We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Andrea Alvin. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with ANDREA below.

ANDREA, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Are you able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen?

I knew from an early age that I wanted to be an artist and make my living as an artist. My high school art teacher took a few of the more serious art students from his class to visit California College of Arts and Crafts – an accredited art college. Until then, I didn’t know such a place existed. I set my sights on Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles and went through their rigorous course of study to graduation. The attention to detail and professionalism that I learned there, prepared me for going out into the world as a professional artist. I was lucky enough to get a freelance job in animation, while in school and full time employment at a commercial film production house upon graduating. I then set out on a career as an animation designer and layout artist for several years. Years later, putting my degree in Advertising Design to work, I went on to partner with my husband John Alvin, the renowned movie poster illustrator, to create campaigns and movie posters for many of the premier Hollywood movies.

I believe that focusing on learning the skills necessary to go out into the world is essential. There are no short cuts. There is no good enough. You must be the best that you can be and continue to learn and perfect your craft. You also need to be brave and sometimes jump where there is no net.

ANDREA, 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 have always balanced my career between two genres – fine art painting and commercial art. Early on, my focus was on the commercial side. As I mentioned before, I was lucky to have been recommended for two jobs, both in animation, while I was finishing my last semester at Art Center. I worked on animated television commercials, films and cartoon series. As my husband’s (John Alvin) career took off as an illustrator of movie posters, I partnered with him to create the poster key art and main ad campaigns for many first run movies such as Batman Returns, Batman Forever, Disney’s Pinocchio 90’s Re-release and many more. John would do the illustrations and I would work on concepts, copy, composition and design and eventually creating posters and artwork on the computer.

During this time, I was painting at night and pursuing my career as a fine artist. As a painter, I focus on the still life, however my subjects are of pop culture and nostalgic items. I believe that my subjects are a direct influence from my background in advertising, cartoons and the movies. I’m a child of the fifties, and many of my subjects are reminiscent of a bygone era, but most are still part of today’s popular marketplace. I have painted candy, Hostess snack cakes, ice cream sundaes, vintage toys and vintage appliances. My style has been categorized as Photorealism, because I use photography to start my paintings and the images resolve photographically from a distance. My goal is to paint these subjects with a mood and an atmosphere and I am not so reliant on perfection. Revealing the brushwork is important to me. I want the viewer to feel a human presence. My work is available for sale through several galleries or through my website andreaalvin.com. Giclée prints are also available. I am also available for commissions. Do you have a favorite candy or toy? I can make a very personalized painting for you.

Currently, I am creating, with a partner, and illustrating a children’s book. It’s not quite ready for it’s big reveal. This is not my first foray into illustrating children’s books. John and I co-illustrated many DIsney storybooks and Golden Books.

I’ve been very lucky to have worked all my adult life as an artist and grateful to have had success in many different aspects of art.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I was trained as a traditional artist using pencils, pens and paint to create my art. In the late 80’s we purchased a Mac Pus computer. There wasn’t much we could do on it, but I was fascinated by the possibilities. I went to buy a hard drive for our little Mac so we could try to run Adobe Illustrator on it. At the computer store, I saw something being demonstrated called Barneyscan – soon to be called Photoshop. When I saw the photo editing capabilities, I knew this was the future for creating movie posters and we had to get one. It was a huge investment for us at the time, but we purchased a system that could run Photoshop and we could composite photos and paint into the files to create a new and unique image. We could also add typography. The biggest problem at the time, 1990, was how was the image we created going to get printed? This was eventually resolved, and we taught ourselves to use Photoshop. I was the lead in this endeavor. Because of my foresight, we were at the leading edge of illustrators and designers using the computer, which has become the mainstay in all the graphic arts. Many of our peers refused or delayed adapting to the digital world and many were left behind.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

When I was in art school, back in prehistoric times, women were encouraged to major in only two fields – fashion illustration or package design. Advertising and illustration were a man’s world. Being young and taught to listen to the authority figures, I chose fashion illustration as my major. Drawing fashion figures was a very distinct style, with elongated figures and stylized faces. I was not good at it. I really struggled. I had one teacher who very bluntly looked at my work and said, “You can’t draw!” This message has stuck with me my entire career. I have struggled to change my attitude and to gain confidence. My work is realism, so obviously, I can draw. I still have to remind myself of that.

I immediately changed my major to Advertising Design, which was what I wanted in the first place.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://andreaalvin.com
• Instagram: andreaalvinart
• Facebook: Andrea Alvin Art
• Linkedin: Andrea Alvin
• Twitter: @andreaalvinart

Image Credits

All images – copyright Andrea Alvin
All rights reserved