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

Adam, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

I can’t narrow it down to just one! There are two children’s books I just illustrated that are both very meaningful to me. The first was my own book Samuel Shootingstar. The book was born out of the tragedy of loss in my family, however it is full of color and vibrancy! The story is about Samuel, a shooting star, who is helping his new friend Luna find a new home in their galaxy after the destruction of her old one. I poured so much of myself into this book and illustrated it with my whimsy setting on high! The book was released by Jumpmaster Press in March 2022. It’s about feeling small in a big universe, but incorporates themes of friendship, adventure, and hope. The other project, which just released in July 2022, is a book titled Tic & Twitch: A Story About Tourette Syndrome. Written by Melissa Mederos, this book helps explain Tourette’s Syndrome from a kid’s perspective. My late brother-in-law was a bearer of Tourette’s and dealt with the misconceptions that many people have about the condition. It meant so much to illustrate a project that will help children and families learn about what it really entails!

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am primarily an illustrator. I have worked with actors, performers, conventions, photographers and media companies across the country and internationally. Essentially I draw pictures for a living! I became an author this year, and I also teach digital art. As an illustrator there are a lot of diverse things I do that are all connected under one big art umbrella!

I’ve created illustrations for books, websites, magazines, t-shirts, stickers, and any other products for which clients need images. My work has also been shown and sold in galleries and art auctions.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

I think the main thing to remember is that artists work for a living. Even work that appears simple requires a lot more effort than most people realize. It’s not very respectful to request work for free or try to pay an artist with “exposure.” Artist love what we do, but that doesn’t mean we don’t work hard or put in overtime to meet deadlines. As a society I think we tend to downplay the impact that art plays on how the world is run. You can have the best product in the world, but without engaging packaging it’s much harder to get someone to notice it. Just about every product or service we interact with had an artist involved in some way. I mean think back to the days when humans were living in caves and spent all day just trying to survive; even then we were making pictures on the cave walls!

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

Aside from the food it provides for my kids, because that’s an amazing blessing, I think the most rewarding part of being an artist is all the amazing people I get to meet, teach, learn from, and work with! When I do a live event I always end up meeting “my people.” These are perfect strangers who come up and we create a connection! They have come to see my art, but I enjoy hearing their stories, or we will just talk about common interests and end up having a laugh together. I get to meet so many artists and creative folks that teach me not just how they create but how they live and find joy. When I am teaching kids to draw I get to see them surprise themselves, and I am inspired by their imagination! And just because of the variety of projects I’ve been involved with, I have gotten to work with some of the most awesome people! I’m not an extrovert by any stretch of the imagination, but art is the best way to find connection with people!

Contact Info:

• Website: adamsanford.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adamsanfordart/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AdamSanfordIllustration
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/adam-sanford-illustrator
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/AdamSanfordArt
• Other: scbwi.adamsanford.com https://linktr.ee/adamsanford

Image Credits
Annie Harrow