A visit from Jill Calder

Image Source: http://www.friendandjohnson.com/#p=artist/jill_calder/overview

Jill calder, a very successful illustrator from Fife, Scotland, came to our college yesterday to talk to us about her experience in the industry and give us some advice on how to approach illustration as a business. She certainly knows what she's talking about with 20 years in the job.

She first went to 'The Scotsman' Newspaper with her huge portfolio of work and visited the art department there, which she described as "chaos". She managed to get a job and received her first ever payment for illustrating an article on dyslexia, which was £65.

"I thought it was a fortune at the time".

It was reassuring to hear Jill say that she had no idea about what to get paid for quite some time, "People can see that you are good and understand what you do, but not necessarily think about paying you for it". She told us that there was a lesson to be learnt and that you can be passionate, but you must not let people "muck you around" because after all it is a business. I am providing a creative service and that is my job. It has given me confidence to believe that I deserve to be paid, and there is no harm in expecting a payment if illustration is going to be my career, at least people will take me seriously.

When Jill spoke about her studio space, I felt as though she had the exact environment I have always wanted. I enjoy being in the small villages of Yorkshire with friendly neighbours greeting me in the mornings and the view of the countryside out of the window. She described her hometown as a "thriving music and culture scene" and told us that passers by would often tap on the window of her ground floor studio and give her a wave. It seems as though you don't have to give up everything that is precious to you in order to have a career, Jill Calder seems to have both.

One interesting comment Jill made (and the top tip for me) was how she has her own reference material in order to remind her of how she would draw something. "I've kept every single sketchbook I've ever had".

I am a hoarder; there is no hiding it. I can't seem to throw anything away and I have a huge box of textures from, magazines, different types of paper, fabrics etc. As well as draws full of pens and crayons and random objects that have caught my eye just before throwing them in the bin. Yet one thing I hadn't thought of was keeping a collection of observational drawings, I know that I have many, but what I am going to do now is compile them all in to a folder. Jill gave an example of how she might have to produce a new illustration of a man holding a newspaper, but can't remember how to draw a hand holding something. She can look through this collection of observational drawings and look at how to draw that hand shape, and more importantly, remind her of how she would draw that hand.

"Go back to basics and draw. It is important. You could start with something like that and then apply your illustrative style. With observational line drawing, you can get something that you can't with a model."