One of the best experiences I had on the New York trip was visiting Brian Rea, art director of the Op-Ed Page for the New York Times. Brian worked as an illustrator before becoming the art director for the Op-Ed page. After a slight mishap in scheduling, we met Brian at 8 a.m. at his office in the New York Times Building (which was pretty huge and amazing). Although we were all tired with it being so early in the morning, we were very attentive to what Brian had to say about how he goes about creating the Op-Ed page and advice on how to break into the world of illustration.
Upon arriving at his office, Brian first showed us how that day's Op-Ed page was created. The illustrator for the page that day evidently fell through and Brian had to come up with his own illustration for the main article which he published under a pen name. We then moved on to look at past Op-Ed pages, thus introducing us to a variety of illustrators and their work. We got to hear about the entire process of the creation of an image for the paper. An illustrator has to send in sketches, get them approved, and then has about six hours to produce a final illustration, scan it, and send it in.
Some of the illustrators used for the New York Times are famous, such as Brad Holland, while others are rather unknown and found through shows or postcards Brian received. The Op-Ed page likes to always use new illustrators, which is encouraging to those just starting out in the field. When asked how these new illustrators are discovered, Brian said that he goes to shows in the city to see new work, he receives postcards and keeps the ones that might work for the page, and he looks at hundreds of websites. Brian also pulled out the contact list of illustrators used for the paper; this was a huge list filled with famous illustrators and their phone numbers!
Overall, the meeting with Brian Rea at the New York Times was an exciting and eye-opening experience. He gave us great advice on how to get our work out there so people like him would notice. The most important piece of advice he gave us was about SELF-PROMOTION- doing things to help our work be seen. Entering shows, sending out postcards, and having a strong website are among the many tips Brian gave us before we left his office. I think we all left the New York Times with a better understanding of not only how newspaper illustration works, but also what art directors look for when seeking out an illustrator.
Artist Profiles: Brian Rea
More info about Brian Rea
New York Times Op-Ed Columnists
"And Now a Word From Op-Ed" by David Shipley
1 comment:
Brian Rea and the New York Times was written by Taylor Pope. I published the blog and realized I forgot to put my name!
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