Heroes & Heroines
J Otto Seibold
I grew up in a small California town called Martinez, an hour east of San Francisco. Martinez is dominated by two things: oil refineries and the noted naturalist John Muir. A modern oxymoron of municipal pulls. Definite strong factors that developed my drawing style:1. Drawing Hot Rods2. Legos3. Japanese cartoons: watching Ultraman and Speed Racer on TV.
People often ask me which art school I attended. I didn't go to any. I never had much luck, or interest, learning at school. But in high school I took drafting classes. And after graduation, I decided I'd had enough of school, it was time to go to work. I got drafting jobs with my neighbors, the refineries, and other nearby giant corporate places.
I floated from corporation to corporation, secure that I was good enough to always get a job but not wanting to be considered staff. I did end up freelancing on and off at the Clorox Corporation for a number of years at their Design and Research Laboratory, where they test and retest all their products and invent brilliant new things. They had a huge technology budget that gave me access to the most sophisticated computers of that time. Clorox tried to keep a corporate atmosphere, but they also understood you have to give people creative freedom if you want them to make great leaps in the fields of cleansers, salad dressing, barbecue lighter fluid, or kitty litter.
Not long after I got back from a trip to Asia, I found out about a previously inconceivable way of making money: illustrating. I was looking for a good seat at the movies when my friend pointed out someone he knew and said, "See that guy? He draws pictures for a living." After the movie I went home and started looking more critically at the illustrations in the newspaper and magazines. I made some calls to Clorox and got the job of designing and illustrating that year's company Christmas calendar.
In 1988, a good friend of mine, Vivian Walsh, had invited me to travel to Spain with her. She wanted to rent a house there for a couple of months. She saw herself arranging wildflowers and writing. I decided to go with her. I would draw and build myself a portfolio of illustrations.
Destination Spain got pushed back by our travels through Germany, Austria, Italy, back to Austria, Yugoslavia, Greece, Turkey, and back to Greece . . . and then finally, an airplane ride from Athens to Madrid.
By the time Vivian and I chose the Celtic coast of Spain as the perfect place to rent a house, we were exhausted by our travels and had spent all of our money. I got back to San Francisco with only three decent drawings for a portfolio but very much in love with Vivian Walsh. First things first. Back home I quickly built up my portfolio and got my first job, which luckily led to more and more work until I was, yes, a Commercial Artist.
Initially I made my illustrations by cutting shapes from colored paper and then gluing them together. Then the nice people at Adobe Software invited me to spend a weekend at their compound to learn how to use their Adobe Illustrator software.
Ah . . . the digital revolution. It saved me from my artistic handicap at the time, mixing paints. I got modern and outfitted myself with a big Macintosh computer. On the computer, I worked in a process that was similar to gluing together pieces of colored paper. Now I plotted color shapes on the screen and then applied them next to, or on top of, each other. My computer experience at Clorox and my background in drafting made creating illustrations on the computer a natural step for me.
One evening, airborne, flying over the Arctic Ocean, Vivian came up with an idea for a children's picture book. It was based on our real-life experience. Our pampered New York City lapdog was traveling with us, but unfortunately he had to ride below, in the luggage compartment. That became the story for our first children's book, Mr. Lunch Takes a Plane Ride (Viking).
Our first child's arrival was perfect timing for our new career. Thea introduced us to a lot of other kids. We grew a big library of picture books. I can never get over how much children love to look at picture books. The books are in step with how the brain wants to grow. Children are so eager to learn as much as they can from the images and stories.
Our newest book is about our second dog, Olive. She's proven herself to be faithful, our best friend, and all that kind of good dog stuff. She's paid her dues while watching Mr. Lunch get all the fame and fan mail. Her book is a Christmas story called Olive, the Other Reindeer. She gets to work for Santa Claus, but just for one crucial night. We are hoping she will be as satisfied with this job as we have been.
People often ask me which art school I attended. I didn't go to any. I never had much luck, or interest, learning at school. But in high school I took drafting classes. And after graduation, I decided I'd had enough of school, it was time to go to work. I got drafting jobs with my neighbors, the refineries, and other nearby giant corporate places.
I floated from corporation to corporation, secure that I was good enough to always get a job but not wanting to be considered staff. I did end up freelancing on and off at the Clorox Corporation for a number of years at their Design and Research Laboratory, where they test and retest all their products and invent brilliant new things. They had a huge technology budget that gave me access to the most sophisticated computers of that time. Clorox tried to keep a corporate atmosphere, but they also understood you have to give people creative freedom if you want them to make great leaps in the fields of cleansers, salad dressing, barbecue lighter fluid, or kitty litter.
Not long after I got back from a trip to Asia, I found out about a previously inconceivable way of making money: illustrating. I was looking for a good seat at the movies when my friend pointed out someone he knew and said, "See that guy? He draws pictures for a living." After the movie I went home and started looking more critically at the illustrations in the newspaper and magazines. I made some calls to Clorox and got the job of designing and illustrating that year's company Christmas calendar.
In 1988, a good friend of mine, Vivian Walsh, had invited me to travel to Spain with her. She wanted to rent a house there for a couple of months. She saw herself arranging wildflowers and writing. I decided to go with her. I would draw and build myself a portfolio of illustrations.
Destination Spain got pushed back by our travels through Germany, Austria, Italy, back to Austria, Yugoslavia, Greece, Turkey, and back to Greece . . . and then finally, an airplane ride from Athens to Madrid.
By the time Vivian and I chose the Celtic coast of Spain as the perfect place to rent a house, we were exhausted by our travels and had spent all of our money. I got back to San Francisco with only three decent drawings for a portfolio but very much in love with Vivian Walsh. First things first. Back home I quickly built up my portfolio and got my first job, which luckily led to more and more work until I was, yes, a Commercial Artist.
Initially I made my illustrations by cutting shapes from colored paper and then gluing them together. Then the nice people at Adobe Software invited me to spend a weekend at their compound to learn how to use their Adobe Illustrator software.
Ah . . . the digital revolution. It saved me from my artistic handicap at the time, mixing paints. I got modern and outfitted myself with a big Macintosh computer. On the computer, I worked in a process that was similar to gluing together pieces of colored paper. Now I plotted color shapes on the screen and then applied them next to, or on top of, each other. My computer experience at Clorox and my background in drafting made creating illustrations on the computer a natural step for me.
One evening, airborne, flying over the Arctic Ocean, Vivian came up with an idea for a children's picture book. It was based on our real-life experience. Our pampered New York City lapdog was traveling with us, but unfortunately he had to ride below, in the luggage compartment. That became the story for our first children's book, Mr. Lunch Takes a Plane Ride (Viking).
Our first child's arrival was perfect timing for our new career. Thea introduced us to a lot of other kids. We grew a big library of picture books. I can never get over how much children love to look at picture books. The books are in step with how the brain wants to grow. Children are so eager to learn as much as they can from the images and stories.
Our newest book is about our second dog, Olive. She's proven herself to be faithful, our best friend, and all that kind of good dog stuff. She's paid her dues while watching Mr. Lunch get all the fame and fan mail. Her book is a Christmas story called Olive, the Other Reindeer. She gets to work for Santa Claus, but just for one crucial night. We are hoping she will be as satisfied with this job as we have been.
