Children's Book Artist Rebecca Waddington Miller



Fabulous Artist Rebecca Miller has the ability to create beautiful yet simple lines that convey whole worlds.  She has been working as freelancer and shares how she became an artist. 




Kim: Hi Rebecca! It has been so long since I have seen you! I would really love to ask you some questions to put on my blog and help my students become better artists.

Why did you become an artist?  
Rebecca: I originally thought I would study business in college, it seemed practical. Art was just something you did for fun, like soccer or eating ice cream
smile emoticonI loved art since I was little and was always fairly good at it. I was drawing all the time. When I got to college I had a friend who was studying art education and noticed how I drew so much and helped me realize the many different art career options and that it was something worth considering! So pretty much, I became an artist because it is so fun!

Kim: What inspires you as an artist?
Rebecca: I love looking at other artist's work and nature. I love museums and fashion, especially for color palette ideas. I love Jen Corace and Lisbeth Zwerger a lot. Instagram is great to be inspired.

Kim: What is your favorite thing to draw?
Rebecca: My favorite thing to draw is farm animals, like goat, sheep, chickens. People are a close second.

Kim: Do you have any projects you are excited about at the moment? 
Rebecca: I've worked on some doodle books recently with friends. We have a website called artpigeon.com that's in the works. The doodle books are like sketchbooks already started for you. It's with Katy Cummings and Brooke Smart. It was fun to collaborate together and choose what I draw.

Kim: Thank you so much for your help! It was fun to get your insight.

Rebecca lives in Pleasant Grove, Utah with her lovely family. She has illustrated many books, does web banner for AirClass, a division of Lenovo. She enjoys running with her hubby and throwing Jedi Parties for her son. You can buy her books at Deseret and check out her art at www.rebeccamillerillustration.com

We would love to hear any comments or suggestions for artists interviews!



























Renoun Artist, Illustrator and BYU Professor Robert Barrett




This interview is a must read! We are thrilled to be able to talk with Professor Robert Barrett of BYU. Being the head of the BYU Illustration Area he has nurtured a prestigious program with his fellow faculty, which has fed all of the artistic industries with fabulous artists. To name a few companies/jobs his alumni work for/as are Blizzard, Riot Games, Pixar, Disney, Cricut Games, university Art and Design Professors, winners of national illustration competitions and children's book artists.  
He is a veteran artist of 30 years plus, he works with oils, acrylic, pastels among others. He masterfully pioneered the pastel painting figure drawing and the pull out technique. He has illustrated numerous books, some which are children's books and a book about President Barack Obama, entitled Obama: Only in America, written by Carole Boston Weatherford.  He has exhibited at numerous art museums, galleries, and universities - what a treat to get his perspective, advice and insight.

 

Kim: Hi Robert Barrett, we where wondering if you could answer some questions for our students.

Bob: Yes, sounds good

Kim: What are the main things that inspire you as an artist. What gives you ideas?

Bob: Well there are a lot of things probably. I do like drawing a lot and life drawing. Nature is great and looking at the work of other artists. That can be very inspirational or discouraging!
Kim: Yes!
Bob: It depends on which artist you look at right!

Kim: Definitely, I can relate to that! What are somethings that you consider that makes a good teacher? A mark of a good teacher in art?

Bob: I had some good teachers along the way and some that were not so great but, first of all, I think that a teacher has to be interested in you and your progress. One of big influences that I talk a bit about in my book is a teacher that I had at the University of Utah called Alvin Gittens. He was willing to be in the class with us all the time when a lot of other teachers were not. And he demoed a lot and he would give us demos that he had done you know, which were inspirational. And he was great, he painted dignitaries up and down the Wasatch front and members of the first Presidency, a couple of Apostles and some Presidents of the University of Utah. So he wasn't a slacker in terms of his own skill set but he was very interested in students. He kind of considered teaching a moral act and if you shouldered that burden then you had to give it your very best. But I think some of my teachers looked at it (their teaching jobs) as their own kind of meal ticket to do their own art work and they weren't so interested in the students but they were very interested in the paycheck.



Kim: So do you think some of the qualities of teaching is to be really invested in teaching the students?

