Making Contact With Creators; John W. Tomac
During a conversation with editorial illustrator John W. Tomac, I got was lucky enough to receive a reply answering my questions on “What advice would your give a student that is interested but somewhat afraid to go into editorial?“ he replied, “The beauty of editorial illustration is that whether the work is brilliant or the worst thing you’ve ever done it will likely end up lining a bird cage. Even if you make something that’s not so bad, chances are it fulfilled a very real need for an art director or editor and if you leave a positive impression they’ll keep hiring you. There’s more editorial work out there than anything else”.
I learned a very important lesson from my short conversation with John, and that’s to always stay faithful to your creation. No matter the ignorance to produce something to fulfil the brief and discard any of the bad work I produce, chances it will be exactly what a client or director are looking for in a project.
He also replied to my fear of the editorial industry, “As far as being afraid goes, every creative person I know, regardless of discipline, has doubt about their work and/or process from time to time. Anyone who doesn’t feel that is probably not making good work.” A very soothing reply that filled me with relief that I’m not the only creative person who doubts his work. Â
