Nuts & Bolts Book Now Available

This book is for young illustrators just entering the marketplace providing them with useful tools to help them make the transition from university to the real world. While a professor may talk about the future students are too busy completing assignments for the next class to have any thoughts about what happens once they graduate.

No school has time to adequately prepare a student illustrator—or designer or fine artist for that matter—for the real world and as a result the illustration industry remains static. Fees haven’t changed in forty years. Illustration has lost much of the respect it once had among art directors, editors and advertisers. But I feel that can change if we provide young illustrators with a better set of tools.What I’ve discovered is that successful illustrators are all very astute business people as well as being talented illustrators. I think this book will help you avoid some of the pitfalls of starting your career as an illustrator. That’s good for your career. And ultimately that’s good for the industry.

From Amazon.com:
Nuts & Bolts is a culmination of over seven years of intense observation of the illustration field and the contact that the author has had personally with successful illustrators. And he is coming from the perspective of a former advertising agency art director and graphic designer as well as publisher of 3x3, The Magazine of Contemporary Illustration. He is in a unique position to see the best and worst of illustrator’s web sites and promotions as not only does he look at them now but he’s been on the receiving end of artist’s promotions for most of his thirty-plus year career. On top of that he actually started out as an illustrator so can identify with the problems illustrators face.

Based on a series of 2009 lectures in the United Kingdom, Nuts & Bolts talks about the three things every successful illustrator knows and the do’s and don’ts for young illustrators entering the market. Professors, Andrew Foster and Gary Powell at Central St Martin’s in London had this to say about his lecture:

“Charles Hively’s candid lecture to the current cohort of MA illustration students at St Martins School of Art & Design in London in 2009, was full of energy and an in-depth knowledge about the subject of illustration.

Issues were raised about the importance of draftsmanship, observational skills, intelligent creative ideas, and an awareness of professional practice was all fundamental in the pursuit of a successful illustrative career.

His talk was the appropriate balance between subject knowledge, fun, quality imagery and a few scary bits. The lecture raised many student questions, which in itself says a lot. His passion is contagious, even when you disagree with aspects of what he was actually saying. Good lectures should be informative, stimulating and a catalyst for inspiration, debate and questioning. This was a very good lecture, a pleasure to witness. We strongly recommend.”

Order Nuts & Bolts online or soon at Amazon.