Bob: I think so and I think you have to asses where they are and what they need. And,you know, provide the right opportunity to them so they can become motivated, if they are not, or to stay motivated if they are motivated. And so, at least at BYU, we have been trying to bring in guest artists and we have been really blessed in the last few years to have a lot more revenue and resource to bring in 7 artists this past academic year. There are some pretty top names artists too - both in illustration and figurative painting. We had David Wiesner here. He is the Caldecott Award-winning artist. We had Zhaoming Wu who is a Chinese figurative painter and Heather Thuerer who is an amazing 
L​DS artist who we had up from Las Vegas. We had some other great figurative painters and illustrators and sometimes we bring in an art director like Soojin Buzelli who talked to the students about how to promote themselves. We also have a really great group of former students - alumni - who we can choose from. We have some like Michael Parker who has been with us for several years, and,more recently, Chris Creek to teach our professional practices class - he did well in that class. We tell all our adjuncts that we really appreciate all their work because we don't pay them what they are worth. But they are all more interested in teaching and giving back than they are in a paycheck so that is nice. We take them out to lunch or we bring lunch in and we invited them all to the Christmas party in December with their spouses. So little things that show them that we really appreciate them. But anyway I think if you want committed, interested and motivated students you have to be that way as a teacher.


Kim: So going back into your history a little bit, what first made you want to become an artist?

Bob: Well I grew up in a home where I had parents who both drew and painted. My dad was an engineer, actually a mining engineer, but mid-career switched into the aerospace industry. His drawings were always a bit technical and he would copy old master drawings and paintings. He passed away just 6 weeks ago and we are just going through the home and my siblings kinda tasked me with rounding up all the art. So I have a big portfolio sitting on the sofa that has 60 + water colors and several pastel and pencil drawings that my Dad did. So I kind of grew up with them and my Mom was very creative. They both were but my Mom encouraged us to be very creative. I grew up in Moab, Utah, and my Dad was involved with the uranium/mining part of that, but my mom would go out plein-air painting. We had oil paintings stacked in our front closet, and I remember opening the door to that closet and thinking that those kinds of things were magical. My mom taught what was called Cultural Refinement lessons in Relief Society back in those days, and she taught about Mark Twain and Shakespeare, and other great authors and she would enlist my dad and they would do illustrations for the lessons. And sometimes these were pretty involved you know. My dad I remember him doing the Witches of Endor from Macbeth and Hamlet holding Yorick's skull. My mom would do different ones like characters from Love's Labour's Lost and Measure for Measure, different plays like that. Other kids in the family also grew up around the art making -  my older brother is a mathematician so he didn't really pursue it, my younger brother that went into computer science and he can draw pretty well, and my sister also draws and paints.



Kim: So you have a very diverse skill set in your family. 

Bob: Yeah, I was reading a letter that I came across of my Mom's last night and they moved in to a home in the country up in Salt Lake when she was 14. They moved in to the home when it wasn't finished and there was a wall in her bedroom and she was so thankful that they let her draw all over the wall. I remember her telling me that but I actually saw an old photo of the wall and it was literally covered from ceiling to floor with drawings. She wrote in this letter that she appreciated parents that would allow her to be that creative.

Kim: That is awesome, maybe I should let my kids draw all over their walls!

Bob: I was collecting up some of her drawings and paintings and, oh my gosh, there were just piles and piles of construction paper and all kinds of materials, paint brushes, acrylics and she did ceramics for years and things like that. There is a ton of that - she has 23 grand children and 13 grand daughters so I said going through her watercolors that if anyone is interested you can have 2 or three of her originals and you can frame it how you want to. My daughter just got here from New York last night and I told her we would likely give her a couple of those watercolors - she thought that would be really special.
Kim: That is a great thing to be able to have and see on your wall.
Bob: So she has my originals on her wall and we do in my family. For a 50th wedding anniversary gift for my parents I framed several of my mom's watercolors which are on their walls.

Kim: That is amazing that it runs in your family and you have such a wealth of things to share with one another. I was going to ask you what do you think has contributed to your success as an artist? What kind of qualities do you think you have?
Bob: I think you have to have good ideas and then I think you have to execute them well. You have to pay attention to craftsmanship and attention to technique and composition. But I think having skill is great - we can teach students to draw but then they have to come up with interesting ideas. Tell stories in interesting and compelling ways. Know how to light them, using value, work with all the principles and elements of design which allows them to convey their stories or ideas in powerful ways. Probably not unlike a musician or writer who want to communicate their ideas. In a different form they have to have skill I think and its my bias because I know some conceptual artists don't put that much value on skill but my bias is that its really important.



