It’s time for our next Featured Student! For February we are featuring:
Josh White
Instagram: @joshwhiteillustration
Artwork by Josh White
Josh White does LOTS of cool stuff. He doesn’t want you to feel like a slacker after reading this interview, but if you’re anything like me you might 😂. In addition to being impressed by Josh’s plethora of skills and interests, I’m most excited for everyone who reads this to take to heart the incredible advice he gives folks that are on the path to becoming a professional illustrator.
—————
To start out, tell us a little bit about yourself - where you are from and currently live, family details (including pets of course) and how you spend most of your time (work and/or family related).
I originally hail from Carson City, Nevada but moved to Tucson, Arizona when I was a kid and have been here since. My original intention was to become a 3d animator for movies like Toy Story. I even had a school picked out that I was going to apply for. It wasn't until I had an acquaintance introduce me to some people doing that job for some pretty big movies that I realized that was definitely not the job I wanted after all. I ended up going into visual communications and then into a lot of web based design. Today I run a design company that does web, graphic design and branding.
I traveled the world quite a bit in my early 20s. I spent a little under 2 years abroad in Europe and Southeast Asia. I think having a better understanding of how different people live around the world really helps you see things from other perspectives. I wouldn't trade those experiences for anything.
I am married to the fetching Mrs. White and we have 3 kiddos, ages 8, 12 and 13. Our dog, Dot, is a bit too smart for her own good and we're pretty sure she thinks that she's one of the kids. Anyone with young kids knows how hectic things can get, and it doesn't particularly slow down as they get older as they accumulate interests and get into activities! My wife runs her own small business as well, so work keeps us pretty busy! So when we're not working or ferrying kids around to activities, I'm either drawing, playing video games with the kids or friends, playing board games or doing various crafts and maintenance around the house.
What foods do you love the most? What about drinks?
Honestly I like it all! But living in the Southwest, we're kind of spoiled when it comes to great Mexican food, so I'd have to put that in my top choice. In #2 is probably going to be all things sandwiches. My go-to sandwich is going to either be a french dip or a reuben.
I think my favorite all around drink is a recipe for a home-made soda that's based on the original recipe for Ting, which is a grapefruit soda that's similar to Squirt if you're in the States. You have to make it with fresh grapefruit so it's kind of a pain, but it's super refreshing! Besides that I love a good IPA.
What are some of your other hobbies besides making art?
I've played drums in a variety of bands for over 25 years, so music has always had a significant place in my life. Woodworking is a hobby I inherited from my dad and go on pretty substantial binges making coffee tables, bookcases, beds or other furniture around the house. A few years ago I got into building miniature dioramas, which evolved into learning how to wire up lighting, battery packs and chargers. After visiting Disneyland I thought certainly I could make a better lightsaber than what was in the Star Wars toy shop! So I went on a research kick and ended up building an aluminum body lightsaber with a sound board so it could make sounds when you wave it around and hit things with it.
I now have a 3d printer, which has vastly changed the types of things I can make so I don't even know where that's going to lead! I think for the most part I enjoy making things with my hands and learning new things to build. If you've ever followed Adam Savage, you might say he's my crafting Spirit Animal!
Who are some of your favorite artists? How have they inspired you?
It's tough because I feel like my "favorite" artist changes over the years as different styles catch your eye or even genres. As a kid I was way into video game art, comics and graphic novels and later into things like animated movies and concept art. I grew up looking up to artists like Todd Mcfarlane and Jim Lee, and then I got really into game design art and then concept design art. There are a ton of artists like Feng Zhu, Tyler Edlin, and Jason Chan who did a lot of art for games like League of Legends or concept design art that continues to inspire me today.
Growing up we had a family friend, John Shaw, who was an artist that did World War II aviation pieces that had a big impact on my interest in art. Today I look at his art and have a much greater appreciation for how insanely good it is, especially since he did everything with traditional mediums like airbrush and oils.
When my kids were very young, I started to really get into the picture books we'd buy to read to them. I'm pretty sure I enjoyed them way more than the kids did! I started discovering all these new artists that I hadn't really been exposed to. People like Dan Santat, Max Lang and Joy Ang are artists whose styles really resonated with me. That's really the point where I became more interested in seriously pursuing illustration professionally. That was when I began doing a lot more intentional growth in my skills, discovering people like Jake Parker and Will Terry on YouTube, which then led to discovering SVS and starting to take classes and so on.
In terms of being a professional illustrator, what recommendations can you give with regard to young artists attempting to forge their path in this field?
I can't emphasize enough to young professionals that communication is everything. Even if it's bad news, clients just want to know what's going on. Always be the first one to reach out because if a client feels like they have to chase you down to know what's happening then they think twice about hiring you again. Be super intentional about keeping your clients updated so they can't wait to work with you again.
Do your best not to take rejection personally. The essence of what artists and illustrators do is highly personal - we're pouring everything we have into our work. So when someone doesn't pick it, or it gets rejected or someone wants to change it we tend to take it very personally. And while we're thinking personally, they're thinking professionally. They're not rejecting you (at least, not usually lol), they're rejecting what was made for that specific requirement. We've got to be able to take comments from clients about our work and make meaningful revisions that give clients what they want while also allowing you to be proud of your work.
