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

Eric, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

Taking a risk

I always wanted to be an illustrator, from my teenage years onward. I received a BFA in illustration in 2005 from Paire College of Art. I was working in the field as an illustrator in the early 2000’s when I decided to join the Army and serve my country. Serving was important to me so I put my life goals on hold. I deployed to Afghanistan two times and served 9 years on active duty before I decided to rejoin the illustration world. In 2017 I left the Army and went back to school at the age of 38. I received an MFA in illustration from Academy of Art University in 2021, and launched my freelance illustration buisness “Eric Seaburg Art LLC.” I currently still serve in the Army Reserves.

It was risky to put my life on hold for the military. It definitely set my art career goals back a decade. I still feel like I am playing catch up but I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I have had many adventures that can fuel my creativity going forward, but art is also a Iifetime pursuit and it takes a long time to accumulate a good body of work, and solid relationships with clients. I work at it everyday to realize my dream of being an illustrator.

Eric, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Eric Seaburg, and I am a freelance illustrator. I run a small illustration business called Eric Seaburg Art. I focus on book cover art in the Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Military Historical Fiction, Mystery, Thriller, and Horror genre. I have also worked on children’s books and other art projects like murals and comics. I am passionate about art. I always have been from a young age. My skills include oil and watercolor painting as well as digital painting. My paintings are narrative by nature, meaning I like to tell stories with my art. I work with clients, usually art directors and authors to translate the emotion of words into pictures. This is much more than a career for me, it is a lifelong passion. When a client hires me for a job, they are getting all my drive, passion, and creativity too. I work tirelessly to provide images that will lift up and accentuate an authors hard work. I want my art to be the perfect accompaniment to a piece of writing. Not to overshadow or detract from.

I have always wanted to create art from a young age. I grew up in Connecticut, and Norman Rockwell was and still is my favorite artist. I love so much about his work. I started taking art seriously, when at the age of 13 while living in New Zealand I was introduced, by my art teacher, to the New Zealand artist Gordon Walters. I was blown away by his use of simple geometric patterns. Although my work is very different from these early influences I always try to pay homage to what made me who I am today.

I focus on mostly Sci-Fi and Fantasy because I love the work of artists like Frank Frazetta, and because I love the genres. I was always a book lover too. I focus on working with publishers because I have a deep background in the publishing world. My father has a publishing business he has run for many years. I also worked on the newspaper staff in school, and drew the comic strip for the school newspaper as well as write and edit articles. Early in my career I worked at a major newspaper in Memphis TN as a Graphic Artist. In that job I would design advertisements for the newspaper. This experience and passion has lead me to the career I have today.

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

I believe resilience is an important thing to have and learn. I remember a publisher that hired me to color a children’s book. This was in the early 2000’s and the job called for painting with a mouse in photoshop. For whatever reason I could not learn the skill required to move the mouse properly to paint the inked drawings. I gave up and quit the job. I was devastated and really thought I blew it. For the next 20 years I carried that shame around with me. I made a decision to learn the skills to digitally paint, and put that shame behind me. I worked hard and didn’t give up. Now I paint beautiful digital paintings and have mastery over the medium. Also that same publisher has hired me back for more work many years later. Resilience is the ability to face and cope with adversity, adapt to change, recover, learn and grow from setbacks. This example is just one illustration of resilience.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

I love what I do. Illustration is something deep in me. I feel lucky everyday for having the privilege to be able to do this for a living. Creating a piece of art that brings somebody else’s dream to life is very satisfying. An author has poured blood, sweat, and tears into their creation and I feel honored to be able to lift that work up in picture form. They get to tell their story to the world and I get to help them.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.ericseaburgart.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ericseaburgart/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericseaburg/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@ericseaburgart