This week, TheLatinoAuthor.com is featuring Joe Cepeda, a well known artist and illustrator. Not only is his career impressive, Mr. Cepeda is a man that wears many hats. Currently, he is President of the Society of Illustrators of Los Angeles (SILA), has illustrated for over 20 children’s books, has worked with many publications and magazines, and is an accomplished speaker. We invite you to step into his world for a moment to see the world through his eyes. He has some wonderful advice for breaking into the business of being an illustrator!
Can you tell us a little bit about your background and where you grew up, just something that you would like our readers to know about you?
I was born and raised in East Los Angeles. I came of age as the Chicano movement got going in the 60’s and 70’s. My parents weren’t very political people but it wasn’t too hard to notice the turmoil and activism all around me.
Currently you are the President of the Society of Illustrators of Los Angeles (SILA). Can you tell us about this organization and its mission?
I’ve been president of SILA for four years… and very proud to be part of an organization that looks to honor the great tradition that is illustration, promoting the professionalism of our members who are working in print media, television, film, galleries, and in the digital marketplace . It’s an organization founded here on the west coast in the 50’s.
What got you started as an illustrator? Is this something you always wanted to do?
I always enjoyed drawing. I went to the Los Angeles Music and Art School in East LA. However, when I got to high school, I drifted away from art and found myself headed to college to study engineering. After taking the scenic route through school, I finally got a degree in Illustration. I pretty much started working as an illustrator immediately after that.
How would you best describe your artistic work and style?
I’ve never been all that comfortable with the word style. I think it’s more useful to art directors than it is for me. I try and surrender to the assignment and look for the best way to execute the best image-making to make the project work.
You’ve created images for over 20 children’s book, yet you also work with other publications and magazines. Which do you prefer and why?
They offer different challenges. Besides the editorial differences, a book is a longer project that is like a mini movie needing sets and characters and art that entertains as well as tells a story. A magazine illustration’s larger purpose is to entice a reader to stop and read an article, perhaps having a more open-ended narrative as an example.
What is the most challenging thing when creating a children’s book?
Each book has different challenges. As an illustrator, for me, the first thing is to try and get to the core of the story. What is the most important element of the story is its meaning and its emotional thread? After I read a manuscript, the first conversation I have with an editor is one of the most significant moments in creating a book for me. It’s my opportunity to determine or discover how much all parties are, pardon the pun, on the same page. Executing the book is the other part, the work part.
Do you work closely with the author of the book or is this just done through your vision?
I never work with an author. A friend of mine said it best, the collaboration is with the story, not with the author. It is extremely important to have ownership of one’s vision. I wouldn’t illustrate books if I felt my jobs were just to depict what the author wrote. My job is to create, as well… to make images that are in harmony with the story, not just echo them.
Do you see your work more as conceptual or as decorative?
Sometimes it’s more decorative than conceptual, sometimes more lyrical than plot-driven, sometimes more stark than colorful. Not to be too redundant, but, on my end, I don’t worry too much about how illustration is described or its style as much as I’m concerned about whether it does the job.
When you attain a children’s illustration book project, what is your approach to completing? Do you usually have an overall concept once you see the story or do you tackle each page individually?
I simply try and find the merits of each project and accept the challenges therein. Hopefully, there is something different, something that I haven’t tried before, whether that’s subject matter or an opportunity to explore different technical approaches. There is a process, of course, to administrating the execution of a book that I’ve learned over time that works for me, but it’s always subject to change or refinement.
What is the best advice you can give a person who wants to become an illustrator?
Learn your skill set as best you can. Expand your skill set. Seek to have mastery of your skills. Then, realize, that’s not what makes you a storyteller. Be a participant in the emotional theater that is life. That can be more of a challenge for many of us.
What is the best part of your job, and what is the worst part of your job as an illustrator?
The best part is when there are plenty of opportunities to stretch creative inclinations into action. The worst part is when there isn’t.
Do you have an art representative and how important are they to your work as an illustrator/artist? Please elaborate.
I’m represented by the Andrea Brown Literary Agency. I’m new to representation, having largely established my career on my own. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend that, I’m glad to have someone else navigate what seems to be a more complicated landscape than when I first started. Getting work is only half of it; the other half is protecting your rights… your career. I was fortunate to have a lot of work early on, but I probably signed some contracts that maybe I should have not. So it goes. I also have representation for my work as a public speaker and presenter (Academia Cultural).
As a book illustrator, what is one of the biggest challenges you see in the literary arena?
I suppose the reduction in opportunities to work. I’m hoping publishing still provides plenty of platforms to create images. It seems to me that so much is still in flux.
Can you tell us about your current projects and what we may look forward to seeing with regard to your work in the near future?
I have a book coming out, Swing Sisters! (Holiday House), a book I loved illustrating. I’m working on another and always open to anything coming into my studio.
