Creative Feature – Dave Stolte
I recently had the pleasure of meeting a very talented illustrator Dave Stolte at one of our Collekt creative meet-ups, it was was great to hear about Dave’s passion for what he does, and his devotion to his craft. So I couldn’t resist doing a creative feature and showcasing some of his illustrations. Dave was kind enough to take the time to answer some questions and send me some examples of his unique, and awesome, work.
Q: How did you know that you wanted to make a career out of being a creative?
I never really felt like I had a choice. Drawing and designing is something I’ve always done since before kindergarten. I’d be a pretty lousy insurance salesman, I’d tell you that. When I learned about Ralph McQuarrie & Joe Johnston’s pre-production work on “Star Wars” back in the ’70s, the light bulb went off. I knew I could be creative as a career.
Q: How did you get your start?
My first paying gig was in high school (1981 or so), doing print ads for my friend’s father’s pizza restaurant. I did team T-shirts for cross-country and track. In college, I worked as editorial assistant at Walter Foster Publishing, waxing type and creating mechanicals. I’ve worked in a wide variety of design jobs over the last 25+ years (and still work as a designer), but my passion lately is illustration. I’m hoping to push that and get to a point where I can do design on the side and illustration full-time.
Q: What designers and or artist have inspired you in your work?
I’m inspired by Charley Harper, Jim Flora, Mary Blair, Eyvind Earle, R. Crumb, Gary Taxali, Chris Ware, Nate Rodriguez… probably too many to mention.
Q: I noticed on your business card and on your site you are involved with AIGA. Are you a member? and what has your experience been with the AIGA? Would you encourage others to become a member?
I’m a member of the Los Angeles chapter. It’s been rewarding – making contacts, helping get my stuff out there, and providing professional support on issues like crowdsourcing, designcontests, spec work… crucial stuff if we’re going to stay alive in this business.
Q: Do you enjoy working more in the print environment, or the web environment?
As an illustrator, print allows the best display of my work – but the new site greenwriter.org is a great example of integrating my illustration with a fantastic design by the talented Richard Henry.
Q: Do you have any rules for taking a project, or avoiding certain types of projects?
My only hard & fast rule is that I don’t work on spec. If someone has a low budget, I’ll do my best to tailor the scope of work to accommodate their needs (within reason).
Q: What has been your favorite project / projects that you have worked on?
The Greenwriter project was a blast. Great people to work with. I had a commission last year from Orange Coast magazine for a feature and two spots that was like a dream – approval of pencil sketches on the first pass, approval of the color finals on the first pass, and they paid the same week I invoiced. More of that, please!
Q: What are you working on right now?
Working a full-time gig about an hour from home, maintaining freelance design clients evenings & weekends, continuing self-promo stuff for illustration… keeping a lot of irons in the fire.
Q: Are there any projects coming up that you are excited about?
I’ve assigned myself one illustration per week that I’ll be releasing every Monday for the next six months – creating a children’s ABC board book. I’m researching self-publishing the book when it’s done, but apparently all board books are printed overseas in China or Korea… could be interesting.
Q: Do have any goals or plans that you hope to accomplish over the next five years or so?
Wow. Five years from now, I’d like to see some kind of payoff for all this hard work and hustling. Continued recognition in illustration competitions would be great (the Society of Illustrators in New York City selected one of my pieces for this year’s annual, I was blown away). Other than that… health, happiness, and more creative growth. It can only get better.
Wrapping Up
Thanks to Dave for taking the time to do this interview. I love hearing how other people in the creative industry got their start and what inspires them. Make sure you leave some comments in this post and let Dave know that he rocks!
You can catch up with Dave at these interweb hangouts…
Twitter – @davestolte
Website – www.davestolte.com
Etsy Store – Etsy.com/davestolte
This is so cool, and it was awesome meeting Dave and having him a part of collekt!
Thanks everyone for commenting… and thanks Dave for taking the time to answer the questions for me.
good article… glad i got to meet dave at collekt, cool illustrations. what mediums does he use in each illustration?
Thanks guys! See you at the next one.
Impressive stuff. I do some illustration myself, but in a totally different style. This stuff is quite unique, and Ill definitely keep your work in mind, Dave, for future reference. Keep it up
Pingback: Twitter Trackbacks for Creative Feature - Dave Stolte | This Is Aarons Life – Web Design, Graphic Design, and UX Articles. [thisisaaronslife.com] on Topsy.com
Dave has some serious skill. I stumbled across one of his pieces the other day and loved the style. I particularly like the dude sitting in the tree with his laptop.
Top stuff.
Thanks all!
As far as technique goes, I start with a pencil sketch — the rest is 100% Photoshop. I have a morgue of hi-res paper textures, fabric, printed ephemera, and my photos that I use to build layers. I try to work quickly, not deliberate too much, and let accidents and mistakes show. Trying to keep “evidence of the hand” visible always.
.-= ´s last blog ..Greenwriter =-.