favorites I: illustrators at work
Who: Fran Meneses aka Frannerd
A video of Fran at work: Check out Fran drawing portraits and building her skillset.
What I dig: Fran has constructed a career all her own. She makes a huge portion of her salary on $1-$5 Patreon subscriptions… I have been a $1 monthly subscriber over the past 2.5 years. In return, I get regular podcast newsletter updates. She is completely entertaining. But she really has my attention because she is such a hardworking and handmade creator. She shares all her processes… across many platforms. This is a huge gift for folks like me starting out (I am pretty sure I bought the black and white laser printer she recommended for example). Fran is an incredible content creator and editor, so her videos are just a joy to digest. Just hearing how she challenges herself, makes a buck, and organizes her day and her career is encouraging and helpful.
(thanks Fran!)
Who: Carson Ellis
A video of Carson at work: She paints a storybook bug-lady character and describes every step and preference. (This puppy is on substack, not YouTube so just humor me and click this link to see it).
What I dig: I found Carson’s work in 2020 through a weekly drawing prompt that she was sharing on Instagram. The project is still alive but now lives here. I did a few and totally loved it. If you like to draw (anyone of any age is welcome here) I absolutely recommend following along. You can get the prompts in your email inbox.
I think Carson has a childlike wonder. She is in love with nature and attuned to daily life details in a way I completely understand. I respect her for that and I admire how she honors children, promotes creativity, and shares her career. If you watch her video you’ll see she is very real about her process. She dabs drying watercolor with toilet paper, she simply shows the slowness of the process. She doesn’t edit and crop the video to make it entertainment, she just narrates for 48 minutes. I don’t find much of this honesty at her level of craft online. It’s an example of what it takes to make professional illustration and it feels like a gift that she shares it.
She is also married to the lead singer of the Decemberists AND lives on a farm in Montana…. so there is that.
(thanks Carson!)
Who: Ira Sluyterman van Langeweyde creator of Iraville
A Video of Ira at work:
What I dig: Ira mixes her own paints and has a mastery of pigment and material manipulation that melts my mind.
Her work changed how looked at children’s book illustration and some well crafted illustration that you find in the world (on things like wrapping paper). She raised my awareness of what watercolor can do and the bar for what a finished illustration can be. I also have her to thank for helping me fall in love with colored pencils. She is also marvelously humble.
(thanks Ira!)
I follow these artists to see what they are making and to get a far away sense of how they build their careers. There are MANY, MANY more that I keep distant tabs on, and several that I hope to buy original art from. Here are another top three that I covet and hope to add to my collection sometime in my lifetime: