An Interview with Kevin Sprouls - WSJ Portrait Artist
Kevin Sprouls Illustration of Barack Obama
I “met” Kevin Sprouls, who was the originator of the WSJ portrait artist through a contact on Twitter. He drew my hedcut and originated the Wall Street Journal style illustrations. I asked for an interview. My favorite part is that he admits to letting his feelings about a person influence how he draws them.
You can see a lot of Kevin Sproul’s work on his web site www.sprouls.com or blog at www.sprouls.com/blog. I won’t touch Wikipedia but I think he’s worthy of an entry. He started the classic style of Wall Street Journal illustrations and I consider myself lucky to have gotten to know him and his work.
How did you start as an illustrator and what led you to the wsj?
KS: I feel I’ve been drawing all my life. I remember my Godmother, Aunt Em, very early on taking pains to change me over from being a southpaw to right-handedness. She was tough! I drew in grade school, and with the neighborhood kids. I loved comic books even before I could read.
I received a set of rapidograph pens halfway through high school that became the genesis of the wsj portrait style, as the technical pen lends itself very well to pointillism.
My college roommate, Kevin Harrington, introduced me to Dow Jones, and Co. after graduation. I freelanced for the firm for 2 years before getting into the wall street journal portraits. The Journal was a subsidiary of Dow Jones.
At the same time as I began producing portraits for Glynn Mapes, the front page editor (on a more or less experimental basis). He had been charged with instituting an art department for the paper. Before this, the “art department” consisted of a small staff who mainly created financial charts and operated the paper’s photostat camera, among other duties. I believe I charged him $75 per portrait. I was 24 (and very green!) at the time.
After several months, the paper thought enough of my work to hire me as the first in-house illustrator.
I honed the “hedcut” portrait style, and a year or so later, began to train other artists we hired to the craft.
What is the process you go through to draw someone?
KS: It’s simple. I will take a photographic image, usually a jpeg file sent via email, get it to the
size I want, and transfer the image onto illustration board. I make a contour drawing of
the image, making a “map” of the visage. After that, it’s a matter of inking the drawing.
What was your favorite WSJ portrait to draw and why? do you learn about a person by illustrating them?
KS: Tough question, as I’ve probably drawn 10’s of 1000’s by now. I remember drawing Idi Amin. For
some reason, his portrait came out really well! I confess to being a rather mercurial character,
so I might be inclined to “editorialize” in some cases.
For instance, I thought Judge Rehnquist was a bum, and did give him a rather sinister countenance (not at all far from the photo). Same with the Ayatollah Khomeni —withering! I became disillusioned by George Schultz (Reagan Era) and gave him a somewhat sour affect in my last of three renditions of him. These small sins, however, are vastly outweighed by the many politico’s and businessmen who I made look undeservingly good!
I do get a feeling about a person from paying attention to the face. Usually, it’s a sympathetic feeling, which helps me to hand in a good result in the finished art.
Describe some of the work you’ve done.
KS: Wow, this could take some time, as I have been putting the pen to it for over two decades after
quitting my “day job.” To name just a few:
- A 2-year stint doing b&w illo’s for Chris Curry at the New Yorker in the 90’s.
- I had a hand in the launch of the Saturn automobile, illustrating parts of their oversized, glossy brochure (Dria Hill A/D, Hal Riney & Partners).
- I produced the art for the print part of Bell Canada’s “Fables” campaign (mid-90’s).
- A dream stint of three years doing a weekly portrait for Infiniti automobiles which would appear every Thursday in the wsj (Chiat\Day, Drivers campaign, 2005-2008).
- A recent architectural illustration I did of my Alma Mater’s (Temple University) school abroad, in Rome (2008), was a particular career highlight.
- Packaging illos for Martha Stewart, Editorial illos for Esquire, Men’s Health, Runner’s World, etc, etc.
What do you love most about what you do?
KS: I love the craft of it. To be able to make a living doing something you can do well is very rewarding.
It’s up-and-down, of course. But, once in a while, you “wow” people, and their appreciation/feedback
can be a great incentive to putting in the long hours toward the next accomplishment.
Thanks to Kevin Sprouls for letting me interview him. If you have any questions for him, please leave comments.
4 Responses to “An Interview with Kevin Sprouls - WSJ Portrait Artist”
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January 13th, 2009 at 9:06 am
Great interview! I love his work, and I always wondered who started those illustrations. I’m surprised he’s so open about how difficult objectivity is for him, but I appreciate his candor. What an interesting artist.
February 17th, 2009 at 6:25 pm
Hi! I’m working with Nate Moller from Moller Marketing. He sent me your way to check out your site. He said to tell you ‘hello.’ Social media is all very new to me, so I’m enjoying what you have to say about it. Don’t laugh, but I just found out what ‘twitter’ means. You’re laughing, aren’t you. It’s okay. I like your illustrations, also. I’m wondering if Kevin only creates portrait art. I’m working on another children’s book and am looking for artists who might be interested.
February 17th, 2009 at 9:29 pm
Jon,
He’s a character - glad you liked the interview.
Maria,
Nate is the best! You’re lucky to get him. Don’t worry, Twitter is still new to most people. Is your ecommerce site to sell your books? Good luck and thanks for contributing!
-Janet
February 18th, 2009 at 6:45 am
Hi Janet,
Yes, Nate has been really helpful. I haven’t started selling on my site yet…that’s what we’re working on this week. I have to set up PayPal, etc. But my book is selling well elsewhere. It’s not really why I made the site…more to help parents/teachers/librarians with ideas about using a thesaurus or how to help with the writing process, as well as to inform people about the book/how to contact me, etc., but Nate is also helping me set up to sell. Not quite sure that’s where I want to go as I’m a full-time teacher, but we’ll see. I might start offering lesson plans for writing also. It’s a work in progress. Even wordpress is totally new to me. The book is doing well in all online bookstores (even in other countries to my surprise!) as it’s unique and much needed. I’ve done a lot of book signings at my local Borders and several Barnes & Noble stores. Radio interviews are helping, as well. I hope to do an extensive book tour this summer. Blogging is new to me, so right now I’m publishing weekly blogs and trying to find credible sites to read. It’s been very interesting and I’ve learned so much! It’s hard to take it all in and find the time. Your site will be a great resource because, as I said, social media is a new to me. It takes awhile to get a ‘following’.