We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Ian Bristow a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Ian, thanks for joining us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.
From my earliest memories, I have always been an observer: The kid who stared out the window, mouth agape, taking in the wonders of the natural world. I was lucky to grow up in the country, where I took a great deal of my early inspiration, Like many children, I had markers and crayons around, but like few, I had a great artist raising me. My mother is a fantastic artist, and from an early age, I was encouraged to spend more time with art than others might have been. When I got older, my interest in drawing only increased as I fell in love with animation and comic art. I learned to draw through the joy of doing it, and with the guidance of my mother, I was able to understand the language of art by my early teens. Unfortunately, like most young people, in my teen years, I craved a social life, and the hours alone with my art all but fell by the wayside. Knowing what I know now, I would have made time for my own development. In those years, friends come and go, but we remain, and what we do or don’t do to set ourselves up in life have great impact. Through those teen years I didn’t listen to my mother as I once had. I thought I knew enough. I was told by my peers how good I was (I was not good), and that held me back. It slowed my learning process to a crawl. It wasn’t until I was nearly twenty years of age that I finally stopped to assess myself and realized I needed to study again. To dedicate the time again. The most essential skill I learned at that point, was how to learn. How to stop chasing the good feeling of doing what I could already do, and instead, chase growth. That meant producing some very bad work, showing myself what I couldn’t do, and how many vital aspects of being a rounded artist I had ignored. As is so typical in life, the greatest obstacle in my path was myself.
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?
My name is Ian Bristow. I’m a freelance illustrator and book cover designer. Interestingly enough, I began my freelance career in art due to the connections I made as an author (I also write books, though I do so more for personal joy than as a career). Some years ago now, in the author groups I frequented, my work as an artist became known, as I would post pieces inspired by my writing, or even paintings created with the intention of prompting flash fiction. Happily, the work seemed to impact, and I gained my first clients. Things have grown organically since then. Having the experience as an author creating art for my own writing, I am well equipped to work closely with other authors, bringing the vision of their characters and worlds to life, whether it be for a book cover or a promo graphic, a social media banner or interior illustrations. Each piece I produce is a point of real pride. But none more than the book covers I work on. To take on the task of properly representing the hours upon hours of care and effort an author has poured onto the page is not one I take lightly. Knowledge of the target audience, and a marriage of genre trend with timeless appeal are key to a successful book cover, and it is for those reasons I remain a student of design and a keen watcher of the market.
What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?
Simply cherish genuine creative work produced by humans, not computer code. I feel the arts have never been more threatened than they are right now. People see solutions in AI, and while I understand that many don’t have the money to spend on original works or art, if the big players in the entertainment industry don’t draw a line, there will be no call for young people to pursue careers in art, as those jobs will have gone in favor of the dirt cheap AI solution. And that will be a loss so resounding to humanity I cannot begin to fathom it.
Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?
Books, YouTube, DVD tutorials, etc. These are resources I never really gave enough thought to as a young artist. Granted YouTube didn’t exist when I was young, video tutorials and books definitely did. There are artists in the world who graciously share their wealth of knowledge with the masses. And most of them do so for very little financial gain. Learn from them, put in the time. listen with an open mind. It can be so difficult at times to forget what we think we know and really listen or really pay attention to the words an artist has written in their book(s). Never underestimate the basics. The fundamentals of art are everything.
Contact Info:
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bristowdesign/