After Art School

"The Road of Being an Artist" by Shih-Fen Lin

This week the director of Illustration Department at Academy of Art University, Chuck Pyle, asked illustration alumni to share their recent successes on Facebook. The resulting thread shows the diversity of the illustration world. Here's a sampling:

Joie Brown:  I got a job and my first day was today! I'm a production assistant at Riva Creative (they design theme parks)

AJ Gregory: Finished a painted album cover over the weekend for a very popular, underground Seattle rock band - Helms Alee! Being released on the label, Sargent House. Big exposure!

Jonathan Colton: I'm ever busier doing Police Composite Sketches, did two last week of a couple of robbery suspects - lol.  In September, I'm attending another class on Composite drawing that deals with interviewing children, and image modification: the effects of Methamphetamine on faces.

Chan Ae Lim: I got a commission for a picture book. Still unable to get an agent-but freelancing is giving plenty of insight on the business side of things.

Nicole Album: I'm an artist for pottery barn teen. textiles, wall decor, illustration for posters, etc...

Re Cloud Yoch: A game i worked on went bankrupt so I now own an entire game worth of art. yay for writing my own contract!

Marc OwlBoogie Aure: I've been in the art industry for 15 since graduating in 1998. Egreetings, Inc. during the dot com boom right out of school. Litigation graphics artist for 7 years after that. I did freelancing for Old Navy doing toddler boys clothing. I was a lead artist at Zynga where I spent the last 3 years. Now I'm a lead artist at start up called Mind Pirate.

Ciaee Ching: I just signed a contract as the illustrator for a children's book.

Noah Patrick Pfarr: Had a pretty good Entertainment Weekly illustration last week, and promoting it put me on the radar for Wall Street Journal and LA Times!

Linda Ólafsdóttir: I've been freelancing full time for three years now - and so far I've had the time of my life…most of the time! I signed a five book deal with Sterling Publishing which I'm currently working on, have worked for educational and children's book publishers in Iceland as well as illustrated and designed stamps form the Iceland Post.

Christine Knopp: This will be my second year with Disney Interactive working as a concept artist, though I have also helped with some UI and done a lot of background paintings recently.

Sueann Williams I'm currently working full-time as an artist at the mobile gaming company Storm8 in Redwood City. Working there is both fun and challenging. My co-workers are amazingly talented and I learn so much from them everyday. I've been there for a bit over a year now and it feels great getting paid to do what I love. In the meantime I've discovered that I'm a terrible freelance artist!

Scotland D. Barnes: I got out of Jury Duty.