Karen Lee grew up in Avon Lake, Ohio, and earned a BFA from Columbus College of Art and Design with a concentration in Illustration. She began her professional career as a storyboard/comp artist in Atlanta. She is now a freelance illustrator in the children’s market. Among her clients are Highlights For Children, Scholastic, Dutton Childrens Books, Sylvan Dell Publishing, Family Fun Magazine, Focus on the Family, LifeWay, National Fire Protection Association, and many others.
She is the author/illustrator of ABC Safari, and contributed her author/illustrated story Trick or Treat to the comic anthology Dead Anyway, Stories From the Zombie Apocalypse.
She resides with her family in cary North Carolina where she enjoys drawing, painting, writing, sewing, coaching, teaching, building, gardening, and dreaming.
Here is Karen discussing her process:
I had to revise part of the image before I had the go-ahead for final so I pieced it together in photoshop, nudged a few other elements until the composition worked and allowed room for the call-out type. I had scanned it at 600dpi (Epson Perfection V500 for the geeks out there). Once I opened it in Photoshop (again, Geeks – an elderly CS5 on a Mac Power PC OS5, Wacom tablet) I hit command-L (or Image–>Adjustment–>Levels). In the dialog box I select the white eyedropper, set white point as:
I touch it to the sketch in a grayish area and that will set that as my lightest point. I play around with it a lot, select the black eyedropper, set black point and touch that to a dark point on the sketch, move the gray slider on Input Levels until I like the balance. Hit okay. I like to convert it to grayscale at this point also.
After that I clean up the sketch using my favorite sandy textured brush. It is not essential that it is perfect – I continue to tweak that layer throughout. At this point I change the image size to 400DPI.
Now double click on the background layer:
When the New Layer dialog box comes up I rename it “Line” and change the mode to multiply:
With me so far? Now you have your line on an editable transparent layer. Next I add two layers below the line layer. One I name Background and fill with white (or sometimes a color or texture or gradient, but to keep it simple we’ll go with white now). The other layer I change to multiply (I always name these Multi). Now I get out my good sandy brush and do some quick value block-in on the multiply layer. Like so:
Now I convert it back to RGB, when it asks me if I want to merge layers I say hells no. Now I hit command-U (Image–>Adjustment–>Hue/Saturation). Check the Colorize box:
I play around with the sliders until I get a color I like – sepia is typical for me. Ho-hum. The good news is that now I am ready to put some color on it. I make a new layer directly under the line layer and name it “Color” With the sandy brush again I start to block in my color:
I continue to add color on various layers, block in some color on that long neglected background layer:
I am extremely layer-happy – I typically use thirty or more layers on an image although I try to merge them when I can. I might put a texture or some details on a layer above another to keep from disturbing the layer beneath – I use the eraser tool set to the same sandy brush to clean up as I go.
Now I change the image to my final size – usually 300 dpi, change to CMYK if it is for print (sometimes this is a bit panicky when I realize I’ve been using colors out of gamut, good thing I left it in layers first!). Now I save as a layered file (for revising if needed), then Layer–> Flatten, resave as image name/flat.
How long have you been illustrating?
I started my career right out of college at a studio in Atlanta that mostly did storyboards and marker comps with the occasional editorial illustration piece, so that makes it 30 years! But I’ve been dedicated to the children’s market for about fifteen years.
How did you decide to attend Columbus College of Art and Design for your B.F.A. ?
I had no clue what I wanted to do when I was a senior in high school and had applied to several state schools with the vague idea of maybe teaching, which was something my parents thought I should do. Then one day I saw the promo material for CCAD outside the art room door. It was one of those moments when you know your destiny is right there in front of you and if you don’t just jump you will always regret it.
Can you tell us a little bit about that school?
Attending art school was like discovering my tribe. Everyone spoke the same language as me at last! It was tough though. I found it very difficult the first few years; I struggled with self discipline in the foundation year, then majored in interior design my sophomore year but felt like I wasn’t using my greatest potential. I switched to illustration my junior year and was completely overwhelmed and insecure, I had a lot of drawing and painting classes to make up so I was pretty immersed in them. I finally got my feet under me my senior year.
What were you favorite classes?
Oil painting! Figure drawing!
Did the School help you get work?
Ahhh, no.
How did you end up settling in Cary, NC?
The Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill area has all the assets of a larger city – great education, lots of cultural opportunities, but still feels small. And the location is perfect – a little over two hours to the beach one direction and two hours to the mountains the other. It is an awesome place to live and my kids have thrived here.
What did you do right after you graduated?
I moved to Atlanta and got a job at a studio that did comps and storyboards for ad agencies.
Do you feel that the classes you took in college have influenced your style?
Certainly! I still fall back on the fundamentals that I learned and consider myself to be a rather academic illustrator. I still hear the voices of my instructors in my head “draw through!”, honor your light source!” Everything has influenced my style! Every day, everybody, everywhere! Part of being a creative is to be a sponge and soak up as much as you can; every conversation you overhear, every gesture, lecture, book….
What was the first thing you did where someone paid you for your artwork?
I won an open illustration submission contest in college for a magazine article – I think I got a hundred bucks! I can’t remember the name of the magazine but remember the piece and I especially remember how the piece smelled – it was done in oil washes that I Crystal Cleared. Pungent!
What was the first illustration work you did for children?
After I had my first child I stopped doing any advertising work – the demands weren’t compatible, and I focused on editorial work – lots of family and woman’s magazines like Family Fun and Good Housekeeping (back when they had budgets, sigh). When my youngest was two I started working on a children’s portfolio. I did ten personal pieces that year just to build a body of work. I was very methodical about creating some sort of story to give the art a framework.
How did that come about?
Cliff Knecht started repping me with the new work and I started getting some children’s work in addition to the editorial work I was already getting.
When did you decide you wanted to illustrate a children’s book?
I had no idea what children’s books were like until I was reading them to my kids every night. I was dazzled by the whimsical art of Rosemary Wells, Mark Teague’s delightful sense of play, and Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher’s outstanding compositions. Again – the sense of destiny.
How many picture books have you illustrated?
Dozens and dozens of the little 8/16 page readers but only a handful of 32 page picture books and among those only a few trade publishers.
I see that you have illustrated four books with Sylvan Dell Publishing. How did you get those contracts?
I responded to a request for submissions on the SCBWI discussion board Donna German put out when she and Lee first started Sylvan Dell. They offered me the opportunity to illustrate One Odd Day by Doris Fisher and Dani Sneed, which then became a series.
Have you done any other books for educational publishers?
Tons and tons – lots of textbook work and religious publishers. It’s my wheelhouse because I have worked hard at being able to depict multi-cultural kids.
What was your first big success?
My first assignment for Highlights For Children! I pursued them – with a purpose! I did portfolio work that I felt would appeal to them and apparently it did. I sent a package of four or five letter size sample sheets.
What book was your first?
I did a little 16 page reader for an educational publisher – I think it took me about two years of building a portfolio before I got any response to my children’s work. It was another couple of years before I had anything remotely steady going.
How did you decide to write and illustrate ABC Safari?
I wanted to incorporate more animals in my portfolio and needed to have some sort of context for them. We were living in Florida at the time and saw some manatees at the Aquarium. I wrote a little poem about it and then wrote a little poem about dolphins and then one about owls…. Then I needed to have a reason to hold them all together and the alphabet seemed like a good idea.
How did you decide to write and illustrate ABC Safari?
I wanted to incorporate more animals in my portfolio and needed to have some sort of context for them. We were living in Florida at the time and saw some manatees at the Aquarium. I wrote a little poem about it and then wrote a little poem about dolphins and then one about owls…. Then I needed to have a reason to hold them all together and the alphabet seemed like a good idea.
How did you get contract with Sylvan Dell to publish your ACB Safari book?
I completed the dummy for ABC Safari to submit to the SCBWI Don Freeman Award contest. I got runner up and a phone call from Bruce Coville! I was already working on One Odd Day during that time and submitted ABC Safari to Donna. It was a great fit.
Have you done illustrations for any children’s magazines?
Yes! I’ve probably done a couple hundred for Highlights, some for Ranger Rick, Family Fun and a few others. It is far and away my most comfortable type of work. I like short term, small series assignments. Sadly there are fewer than there used to be.
Why have you started to go digital?
I did it kicking and screaming but thought if I didn’t I would lose my bread and butter work – the educational stuff. Now I am fluent enough in it that it enhances my creativity, but it took a lot of hours to get there.
Do you think you will continue to do illustrations like what you have done for Trick or Treat?
Gah! I loved that project! That was a story I wrote and submitted to publishers as a 32 page picture book. After multiple rejections I put it away. When Bryan Ballinger contacted me to contribute to the Dead Anyway, Stories From the Zombie Apocalypse anthology it was the right place for that story – I cut the word count by half and the art came alive in the comic book format. It was personal work too, and not strictly for kids so I was able to take the filters off of my style a bit and explore.
I see you are represented by Byer-Sprinzeles. How long have you been with them and how did you connect with each other?
I’ve been with Maggie four years. I followed Thomas James’ podcasts, Escape From Illustration Island, and came across an interview with Holli Conger http://illustrationisland.wordpress.com/2009/12/02/podcast-episode-14-holli-conger/ in which she talks about her relationship with her rep. I was impressed so I sent Maggie an email. She responded immediately and we began working together shortly after. She has been an absolute dream to work with!
What types of things do you do to find illustration work?
I’m lame at marketing. Mostly I just send email to existing clients letting them know I’m still here; I love you, I have a hole in my work schedule, send them a new sample. When I complete a job I always let my client know that I am hungry for more. I do continue to develop new styles and methods of working – with a purpose! And I am always professional and try to never give anyone a reason to stop calling me.
Where the picture books that you did in 2007 and 2008 done digitally?
No – they were all done in watercolor then . I had no idea how badly out of gamut my colors were back then!
What is the one thing in your studio that you could not live without?
My computer!
Do you try to spend a specific amount of time working on your craft?
It is my passion so there’s hardly a time when I’m not working on something creative.
What type of illustration work did you do for Dutton?
Just a couple of middle grade covers. I’d love to do more of that sort of thing but it never stuck.
Are you open to working with self-published authors?
I worked with a self-publisher last year for the first time. I think I had an exceptionally good experience with it, a very professional client and they paid well, but I would be reluctant to do it again.
Do you take pictures or do any types of research before you start a project?
Only if I really don’t know what something looks like.
Do you think the Internet has opened doors for you?
Yes!! It’s my source for community and education. It’s how I get work and how I send work. It’s a lifeline in a solitary endeavor.
Do you use Photoshop or Corel Painter with your illustrations?
Photoshop CS6. On a Mac mini – adorable little box.
Do you own or have you used a Graphic Drawing Tablet in your illustrating?
I use a Wacom tablet. There may be a Cintiq in my distant future.
How did you get the contract to do The Boy on the Yellow Bus with Standard Publishing?
That was with Maggie. Standard is still one of my bread and butter clients (I’m working with them right now).
Do you think you will write and illustrate more picture books?
I hope to. My dummies are like cicadas – long dormancy, they hatch when they are ready.
Do you have any career dreams that you want to fulfill?
As a matter of fact I have a brand new goal. My hope is to attend North Carolina State University in the fall of ’15 when my daughter is a freshman in college to get a Master’s degree in animation and new technology. I met with several of the professors there last week and I am over the moon excited! I am also hoping to teach at some point. But mainly my goal is to keep moving forward and let those doors to destiny keep opening when they will.
Above and below are a couple of Karen’s watercolors.
What are you working on now?
I have a couple of assignments for Highlights For Children, something for a religious educator, and a personal project in Photoshop that I am hoping to begin playing around with some animation in After Effects. It’s a whole new world!
Do you have any material type tips you can share with us? Example: Paint or paper that you love – the best place to buy – a new product that you’ve tried – A how to tip, etc.
Hmmm, Use lots of layers in Photoshop – that’s what it is best at. I draw with a colerase black pencil because you can erase a little and it doesn’t smudge up. I like brush and ink on Canson Vidalon. My needs are pretty narrow these days.
Any words of wisdom on how to become a successful writer or illustrator?
Immerse yourself in it, persevere, find a community that will encourage you and inform you, observe everything, and draw, draw, draw. Oh, and here’s another – two dimensional objective art is trickery! You are trying to convince the viewer that what they are seeing is three dimensional. You can not do that successfully unless you understand what that three dimensional object/place is. Build stuff, touch stuff, make maquettes, manipulate shapes until you understand how they exist in that space and how they correlate to each other.
Karen, Thank you so much for sharing your talent, journey, process, and expertise with us. Please keep in touch and let us know of all your future successes. We would love to hear about them.
You can see more of Karen’s work on her website: www.karenjoneslee.com or www.karenleeillustration.com
Please take a minute to leave Karen a comment. I’m sure she would like that and I know I would. Thanks!
Talk tomorrow,
Kathy
Filed under: authors and illustrators, Illustrator's Saturday, inspiration, Interview, picture books, Process Tagged: ABC Safari, Columbus College of Art and Design, Illustrator Saturday, Karen Lee