Pixel Dance

I have a wonderful group of illustrator friends from working at Citizen. Mark Brewer’s style fits our magazine very well, and he’s great fun. I like his loose style and the alternate world he creates. Here’s his story:

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My first piece was printed in our local weekly newspaper when I was fifteen years old. It was an editorial cartoon. I drew an editorial cartoon at least once every week, sometimes as many as four, for the next ten years of my life. Drawing editorial cartoons taught me how to compose and write concise ideas in a single panel. Of course having friends who were professionals in the field helped a wee bit I’m sure. Prior to that I was selling a small line of my own hand made greeting cards to a local card shop in town. I always knew I would make art for a living, although I wasn’t sure exactly where I would fit in. That was no secret around my family and friends. No matter how many times I heard, “you need a back up plan in case the art thing doesn’t work”, I never considered a back up plan. Not sure whether that was recklessness or stubbornness since I display both of those traits. In the early part of my professional career I worked for Disney, Archie Comics, Warner Brothers and other publications that kept my mind open to an entirely different direction than editorial cartoons. Looking back now I was waiting for a particular “something” to grab me by the shirt collar and say, “this is what you’re going to do!” I knew I was just working for these companies to pay the bills and was lucky to have been able to do that when so many talented artists would kill for any opportunity. I still know how fortunate I am and not a day goes by that I don’t think of that. My last “real” job was at Pepperidge Farm food stores stocking the shelves in their walk in freezer. I was eighteen. It was cold in there but since I was by myself it gave me the chance to come up with ideas for pictures I could draw once I got home. It’s always been important for me to say something in my art. It’s not enough just to draw a “pretty picture” although there are some assignments that call for nothing more than that. I’ll compensate by noodle-ing in TONS of detail but the drawing never seems to work as well as an illustration that has an insightful thought behind it.
I’m not really sure where I am in my career. Or maybe a better answer is that I try real hard not to know where I’m at in fear of becoming complacent. There are many artists with more talent and even more to offer that I’m never certain my phone will ring tomorrow with another assignment. I need to try to keep going to wherever it is that I think I’m going to even though I haven’t figured that out yet.

I love Spontaneity. My work, mind and life are happening spontaneously and the color and line in my illustrations often reflect my mood at the time I’m working on the assignment. Artists have the opportunity to let down their guard in their art. People who know me can sometimes see right through my work. It’s a feeling one might have if they are ever made to run down the street naked. “Exposed” would be a good word to use. It’s that very feeling an artist can put out there in an illustration or a song that can make a connection with another human being that’s so special. For me personally, there are few things that stimulate, motivate and move me more than when I find an illustration that resonates with one of my own experiences.

For the last two years I’ve been drawing portraits of people I find interesting. Some I draw with an editorial twist and more are just “Brewerized” versions of how I see them. Obviously illustrators have been doing portraits for years, but this is a new and exciting chapter for me. We all bring something unique to the table so looking at it from that perspective, it’s something that has never been done before.

For life, I say be happy and follow your dreams. None of us are any more than the sums of our influences. Mix many influences together into your own illustrative concoction. If you do it long enough (years), your own creative agenda will show itself and you’ll be making art that you can truly put your own stamp on.

Something we all wish we would do yet few of us make the choice to do, is to follow our dreams. On the surface these words are full of magic, promise and are more colorful than the brightest flower. There’s a pot of gold waiting for us on the other side should we capture the dream. The road after is a red carpet paved with rose pedals we can walk on with our bare feet. Even the friendly conversations we have of the challenging tasks that lay ahead in pursuing these dreams seem to have a sweetness to them. I’ve been following my dream since that first cartoon was printed and I can tell you the road is dirt and it has no promises. It’s been sweet countless times but far more tart than one might imagine. The “pot of gold” has come but in forms I had not imagined. I believe the red carpet we roll out is man made (in China) and self-indulgent. The real magic happens when you find yourself naturally laying down a few rose pedals on that dirt path for a pair of young feet to follow their own dreams in pursuit of a life’s worth of rich experiences.

Remember that none of us are any more than the sums of our influences yet we all bring something unique to the table. I’m still amazed when I hear a professional artist say to me or another illustrator that our work looks like someone else’s. Most people mean well, however, the comment can seem insensitive coming from another professional. Perhaps they haven’t spent as much time on their own craft to realize what many of us have come to learn. You don’t spend seven to fifteen hours in your studio each day, six to seven days a week, trying to be anyone other than yourself. It’s almost impossible. Woody Guthrie heavily influenced the legendary Bob Dylan as much as Michael Bartolos’ was influenced by Jim Flora’s work. Illustration, music, photography etc. has been a communal and collective growth for thousands of years. That’s why artists are often asked the question,” who have been your greatest influences?” It’s an interesting question because everyone has their own unique set of mixed influences that make up their very own creative concoction. Artistically speaking, if you do anything long enough your own creative agenda will show itself and you’ll be making art that you can truly put your own stamp on.

