Interview with Jason Seiler
 "Mother can you spare a room?" painted for The Wall Street Journal, 2013. It's about 30-year-olds who still live at home with their parents. | |
| Author | Nolan Harris |
|---|---|
| Subject | Jason Selier |
| Genre | Interview |
| Published | EF Issue 2015.4 |
Publication date | Fall 2015 |
| Pages | 19-23 |
| Website |
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An interview with Jason Seiler found on pages 19-23 of EF Issue 2015.4
Article Transcript
Jason Seiler is a busy man. When he isn't working on commissions for such things as the Time Magazine Man of the Year cover or big name corporations, he can be found offering personalized critiques to students in his online classes at Schoolism.com. The last time many ISCA members have seen him was when the convention was last held in Sandusky at the Kalahari in 2009. We are delighted to have him return as our guest of honor for this year's convention in Sandusky, Ohio. Jason was able to take a few minutes out of his busy schedule and answer a few questions via email from our president Nolan Harris. -editor
Q: How does it feel to come back to the ISCA convention? After all, it was only a few years ago when you were a competing attendee and now you're the focal point of the event!
A: I'm very excited about it. It definitely has been way too long since the last time which was in 2009 and it's a bit strange since that year the convention was held in Sandusky, so in a way I imagine it will feel like I never left. The convention always fell on a date that I wasn't able to make work for one reason or another so I am really looking forward to hanging out with everyone and having fun drawing and painting! It's weird though, every year I've been to the convention, I have been a speaker, so maybe next year I'll come and just hang out without flapping my mouth hole at everyone? In all seriousness, I am honored and deeply flattered to have been asked to come this year. In 2008 I did a small talk but was mostly competing and what made that year so special for me, besides winning a few awards, was that Ismael Roldan was the guest and awarded me the guest of honor award which meant more to me than the Nosey. He was a close friend and talented artist, who left us too soon.
Q: What have you experienced at past conventions that helped push you to become the artist you are today?
A: I thought about how to answer this one for a while now and I'm not sure if this is the answer anyone was looking for, but artistically I can't think of anything at the convention that has made me the artist I am today, except for one thing, which would be the huge amount of support and encouragement that I felt from my fellow caricature friends. That support helped push me to become a better artist because after winning the Gold Nosey in 2008, I felt that I had more to prove and I didn't want to let any of you down. I'm sure a lot of ISCA artists feel the same way.
Q: Let's take a step back and talk about how you got your start as an artist. How old were you when you realized this was your passion and who influenced you early on?
A: Well, as many of you know, my Dad, Larry Seiler, is an artist. My Dad at that time was mostly a wildlife artist and was in his studio all the time, painting or woodcarving. So, basically I was around art all the time. He showed me a few things when I was a kid, but mostly I blew him off and did my own thing. I was more interested in drawing comics or whatever I wanted, but how I wanted to. My Dad won Wildlife Artist of the Year in 1985 and later won a Wisconsin Trout Stamp. I think I felt like I had something to prove to other people, classmates and so on. I felt I had to be a good artist, had to make good on the Seiler name. That pressure that I put on myself helped me to focus and work hard early on. As far back as I can remember, I have been an artist. I was a very serious kid. I had tons of sketchbooks and when one was filled I'd start another. I had a sketchbook just for shark drawings, one for Spider-man, one for Batman, and one for The Ninja Turtles. I was a bit nuts. I didn't really want to hang out with friends all that much. My Dad would make me play outside with my brother and friends but within 30 minutes or so I was back in my room at my drawing table. I was always very interested in drawing people and when I was around 10 I started drawing caricatures. At that time I didn't know what I was doing was called caricature, it was how I saw people and it was fun. I actually thought it was something I came up with, then one day, my Dad bought a book for me called Caricature by Lenn Redman. I learned real quick that I didn't come up with this art form, and that I had a lot to work on. Around that time my parents took me to The Mall of America in Minneapolis. There were live caricaturists working at booths, I believe they were run by Tom Richmond? Anyways, I would sit and watch the artists for hours while my family shopped. 21 I was always into MAD Magazine so I guess my early influences would have to be Jack Davis and Mort Drucker. In my late teens, I was pretty much only drawing caricatures and my influences then were artists like Steve Brodner, Al Hirschfeld, and Philip Burke. Philip Burke's work sparked my dream of working for Rolling Stone. When I was 19 I moved to Chicago from Northern Wisconsin and before I left my Dad bought another book for me, Stars by Sebastian Krűger. To be honest that book pissed me off because again I thought I was doing something original. I hadn't really seen caricature work before that had strong exaggeration while rendered in a realistic way, which is what I was trying to do. So when I saw Krűger's book and saw that he was doing that and had been for years before me, I was both annoyed and inspired. For a while, Krűger was my main influence, I learned a lot about exaggeration from his work. My professional career started in my early 20s and my influences then were, of course, Krűger, Tom Richmond, Hermann Mejia, Fred Harper, Norman Rockwell, J.C. Leyendecker, Roberto Parada, C.F. Payne, Norman Mingo, Ismael Roldan, Tom Fluharty, Jan Op De Beeck, Drew Friedman, Philip Burke, Daniel Adel, James Bennet and Steve Brodner. Once I developed my own voice and style, my influences changed quite a bit, because I didn't want my caricature work to feel like the work of my early caricature influences. Caricature art is still something I enjoy but it's no longer an inspiration for my caricature work. My influences became great painters like Richard Schmid, Jeremy Lipking, Jeremy Geddes, John Singer Sargent, Zorn, and Jenny Saville, to name a few.
Q: You have become an advocate for artistic growth in the art community over the past few years with your Schoolism course. When did you decide to start spreading your knowledge? What led you towards that path?
A: I've been teaching for nearly 11 years now at Schoolism, which is a crazy thought, because I never wanted to teach and never thought I would or that I could. One day Bobby Chiu called me and shared a little bit about himself and what his vision was for the school. I hadn't heard of Bobby told me that he and Stephen Silver came up with the idea for the school, and that Stephen would be teaching a class as well. He told me that he had been following my blog "It's Funny Because It's True," and that he thought I was one of the better caricaturists that he's seen. Then he asked me if I would want to teach caricature for his new online school, Schoolism. At first I said no. I wasn't sure I could do it and didn't know how to teach caricature— I mean how do you teach someone to see what you see? Stephen Silver was a friend of mine and I trusted him. So, I called Stephen and we talked for a bit and basically, he convinced me to do it, said I would be great at it. So I called Bobby and told him I'm in, and the rest is history. Now I really like it. I've taught at least 1000 students one on one for Schoolism and have had the privilege of teaching artists who have gone on to work as professionals. Torren Thomas was one of my first students and one of the hardest workers, so it's exciting that Torren is a speaker at the convention this year. I'm so proud of his work and excited for his future artistically, and honored that I got to play a small part. One of the good things about teaching is the giving back. I care about my students and want to see them succeed. My teaching style is a bit hardcore. I believe in saying it how it is and pushing them hard when they need it. I'm currently working on a new class for Schoolism on drawing and painting portraits which I'm excited about. That class should be available before Christmas.
Q: How has becoming an art instructor changed your artistic approach?
A: I'm not sure it has. I know from teaching and critiquing for as long as I have now that it has given me a reason to have to continue to prove myself as I want to make sure to be an example and leader to my students and peers. I always try to push and challenge myself. I want to be so much better than I am now and hope from year to year that my work will continue to improve.
Q: It becomes increasingly hard for artists to juggle family life and work in the freelance world. Being an illustrator, a father, a husband and an art instructor, I imagine time management has become a very important tool for you to utilize from day to day. What time management tips do you have for our members that are looking to become freelance illustrators?
A: That's a good question, and probably one of the hardest things about being a freelance illustrator. I have my daughters 45% of the time so on the days that I don't have them it's obviously a lot easier, but lonelier too. For me the trick is knowing myself and knowing how much time I need for a particular deadline. I know how much time it will take and so I let my kids know when they need to let me work. I try to not work nights or weekends so I can spend time with my family. My studio is in my home so when I have my kids I'm here when they need me. They're used to me being home but locked in my studio until dinner time, then I'm theirs. It can be a hard thing to balance, but overall it works.
Q: How long do you spend on your assignments? Does the time vary from project to project?
A: Yes, it depends on the job that I am working on. The Weekly Standard and Rolling Stone, for example, usually only give me two days so I have to work fast and sometimes simplify my style, or come up with a new way of painting. Like keeping things more painterly, for example. If a publication gives me a week, I'll spend the entire week on it so I can get it just the way I want it. If I have other commissions I will most likely have to give myself only a couple days on it even though they gave me a week. It all depends on the job, the size, the details, and how much they're paying.
Q: As a painter, how have your methods changed over the years?
A: Well, when I was first teaching myself how to paint, I did things in a much harder way, so I guess I would have to say that I have become more experienced which helps me to paint faster and more accurately, but I also know that there is still so much more to learn. The great thing about painting is that there are so many different ways to paint, so many techniques, ways to start and finish. I've grown I think, from wanting to paint super hyper-realistic to letting go a bit and becoming more painterly, focusing more on my brush work and that sort of thing.
Q: How long ago did you get your start in illustration? What has changed about the industry since you got your start?
A: I've been working as an illustrator since around 2001 or 2002. Things were much slower for me then and at the start, I was working for small magazines that didn't really pay well. Once I started getting the attention of larger publications, things were pretty good. It was exciting to finally get paid decent checks for the same amount of work that I was doing previously for pretty much free. Things started changing a bit around 2008. Magazines started paying a little less and in the last few years caricature in publication has been happening less and less. Lately I've mostly been doing portrait work for magazines. It's good for paying my bills but not as fun. It's an unpredictable way to make a living. Some months are great, and others really slow. The hardest part for me is trying to get paid. Magazines want the artwork yesterday and then they sometimes take four to six weeks or more to pay.
Q: Is there a particular subject that you are fond of painting? Is there someone that you have been dying to paint in the future?
A: George Lucas, Nancy Pelosi and Donald Trump are always fun, but really it would be just as fun painting anyone if publications would let me draw how I see people rather than having to hold back so much. It's rare for a publication to let you really exaggerate. As far as caricature goes there's no one I am dying to draw. When I have my own free time, I work on my own personal fine art. I'm really wanting to do larger oil paintings of people, some caricature but mostly just real people that I want to pose in certain ways and lay on the paint nice and thick!
Q: What do you hope to pass on to the artists attending this year's ISCA convention in Sandusky?
A: Besides an STD? I guess would hope to inspire and energize! I'm looking forward to hanging with everyone and seeing what everyone does.
Q: In closing, which artists—living or dead— do you admire the most, or have influenced you the most?
A: I sort of covered this earlier, but one of my favorite living painters is Jenny Saville, her brush work and use of color is really exciting and inspirational to me. I also love the work and palette of Zorn.
For more of Jason's work, visit his website at www.jasonseiler.com
See Also
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