We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Mark Ulriksen. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Mark below.
Mark, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. 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.
As a kid I was always one of the best artists in school but the thought of pursuing a career as an artist seemed foolhardy. I was afraid I’d end up doing caricatures at Disneyland or some such. Eventually I ended up studying graphic design and for 13 years after college I was a graphic designer and then a magazine art director. But I still had this gift of being able to draw. I had also learned that I was a good creative problem solver, the essence of being in the applied arts. While art directing San Francisco Focus magazine I also started asking lots of questions of the illustrators I was working with, sharing with them my personal drawings that I still did for myself. With some encouragement I ended up taking a couple of classes to learn about painting. Motivated by my results I took a big risk, I quit my art director job in order to give freelance illustrating a try. I was 37, with a two-year old and a wife who worked sporadically as a freelance photographer. I left behind co-workers, a steady paycheck and medical benefits because I didn’t want to have regrets in life at not putting my all into this talent I was born with. I’m now finishing my 30th year as a freelance artist and illustrator. My gamble paid off.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My work as an illustrator and artist reflects my passions and personality. I have a good sense of humor, I’m whimsical, introspective and a news junky and all that has come out in my work. My covers for my biggest client, The New Yorker, reflect some of my main interests-dogs, sports, current events, the human condition.
When I first went solo as a freelancer in 1994 I gave myself two goals, only one of which I had control over-do work that I like. If I liked it I could presume that my clients would as well. My other goal was to earn the respect of my peers and tho I’m loath to toot my own horn I have won dozens of awards for over 25 years from all the major illustration competitions, including three gold and three silver medals from the Society of Illustrators. My work has been profiled and featured on the covers of major industry publications like Communication Arts, the Society of Illustrators and 3×3 and been exhibited in Paris, London, Rome, Hamburg, Kyoto and NYC. I also wrote and illustrated a book about my love for man’s best friend, called Dogs Rule Nonchalantly.
Having previously been a magazine art director I had a plan for how to reach out to the world of periodicals as I made my transition to freelance editorial illustration. I noted all the people listed in magazine staff boxes who worked in the art department and every two-three weeks I’d send them three samples of my work, most of it personal, some of it actual assignments. The goal was to show my style, problem-solving capabilities and my interests. That’s how the New Yorker found me.
My first cover for them was in 1994, for a major profile of Hillary Clinton that also included all the feature illustrations inside the magazine. They would send me ideas-“Bill Clinton lost his second bid to be governor of Arkansas and Hillary is supporting him but she’s not a warm person” and then have me illustrate that in two days! Or “Hillary is working behind closed doors to reconfigure health care, aided by 500 staffers and done in secret. Illustrate that and again, we need the art in two days.” After three weeks of this (and 17 paintings and drawings) I not only established to the New Yorker I could produce under intense deadline pressure but this one assignment literally put me on the map as a new face in American illustration.
However, that assignment was not my most intense deadline challenge. In 2008 I had three weeks to conceive and execute 18 paintings that would be enlarged as murals for United Airlines in the United Lounge at Soldier Field in Chicago, home of the Chicago Bears. I would start drawing and then painting at 8AM and finish around midnight each day. I took one evening off over those three weeks. I pride myself on making my deadlines.
I enjoy giving talks and I’ve spoken to students in numerous universities and art schools across the US as well as to business groups and arts organizations. I love sharing process stories- how an idea is hatched, where inspiration comes from, what glitches or problems arose along the way. I’m most proud of my covers for The New Yorker, 71 to date. Working for the magazine is not easy. Artists submit their own ideas and most often receive scant feedback. We occasionally deal with breaking news and I’ve painted covers in one or two days many times, one of which, a spoof conflating the film Brokeback Mountain and the Bush-Cheney presidency, was painted in a day and was named top news cover of the year by the American Society of Magazine Publishers. Another cover featuring the Brooklyn Nets and the NY Knicks was named top sports cover of the year by the same association a few years ago.
At heart I love what I do, am as surprised as anyone at my success and always look forward to facing off with a blank sheet of paper. Like Duke Ellington, when asked what his favorite composition was would reply “the next one.” That’s pretty much how I feel about my work. And my next one may be terrible or amazing, I never know. I’m just always grateful for the opportunity to make something that has never been made before. My work these days is largely made up of private commissions. I have a 2-3 year waiting list and I never know what someone wants until they’re next up. Instead of my work reaching perhaps a million people when it’s published in a magazine or newspaper (and soon forgotten) my private work will hopefully stay in homes for generations but will only be seen by a few.
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?
Becoming an artist was really about learning who I am. Early in my career, in my mid-20s, I was the senior graphic designer for Northeastern University in their publishing office. An editor friend there was older and wiser and when I confided to her that I was thinking of returning to California to pursue a new field, illustration, she had some sage advice. “If you want to be an artist you must get to know yourself completely” she advised. “Keep a journal, write down your dreams and try to decipher them, determine what you love and why, what you fear and why, what you hate and why. And have that all come out in your work.”
At first I thought, well forget that, I’m not going to be an artist, that sounds too hard. But I am introspective by nature and taking her advice was decisive in helping me begin my new creative journey.
Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?
The author and educator Joseph Campbell had a huge impact on my life. In my 2o’s I was attending a talk by a photographer I got turned on to while studying graphic design in college named Jayme Odgers. He kept referencing Joseph Campbell as a critical voice in his career so I had to check him out. His seminal book, The Power of Myth and its subsequent series of interviews about the book with Bill Moyers on PBS became my bible. Campbell compared myths and religious tales across theologies and geographies. He found similar tales everywhere about “the heroes journey,” the metaphorical dragon one must slay in order to achieve one’s goals. Campbell talked about doors opening in your life and whenever a door opened it was imperative to enter, and if the doorway opened into a world that was new and perhaps frightening then by all means one must enter. In other words, do not be afraid of the new, of change, of failure. Trust your intuition. All are major facets of life and when all is said and done one can look back on their life and see why they went left and not right at some intersection. You can’t connect the dots forward but you can go backwards and see what moves were made and what the outcomes were. Many a time when I was confronted with an opportunity that could be slightly frightening-giving a talk to a large audience, changing careers, joining an intimidating arts organization, I just recalled Campbell’s admonition to enter through any door that opens up. You never know what you may find inside.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.markulriksen.com
- Instagram: @markulriksenart
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mark.ulriksen.5
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-ulriksen-061871b/
Image Credits
Photo: Leslie Flores