Cherry Popping 2: A Collection of Illustrators’ First Illustrations

Recently, we invited some of our favorite illustrators pals to tell about their first illustration experience, and the response was so great, that we decided to post Cherry Popping 2!

• What was your first illustration?
  Again, if you would like to share your own experience, drop it in the comments.

Leif Parsons / www.leifparsons.com

What was your first illustration project?
nyt’s letters op-ed / Peter Buchanan-smith was the art director at the time

How much time did you have? How long did it take?
It was an already done response to 9-11 for a concept class (Blechman and Neimann)
(peter was giving a guest crit and liked it)

How did it turn out?
no bad feelings

How much did you get paid?
the same op-ed letters fee that has been going for 10+years ($175 i think)

Anything else, stories, nerves, etc.?
Already done so all happy feelings -told the peeps

Ted Mcgrath / www.tedmcgrath.com / @tedmcgrath

What was your first illustration project?
First job: I was sent to a kosher hot dog factory in Williamsburg to draw it from life for 11211 Magazine

When did you do this piece?
the summer of 2002

How much time did you have? How long did it take?
It took about a 2 or 3 hours (i was given a lovely and fascinating, if visceral guided tour) and maybe an hour to clean up the drawings back at my apartment and deliever the originals to the magazine’s offices (dial up!!!).

How did it turn out?
I thought the drawings were actually really cool, but the magazine ran them really really tiny and put a weird gray haze over them for no apparent reason, which was a bummer, especially back in my sensitive, formative years.

How much did you get paid?
The job was unpaid, of course, as so many first jobs are and the “learning experiences” and “exposure” that came with it were you know, maybe not the lessons you have fun learning but i suppose are inevitable in this line of work… i did end up smelling like hot dogs for about a week, and threw out my sneakers as the smell never left.

Anything else, stories, nerves, etc.?
I ended up a vegeterian for the first part of that summer, much to the delight of my then roommates and girlfriend (all vegetarians), but the allures of barbecue season eventually proved enough to overwhelm the gory grossness i had begun to associate with seasonal grill fare.

David Huyck / www.cloudyco.com / @huyckd

What was your first illustration project?
If I remember correctly, my first client project, where someone contacted me and wanted me to do some work in exchange for actual money, was after my 2004 Threadless shirt “Shadow Bunny” came out. The band “The Honorary Title” contacted me to do some t-shirts for their upcoming tour.

When did you do this piece?
I think it was 2005.

How much time did you have? How long did it take?
I don’t remember exactly, but I do remember it was kind of short. They wanted three shirts and a set of four buttons in two weeks or something like that.  I met the deadline, but it was kind of an ASAP thing, so I just sent them what they wanted as soon as I finished it. At the time I had a day job, and not much else going on in the evening, so I just did it right away.

How did it turn out?
The shirt I liked best was the one they didn’t choose, but I used the design for some other things down the line. Overall, I was pleased. The best part was seeing people wearing the shirt “in the wild.”

Also, they came back for more shirts, so I assume that means they were satisfied customers!

How much did you get paid?
I don’t remember, but I remember asking for more than they wanted to pay, and less than I wanted to earn, so it was a compromise. They paid a little late, but they paid in full, so I wasn’t put off by the process too much.

Anything else, stories, nerves, etc.?
I think the biggest thing for me was trying to make sure I wasn’t getting ripped off, at the same time I was trying to deal with them as professionally as I could, even though it was a bit of a seat-of-the-pants operation at the time. I feel like a LOT has changed since then, and still I feel just as nervous when giving a quote as I did back then. The Graphic Arts Guild book is my best friend. I never feel bad about quoting something in the range of GAG suggestions, but in general I’ve found that people will be shocked at a fair price if they haven’t paid for professional illustration before.  I figure if they don’t want to pay a fair price, I’m not interested in trying to educate them. Eventually they will get what they pay for.

*extra credit if you send a image of the piece!
the honorary title

Jon Han / www.jon-han.com

What was your first illustration project?
My first illustration project was for a spot for the New York Times.

