Featured Artist: Susan Synarski

My Background: I grew up mostly in the Southwest and started college at a tiny state school on the eastern plains of New Mexico. I was taking design and drawing classes with the intention of being a commercial artist until one of my crusty professors told us horror stories of staying up til 1 in the morning reworking a piece for the 13th time. It didn't sound very appealing so I dropped out. Common sense be damned, I was going to study Fine Art. California seemed like a good place to start. I moved to Sacramento and studied painting at CSUS where I eventually received a BA and also participated in their exchange program with the Chicago Art Institute. About a year later I made the move to San Francisco where I learned to wear black and paid twice as much rent. After much procrastination I entered graduate school and received an MFA in painting from SFSU in 1991. In answer to the question, "Is there life after art school?", a illustrator friend suggested I try freelance illustration. I didn't have a clue about any of it. That was six years ago and I feel like I'm still learning the ropes. Now I live in Oakland where people wear shorts.

My Technique: I mostly use acrylic on paper, or gouache on paper so they can be put on a drum scanner. Sometimes I use Clayboard (a prepared masonite panel) which is very nice to work on and can be scratched or sanded for texture. I've got a garage full of big paintings from graduate school, but my illustrations are usually small enough to fit on a scanner. I'm starting to learn some computer skills because it seems necessary in today's market and on some level it's kind of fun. My hope is it will make work easier and maybe inspire some new techniques, though the hands-on satisfaction of pencils and paint is still hard to beat.

My Involvement With the Guild: I joined the Guild last December for a few reasons; to meet other artists, to learn more about the business and to support a worthy organization. Who else is working to help artists get a fair deal? It's great to connect with people who are making a difference and who are just plain, good folks. Since then I've gotten involved with the Membership Committee and helped Bill Koeb put on the Business Savvy Workshop in April.

My Favorite Client story: Rolling Stone called up one morning and asked if I could do a piece of the Smashing Pumpkins and get it off to them that SAME day. The person who was supposed to do the job didn't make the deadline and they were up against the wall. I said OK, but they didn't have time to send me any photos for reference, so they e-mailed me some files. I still had a wimpy PC at the time and couldn't open the files, so I Iooked up some Smashing Pumpkin websites for photos. That worked. I got the piece done and had it all packed to ship when the magazine called to find out if the piece was done. I said I had found a website with photos and finished the piece. He said, "You know one of the band members left, there's only three of them now" -YIKES! Fortunately, I was able to fix it without too much trouble and get it off in time, but, needless to say, it was a nerve wracking day.

All artwork © 2002 Susan Synarski. Not to be used without permission.