–Mark Brewer, Illustrator

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That was fantastic, Mark. Thank you for your thoughts. You know, this is why I like having my friends on the blog. Encouraging each other, telling the truth, sharing what we know, this creates a community that I consider valuable. To me, hearing how artists especially overcome the urge to just “get a job, make a living, get a retirement. . . ” is inspiring. It helps me to think about the things I could do, and the things I might be overlooking that I could really love. So thank you, Mark. I appreciate you sharing with us.

The person you are meeting on the blog today could change your life. And while I tend towards the hyperbolic, this time I’m not overstating it. Andy Paige is a style consultant, and she travels the country helping everyone — from glamorous stars to ordinary women — dress and look their best. Not only does she teach the right colors of makeup, style of hair, and fit of clothes, but she teaches how to do it all on a budget. Her tag line is “who says you have to spend a fortune to look like a million?” Here’s a little about her:

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I’ve been in and around the fashion industry for 25 years. I started out as a model in my teens, and was a fit model for years (fit models are women with standard proportions for a particular size, and they try on clothes before they go to market to ensure proper sizing). My grandmother taught me how to sew, and I sewed my own clothes for years. I took for granted that everyone knew what I knew — what clothes were well-suited for their bodies, what a rise was, how to apply makeup. It wasn’t until I realized that everybody didn’t know what I knew, and until someone validated my talents, that I began to be aware that my skills had the potential to become a business. So I started Cents of Style.

Cents of Style is a solutions-based business. My general mission is to encourage, guide and teach my clients the skills of economic beautification. I teach women to care for themselves, and look their absolute best in all regards. And I love to see the transformation. I love the confidence I am able to build, teach and establish. That’s the downfall of every woman in America; a completely unneeded lack of confidence. But I give people (I style men, too) the power and encouragement to fulfill their dreams. That’s an amazing gift. Outward appearance is not just fluff — it is the spine of confidence. And I am confidence-building.

My philosophy is that you can be a mother, achieve your dreams, love God, do good in your community, and look fabulous doing it. It’s not either/or. There’s no need to sacrifice your image — if anything, your image is the catalyst to your dreams.

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Andy has an incredible gift, and she is something special. I hired her to come to Colorado Springs two years ago to guide me through a transformation. And I’ll be honest, I had some judgments that had buried themselves in my skin. I really didn’t want to look “all foofy,” because I wanted people to realize that I was deep, smart and spiritual. But I finally realized that all I was showing the world was that I didn’t care about myself. I was telling the world that they didn’t have to take me seriously. And — here’s the painful part — I realized I had judged put-together people as shallow. And you know when you judge, you cut yourself off from that very thing. So how could I look nice if all nice-looking people were shallow? That would mean I was shallow too. Ouch. But thankfully, you can decide to change at any moment, and I confessed my judgment, risked allowing myself to look shallow, and pressed into letting the real me out. And I am telling you, folks, I am smarter, funnier, brighter and more clever now than anyone ever thought I was in the frump stage. Because what you look like is what people have to go on — so tell them who you really are. Another thing — you may think it is an expensive treat to have Andy come, but in the long run, I spend a lot less on clothes and makeup than I ever did throwing the credit card willy nilly at what I thought might work. I now have a laser-sharp sense of what to buy, when to buy it, and what to add (inexpensively) to look like I shop all the time. I tell you, Andy is brilliant. It’s one of the best thing’s I’ve ever done.

You must save your pennies to have Andy come, or visit her in New York. You can find out information, and even hire her on-line at www.centsofstyle.com. Even if you can’t do that yet, she has a million great ideas on her Web site, and I visit it all the time to keep up. And she sells wonderful accessory suites — a small group of accessories, with usually a purse — for $49.50. Every month there is a new one, and they are fabulous and smart. But the pièce de résistance is her brush set. If you were an artist, would you paint with whatever paper towel you could find? Not-so-professional results. Makeup application is the same. Andy’s brushes are professional, and no woman should be without them. Check it out on the site, and ask for (or buy them for yourself) as a Christmas present. They come with instructions, and her site has videos that help with application as well. Don’t be afraid to be beautiful. Don’t be afraid to shine. And let Andy polish you up – she’s great at it. Thanks, Andy. Still.

So, I get to have a lot of fun working on Citizen magazine. And one of the most exciting things I do is send photographers to exotic and crazy places. Gaylon Wampler is one of my go-to guys. You don’t get a second chance to take these shots, and they have to tell the story and be compelling and fit the space, and look professional. And when I send Gaylon, I don’t have to worry about any of those things. I know he’s going to bring back gold. Here’s his story:

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I’m a Colorado-based commercial and editorial photographer with a background in newspaper photojournalism.

