ICON!

I'm on the Icon board of directors, and between this,plus the end of the 0910 school year (not to mention ongoing book stuff) should explain why this blog drops off in April.

After the conference I'll have more.

The TUMBLR Option

Fleish/Tumblr

What do you think?  I'm exploring...it's all work in progress; so please comment, critique (fire away), advise, send love (or not).

Ye Olde Webb Sight

Have a Look

The Poem Depot

I feel a Haiku comin' on...how about you? Sheet (rock) happens, but not necessarily here. Come visit. Audience Participation welcome (and soon).

LOGO Me

My logo. Look for my initials: MCF. Start with a Krispy Kreme-induced brainstorm. Take a tiny drawing done with a rapidograph on a store napkin (for some good bleed). Use a nib about the size of a cat whisker. Blow it up big time on a photocopier...200-400 per cent should do it (or just scan the wee guy and enlarge to taste).



My original logo and biz card. The moose rocked (rolls, and still rules)! There was a very sweet, funny promo I drew and sent out that incorporated the moose and other various characters (including a wonderful caricature of my dear ol' dad that really nailed his likeness and cantankerous spirit). I'll try to find it and post it if I can.

There's the old area code, crisp line style, and that equally clean Kabel typeface I was so high on back in the day. Printed at Bucher Printers (then Bucher Brothers Printing) by another fine gentleman who's no longer with us.

Rest in peace, both Norm and Bob.

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

How To Grow!

1969. Where did I see myself in 10 years after high school graduation? The goal was to do exactly what I am doing right now—and I've pulled it off. Well, the writing thing was a bit unexpected, but seriously dovetailed into everything fun that matters to me artistically.

Freelance illustration grabbed me around 1980. On a route to Los Angeles, CA, I made it as far as Kansas City, MO, and my first illustration jobs. From there, I actually wound my way back east to Yellow Springs, OH, where I kicked off all this freelance stuff in earnest. And from here I have lost count of all the clients I've scribbled with over the years (amongst them, folks like CTW, Scholastic, Recycled Paper Products, and Hallmark).

But I have always enjoyed dual passions—the doing and teaching of art. I have a BS in Art Education and an MA in Fine Arts (painting and drawing) from Indiana University of PA. I love to teach art, and I’ve worked with every age level from preschoolers to senior citizens. For the last 8 years I’ve taught at Edison Community College in Piqua, OH (where I am also Program and Staffing Coordinator for the Commercial Art department).

My writing is the direct offspring of my illustration career. I wouldn’t have predicted that I’d be a writer, but here I am—and it’s a great gig. Book 5, How To Grow As An Illustrator, was my second book for Allworth Press (it's older sib, book 3, was Starting Your Career As A Freelance Illustrator or Designer)

Exploring Illustration was book # 4 and published by Cengage (then Thomson/Delmar). My new book for Cengage, called Drawing Inspiration: Visual Artists At Work, is just out (more on that coming up).

I’ve also done two books for North Light (out of print), was a contributing editor at The Artist’s Magazine for many years, and have written for a variety of publications, including How Magazine, Step Inside Design, Computer Arts Projects (UK), and The Artist’s and Graphic Designer’s Market.

I was a featured presenter at DesignWorld, How’s annual conference in 2002. I was honored with a national teaching excellence award at the NISOD annual conference in 2004 (where I also presented), and a won a SOCHE Excellence in Teaching award in 2007. I was a nominee for OATYC Teacher of the Year in 2009. I spoke at ICON 4 in 2005 (and am now on the board of directors for ICON6).

Still in Yellow Springs after 25 years. Very happily married to the award-winning documentary filmmaker, Joanne Caputo—easily the most beautiful woman in any room. We are the awe-struck parents of Max (20), and Cooper (22).

I'm a lucky guy.