Illustrator Saturday – Jon Stommel

Jon Stommel was born and raised in Indianapolis, Indiana. He attended the Columbus College of Art and Design, where he recieved a BFA in Illustration in 2009. Jon now resides in Portland, OR, where he works as a professional mural painter and freelance illustrator. Jon has painted murals in Ohio, Georgia, Oregon, and Washington, for clients including Mellow Mushroom Pizza Bakers Inc., Columbus Metropolitan Library, and the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.

Jon works as a freelance illustrator under the moniker “Treehead Illustations”. He likes to draw and paint and read and ride bikes and hopes to do that for the rest of his life.

Here is Jon’s work and his process for his first picture book titled, How BJ Diana Came to Live at the Z House by Holly Zanville:

I make the drawing based on the client’s general description of what they want depicted. Once it’s drawn, I take a photo of the drawing, which I then email to the client. After the drawing is o.k’d by the client, it is then scanned and my partner takes it into photoshop. Using the layer multiply technique, he is able to color the drawing digitally while still retaining the original line work and shading. The result is an image that has both the intense color and layered transparency quality of a digital painting and the texture of a graphite drawing on paper.

Same as above description: Showing Final Sketch and Below – Final Illustration.

Did you know anyone who had illustrated a children’s book, in order to help you understand the nuances of a picture book?

I had an illustration teacher at CCAD named Mike Boley who gave me a lot of valuable advice when it came to illustrating children’s books. Also, Ron Tardino was my teacher for the illustrative drawing class that I mentioned before, where we went to the zoo to draw animals. He helped me formulate the idea for several stories that I still plan to write and illustrate. It was from these two teachers that I learned the nuances of picture book illustrating.

Was this self-published book you did for Holly Zanville the first time you tried you hand at illustrating a book?

Yes.

Can you share the process you used for the illustrations with the imaginary monsters and kids?

They were done on cold press watercolor paper with a good amount of tooth to it. They were lightly sketched with pencil, then water colored, and then tightened up and detailed with additional pencil work at the end.

What was the first thing you got paid to do?

During the summer after my freshman year of college I started doing large portraits in charcoal on drawing paper and displaying them at the coffee shop that I worked at. They got a lot of attention there, and I ended up getting a few commissions each week from customers that were coming in and seeing them. I would draw famous musicians and artists for my own personal practice, display them, and then end up drawing people’s family members or the musicians, artists, authors, or other historical figures that they found particularly inspirational.

When did you decide you wanted to make a career using your artistic talent?

When I was a senior in High School I made a choice between attending art school to be an illustration major, or attending a State University to become a business major. In the end, I went with my passion, which was making art. It has been a challenge ever since graduating to continue finding work and new clients, but I wouldn’t change my decision for the world. I get to do what I love to do every day for a living, and for me, that is priceless.

I see you went to the Columbus College of Art and Design. Can you share some of highlights of attending the school and little bit about the classes?

CCAD is a great school. The number of students usually averages around 1,500, so it’s a pretty tight-nit community. Some of the highlights of attending the school was being involved in various group shows in alternative gallery spaces around the city of Columbus while still in my undergraduate studies. These experiences really helped to give me the confidence and experience to continue pursuing gallery exhibition opportunities after graduating. In the illustration program, I was able to take classes in humorous illustration, children’s book illustration, and professional practices, which helped me to develop a website, write invoices, and find clients. My favorite illustration class that I took at CCAD was an illustrative drawing class. This class would meet twice a week during the fall semester at the Columbus Zoo, where we would do life drawings of animals for three hours. About halfway through the semester, we would take all of the drawings that we’d done from life and begin to develop characters and formulate a story based on them. It really helped me to understand how to draw animal anatomy and how to design cartoon characters for storytelling.

Do you feel any of your college training helped develop your style?

The illustration program at CCAD actually encouraged everyone to develop their own style. What was emphasized more so, was composition, color interaction, variety of point of view, believability of character anatomy. Each teacher had their own particular style that they had developed over the years, and some students were clearly influenced by these when developing their own. As for me, I had my illustration heroes picked out well before I took illustration classes. These included Shel Silverstein, Maruice Sendak, Dr. Suess, and Edward Gorey, to name a few. These were the artists that I continued to read, view and study as I developed my own style.

Did the college help you get an illustrating job after you graduated?

There were classes specifically focused on teaching us how and where to look for illustration work – various websites and databases for example. CCAD has a ”careers” website where clients looking for illustrators post jobs semi-regularly. There was also a career fair where all visual communications related majors – illustrators and designers – were able to set up a table with their portfolio. Prospective employers walked around and perused students’ work and handed out business cards. In my case, I wanted to be an independent or freelance illustrator. I’ve had luck through gallery shows, mural painting, and other personal friendships getting a lot of work through word of mouth. I never wanted to be employed as a professional, office- type designer, so I’ve sort of had to blaze my own path this far.

Some areas of the country have strong artist communities. Would you consider Columbus one of them?