Kim: Is there anything through school or meeting people that has helped you move forward in your career?

Bob: I think you have to have persistence - right? I think you have to have a vision of where you want to go. I have a friend called Sam Adoquei who wrote a book “How Successful Artists Study”. He is from Ghana where there was no opportunity to study art, but he was able to go to Paris and study art there and then came to America where he could hardly speak English. He settled here and started teaching at the National Academy. Its a really  a remarkable story and embodies a lot of elements of persistence and vision. At the beginning of the book Sam says every student has the ability to become as successful as they can envision themselves becoming. Which I think is probably true for other disciplines as well. What drives someone to become an Olympic gold medal winner? What's in it for them? - It's not always about the money - they are driven by a vision of excellence and by seeing what they can achieve. So I think you have to have some kind of desire and conviction. You have to also not be worried about making mistakes and realize you can say "I will move forward." I remember when I was in undergraduate school, I was in a class where we were going make it or break it on the completion of one large  painting. I had worked on it for 3 weeks - there will be 3 models simultaneously posing. I was working along on the painting and thought things were working pretty well and our instructor came along and tore it out from underneath me. He just said, "Everywhere I look, all I see is over-modeling - It's over modeled horribly." I remember being so upset that day - but I knew he was right and I really had faith in his judgement but I realized then it made me very uncomfortable! I remember thinking to myself I would not do that again. - make the mistake of over- modeling. So I worked really hard not to do that again. I think sometimes being uncomfortable is more beneficial than being patted on the back and being told how great you're doing. Right after I started teaching at BYU I went to a work shop in the Caribbean with great illustrators like Robert Peak who did all those amazing movie posters. I had the chance to show my portfolio to him and he "cut me off at the knees" but it was really good in the end. I remember going back to my hotel room and writing down what he had said. He didn't pull any punches and I thought "good for you" -  "thanks for your honesty!" and I tried really hard later to incorporate things that he said into my work. Learning how to group things together, learning how to be a better designer. I don't think I was really that aware of shape, so after that critique - man, did I start thinking about shape.


Kim: If you had a young person in front of you and they were just starting out as an artist, what would your advice be?

Bob: First of all, I might ask them why they want to be an artist. Secondly I might ask what they want to do with their art. What do you want to say? Do they want to tell stories or do they want to be more expressive, more intuitive, and I would try to point them in some directions that I think would be helpful. I have students come in all the time who want to get into the Illustration Program and you know what its like. It's a very competitive program and we turn a lot of students away but the ones that get in are often the ones that have the drive and the motivation to keep going. And often our best students are those who come back and try a second time. I might say that you have to love art but I would say you have to put a lot work, passion, and drive into what you do.
Kim: Definitely - this has been wonderful. Thank you so much Bob, this has been so fun to catch up and get some of your insight. 

Robert T Barrett currently heads up BYU BFA Illustration Program. He lives in Utah with his family
You can take a look at his work further here at www.roberttbarrett.com













Fabulous Freelance Designer & Artist Rebecca Turner



This is a fabulous day! We get to talk with Rebecca Turner Freelance Illustrator and Designer. She believes in color, pattern, white space, chocolate covered cinnamon bears, supernovas, non-conformity, long distance running, recycling, books, and patience. 

Hi Rebecca! Long time no see :) Your kiddos look adorable.  I would really love to ask you a few questions about being an illustrator.

Rebecca: Hi Kim! Here's my answers, let me know if you want me to clarify anything. I love that you run an art school by the way!
 
Kim:What made you want to be an artist?
Rebecca: My Mom is an artist, so I grew up surrounded by pencils and paint and I was always encouraged in my artistic expressions. I wasn't sure I wanted to pursue art as a career until about 2 years into my college degree. I was dabbling in a lot different areas, but I realized that art was what I thought about all the time, when I closed my eyes at night I would see images that I wanted to create, that's what I was most passionate about. From then out I focused on illustration and design.  

Kim: What inspires you as an artist? 
Rebecca: I love seeing the amazing work that is being created by contemporary artists. I also love looking at vintage children's picture books and ancient patterns. What is your favorite project you have worked on to date? That's a hard one. Nothing stands out. Anytime I feel like I really nailed a design its exciting to me. That definitely doesn't always happen!

