Q: How many years have I been an illustrator?
Hint: A lot! I started my career as an illustrator before there were cell phones, the internet, fax machines, and personal computers... and it also was slightly before Ronald Reagan first became President!
A: 2012 will be my 30th year in the illustration biz! Actually I first started my illustration career 33 years ago, but I dropped out for a few years when I was in my late twenties to work in the golf business. (It's a long story... but it ultimately resulted in my other web site, which was launched in 2010, SASgolf.com. Take a look!)
Very early in my illustration career, the images I created were psychologically darker and more reality-based in execution compared to the lighter and more whimsical illustration style I am known for today, especially with all the children's picture books I do. (visit my web site and click on the "old is new" tab in the bottom menu bar, to see a few samples of work from very early in my career)
Just recently I started creating some new illustration imagery that stylistically looks much more like the works I created very early in my career... meaning that these new images are also darker in mood and more reality-based in execution. Posted here are some of these new images of mine... from the new portfolio section on my web site named: new stuff, highlighted by one image which is for the February 2012 cover of Harper's magazine, done through famed industry designer Roger Black. (see previous post on the creation of this cover assignment project.) It's the image of the corporate giant devouring his competition.
So, what's old can be new again, in the sense that I am beginning to develop new horizons with my illustration work by using similar style techniques I first used many years ago. The difference? These new illustrations are better looking, smarter and more colorful! The great thing about being an artist, is that you actually do get better with age... Thank goodness I was not a professional basketball player making millions upon millions of dollars whose career ended at age 35! (I wish!)
Visit stevensalerno.com to view all my portfolios, and see a sneak peek at my latest illustrated children's picture book, Brothers At Bat (to be released in spring 2012 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) by clicking on the featured book section within the kids' books portfolio.
1 comment:
Your work is a great mix of the old and the new which is really cool at the moment, shows like boardwalk empire have made history especially early 20th century really cool again, flat caps and waist coasts are everywhere. Fashion flips too from old to new, art and style seems to move in cycles.
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