Absolutely. Columbus has CCAD, Ohio State University, and a handful of other colleges that offer art in various disciplines as a major. As a result, there are a ton of young artists who have graduated from these various schools and decided to continue creating and displaying artwork in Columbus. There are a variety of galleries to exhibit in. The “Do-It-Yourself” scene in Columbus is also particularly strong. I’ve displayed work in a handful of alternative gallery spaces in warehouses and in people’s homes alongside many other young and emerging artists.

I really like the illustrations you used on your website for each heading.  How did you do them?

The heading illustrations were all done with watercolor and micron ink pens. My process for those involved drawing the image in graphite on cold press watercolor paper, which I prefer to use because it adds a sense of texture to the image. I then colored the images with watercolor paints and drew the line work over the top of them with micron pens.

How did you get started doing murals?

I went to a show in New York during the winter break of my sophomore year of college.
It was a show where 30 or more ”street artists” had painted the whole interior of a five story building on the corner of Wooster and Spring street in Soho. The experience was truly transformative for me. Afterward, I felt like I had found a new direction to follow with my own work. When I got back to Columbus I decided I needed to start painting walls myself, because I wanted to be able to create the same sort of profound and moving experience for others that I had had myself. I started with the walls in my own room, changing it into an imaginative forest environment. Then I talked with the owner of a bar down the street and got permission to paint a collaborative mural with some friends on the exterior wall on the back of his building. From there, I just continued to paint walls in people’s apartments, in shops and restaurants, and on outside walls around Columbus over the next four years that I lived there. I can honestly say that I am now thoroughly addicted to the process.

Is there a demand for illustrating murals?

There is somewhat of a demand for mural paintings. The trick though, in my opinion, is to create the demand for one’s work by making the work first. To paint an exterior wall with a beautiful and eye-catching mural is not only to transform the environment in which the mural is placed, but also to show people what is possible when it comes to mural painting. The more murals that I painted on exterior walls around Columbus, the more emails or phone calls I would get from people here and there, wanting me to paint a mural for them. After a while, I could start to tell that there was truly a demand there for my particular style of mural painting, and it was a result of all the work that I had done for fun changing outside walls of buildings all around the city.

Do you paint them directly on the walls or paint them digitally and have them printed on vinyl to use on the wall?

I’ve never had anything printed on vinyl and adhered to a wall. I have in one instance painted on sheets of masonite in my studio apartment, and then transported those sheets to a library and installed them on the wall. This was a good option for that project, because the mural was installed in the children’s book section, and the walls were raised off the ground about teen feet. It wouldn’t have been safe to be on extension ladders in an area were children were busy traversing and looking for books to read. In every other instance, I have painted directly on the wall of whatever place I’ve painted a mural.

Why do you call your company Tree Head?

The name Tree Head refers to using one’s imagination as a way to explore a myriad of possibilities in image making and storytelling. Just as a tree starts as a sapling and then spreads outwards and upwards over time as it ingests water, minerals, and sunlight, so does an artist’s imagination and vision. The more images, symbols, scenes, characters, and environments that an artist has rendered and experimented with, the more experience that artist has to draw from when trying to branch out even further in image making.

How did you get involved with doing children’s books?

Holly Zanville is the first writer that I’ve worked with in illustrating children’s books. She contacted me because she was referred to me by a woman that I’ve known for many years from Indianapolis, where I was born and raised. Teresa Detrich was the mother of one of my good friends when I was growing up in Indianapolis. When I got older, she commissioned me for a large portrait project for the Lumina Education Foundation. Teresa referred me to Holly when she was looking for an illustrator for her books.

It looks like this painting was done on masonite.  How did you do it?

Yes, some of my paintings are done on masonite with a combination of latex, acrylic, and either sharpie paint markers or india ink. I always put a coat of krylon clear coat over them at the end to help keep them archival.

How did you decide how to charge for that job?

I thought about how much time each illustration would take to draw, and I took into consideration that I would be working with another artist, who does the digital coloring for the illustrations. When I had figured how many hours each of us had spent, I calculated an hourly rate, and estimated the cost of each illustration based on how we would like to be compensated for our time.

How much direction did Holly want to provide?

Holly and I met and came up with a basic idea for what sort of characters and action would be involved in each illustration. From there, she’s been really great about giving me a lot of freedom in deciding from what perspective, or angle each illustration would be viewed. Our process involves my sending her the drawing for each illustration, then upon her approval, the artist who I collaborate with, Travis Czekalski, digitally colors the illustrations with my own critical input during that step of the process. We then send Holly the finished, color illustration. We’ve developed enough communication and trust at this point, that there are seldom final edits that need to be made. However, we are always happy to make them if Holly sees something that she would like to have changed.

Have you sent out samples of your artwork to children’s publishers, seeking business?

I have not yet. I do plan do so, however, once we’ve finished the second of Holly’s books.

Do you think you will continue illustrating picture books?

Absolutely. I currently work more often as a professional mural painter, but I hope to continue illustrating picture books for various authors in the years to come.

I see you collaborate with another person with your work. What type of things does he do with you?

