Today we’d like to introduce you to Jon Hunt.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Jon. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
As a kid, I loved art— all kinds of art. Whether it was comics, the Renaissance masters, science fiction book covers or movies, it didn’t matter to me. I was enthralled by the images I saw in books and museums and at a young age, I realized that I wanted to create art that made other people feel as inspired as I did. I drew constantly but I also dabbled in special effects makeup, music and filmmaking. Ultimately, I decided that illustration was my calling. I wanted to create book covers, comics, and storyboards.
Since no one I knew could offer me professional guidance (and there was no internet in those days), I decided to go to art school to learn my craft. I graduated from Paier College of Art in Hamden, CT in 1988 with an illustration degree. The recession was in full swing but I had joined the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators and thanks to one of their annual conferences, I managed to sell a children’s picture book that I both wrote and illustrated. Over the next seven or eight years I published ten children’s books, but during that time I was also taking on fantasy, science fiction, new age and horror assignments for other publishers.
I moved to Florida from the North East in 1996 and began teaching animation and illustration at a number of South Florida colleges while continuing to take freelance illustration jobs painting book and magazine covers, collectible card games and role-playing manuals. In addition to my publishing work, I have recently painted and designed album covers for local and international bands as well as t-shirts, movie posters and the occasional storyboard for TV commercials. I am also a staff writer and illustrator for Art Hive magazine.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has definitely not been a smooth road! Despite earning a degree in commercial illustration, art school did not prepare me very well for the business and networking aspects of being an artist. Being a natural introvert, this was a long and painful learning curve for me! In retrospect I realize that since I got published fairly soon after I graduated, I was still developing a style and lacked maturity and confidence as an artist. This resulted in me experimenting with my technique on jobs and sometimes the experiments did not work out as well as I had hoped.
Additionally, I had been trained traditionally in pencil, ink, oil, and watercolor paint. There wasn’t a single computer in the school I attended, yet by the time I graduated, digital tools were beginning to take over publishing. Comics were being colored and lettered using computers and illustrators with digital skills started to be in demand. I had no desire to go back to school, so I taught myself how to use digital paint and photo manipulation software.
Please tell us about Huntillustration.
First and foremost, I consider myself an illustrator and storyteller. I am a freelancer by trade; a sole proprietor who is hired by companies or individuals to create art or write copy for their books, magazines, advertisements, album covers, etc. I have an affinity for the fantastical and I prefer to paint creatures and scenes from my imagination in a slightly stylized, yet realistic style. Although science fiction, fantasy and horror subjects are my favorite, I also paint portraits and do some graphic design. I attend conventions a couple of times a year where I participate in live demonstrations and panel discussions where I lecture and answer questions from attendees.
I have been in many group gallery shows as well as a number of one-man shows. I also curated a pinup art show a few years back (That show wins the prize for “most fun had on opening night!”). What sets me apart from other illustrators is probably my individual style. I had always had difficulty copying the “look” of other artists and ultimately, what I first saw as a deficiency ended up making my work look distinctive in its own right.
I believe that it is important to share what I know about the illustration industry as my teachers did with me so many years ago. I could certainly do without all of the administrative red tape of higher education, but I love my students and I am proud to have seen a good many of them move on to careers in publishing, animation and game art.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
I have a few. The smell of my grandfather’s woodshop; my dad passing the football with my brother, cousins and me in the fall; trips to the library with my mom where I would check out as many science fiction novels and art books as I was allowed; simply sitting alone in my room with the radio on drawing and inventing stories for hours…
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.huntillustration.com/
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/huntillustration/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/huntillustration
Image Credit:
© Jon Hunt / huntillustration
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