09/03/2021
I was hired in January to redesign a magazine called, First Things. I had not worked on a magazine redesign in several years. After about 8 months of zero work due to Covid this was a pleasant surprise to say the least. The launch issue was just put to bed so I can speak about it now. I will be posting some of the pages and superb art by some of my favorite illustrators.
Illustration budgets for magazines have not been easy for me to come by. When I studied previous issues of this magazine, I decided that it needed art. They currently had none. When I read through several articles, images by the great, Brad Holland kept popping into my head. He fit so perfectly. I had no idea if he was still working or even taking on magazine projects any more. After all he has been very well known as a brilliant illustrator for over 50 years now!
I showed the editor his work and he loved it. I called Brad. I remembered a story about a very famous art director who called Brad to commission a painting then hung up when he answered because he was so intimidated. Brad answered the phone and was so engaging and smart and funny, that we spoke for about 45 minutes before we even came to the subject of illustration. We have a lot in common which kind of blew my mind.
He knew the magazine well and said, yes, he’d be happy to do work for me. We used 4 of his paintings for this project. 2 brand new ones and 2 that he had created but had not been published before. The magazine is designed as a literary journal with religious content. Heavy on the text. I asked Brad if he would consider creating a colophon which would act as a symbol for the magazine. We would use it in different places when space was available. This would be a spot illustration, which will mostly be used in a 2 inch by 2 inch space.
Spot art is a kind of illustration that an artist can sometimes knock out in a short time. It pays less than a full page or half page of art. It is not always the best example of an artist’s work. The pencil sketch was great. Brad then said, wait till you see the painting I have in mind (all 4 pieces he made are paintings). I knew it would be good, after all it was Brad Holland. I did not, however, expect it to look like it was painted by Velázquez, or another painter from the King’s court in 17th century Spain. When he sent it to me I just stared at it for about half an hour. Absolutely brilliant. He did not knock this out. I showed it to my students at Columbia as an example of professionalism and how to handle even the smallest project. Here it is.
