It’s time for our next Featured Student! For April we are featuring:

Jeremiah Brown

• Website: jeremiahbrownillustration.com

• Instagram: @Jeremiah.brownillustration

Below is an awesome Q&A that Kathryn Adebayo (@KATHRYNADEBAYO) conducted with Jeremiah Brown:,

In the midst of a global pandemic, illustrator Jeremiah Brown has found an open door. In the following interview, hear from this devoted artist about how he is organizing the early stages of his career and what he has done, in just a few short months, to propel him towards ambitious goals. 


Hello! Could you tell us a little about yourself?

I grew up in Upstate New York in the tiny farm town of Middleburgh.  Like many at SVS, I grew up loving to draw and was "the kid that draws in the corner" for most of my school life.  I loved Calvin and Hobbes, The Far side, and especially comic books! They changed my life and from the moment I received my first comic book in 4th grade it was my goal to become a comic book penciller (Stormwatch #1 with the underrated penciller Dwayne Turner doing the pencilling).  

After high school I moved to the Boston area to go to college where I met my wife, got married, and graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Visual Art.  After College I still had that desire to be a comic book illustrator but we had mountains of debt, my wife was in Grad school, and we had no savings. I found Walgreens who helped us out with that money problem. I got a job there as a manager in training and then 5 years later worked my way up to Store Manager. I have managed 4 stores since then and if it weren't for the pandemic I would still be doing that. So far this career change has been one of the best things to happen to my family and myself.  Personally, I've never been happier!

I've been married for 15 years to my wife Christin, and I have an 11 year old daughter named Hadley and an 8 year old boy named Baird.

It was interesting to learn that after 15 years of retail management you recently made the leap to working as an illustrator. Could you tell the story of what happened that made you switch to illustration? Is being an artist your full-time work?

The pandemic is the reason I'm working as an illustrator.  With my kids going to school remotely we needed to come up with a safe form of childcare.  My wife was working remotely for the first few months of the pandemic but then went back to work at the end of the summer so we decided one of us had to stay home with the kids. This was the perfect opportunity to give me the opportunity to give an illustration career an all-in try.  This had been the plan since were married but, as everyone knows, bills and life got in the way.

Since the change I've worked 30-50 hours a week illustrating which has been amazing! The first few months I was illustrating random things and trying to mimic other Instagram Illustrators but after finding SVS, taking the classes, and creating projects, I now have a structure and schedule to help me make a career out of illustration. 

I've also been able to spend a ton of time with my kids which has been another huge bonus!  Finances are definitely tight but we've always lived below our means and have Dave Ramseyed it up for years so we're making it work for the time being. The plan is for this to be my full-time work and we have a nice enough buffer of time where we aren't dependent on me making much. 

It would be great to see some of the work that you do that aligns with what you want to make more of in the future. Could we see some of your art? 

A character from the new book I'm working on:

An idea pic for the new book I'm working on:

A page from “Don't Feed the Ducks”:

A cartoon I made for Kuma coffee based in Seattle:

A parent and his kid's first date:

Exciting news: you recently wrote and illustrated your own self-published book! Could you take us step-by-step through the process of creating it? 

Yes! The title of the book is "Don't Feed the Ducks!" 

"Create what you want to do" has been mentioned a lot in Three Point Perspective episodes and in SVSLearn courses, but I believe I was listening to the episode addressing whether or not it's too late to start an illustration career (At 38, when I casually browse through Artstation and Pinterest I feel like the old man from the movie UP!) when it really hit me.  I'd been puttering around for 2 months creating a rickety unsure track leading to a blobby, murky illustration career that would hopefully somehow lead to success. When I heard "create what you want to do" on that podcast it hit me very hard, and I ripped up the previous rickety tracks I had laid down and put down new ones leading to finishing and self-publishing a 32 page book by my nephew's birth (he ended up being born 2/28 so I missed it by a week). 

In a way is was nice because there wasn't any pressure to create the best story in the world since the focus was just on getting something completed, so I sat down and wrote a story that I had been thinking about for a little while. I showed it to my wife and kids and took their feedback to make it better.  After the story was finished, I thumbnailed, did rough drafts, and then the finals in a similar fashion to SVS teachings.  All along the way I got feedback from my wife and kids. The SVS forums were helpful too!

After it was done, I randomly messaged a friend, Suzanne Hodson, to see if she could look at the book and give me her thoughts. I knew she was a designer but didn't realize how well she knew picture books! She offered to take care of the layout for me and she really gave the book a professional feel.  Roughly 4 months from its inception the book is now for sale on Amazon!

What has helped you develop most as an artist, whether it be something educational or personal?

A common theme at SVS perhaps, but the thing that has helped me as an artist most, is to put the time in and don't give up or be intimidated by the work.  I've learned that my artwork can look horrendous, like several bags of garbage hurled against a brick wall, even when it is 3/4 of the way completed!  It's easy at that point to treat it like that 13 hour game of Risk you played in college where your roommates made a questionable alliance and you said, "I'm done" and threw the pieces, but when you persist and stick with it, it's amazing how a piece can change into something you're really proud of. Just draw, just keep creating, and don't worry about the state of the piece at that moment because all pieces of art go through the fugly stages. Don't be intimidated by that and if you are, just start drawing/painting. Eventually the nerves will dissipate and you’ll be on your way to creating something you can be proud of.  

Could you recount a time when you had to overcome a challenge to finish a project or piece of artwork?

I'm generally the guy who always gives himself plenty of time to meet deadlines, but for the SVS Yeti Home challenge two months ago I ended up putting it off and wasn't even sure if I was going to do it.  Halfheartedly, I decided to dip my toes into the water four days before the deadline with a take on the home that I thought was at least a little bit unique.  After several hours over the course of two days the piece hit that fugly stage and I was intimidated. To make matters worse my wife looked at it, I could tell didn't like it, and then told me "I didn't need to enter a piece this month, it's not a big deal." 

She meant well, haha, but it was a bit devastating. Again, though, I remembered what SVS, Bobby Chui, and tons of other artists have said about putting the time in and even though I really didn't want to work on it any longer I forced myself to just paint/draw.  After several hours I got into a groove and created something I was proud of and that even made it to the top 16 for critique arena!
 

What is the best advice you’ve ever received, and how has that influenced your illustration work?

My Art Professor, Bruce Herman, used to tell us that when you go to create a work of art you're going to have all of the great artists throughout time whispering in your ears telling you "you're lines aren't confident" , or "your understanding of color is terrible", or "you're nowhere near our level - are you sure you want to do this?" but as you continue to create, those voices will leave one by one, and when you get to the point where there's no one left in the room but you, that is when you start to create your best art.  I thought this was cheesy as heck when I first heard it but the older I get the more I realize how true it is.

Finally, what do you hope to accomplish in the next five years?

I'm working on my second book right now that I hope to complete by early July, and while I'm doing that I plan on re-watching Will's course on contacting Art directors along with  @NessIllustration's video among others and get that song and dance moving to a jump-n-jive pace.  My goal is to get a book illustration deal by the end of the year and grow it into a steady career.  Five years from now I would like to have completed 15 picture books and to have become a common name in the picture book industry getting consistent work.  There's something so special about being able to illustrate as a career. If you make it you can do what you love to do every single day and make a living at it, and that's what I'd like to accomplish.

Thank you so much, Jeremiah!

Featured students are selected from our amazing group of members! Want a chance to improve your illustration skills? Become an SVSLearn member today for 30 days with our free trial and take the next step on your journey to becoming a working illustrator.