coyleart

promo materials

Here's my latest promo, since teaming up with Kiki Pollard at Alexander|Pollard Artist's Representatives.

©Laura Coyle 2007

if you want to see a related image from my portfolio, you can check it out on my site. Next time, I'll have figured out (asked my husband) how to make the image above succesfully link to the related page on my site. (He showed me how!) click the image above.

finding your style as an illustrator

Or you could just as easily call it “finding your voice.” Thoughts of singing lately have reminded me of the quest for a style as an illustrator. Since I started my pursuit of singing relatively late, (in my mid 30’s) I haven’t had to think of my sound or singing style in commercial or career terms. I’ve been free to play around, open up and explore. I probably have some kind of style, it’s just not something I’ve spent a lot of time crafting. It’s evolving as I’m having fun with it. And I’ve been noticing how liberating that is.

In contrast, with illustration I worked and concentrated on developing a style so that I would have something ready to sell. And I’m always tweaking my style and thinking: how can I make it better? take it in a new direction? It's important I keep developing, but what happens when the quest for style becomes so crucial, I lose track of what enthralled me with illustration in the first place?

Too often, thinking in commercial terms, like “how am I going to make a living at this?” can be a little stifling when you’re trying to find your style or your own voice. Even when I set aside the time to explore, paint or make something, I often have to contend with the voice of an imaginary dungeon master working in the background. It’s pretty well rehearsed after all these years – it tells me I’m running out of time, there’s a deadline, there are expectations to be met. Oh how that voice loves to ruin the party. Maybe it helps to keep me on track in the middle of a job, but sometimes I just need it to shut up.

So when I’m painting or drawing or making something for my own exploration I try (try!) to deliberately tune my ears to something more lyrical. I’ll be listening for the voice that says “oooo!” or “wow!” when I lay one color next to another, because it guides me to what excites me. Of course it often says, “that sucks!” but I keep going, looking for another ”wow!” Sometimes I’m lucky enough to happen upon something I just love, then I really pay attention.

It’s like singing – there you are, in the shower or in the car and a song comes over you and you go with it. Whatever it is that keeps you singing, it’s certainly not a critical evaluation of your technique. Maybe it's just for the love of music, or that feeling you get when you and Aretha sing “what you want.....baby I got it!”

I want to try and bring more of that attitude to my experimentation with art and my illustration style. If over time, I can collect those moments of "wow," I am on my way to finding a style that will keep me excited and interested through many future assignments. There’s always time to hone and polish things and make them ready for public consumption later – that's an important stage of developing an illustration style. But for the moment I’m painting or drawing for myself, it’s all about listening for those pleasing tones. (And tuning out the critical ones.) If I’m having fun with it, it's a good sign that I'm on the way to finding my own voice in the process.

gear shift

This cold I've got is really stubborn and so I've had no energy for the blog - or much else the past few days. But today I'm finally getting to catch up on work projects and be in illustrator mode. Here's a photo from last Saturday's recording session - I can hardly believe I did this, (my first time) and mercifully the engineer is on vacation for the next two weeks, so I don't have to think (or obsess) about it for a little while and can get back to illustration and my kleenex and hopefully get my voice back to full strength. For now, it's back to the drawing board - and very glad to be back!