3x3, Comm Arts, Society of Illustrators, CMYK, they all turned me down. So, I took that and used it as drive and got published at the age of 20, now I’m 21 and haven’t looked back. Speaking of annuals, don’t fall for trends. Be you, do what you are passionate about. There’s a lot of trendy trash out there saturating the market but they’ll flame out while the artists who sculpted their voice live on. Also, be passionate about what you do. I love politics and focusing my art on that subject allows me to produce multiple drawings a week. Besides your subject matter, be passionate about art, not just illustration. I get so much inspiration from art history websites and books. And finally, it really helps to invest in adbase.com. It’s pricy but it has every art director imaginable and if you get work it will more than cover the price, but if you don’t want to pay for that then scour the websites of publications you want to work for in search of the editors and art directors. Actually, one more thing. In this digital age DO NOT neglect the postal service, I just got a job from a postcard I sent out over a year ago. I hope this helps!