In the Life of an Illustrator

One of the blessings of not putting all of your eggs in one basket is a very spoiled muse. Spoiled muses aren't a foolproof way to keep busy, but it's pretty close. Writing books became a passion for me in the past five years especially, but sometimes the words wander off and take on a different shape.

Over the past few days, I got saddled with a strange itch and suddenly I started doing all of my queued book covers at the same time. Specifically, the covers for UnSung and four of the five remaining books in the HWU Chronicles (the odd one out is one I'm still unsure of how I'm approaching). I don't know what I owe the credit to, but something changed, something surreal, and once more I started seeing this vivid map of what I needed to make. Whenever this happens, my usual style takes some drastic leaps-- sometimes it's a surreal style, sometimes it's a foray into realism. This time, it's right in between, what I see as my ideal state. Colors and forms are coming to me with a rare clarity.

Passion is one thing people understand but maybe it's the erraticism of a scattered focus that isn't so common. It's not unusual to jump around, not for me, but it can be so effective. These pieces often boost the quality of the other. For example, I'll draw an eye. I lay the colors in but something about it seems flat. Jumping to another cover, I'll do the eyes of the models once more, only this time, my scribbling adds a new dimension. Suddenly I'm spending the next two hours sinking into a frenzy of soulful eyes. In this way, I feel like I'm not only making more breakthroughs but I'm taking more risks. It can feel as if everything is moving at a snail's pace and there is more experimenting than finished work yet ultimately it becomes more productive.

Reference photos are priceless as well. In an erratic workflow, I tend to use my Mac's Exposé (multiple desktops) to plaster reference photos behind each open project. If it seems like I learn fast, it's because I'm a sucker for tools. If I don't have what I need, I find out how to work around it. It's not just my programs or my drawing tablet or my touchscreen tablets. I set up each one to carry out very specific tasks. I download or customize specific brushes, use posing apps to compose where my characters will occupy space.

Ultimately, an adept illustrator is a visual problem solver. When I first started publishing, I would see the same backwards sentiment repeated in writing groups-- hire a pro, never do your own cover. While I certainly encourage people with no design knowledge to hire a cover artist, what people don't realize is that sometimes the shoe is on the other foot. Sometimes the experienced artist comes first-- do we outsource the writing of our stories because we shouldn't fill our own covers? Now admittedly, I don't want my covers to be the industry standard at this point. It's important that my first editions follow the vision. Beyond that, I may use more specifically marketed covers in the future.

Anyways, friends, long day, long week in general and the coffee is wearing off. I may do a post later this week on my favorite tools and workflows. Keep writing!