Interview with Cheryl Phelps, Illustrator
When did you know you wanted to be an artist? How did you go about pursuing your dreams?
I knew I wanted to be an artist from the time I could hold a crayon. My Mom said I was fascinated with the Sears and Roebuck catalog and all my children's picture books. My drawings in kindergarten were queens with crowns on; I must have come from royalty in a former life! Either that or I was predicting I would work for Hallmark one day; which I did! I loved it when the art teacher showed up in the classroom with the "art cart." Time stood still when I could draw and explore all different kinds of image making. I took art throughout school and later went to the Memphis College of Art. I majored in Painting and Surface Design.
What was one of the most beneficial life experiences that helped your career?
Working for Hallmark for three+ years and then deciding to go freelance. I consider it the best grad school I could have attended at the time. It was a great training ground for illustrating for the gift and card industry. My time at Hallmark launched me into the long-term freelance and licensing career I have now.
My time in Kansas City gave me great friends. I co-founded an art group called THEME and did 17 thematic art shows with 25-40 artists and that taught me how to stage art events and also promote my art. It's a great city with lots of support for art, and looking back, I realize it was one of the most creatively and prolific times of my life.
How have you seen the industry change since you started your career?
Both good and bad. More artists are licensing, doing great work, setting terms for advocacy for themselves, and in the midst of such positive proactive change, so many companies want to pay the same amount for illustration that they paid 20 years ago. It's nuts!
What are your goals for the present?
I'm working on writing a book based on the factual and educational storytelling I do in my art licensing workshops. We're visual people and we learn through example. I'm a Southerner, so that combination of conveying knowledge through shared wisdom really appeals to me. I'm working on a series of paintings to do some self-manufacturing of product from illustrating the art and doing inspirational writing, to accompany the work on cards and t-shirts.
What direction do you see the art of illustrating heading?
I think illustration is going to have some real Renaissance leaps in reclaiming some of the traditional mediums, while still utilizing the computer to generate promotion and get the image directly to the consumer.
I see many more artistic entrepreneurs popping up via the Internet and self generated manufacturing to get the buzz out about their great work. Rather than waiting for companies to produce them, they are putting their work on products via sites like cafepress.com and going for it. I say hooray and be brave.
We're trying to come out of an extremely restrictive time where companies have really tightened their belts. The economy is tense and so is the world. Usually after times like this, art thrives and moves ahead. Right now I feel a little like illustration is on the runway, waiting to take off again. I think we're next in line to lift off.
How important is it for illustrators to be aware of the following:
1. Marketing themselves - First, I always tell illustrators to go shopping. You can't create in a bubble. If you want your work on a magazine cover, children's book, calendar, gift bag, card, kitchen towel or any product, you have to go out and find your place in the world of products and illustration and where the two meet. You've got to find your tribe. Your stuff on their stuff--is it a match? Go shopping. You'll learn lots with your eyes focused on your own career as the shopping list.
2. Trends - Be a trendsetter, not a trend follower. Be aware of trend, but set some of your own! Make images around what you think about all the time. It's the cosmos calling to you to create some new work.
3. Color ways - Start with your favorite colors and begin. Colors always change and can be changed. Good illustration and design is the groundwork. Computers are fabulous for those color changes.
4. Industry standards - Learn the industry standards, but raise the bar. Give yourself a raise in your next client conversation. Be willing to ask for more to get more. Be willing to be brave and validate your own art history. Set some of your own industry standards of how you do business.
What does moving into a ‘World Economy’ mean to Illustrators?
We are one mouse click away from anywhere on this planet. Create for the global consumer, be willing to celebrate diversity and consider the possibility of your work traveling more places than you probably will get to in your lifetime.
What questions do you get from your students that are the most surprising?
So many artists ask, "Exactly how much money will I make licensing my art?” Well, I say from one penny to one million, because so much depends on your style, your marketability, if you are mass market or niche or somewhere in between and if you actually try and get out there and promote yourself and contact the companies that are a good match for you.
What questions are you asked by artists that are consistently redundant?
I'm amazed people still believe if they mail themselves an envelope with their images inside and don't open it until they get into court that the work is copyrighted. It's a myth that won't die. Filing a copyright registration with the copyright office has benefits of protection, and gets easier the more you do it.
What questions should be asked that are important but often overlooked?
I'm constantly surprised that many artists actually start work on projects without any idea how much they will actually be paid or what the specific terms of the agreement are with the client.
Consistently across the board I am always surprised how many amazing artists underestimate the value of their work. We as creative image-makers have made companies millions of dollars. As an art licensor we have got to cross the barrier of limited belief that we somehow don't get to share in those rewards our art generates.
Beyond important detailed questions about pricing, standards, licensing and such; I'd ask what do you truly want to do more of? What is stopping you from doing what you love to do? Are you open to the possibility of your work going out into the world in ways you never dreamed of? My whole life I have always had the faith that when I have a question the answer will show up. And it always has--not exactly in the way I thought it would, but it did. I'm an "optimystic" and I have always believed in the power of my own dreams for myself and my place in the creative world.
Visit Cheryl’s web site at www.cherylphelps.com