Featured Artist – Chris Pyle
Artwork by Chris Pyle
How and when did you know that you wanted to become an illustrator?
In the eighties I got a shot at doing some covers for a local weekly paper. The covers were a huge success and I realized editorial art was something I was very good at, and so I was bitten by the professional illustration bug.
Where do you draw your inspiration from?
A better question would be where DON’T I draw my inspiration from.
What is your earliest memory of creating art?
I can remember seriously drawing from photos out of books at around age twelve.
What type of environment do you prefer to work in? At home or in a studio? Listening to music?
I have a private studio on the grounds of my home. I either listen to music, the radio, or a television while I work.
As a working illustrator do you still find time to create art for yourself?
I spend all of my spare time creating art for myself.
What type of transition needs to be made between creating art for yourself and creating art that is commissioned?
Illustration requires a lot of study, hard work, and discipline. If you apply those things to your own personal work you have a built in advantage.
When you are creating commissioned work, how do you take yourself out of the project and focus on the idea that needs to be conveyed?
I never take myself out of a project. The clients hire me FOR my thoughts. That’s what illustrators do, they focus on concepts.
What type of artwork do you have hanging in your home?
I have a few of my pieces, some of my wife’s grandfather’s pieces, and a cherished and highly collectable piece by famed outsider artist Lee Godie.
What accomplishment so far in your life stands out as most important?
Being a good father to my son and working as an illustrator for some of the biggest clients in the world.
Who was the first illustrator that you noticed and admired?
Jim Flora.
Are there any other current illustrators that you feel you identify with or share a similar style?
Too many to even comment on.
Do you read criticism about your work?
Absolutely.
How do you deal with negative criticism?
If everybody likes your work, it isn’t any good.
What is your favorite way to get out of a creative block?
I’ve never had one.
If you had to describe your body of work in one word, what would that word be?
Large.
Is there any one publication that you still have aspirations to see yourself in?
No, I’ve met those goals.
What magazines do you personally read?
The New Yorker.
What are your goals for your future as an illustrator?
To be able to do this until I dry up and blow away.
What question do you wish an interviewer would ask you?
I must confess, that one stumps me.
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News published at 7:00 am, Monday, August 15th, 2011
