Interview with Sally Pinhey [sallypinhey] on Whohub

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What is your specialty in illustration?

Botanical Illustration

What are your regular clients like? What do they expect from you?

Publishers. They generally have a tight specification and time scale.

Is there a web address where we can see some of your work?

Have you completed formal art studies, or are you self-taught?

Both, but mostly self-taught.

How did you get your first full assignment? What did it involve?

My first whole book was my father's memoirs. It involved illustrating a great number of stories with which I was already familiar. The body of work submitted to the AOI resulted in my elected membership and further work.

What past or present day illustrators do you admire most?

Margaret Mee, past
Ann Farrer, Pandora Sellars, Andrew Brown, Cliff Wright, present.

How similar are your current drawings to those you did as a child?

Same kind of subject matter, but much more detailed, and better compositions.

What was your favorite comic book as a child?

Young Elizabethan magazine.

Do you have a particular style, or does it vary a lot?

I have three styles, one for plants which is strictly realistic.
One for landscape which is quite realistic but with really loose washes, and one for illustrative scenes including machines and people in action which is much more of a cartoon style. I tend to revert to the cartoon style when out of my comfort zone. Incidentally, I also have three different handwritings.

What is hardest to draw?

To keep character consistency in sequential drawings of people.

What type of music do you listen to while you work?

Single instrument folk music from other cultures.

Do you have a favorite work of art?

Michaelangelo's drawings

What do you do when a client simply says "I don't like it"?

In the past on the rare occasion when this has happened, I looked at the contract to see whether I would be paid or not. With experience, I now get the contract sorted so that I will be paid for any work done, before starting work. In this case there is no point the client saying they don't like it; They just pay and use it or not. Sometimes the client asks for an alteration in which case I am happy to oblige. I am always very careful to be sure that I understand the brief completely so that mistakes are not made.

What new techniques have you been experimenting with lately?

I try to keep abreast of technology so that I can make the most of it.
I am now using a digital microscope to see and draw the details on plant material. For the most part, my techniques are traditional, and I am always trying to perfect the finesse of using those techniques, together with experimenting with techniques which offer speed without loss of quality.

What part of your work do you do on paper and what part digitally?

What research do you do for your illustrations?

It depends on what material I have been supplied with by the client. Often the material is so poor I have to do a great deal. This may involve reading and going on plant searches, sometimes having to travel hundreds of miles to find suitable specimens.

Do you have colleagues with whom you share techniques, tricks, ideas, etc.?

Yes, though in a highly competitive field, I find colleagues can be quite secretive. I do however, share all my knowledge with my students, and also learn a great deal from them.

Do you have any specific goals as an illustrator?

Yes. To keep solvent.

What illustration web sites do you frequent?

Theaoi.com, any websites by contacting agents and prospective clients.

What are you working on now?

I have just completed 64 illustrations for "Natural Dyes" by Judy Hardman and Sally Pinhey pub Crowood Press, and am about to start on a book on ferns which will be very long term. I am also teaching and doing a programme of talks with demonstrations.

What advice do you have for someone who likes to draw and would like to make a living from it?

It depends on the personality of the individual and if they are happy to take direction and draw to order. Someone so creative that they cannot do this, must stick to the fine art field and find a good agent, starve in a garret, or not give up the day job.
For those happy to draw to order, commissioned work is diminishing due to digital alteration and general disregard of copyright laws.
For a creative and remunerative career, I would suggest working with computers and finding an in-house position with a large company, changing copyright-free images for the company's publicity needs. This trend is not good for creativity in the long run, but I fear that illustrators are powerless to change the trend, and young people still have to choose a career and go where the work is.

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