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Buelow may not have had a Medici to encourage her, but she did have Adobe. In 1987, after graduating from San Jose State University, she landed an internship with the software company. "I was just sitting alone in a vacant classroom drawing one day, and a fellow classmate walked in and said, 'Hey, you like to draw? You should come work at Adobe with me!'" Buelow remembers the Adobe workplace as having an encouraging and creative atmosphere. So much so, that her art director felt she was needed to go out on her own. After leaving Adobe, Buelow's career began to open like a clamshell. Today, her clients include magazines, newspapers, book and CD covers, software packaging, marketing materials, and advertising. Altpick.com recently spoke to Buelow from her home in San Francisco. You took a degree in graphic design at San Jose State University. What was it like to go to Adobe right out of school?
At the time they were testing Illustrator 88, which was the second version of Illustrator. They just asked us to spend all day drawing in the program. We weren't really testing it; we were drawing sample art so they could show it to people to say: 'This is what you can do.' Eventually that turned into making packaging images for them. It was a very creative place at the time. Even a poster or a direct mailing campaign was very creative. Why did you leave? Once I was given the opportunity to work on the Illustrator and PageMaker packaging images, that initiated the whole illustrating career for me. It was the art director at Adobe who encouraged me to go out on my own. I thought, 'Okay, I'll try that.' I sent some samples to a rep agency, and they said, 'Yeah, we'll take that.' I didn't have much to show the rep, but I got work pretty fast anyway. And I've just been working ever since. I moved here to San Francisco and set up a studio. I live four blocks from my studio and walk to work every day. It's a pretty good life. What year was that? I'm pretty sure it was 1996.
I think it was seamless because of my naivete. I didn't know that there were any risks. I just did it. I was really lucky because Adobe encouraged and supported us so much. We had access to every single thing - printers, fonts, software and everything. They were very open to experimentation. And so the work just started rolling in. What are clients looking for from you? Clients call me because they want a mixture of technology and the spiritual, natural, and human elements - there's something about incorporating that texture and humanity into the illustration. From the beginning, this was the way I thought about technology and nature, that everything was integrated. I step out of the office and there's all this texture, noise, plus the remnants of life that I find on the ground. And I take it all in. I think that's how a lot of collage artists feel, that it's an emotional experience. I incorporate the things I see all around me, and technology is there at the base as a tool. At least it is at my base. How has your style evolved over the years? I guess you could say it's a little more rough. I could make it slick if I wanted to, but I don't want to anymore. It's not as polished. Now I have more of an interest in traditional collage. Instead of doing everything on the computer, I'm doing some of both -- hand paintings, drawings, photographs, things I pick up on the street -- scanning those and incorporating them into the work. Whereas before, I may have forced the computer to make things look rough and weathered because I knew how to tell the computer how to do that. Now I want to do some of it myself. I guess you could say the work is darker now, more personal, more edgy. Have your clients changed because of the change in your style? Not really. They're OK with how I'm changing. For example, this week I have three clients whom I've worked with for five years. I believe clients ultimately want work that has a unique personality, so it's important to evolve and grow.
I have become much more aware of the sociological, pyschological, and political issues around me. Much of that comes from living in San Francisco. There's a certain consciousness here -- I can't avoid that. Plus I'm getting older! too. Especially being a collage artist, you have the opportunity to show awareness in your work. You can approach it with this post-modern sensibility -- taking in everything from your society. And you get to reflect back what you want. Sounds like you -- like a lot of illustrators - are moving toward a more "fine art" perspective. Yes, I would like to do some shows and such. I hope to soon show both my commerical work and my personal pieces. Because I think you're right: The line between commercial art and fine art is blurring, and I think that bodes well for illustration. - Contributed by Kelly McEvers >> See more work from Alicia Buelow >> See other member spotlights on the member spotlight index >> Find out more on how to become an altpick.com member |
