Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Colin Verdi. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Colin, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

I feel like I’ve always known, but I didn’t have many examples growing up of other people I saw who were doing it. Almost all of the adults in my life were working full-time corporate office jobs, and none of them anything related to art or design. So I wanted to pursue a creative path, but it was really intimidating and scary without any examples of other people who were making it work for them. So even though my heart wasn’t in it, I did first try to get a full-time, corporate type of job, because it felt like the “right” thing to do, or the path of least resistance at the very least. But after school I went out on interviews, and I was super close to getting a job I thought would be my way “in” to the corporate world, my first entry-level position, and in the final interview the interviewer told me; “I just feel like you’d be happier doing something more creative.” And I knew she was right, of course, and I figured that if even this stranger who’d only met me a few times in passing could tell that, then I had to at least try. So that was really a tipping point for me, after that I put a portfolio together and went back to school and now I work full time freelancing as an illustrator.

Colin, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I am an illustrator, mainly for the covers of books. Most of the books I’ve worked on have been Young Adult fiction, but all (including those for adults) have been for various kinds of “genre” fiction (think fantasy, science-fiction, horror, mystery, etc.). So far, I’ve been lucky enough to work on over 30 titles for major trade publishers in the US and around the world. I also am often hired to draw live at events, producing fashion illustrations of attendees. Some of my clients for this type of work have included: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Metropolitan Opera, Kiehl’s, Google, Sony, Diptyque, and many more.

I got started working in books by just asking for it, really. It’s common practice in the world of commercial illustration to “cold email” prospective clients, sending your portfolio and letting them know you’d love to work together. After graduating from art school most of my cold-emails were going unanswered, and none resulted in work, but I knew my goal was to work on books. So I went to Barnes and Noble and took pictures of every book on the shevles that made me feel like “I could have done that” and went home and made a new set of samples proving to myself I could create something similar, in my own style. I sent those out, and a few months later an art director at Macmillan I’d emailed responded and said one of the things I’d made would be perfect for a book she was working on, if we changed some of the details to match the story. And from there it’s snowballed, ever since that book came out I just have gotten asked regularly enough to work on a new title that I’ve been able to keep doing it as my full time job.

Right now I’m most proud of just the simple fact of making this work, as a job. But also that on some level I feel like I was able to do things somewhat on my own terms.. About half of the titles I’ve worked on have been for novels that focus on LGBTQIA+ narratives, and the subject matter always feels in line with my personal interests. Vampires, witches, magic, but always with a more delicate, ornate, maybe feminine feeling. All things that were featured in the artwork I made as a student, that didn’t initially get much traction when I was trying to find work, and I was told clients didn’t have a use for. But whether things have caught up to what I was interested in then, or I just got lucky that now when they do come up I’m one of the names that come to mind, I’m just proud that I stuck to my guns and get to keep working on the subject matter that I find most interesting.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

For me, it’s the fact that I’m building a portfolio of work. That every job is a tangible thing, and I can look back and look at all of these images and this entire body of work that I made with my mind and two hands. Not all of them are the best, or my favorites, but seeing everything together is incredibly gratifying. Especially working on books, it never gets old walking into a store and seeing something I painted on the shelf. When I was in high school I got waitlisted and later rejected from my top choice of college. It wasn’t an art school, so I didn’t really want to go, but of the traditional universities, it was the one I’d wanted to attend the most. Coincidentally my parter now went there when he was a student (we met long after), but last year we went to some college friends’ of his wedding, and stopped at the campus so his friends could revisit and show off all their favorite spots. And at the college bookstore, where they sell all the university merch and textbooks, in the front window, one of the books I worked on had a big prominent display! That full-circle moment, that little win, of being rejected by this major institution but still finding my way in there through my own hard work, in the line of work I picked for myself, that is the type of moment that makes me so happy I have chosen this life for myself.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

I’ve had people in my life who work more “typical” 9-5 type corporate jobs express some kind of..happy surprise or grateful shock that I’ve been able to make this type of work into a career for myself. And I think they mean it as a compliment to my talent, resilience, or hard work, which I’m able to accept. But I also can’t help but feel in there a certain..aversion to risk taking, or something, that makes me feel a bit sad. Like that it’s better to make all the acceptable decisions that have worked out for your parents and friends rather than risk failure or embarrassment. Not that I think there’s really anything wrong with that choice, my version of happiness doesn’t have to be anyone else’s. There’s some stability in that life (although you could always get laid off or fired, we’re all at the whims of..someone, or some thing), and some people don’t have the same type of passion or drive or the opportunities that I have had to make other types of work into a job. It’s also a worthwhile choice to build a life centered around treating work as a means to fund the other parts of your life you enjoy, rather than as a fundamental part of who you are. But I just wish we all had more exposure to people living lives that had a different relationship to work, when we do it, how we do it, and why. And that it wasn’t so surprising when some of us want to try something else.

Contact Info:

• Website: colinverdi.com
• Instagram: @colinverdi
• Facebook: [email protected]
• Twitter: @colinverdi

Image Credits
Cover for “Salt and Broom” for Amazon Publishing Cover for “Starlings” for Penguin Randomhouse Cover for “The Death of Jane Lawrence” for St Martin’s Press Cover for “Womb City” for Erewhon Books