Get connected! Join communities, discord channels, local sketch groups, etc. The world is now even more adapted to remote work, which means that as a freelancer you will likely find yourself working by yourself a lot, even if you're part of a team. Being a part of a community can not only push you as an artist, but it can keep you from feeling isolated.
What’s your own practice as an artist look like? Do you have set times of the day you work? Are you more productive in a certain space? And what about inspiration?
Even though I'm self-employed, it's kind of like I'm working around a day job because I have obligations and client work that needs to be finished. But it's much more flexible than if I had a standard 9 to 5, which means I can sometimes afford to spend an entire afternoon working on illustrations, but sometimes that means I might go several days being too busy to do anything else. It can be a double edged sword. I split my workflow pretty evenly between a Wacom 16 and an iPad. I've been using Photoshop professionally for about 20 years, but I think Procreate is my favorite painting app.
As someone who's self-employed, I've got a lot of practice intentionally walling off work-time and off-time because of how easy you can fall into the trap of working all the time and you feel like you're on call. I rent a small space just to keep that healthy separation, and I'm probably most productive at the office.
The way I normally try to structure my day is to keep it from being fragmented. The longer I can spend on one task type at a time, the more productive I am. For example, I try to handle all communication, invoicing and busy work in the morning. I'll then make phone calls. Unless something urgent comes up, I don't email or call anyone until the next day. I want the rest of the day dedicated to whatever design projects I'm actively working on.
I try to set aside at least a couple of hours a week to learn something new, or to improve a skill. I regularly look for videos from established artists on YouTube that break down processes, or how they might tackle a particular problem, or even just look at livestreams of pro artists and set it to 4x speed just so you can see how they approach art. Or I'll buy a class series from someone like Aaron Blaise on shadows and lighting or whatever and spend the next 8 weeks doing bits of it. I think continually pushing yourself and adding more tools to your toolbox is important.
Inspiration is an interesting concept. Sometimes we talk about it like it "strikes" and then it's gone. At least for me personally, I feel like the lack of inspiration is more a symptom of being too stressed, too busy or experiencing some level of burnout. If I'm in a good place emotionally/physically/spiritually, it feels like inspiration comes from all over the place - movies, other people's art, my kids, cartoons, music, nature, new experiences... all of those things seem to be capable of inspiring if I'm able to let it.
We’d love to see some of your work. What do you have for us?
This is one of the frogs I had made last year in a big series of drawings for "Ambibrurary". This was the Holy Cross frog, which was one of my favorites. He was based conceptually on the frog character from the old game Chronotrigger for the Super Nintendo system.
Artwork by Josh White
I've always loved the Zelda games as a kid. I remember buying the very first Zelda game that ever came out so it's always been one of my go-to games to play. This is part of a series of fanart pieces I did for the Legend of Zelda with the Toon Link look.
Artwork by Josh White
Here is part of a page spread for one of my personal projects I'm working on that I'm hoping to launch sometime in 2022.
Artwork by Josh White
This is one of the page spreads I had made from the CBP class that was based on the Little Red Riding Hood tale. This is the part where Little Red encounters the wolf in the forest.
Artwork by Josh White
This was a piece I had submitted to one of the critique arena contests. It didn't win, but I still really loved the way it turned out and I thought it was a ton of fun to make!
Artwork by Josh White
Josh, Great Work!! You’re visual storytelling is on point! Thanks for sharing these with us.
Last question: What are you dreaming up for 2022? Travel, new experiences, new art-making?
I'm going to be working hard to develop professionally in 2022 as an illustrator. I'm in a somewhat adjacent field, but the type of clients I work with don't offer many opportunities to cross the divide to illustrative work, which basically means I'm building a business from the ground up again. The last 18 months have felt like a lot of things were put on hold just to stabilize everything through all the challenges. So I'm planning to work hard to make significant headway to replacing my "day job" income with income from art and illustration projects. I'll continue to grow as an artist through classes, challenges, learning new techniques, and developing more skillsets, but building professional relationships and looking for work is going to take a front seat.
I had some personal projects that I was holding close to my chest for when I actually had a chance to talk to publishers or agents about them, but a mentor of mine encouraged me to just make what I want to make. Keep developing new ideas, but don't hold back waiting for something to happen if you're excited about a project. I have plans to break ground on some of my own personal projects this year that maybe I'll just self publish them and see what happens.
I sure hope we do some more traveling this year. It feels to me like travel is still a little bit uncertain. Hopefully what we see is a return to some sort of normal in the next 6 to 8 months!
Josh, thank you for sharing your story with us. It’s wonderful to hear about your journey as an artist and we wish you the best as you continue on this path!
Featured students are selected from our amazing group of members! Want a chance to improve your illustration skills? Become an SVSLearn member today for 14 days with our free trial and take the next step on your journey to becoming a working illustrator.