When did you do this piece?
2007

How much time did you have? How long did it take?
I had about 5 hrs to finish the assignment. from receiving the article to sketches to finish. i took about 3 hrs.

How did it turn out?
I thought it came out ok.

Anything else, stories, nerves, etc.?
It was a bit intimidating. since the quick deadline. Prior to the job i had spent at least a couple days on images.

Josh Cochran / www.joshcochran.net / @pencilfactory

What was your first illustration project?
My first illustration project was for the NYTimes Book Review back when Steven Heller use to art direct the section. The review was for the book “Urban Experience and the Language of the Novel”. It had something to do with the language of the modern novel reflecting the modern city. 

When did you do this piece?
I did the piece in June of 2005

How much time did you have? How long did it take?
I had about 4 days from start to finish. I worked on it pretty much nonstop from beginning till end and might have even pulled a near all nighter to deliver everything in time on Monday morning.

How did it turn out?
Pretty good! The author of the book wrote the Book Review because he really liked the illustrations which blew my mind. I still keep it in my portfolio maybe also in part of fond memories since it was my first piece.

How much did you get paid?
$1000, for this illustration and an accompanying quarter pager.

Anything else, stories, nerves, etc.?
See Frank Stockton’s q/a for this.

Nina Frenkel / www.ninafrenkel.com

What was your first illustration project?
This was one of the first illustrations I did for Slate magazine when I was working as Production Assistant on the staff in 1996. I made this just before, on, or around the time that magazine launched, as a header for Herb Stein’s regular “column”, called the “Committee of Correspondence”.

When did you do this piece?
1996

How much time did you have? How long did it take?
I did it in a couple of hours, at my desk at Microsoft, which was Slate’s publisher at the time. 

How did it turn out?
This piece turned out pretty good– I felt like I got Herb Stein’s features in the right place, and captured a twinkle. It also has a soft spot because, looking back, I was really into scratchboard at the time, and I haven’t used it in ages. So this piece reminds me of how excited I was about that material– how it looked crafty and woodblocky.

How much did you get paid?
I don’t recall getting paid for Slate Illos I made at that point– I was working on the Staff, thrilled to have Illustration be part of my ‘job description’, and so my regular paycheck was the payment.

Anything else, stories, nerves, etc.?
I was weirdly calm and confident doing this piece.  I think that the subject -Herb Stein- looks like a family member, and I so I could relate to him that way. I felt I knew him, from his face.

*extra credit if you send a image of the piece!
(I have the original in storage, and no scans on my current system, but I did find this online…it’s tiny!)

David Gibson / www.gibsonillustration.com

What was your first illustration project?
my first job came after 2 years of calling up AD’s and doing the rounds with portfolio and sending mailers- it was for the Times higher education supplement-for the growing use and benefits of e-portfolios among recent graduate students.

i had actually given up all hope of a career in illustration a couple of days before  the email came.

When did you do this piece?
april 2007- i think it was a wednesday

How much time did you have? How long did it take?
couple of days to produce some roughs then 4 days (including the weekend) to get the final over.

i was so excited that i got to work straight away on a near by old envelope and the very first sketches i made were the obvious- a mortar board hat and a computer mouse. i continued making sketches and ideas all day-at this point i didnt draw people so they were all just combinations of relevant symbols to the piece- cd’s, graduation scrolls, computers etc. 

the final took me maybe a day but i was so fussy and messy back then- used to just layer things and textures and play with sizes in photoshop and use different pencils-i thought knew what i was doing. now that process confuses me and seems very studenty

How did it turn out?
i kind of like it still. i sent 2 versions because i was nervous and insecure, the art director chose the best one.

How much did you get paid?
£180 or £200 what was good is that i sent the invoice a week late for some lazy reason and when he recieved it he asked me to do another job, i thought it was a promising start after 2 years waiting for a job. 

Anything else, stories, nerves, etc.?
i’m certain i got this job because the AD was covering the original person i had made the appointment with- who was on maternity leave- so he gave me a shot. i needed this small break otherwise i think i would now be a teacher or in advertising