I work collaboratively with Travis Czekalski. We’ve painted over twenty interior and exterior murals together over the last two years, and have illustrated one children’s book with another one in the works. The way we work together on murals is a little different than the way we collaborate on illustrations. For murals, some time I draw the design for a wall, and sometimes he does. Whoever has drawn the initial design then allows the other to digitally color that sketch before sending it off to the client for approval. Once the design is approved, we both paint the image, with Travis focusing more on paint mixing and color fills, while I focus more on drawing the initial image and creating the methodical line work at the end.

When it comes to illustration, I do all the character design and drawing. Travis then takes the drawn illustration on paper and scans it into the computer. Once he has a digital version of the drawing, he takes the image into photoshop and colors it digitally. Then I give him any feedback that I might find necessary to adjust the colors before sending the author the final version.

Have you ever thought of trying to get an agent?

I plan to do so very soon, as I think our portfolio is approaching the point at which it will have enough work examples. We’ve been working together for just about two years now, and have had a good amount of luck finding commissions without an agent. However, I do believe it may be time to increase our likelihood of finding more work by accepting representation.

What are you favorite materials?

When working on my own individual work I really enjoy using watercolor and micron pens. I also do more bold, graphic paintings at times using a combination of acrylic paint and India ink for line work. When I paint murals I mostly use latex paint, but sometimes I use aerosol to create certain desired effects.

This illustrations titled, “Why So Glum” has a different looks.  How did you get this look?

This piece was painted using acrylic paint on a slick particle board. I then scratched paint away using my house keys in order to draw the image and create a ”distressed” quality. Once the basic image was scratched, I went back in with blue sharpie for the lines and a sea-foam green paint marker for the eyes. This painting was done as an exercise, and not necessarily in preparation for a mural.

Have you ever submitted your artwork to Magazines or Newspaper?

My work will be featured in an Ohio State University magazine called “The Journal” on October 1st. Other than that, I have not yet submitted my artwork to any other publications, but I do plan to do so in the not too distant future.

How do you find business?

Upon moving to Portland, Oregon, I’ve used RACC.org’s job page to find a number of mural commissions. Prior to that, I had a lot of luck finding work in Columbus as a result of showing my fine art paintings in various coffee shops, bars, DIY spaces and galleries. Also, painting murals is always the best way to advertise my work, and has been the greatest method for stirring public interest.

Do you have any writing aspirations?

I do have some writing aspirations. I have fully outlined two stories that I plan to write and illustrate sometime in the next few years. Commissions keep me entirely too busy as of right now to find any spare time to write and illustrate my own stories, but I fully intend on fleshing them out at some point.

Do you use Photoshop? How and where do you use it?

I do. I use Photoshop to adjust the hue, saturation, and contrast of finished illustrations that are done with traditional mediums. Travis and I also rely on Photoshop to do digital coloring for mural sketches and for finished story book illustrations that we collaborate on.

Do you have or use a graphic tablet? If so, which one do you have? Do you like it?

I have a Wacom Cintiq monitor that I use to do all digital coloring for mixed digital and traditional illustrations. I really do enjoy using it, and it offers a lot of benefits over the separate tablet. With the Cintiq monitor, one can draw or color directly onto the image that is being displayed.

Where do you do your illustrating? I have a home office where I do my illustrating.

Do you have a studio set up? I also have a painting/drawing studio set up in my apartment where I can work on larger drawings and paintings on canvas, paper, and wood.

What are you working on now?

I am currently working on illustrating the second book in the “Z-House” series, written by Holly Zanville. Travis and I also have an elementary school in Lincoln City, Oregon that we’ve been contacted to paint murals for in the coming fall.

Do you have any little tips that you can share with other illustrators looking for work?

I’ve had a lot of success in handing out business cards during conversations where my profession comes up. Displaying artwork in coffee shops and other retail spaces is also a good way to get one’s work seen by a large number of people. Just don’t forget to include your contact info when displaying artwork in public spaces so that potential clients can get a hold of you if they’re interested!

I asked Jon why he recently moved to Portland and he said, “I moved from Columbus to Portland at the beginning of November, 2011 because a group of my friends from CCAD had moved here prior and told me that it was a great city in a lot of ways. The natural surroundings are breathtaking, it’s the nation’s most easily bike-able city, and the art and music scene are both extremely rich here. I’ve found quite a few opportunities to paint murals and display artwork in a handful of galleries since I’ve been here, and have been on some of the most breathtaking hikes and beach trips that I’ve ever been on.”

I have always heard how nice Portland is, but I have never been there.  I have been to Seattle and thought that was wonderful.  Thank you Jon for sharing your journey at college and how much you have accomplished in the few years since you graduated.  We be be keeping an eye on your progress.  You can see more of Jon’s work or contact him at www.imatreehead.com. He also works in collaboration with his partner Travis Czekalski, whom he co-owns a mural painting business with called “Rather Severe Mural Painters”. Their website can be found at: www.rathersevere.blogspot.com .  I am sure Jon would love to hear your comments. Thanks!

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy