1. What helps you be more creative?

Being relaxed helps me alot. Also, mixing my day up with exercise and coffee breaks, and sometimes cleaning the house even helps. Since you can't force creativity, sometimes you have to change it up to allow creativity to come to you.

2. What other types of jobs have you had?

I worked at burger king, did a terrible job being a secretary, and then found a position teaching Illustrator and Photoshop.

3. When are images better than words?

For me, nearly always. I like to get a quick read on something for efficiency and then delve deeper if the topic draws me in.

4. What is your working environment like?

It's great! I work on the couch in my living room with a cozy laptop on my lap. There's a big window at the front of the room that lets a lot of light in. When it's nice outside, I work in the tiny back yard.

5. How did you get into illustration?

I started drawing animals when I was around 3 and kept going. Illustration as a career began when I made gig posters back in 2004 or so. I wasn't paid, but I loved it so much it was worth it.

6. How did you get your first illustration job?

I did free poster design for a local music venue and promoter. I developed my portfolio and my style that way.

7. Is your work more conceptual or decorative?

I think it's both, but it depends on the project. I like to improve the look of things which would be decorative, but I also like to describe an idea visually with an illustration, which would be conceptual.

8. Do you see any "trends" in your students' work?

I definitely do. Sometimes the students who don't draw in a naturalistic way might get a great portfolio that's on-trend for the naive style. Hand-drawn type is a big push in the department, and that's definitely a beautiful trend, and one that I hope sticks around.

9. How do you come up with new ideas? Do you have a process?

That's the hard part. Illustration is by definition visual storytelling. Finding the language is the job. I have a big library and dig through it. I look at Steinberg, the Euros of the last century, Glaser, everybody. I'll see an image that will trigger an idea. Never the image that inspired the new idea, but a mental jump from there. The best images open your imagination and make you think.

10. What is something new you have noticed or learned recently?

I noticed recently that I love going for long rides outside - it calms my mind like nothing else.

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11. Why do you like working in vector? Do you work in other mediums?

I think as an artist you're either a form or a line person. I'm a line person for sure. I never bothered with modeling forms and I nearly failed painting in college. I just wanted the line to be graceful and simple. Vector suits that mindset.

14. How many pieces are needed for a portfolio?

I would say 7-10 good pieces per style.

What makes a good conceptual illustration? Simplicity and elegance. The "I wish I'd thought of that" effect.

16. What are common questions students ask?

"How do I get a job?" is a common one! My answer is always the same: have a 5 year plan that will work you closer to your goal, work hard, talk to people, build confidence through making time for personal work. The biggest thing: outlast the competition.

17. There are multiple ways to make a backup of the original artwork. Which of the following choices are an acceptable means of preserving the original art work?

A. Make a duplicate copy of the file.
B. In Photoshop, open your artwork and copy the layer, remembering to lock the original layer.
C. There is no need to make a copy

18. Do you have an art rep? Why?

Yes! I have a fantastic rep now. I went through a couple of not-so-great matches with other reps, but now I've found "the one." I like being freed up to draw instead of negotiate and work through details. I think whatever you do, make sure you do it well, and make sure you don't try to be more than you are. I'm an illustrator and designer, but I'm not an accountant, negotiator, office manager, or a carpenter. I'm lucky to be able to hire these people to do the most efficient job for me, just like other people hire me to do my specialty.

19. When working with art work, what is the best practice?

A. There are no best practices when working with art work.
B. Save your work frequently to avoid loosing anything.
C. Work from a copy of the original artwork to avoid destroying the original art work.

20. What is your favorite type of commercial project and why?

I love projects that challenge me conceptually, just enough, but not too much! It's fun to find a common thread between two ideas and create an image. When it falls flat for the client, that's a bummer though.

22. Why do you think you love drawing and petting animals?

Animals have always fascinated me; their cool abilities like jumping high, seeing really well in the dark, or flying captured my imagination as a kid. I wanted to grow up to be a bird. When you look at something like an elephant or a parrot, or even a dog, it's hard to believe they're here on earth with us; they're amazing and beautiful and we're lucky to have them here.

23. RGB stands for:

A. Red, Green, Black
B. Red, Gray, Blue
C. Red, Gray, Black
D. Red, Green, Blue

24. What do you see as the three key advantages of Illustrator over, say, Corel, Xara or newcomers such as Artboard?

► Illustrator's integration and strong workflows with other Adobe products
► Illustrator's ubiquity in the creative world
► Illustrator's flexibility. While Illustrator's feature set more than meets the needs of the majority of our customers, thanks to independent plugin developers, like yourselves, the application can be expanded for a wide range of customers with specialized needs.

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25. Which of these is possible?

A. Using Photoshop to convert raster images to vector images
B. Using Illustrator to convert vector images to raster images
C. Using Bridge to convert grayscale images to vector images
D. Using Dreamweaver to convert gifs into vector images

27. What is the area bounded by a solid line in which you create your artwork?

A. Main area
B. White Zone
C. Artboard
D. Drawing Zone

28. What does live paint allow you to do?

A. Fill specific areas different colors
B. Change the color of the whole image at once
C. Draw things freely by hand
D. Remove color from an image

31. Explain how to make a template Layer in Adobe Illustrator CS6?

To make a template Layer in Adobe illustrator in CS6, you have to follow these steps

► Save an image or logo and save it in a format that an illustrator can import from your image editing program like PhotoShop. Usually, you save the image as a.tif, an .eps or a native, .psd (Photoshop) file,
► Choose Fileà Place to open the place dialog box
► In the place dialog box, locate the store image, then choose the template check box and tap on place
► Re-create the image by tracing over it with the Pen tool
► When it's done, turn off the visibility of the placed image by selecting the visibility icon to the left of the template layer

33. Situational Adobe illustrator interview questions:

► Have you ever had difficulty working with a manager?
► How do you think you can make a contribution to this company?
► What would make you happy in a job?
► What have you been doing since your last job?
► What is the difference between a good position and an excellent one?

34. Telephonic Adobe illustrator interview questions:

► Tell me about an important issue you encountered recently.
► Can you describe a time when your work was criticized?
► How well did your college experience prepare you for this job?
► What do you feel is the best educational preparation for this career?
► What are three positive character traits you don't have?

The answer you give to this query can make or break your chances of getting the job. A short positive response is best.
A successful interviewee should give examples of past experiences when these skills came to use.

35. Video interview for Adobe illustrator:

► How would you weigh a plane without scales?
► Situation in which you had to arrive at a compromise.
► What was the most important task you ever had?
► Give me an example that best describes your organizational skills.
► How did you react when faced with constant time pressure?