The moment I quit, my stomach aches vanished and I felt liberated. I was aching to just make a go of it on my own, and she helped me bite the bullet. Fortunately, my wife could see the solution right there in plain view, and she urged me to quit. I would take Pepto and sit in the bathtub for about an hour each morning and then show up to work late, without being able to explain what was happening. I was literally getting sick to my stomach every morning before work because I knew I was not doing what I wanted with my life/career. What was that transition like? How did you know the time was right to go full-time freelance? I quit that full-time job in the middle of my eighth year out of school (2006), and I have been on my own ever since. Then, I was hired on as a graphic designer / in-house illustrator for a wonderful firm in town ( ) and I learned the business chops on that job. When I graduated college, I walked right into a web design job, followed by two more of the same. How long did it take you to become a full-time illustrator? What did you do before then? And I know you have a lot of things you’re involved in. These responsibilities only occupy ten hours of my week, so I have plenty of time to work on my assignments and my personal projects and other businesses. I teach Life Drawing, Drawing 1, Portraiture, Digital Painting, Drawing II, and Watercolor Fundamentals. I am very fortunate to have a full load of classes to teach (three per semester) and they are all different and interesting. I work alone, but teaching takes care of the loneliness. How do you deal with the long stretches of being by yourself all the time? Illustration life can get a bit lonely and isolating. I used to have a home office and a studio downtown, but I have simplified everything and I’m happier for it!
I live in North Carolina and have an office on the campus of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, where I do my illustration work. Where do you live? What’s your workspace like?
I also studied drawing, painting and printmaking at Yale and The University of Rennes 2, in France, and was lucky enough to take part in a week of the Illustration Academy as a professional student with Gary Kelley, who is my hero in the business. I have a BFA in painting and minor in French from the University of North Carolina, Greensboro. Where did you study art? What’s your degree in? Any particular formal training?
Thanks for agreeing to the interview, Kyle! First, the basics. He’s also well known as the creator of Kyle’s Brushes, which brings realistic, high-quality brushes to Photoshop. Kyle’s an illustrator and educator whose clients include The New Yorker, Time, The NY Times, IDEO, NPR, The Atlantic, WIRED, Microsoft, ESPN, Krispy Kreme, BBDO, The Wall Street Journal, Scholastic, Simon and Schuster, and The Washington Post to name a select few. In the first of my new recurring interviews feature, I’m happy to welcome Kyle T.
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