| Featured Artist: Barbara Pollak My Background: IØm an East Coast transplant-from the Âburbs of
New York. I moved to San Francisco in 1989 after graduating from
the Rhode Island School of Design with a film/animation degree
and became an illustrator pretty much by accident. IØve worked
in the software industry as a background artist and computer animator
on kidsØ games and from there started to work in print. The majority
of my work now is for books and magazines-mostly geared towards
teens and children. IØve illustrated everything for this market
from a puberty book ²Girl StuffÓ by Harcourt Brace to a book on
laundry tips and secrets. Currently IØm illustrating a series of books about a group of
hip, urban pre-teens who form a cooking club. ²DISHÓ from Penguin
Putnam is scheduled to hit the stores in the late spring. Other
clients have included: The Washington Post, The Utne Reader, Seventeen,
TWIST, Continental, Scholastic, The Wall Street Journal, Business
2.0, amazon.com, Bill Graham Presents and Fortune. My Technique: I work digitally-that is to say, I start with a
sketch on paper-scan it in and then work directly in Corel Painter
on the Mac. I find that this technique gives me a lot more play
and experimentation and I can change and move images around to
where I want them to go as IØm working. I use a lot of scanned
textures in my work including fabric, paper, skin and hair which
I can paint with in the program. My involvement with the Guild: I have been involved in the Guild
to varying degrees over the last few years-most recently as part
of the Outreach committee-speaking to students in local art schools
and colleges about the business of being an illustrator and the
importance of negotiating contracts. I was also the ²web-mistressÓ
for about 2 years and was involved in the Constructivist themed
design of the old website. Anything Else? Barbara lives on the sunny side of San Francisco
with her husband Stephen and their two cats Pyro and Maya. She
is trying to grow giant sunflowers in her backyard. All artwork © 2002 Barbara Pollak. Not to be used without
permission.
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