Welcome to my
monthly interview feature! I’m so excited to be interviewing all the fabulous
artists, illustrators and designers I’ve meet over the years (both personally
and virtually!) and sharing their artwork and experiences here on Bird Meets
Worm. Look for a new interview on the first Tuesday of every month. (Special Note!! Bird Meets Worm will be
taking an artist interview summer break in the month of August. But, be sure to
check back in September because you don’t want to miss all the fun interviews
coming in the Fall! Cheers!)
This month I’m so happy to be catching up with the fabulous
Designer/Illustrator, Jill Howarth! I first came across Jill’s delightful
artwork during Lilla Rogers’ MATS class and instantly fell for her whimsical
characters and imaginative typography. Jill grew up in
a tiny town in rural Pennsylvania, and always loved to draw. She attended Penn
State University for Graphic design. Upon graduation, Jill took a job as a Junior
Designer at Hasbro, in their corporate design department. She eventually became
an Art Director for their Playskool brand, but when she started a family, she happily
turned to freelancing. Since then, Jill has gradually shifted her focus from
design to primarily illustration. You can view more of her artwork here!
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| Happy as an adorable pear! Love it! |
Q: You are a master of typography and hand-lettering!
Dish with us about your inspiration, process and approach to type.
A: Ha, I so wish I was a master, but
it's a field that is heavily loaded with talent these days! I don't really know
why, but I've always liked playing with lettering and truthfully, it is a very
learnable skill. My comfort level with it probably has a lot to do with my
background as a graphic designer. In college, one of my typography
professors made us hand paint all these super long quotes. It seemed
ridiculously tedious at the time (and it was!) but it really made you pay
attention to relationships between letters, X height, kerning, ligatures… all
that fun stuff, haha. But really, there is no substitute for practice and
observation. It was tedious work at times, but I guess I enjoyed it and I'm
glad I had the experience. In many ways, I like lettering because even though
there are tons of choices and approaches, it's still finite...a "b"
has to look like a "b," a "w" is a "w," and so
on. There is a certain set of parameters when working with type that is
different than say drawing something from scratch and getting past that blank
page stage, that we all hate. It becomes a puzzle that you can go about
solving…choosing the best forms/variations of those letters that support the
intent of the word or the larger quote and making them all fit well
together.
As far as inspiration, there are sooooo
many wonderful lettering artists that I admire. I'm constantly finding more to
follow on Instagram! From technically perfect, to brush/ calligraphic masters,
to expressive, I could never name names, since there is so much talent out
there. I'm also inspired by the founders of modern graphic design, particularly
Pushpin, with Seymour Chwast, Milton Glaser and so on.
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| So sweet, so darling! Love the soft palette and little black bear! |
Q: How has your time at a Senior Designer/Art
Director at Hasbro Toys influenced your freelance illustration career—both
artistically and business-wise?
A: Well, I didn't graduate from college,
hoping to work for a toy company, but I think there are a lot of advantages to
working in a corporate design department that a lot of young designers
overlook. Like so many graduates, I hoped to land something in some hot design
studio or boutique agency. When that didn't happen right away, I applied for a
junior design job at Hasbro. Working in a corporate environment gives you an
inside look at all the facets of getting a product to market. You have to work
with all the major corporate players from marketing, sales, legal, copywriting,
R&D, packaging, merchandising, etc. It really gives you a broad spectrum of
experience, plus you have the opportunity to work with freelancers and see the
other side of the coin, so to speak.
Artistically, you need to work in a way
that will satisfy your creative vision, while keeping all those aforementioned
departments happy. It's not always easy, but it's "real life" design
work. Plus, as an art director, you have to work within budgets and source out
vendors, so there is business experience to be gained as well.
Q: Give us the scoop on your MOST favorite
illustration project you’ve created—one from the past and one from the present.
A: Ohhhhh...that's a tough question! I'm
not sure I can fairly answer that, ha. As far as personal projects, I really
enjoyed working on my letters for the group alphabet project we did over at
Happy Happy Art Collective. I recently did a book cover of Alice and Wonderland
for Scholastic that I'm especially proud of. It combined both lettering and
illustration, so it felt like a perfect fit. I also worked on some Christmas
board books recently, so I'm super excited about those coming out.
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| An autumn woodland fantasy rocking out with the squirrels & bunnies! |
Q: You exhibited for the first time at Surtex 2015
with your art collective Happy Happy. (And your booth was SO fabulous!!) Tell
us a bit about your experiences before, during and after the show.
A: Well, Surtex was a whirlwind! And a
great experience for me as part of a collective. I'm usually the one standing
on the sidelines, so this was the perfect opportunity to work with such
talented artists that I am proud to call friends as well. We worked together
pretty seamlessly in designing the booth, as well as all the other nitty gritty
details of show preparation. My biggest issue was the super late start I had on
making new work. Because of that, I didn't have the time to do as much promo as
I would have liked to. I went into it with low to no expectations and came away
very happy with the wide range of contacts and some deals. Plus, it was a ton
of fun!
Q: How do you approach marketing yourself as an
illustrator to both existing and potential clients? What marketing advice would
you give fellow illustrators wishing to generate a steady stream of work?
A: I don't think I'm the best person to
ask about self-marketing, but I'll try. I'm a strong believer in just getting
your work out there, on your site, social media, wherever! You never know where
someone might come across your work. Also, just ask! Don't be afraid to send
some samples to a dream client who you think might be a good match for your
style. You have nothing to lose and you might be surprised with a positive
response. And pay attention! I follow a lot of cool shops on Instagram to seek
what is popular and trending and who they are working with. And with existing
clients, it goes without saying, be on time or ahead of schedule and if time
allows, give them more than they asked for.
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| Can you say adorable boy bedding? Yes, yes and yes! |
Q: Describe your most perfect Sunday.
A: Hmmmm...being off on some exciting
vacation sounds pretty good right about now! Short of that, maybe a great
breakfast out with some good coffee, followed by watching some baseball at
Fenway (even though I am a lifelong Yankee fan, I still like the park),
followed by dinner at my favorite tex mex restaurant in Cambridge! Lots of
eating and no cooking!