Kim: If you are starting out today as an artist what advice would you give yourself?
Rebecca: I do feel like I am still starting out as an artist, so the advice I would give myself or any other aspiring artist is to just make art. Lots of it. Experiment. Keep drawing, keep painting, keep innovating, and don’t be afraid to share your work even if you think you could do better.
 
Kim: Who are some of your favorite artists?  
Rebecca: Isabelle Arsenault, Dadu shin, Angela Marzuki, Charlotte Trounce, Jon Klassen, Marc Boutavant, I have a million favorite artists, but those are some that come to mind!

Kim: What are some projects you are excited about right now? 
Rebecca: One of my fabrics for Minted was used in a styled baby shower shoot here http://www.minted.com/julep/2016/03/21/tropical-jungle-baby-shower/ That was pretty exciting for me. Right now I'm designing Christmas cards and patterns for the holidays, never too soon right?
I was also featured in an article about baby Shower ideas: Tropical Jungle, Design & DIY Inspiration for Home, Weddings, Parties.
My website is rebeccaturnerstudio.com, but I'm in the process of updating it so it's not too current right now. My minted store has more up to date designs http://www.minted.com/store/rebeccaturner

Kim: Thank you so much Rebecca it's been a lot of fun to catch up with you and see what you are doing! Congratulations and wishing you all the best!
Rebecca lives in Indiana with her husband and 3 little ones.













Alvina Kwong Professional Children's Book Illustrator


Alvina Kwong is a talented illustrator with a fun and playful art style much like her personality! Her images are beautiful, full of color and her silhouette, cut out images have wonderful shape and design.  She loves painting and drawing light hearted and whimsical images, children's books and illustrations for the Friend. Read below for a treat!


 
Kim: Hi Alvina, its been a long time! Hope you are doing well. I would love to ask you some questions about your work for my students.

Alvina: Hi Kim!~
Thanks for inviting me to do this for you!  I am very honored that you chose me out of all the wonderful illustrators out there.  I hope my answers are helpful to you and your students.  It's just wonderful you're teaching the little ones! Thanks again for including me! 

Kim: What inspires you as an artist?
Alvina: Lots of things inspire me as an artist.  From everyday things, life, family, friends, my dog, to other artists.  Living in Big Bear, CA inspires me a lot too.  Lots of trees, wildlife, and a big blue lake. Some of the artists that have always inspired me are Norman Rockwell and Mark Buehner.  I still remember the field trip we took at BYU to his house.  That field trip is a reminder of why I love his work. Just being in his studio and seeing his work in real life is amazing.  I draw a lot of animals in my past projects, so animals really inspire me- especially my dog!  I love looking through Pinterest because it has lots of beautiful images.  Often times I look to Pinterest to get ideas for my projects and on what to sketch in my sketchbook.  It's also where I keep my visual references. 

Kim: What makes a good teacher? 
Alvina: I think patience makes a great teacher.  Working with students, you have to have a lot of patience.  Sometimes students are impatient with themselves and don't want to practice or learn the basics/fundamentals; and sometimes they get frustrated because it doesn't look like your picture.  It's important to calm them down and teach them to be patient with their work and themselves.  I always tell my students that it took me years and years of practice and schooling to get to this level.  Drawing and painting teaches them to have patience and be more observant.  

Kim:What is your favorite thing to paint/draw?
Alvina: Horses!! I know it doesn't show in my portfolio/website, but they really are my favorite things to draw and paint.  It's what got me into BYU, a portfolio full of horses.  the funny thing is that it's the least drawn animal I have to show as far as work and projects go.  And I really like to draw them in realistic form, without them being stylized.  The last time I painted a horse was a few years ago..sadly!

Kim: Do you have anything you are working on at the moment you are excited about?
Alvina: I'm currently working on a book about a mouse who lives in Hawaii.  Its a story about learning to share and help each other out.  I'm really excited about it!  I just finished the paintings and am digitally getting them ready to be sent to the publisher.  

Kim: Alvina, thank you so much for you time, great advice and insight. You are a gem!

Alvina lives in big Bear Lake CA with her family and 3 dogs. You can enjoy her art at her blog ling below. She has always felt doing art was where she felt at home.
www.alvinakwong.blogspot.com
http://www.bigbeargrizzly.net/outlook/fantastical-world-at-her-fingertips/article_03d75d5e-dd78-11e4-b3b1-f3976d73cbde.html