GUEST COLUMNIST
The following is the first in a series of short articles by guest columnists. They will write about things in their lives, about their art and about their business.

Brainy Illustration: Why My Grandmother Finally Understands What I Do for a Living

by Leigh Wells, Illustrator

I never imagined being on the cover of Time magazine, but this week, thousands of people (my grandmother included) are seeing my illustration there, as one of the very few illustrated TIME covers recently.

Over the last year or so, I have worked with Time Magazine art director, Janet Michaud on a number of interior illustrations about health and medical issues. Because of past collaborations with Janet, I was excited when she recently called me to do an interior spread to open a Mind & Body feature for a special issue.

As had happened previously, the assignment started with one piece and suddenly expanded. Janet and I worked quickly back and forth via phone and emailed sketches on a solution for the section's table of contents (sketch to finish in a few hours) and a small icon to repeat throughout the feature. The result is more a collaboration than a work by a single person.

In recent years, Time seems to have steered away from illustrative covers, so I was surprised when one of the sketches I had done for Janet for the interior was being considered for the issue's cover. I had assumed before that my style wasn't one that Time would see as appealing to its wide readership.  But, Arthur Hochstein, the cover art director, decided to have me go to finished art for one of the solutions to be presented in the cover meeting!

Within a week, I delivered the illustration, based on an old phrenology diagram of the head, but incorporating colorful, sign-like overlapping forms and hand lettering. I wouldn't know for several days if mine would be chosen as the official cover, and I was preparing myself for the selection of a more straightforward image or being bumped by a fast breaking news story.

All illustrators must send out work on occasion that they aren't completely happy with, especially on tight deadlines. In this case where so many people were going to see the piece. I was excited and relieved that I was happy with it. I don’t always feel that way. I enjoyed doing this piece very much—like the best of my work, it has complex areas within a very simple composition. The hand-lettered and hand-made aspects of my work remind me what I enjoyed about art making as a child.

I enjoy the ‘grown-up’, business part of being an illustrator as well. Even the most fun project, includes some negotiation up front.  In the case of this cover, Time presented me with a work-for-hire agreement. I understood that they may eventually publish that cover in a wide variety of media, including a book of past covers, or posters of covers on their website, but I worked with legal department to strike the work-for –hire clause. They paid a fair price for the image's extensive use and have the broad rights they need, but I retain the copyright.

I’ve received a great response from clients and family who have seen the cover. People who might not have understood before, now "get" that I make pictures for a living and that it's a legitimate career!  Even my Granny gets it now!

Leigh Wells’ work can be viewed here. She likes to say that she has no rep (and never will). San Francisco-based illustrator Leigh Wells has been a Guild member on and off for many years.