I began my career working for a small weekly paper in Carrolton, TX and worked my way up through the Amarillo Globe, the Associated Press, the Houston Post and the Denver Post. I switched careers from newspapers to magazines, Christian publishing and relief work in 1996 and more recently, started specializing in non-profit Christian photojournalism and commercial oil and gas work world wide.

For me, it’s the perfect blend as I am able to shoot the non-profit assignments for less and count on the industrial work for the majority of my income.

While I shoot a wide variety of assignments, it is the work with a cause that I love the most. To go out and tell a story with my images in order to inform and influence readers is the work that I believe God has called me to. Most recently, I was assigned to photograph the results of the inter-tribal conflict in Kenya for a missions based organization, and that work helped bring much needed food, shelter and other needs to the people displaced by that human tragedy.

Here are a few links to some of my work:

Kenya: http://gallery.me.com/g.wampler#100420
AIDS: http://gallery.me.com/g.wampler#100431
Burkina Faso: http://gallery.mac.com/g.wampler#100140
Various Portfolio: http://gallery.me.com/g.wampler#100358

My goals are the same whether it be my art, my industrial work or my photojournalism: Show the reader something they haven’t seen before, change the way they look at a subject and to continue to work with the gifts that I have been blessed with.

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Gaylon has literally been to almost a third of the world, and has logged 409,757 miles on his trips. Perhaps the most memorable trip for Citizen was Uganda. Officials in Uganda seemed to be having success lowering AIDS rates in their country through abstinence messages. It’s a story you probably won’t read in the local paper. And it was quite an experience. But the photo I love the most from our adventures together is a shot of a prisoner coming out of the water after being baptized. The water is surrounding him, glistening and wrapping and shimmering. It feels like a moment in eternity. It’s brilliant. Like I said, he always brings the story home.

I love to talk to Gaylon about what he’s seen and experienced, because he has such passion for people. Sometimes it’s heartbreaking. Sometimes it’s joyous. But it always feels like we’re doing something important, and co-laboring in the storytelling of these issues. Thanks, Gaylon, for all of your great work, long layovers, funky hotel stays, and hours away from your lovely wife. It’s good work that you do. You tell the world a story in a split second, and it leaves a lasting impression.

It’s Friday, and a perfect time to talk with another fabulous friend. Travis Foster is a fantastic illustrator, and does a monthly spot job for me in the magazine. We’ve become great friends over the years, and often trade gardening pictures and family stories. He and his family are wonderful people, and I really adore them. His illustrations always hit the mark, and he has a great way of getting to the heart of a topic in a 3-inch square. His characters have a way of sticking around in the brain, and the colors and contexts are perfect for the setting. Here’s what he has to say about his path:

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Like most artists, drawing was something I enjoyed as a kid. I’ve never out grown this love of making pictures for others to enjoy. At sixteen, I worked in a seasonal theme park, and it continues for five summers – creating “caricatures” for tourists. It was a great first job, established a work ethic and I saw first hand artwork as a plausible way to create some income. This is how I worked my way through art school. My parents encouraged me to hold out for the right college, and Ringling ended up being a good choice. Great instructors, solid training. In 1989 I graduated from Ringling School of Art and Design, Sarasota Florida with an illustration major.

I hit the ground running, starting my freelance career and business right out of school. I asked other illustrators, “how do you do this?” I applied their generous advice, pursuing freelance full time. Never looked back.

I like to create clean, simple shapes and designs. I prefer images to read clearly and designs that are easy on the eye. The variety of projects that come into the studio I largely attribute to the “streamlined style” offered. An advertising campaign, children’s book, editorial assignment, it’s all good stuff. I enjoy them all and appreciate the steady stream of fun assignments.

For life, I’d say, “Learn to laugh at yourself often, don’t take yourself to serious.” Be kind to others. Love your family well.

Sarah and I have four wonderful children, and I’m proud of each of them. When I see my kids creating art, or playing their instruments, or working in the garden, I’m reminded that life itself is a gift. A precious gift.

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I think it’s easy to see why Travis is such a joy to work with, and such a fun friend. He gladly shares his gifts and friendship, and it makes my job a dream. Plus he’s darn talented. You can see for yourself at www.travisfoster.com. Thank you, Travis.

