Featured Artist: Liz Amini-Holmes

My Background: I hold a BFA in Illustration from the Academy of Art College in San Francisco. I have since worked as an art grunt, an artist, and art director, doing all kinds of stuff like: traditional illustration and digital illustration, user interface design, logos, corporate identity, educational software, video direction, video game art, and web design. Now I'm finally getting back into doing what I really wanted to do all along: editorial illustration and children's book art. Fortunately my other career experiences have given me a good sense for project management, tight deadlines and self-discipline.

My Technique: I primarily use two techniques: acrylic paint and the Macintosh computer. When using acrylics I lay down translucent washes and then dry brush on the texture and color, layering and building them up as they dry. This effect gives me a more iridescent color close to pastels but doesn't give off the harsh quality that acrylics often have. Also, I can work very quickly and at a fairly a small size using this technique. In the past I used pastels quite a bit, but they are delicate and one wayward gust of air could destroy a piece of art. Additionally, I had to work much larger to get the amount of detail I liked, so it became much more time consuming.

When I use the computer I paint in Photoshop and Fractal Painter. I try to mimic my painting style as much as possible. I sometimes scan parts of a painting comp or drawing then finish the piece in the computer. I have been able to fool lots of people as to what tools I use to create my work. I think the tool, be it the computer, paint, or whatever, is secondary to the finished piece. All that matters is the quality and success of the image.

My Involvement in the Guild: I just joined the Guild a few months ago. My involvement has been paying my Guild dues, having some great GAG lunches, and getting neat stuff in the mail from the Guild members.

My Favorite Client story: One of my favorite bad client stories centers around a publications editor I once worked with. He was technically a client since my department worked for his. The head of the editorial department was known for his temper tantrums when things didn't go his way. Often he would stand up on a desk and start screaming at the staff. When things just weren't especially going well he would crawl under his desk and curl up in a fetal position until we all left. Many days his staff would look for him to only discover he was curled up somewhere contemplating the injustices of the world. Usually I was spared the task of interacting with him since it was my bosses job to deal with these ghastly meetings. But a time did come when she was out sick and I had to fill in for her. Fortunately he was in a mellow mood when I arrived. I noticed he somehow looked different and was less talkative. I didn't make much of it. I just wanted him to look at the layouts and get out of there. But he seemed a bit distracted, he kept picking up papers as if he'd lost something. At one point I had to get some information off of a computer. I walked over to the key board, when I gasped...there on the keyboard was a pink and pearly set of dentures! The editor, realizing my discovery ran over, smiled a toothless smile, plopped them right back in his mouth, then proceeded to work on the layouts. Needless to say from that point any day my boss was out sick I somehow managed to come down with the same ailment!

No part of this is untrue I am so sorry to say!

All artwork © 2002 Liz Amini-Holmes. Not to be used without permission.