The Bizz-a-ness

At one point, before she went out to give a lecture discussing her documentary film On A Roll, JoJo Beanyhead asked me to brainstorm a bit. “How would you talk about your process?” my wife asked. “It’s a multi-level thing, “ I replied, “and it all starts with an irresistible idea.”

Irresistible idea, indeed. To me, illustration is that irresistible idea. From my earliest recollections, my career path was always a given—I’d be doing the proverbial “something in art”. As a kid, I wasn’t a particularly industrious or stellar student, nor was I any kind of an athlete. Art wasn’t quite the immovable force though; I loved music and for some time, being in a Rock n’Roll band owned much of my young adulthood. But, hey, even that eventually took a back seat to art school.

Some time after I got my degree and made my way into the working world, there was the conscious moment when I declared, “No more non-art related jobs!” and decided to launch my freelance career. That was scary and exhilarating at the same time. Could I make it just doing what I loved?Years and mileage eventually point out if you can keep a number of burners (professionally and personally) cooking simultaneously. But there is an ever-present life challenge: how to sustain that heat. Put another way, not just how to survive, but how to thrive; how to grow.

Which was—not coincidentally—the title of a book I wrote for Allworth Press: How To Grow As An Illustrator.



If you're immersed in illustration and want to stay afloat —no, make that swim vigorously—in the bigger pool of a world only centered in the studio, you need to understand the multi-layered definition of being “an illustrator” (and what that means in today’s market, culture, and society). Certain questions pop up all the time: about what you do, how you do it, where are your motivations; why the hell do you do this?

You address your particular sequence of events (which includes roots and inspirations, references and resources, education and professional development, the transitions of career maintenance and/or change). You consider the mechanical skills and conceptual chops that facilitate design, process and product.

Lifestyle, your spot in the world at large, your personal and professional communities, your place in the big picture. Success/failure, mistakes, and calamities big and small, the mental, emotional and physical. This is all part and parcel of the life business of illustration—it's not just numbers and paperwork, more than sales, marketing and promotion. What about education (from both sides of the teacher’s desk)? Staying in the field one way or another, as well as getting out of the life gracefully, are all business decisions with personal answers (or vice versa).

Like all noble endeavors, illustration process is indeed a path (and illustration product, our destination). The road map offers many alternate routes with a common theme: getting there is indeed half the fun.

All illustrations © Michael Fleishman