Writing is an art. It is a craft, and an art. You learn the rules – but to tell the story, to evoke the emotion, to change the heart – that’s an art. One of my favorite writers is also one of my dear friends. Matt Kaufman writes for Citizen magazine, and Boundless Webzine, and we’ve worked together for almost 10 years. What I really like about his style is that I feel smart, instead of thinking that he’s smart, after reading his work. He’s drawn me into his process, as a co-laborer, rather than telling me things. It’s not easy to do, but he is eloquent and compassionate toward his reader. Here’s what he says about his process:

I’ve been writing professionally for a couple of decades now. I’ve been writing unprofessionally a lot longer. (Those who know me, insert your jokes here.)

I started with letters to the editor of my local paper when I was 16, and quickly found the 250-word limit too confining for a guy who had as much to say as I did. (Being 16, I knew so much I had to share with the world!) A few years later I was co-founding a conservative campus paper, championing what we then called The Reagan Revolution. Ah, those heady days of youth….

To make a long story short, before it’s too late: I wove my way through a few conservative writing outlets as opportunities arose, and started working for Focus on the Family in 1997, first working with Citizen magazine, then adding work for Boundless Webzine when it was launched the following year. I’ve been at it for those same outlets ever since, though I went freelance in 2003 and returned the next year to my hometown of Urbana, Illinois. (Go Illini!)

My specialty: At present, I write in several formats, from doing commentary for Boundless to book reviews and “Whee the People” for Citizen.

My Boundless work is the area where I get to express myself on the widest variety of topics, and to use a personal, sometimes first-person voice. But I enjoy working in all these formats, and I want to say something about “Whee” in particular.

“Whee,” for those who don’t know, is the brief, punchy-commentary section of the magazine, often with a light touch, and including illustrations by Dave Clegg and Travis Foster. Here I get one of my great treats every month: Working with Sherri to brainstorm art ideas, then watching Dave and Travis execute it with their own creative touch and flair. This is a joy all around, sparking creativity working with Sherri, who really is one of the dearest people I’ve ever known. And I’m not just saying that to flatter Sherri ‘cause she’s the absolute ruler of this Blog universe. Together we come up with concepts neither one of us would have gotten separately. Creatively, we really bring out the best in each other.

You can find my Boundless columns at www.boundless.org.

Philosophy of art and life? Strangely for a writer, I never thought to put it in words. Let’s try this: Speak the truths that need to be spoken. The challenge is in discerning what those truths are, and how to speak them. But don’t shrink from the challenge: Ask God for the fortitude and the wisdom to take it on.

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I wonder if all of us should be doing what we did in those early years, like writing letters to the editor – those things we gravitated to before we knew what we were supposed to want for our lives. What was it for you? For me, I was writing songs like “Sunshiny Days” in the 3rd grade. Not so sure there’s a market for it, but, hey. Thank you, Matt. I appreciate your contributions to the mag and the blog. And your friendship is gold to me. You’re a better friend than you are a writer.

Many of you know I design Citizen magazine. I love it, and for me the best part, hands down, is meeting and connecting with such talented people. I work with incredible illustrators, photographers, writers, editors – people who are lovely and talented, and it’s a privilege to be in their wake. Because I think they are such great people, I want to introduce you to them. Up at bat is my dear friend, Tom Reis. I think both he and his work are delightful – each with an effortless flair. It’s so fun for me to stumble upon Reisworks in the Wall Street Journal, or even in the grocery store. Here’s a little about him, in his own words:

I’ve always loved art. My career as an illustrator really began after graduating from College in ’88. I got a full-time job as an in-house illustrator at a small Florida ad agency. I mostly painted and drew 3-point perspective house renderings from architectural plans. I moved to San Francisco a few years later to attend the San Francisco Art Institute. I really wasn’t planning on doing more commercial work, but a fellow classmate was an art director, and she helped me get jobs at her agency. After graduating, another friend at the same agency moved to New York, and helped me get work art directing at Chase Manhattan. I began illustrating full-time about 12 years ago.

My commercial work mostly involves producing airbrushed acrylic caricature editorial work, though I’ve done numerous paintings of more
serious subjects for advertising clients. I think of the caricature work as a form of portraiture–my favorite subject matter. Between
commercial work, I spend most of my time focusing on producing “fine art”–which is generally figurative.

Philosophy of art: Hmmm. It may be a depressing thought, but I think of my task like that of the boulder-roller Sisyphus. Unlike him, I never derive the satisfaction of reaching the top, though I DO enjoy the process of trying.
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Tom is so fun, and a stop by www.thomasreis.com is worth the “research and development” time you’ll spend. It’s delightful. Thanks, Tom, for being my guinea pig – and my friend.

And, of course, www.citizenmagazine.com is the place to sign up for a subscription to Citizen. If you’re a pro-family conservative, it’s thoughtful, well-written information. Even if you’re not, you’ll be witness to the work of some very talented people. Thank you to all who have contributed over the years. I deeply appreciate it.