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JERRY DILLINGHAM
ILLUSTRATOR

Growing up in a small town in southern Indiana, I remember having an interest in anything that was visually stimulating. Picture books, comic books and movies always captured my attention. My most vivid memories center around stunning visual events. It seemed natural, later in life, for me to express myself visually.

In my pre-teen years I developed an interest in the art of watercolor painting as the result of a neighbors’ family member visiting from out of town. David W. Shaw was a very successful commercial illustrator from Connecticut. His loose line and wash watercolor style was unheard of, at that time, in commercial illustration. He inspired me to follow his example and career, in advertising, as he became the exclusive illustrator for a major U. S. airline.

While taking a watercolor class in my mid-twenties, I met someone locally who worked for a small ad agency. With his help I was able to put together an advertising portfolio and land a job with the largest ad agency in southern Indiana with no formal training in communication art. All ad concepts were presented to clients with the implementation and visual aid of felt-tip marker renderings. I became very proficient and prolific at rendering with these tools. So much so, that three or four ad agencies later, I decided to go out on my own and freelance. I developed a unique style of rendering that was sought after.

Three or four different cities, and as many states later, after a brief sojourn in an illustration studio in Atlanta, Georgia, I became interested in airbrush illustration, which was quite popular at that time. Getting back in the ad business primarily as a product airbrush illustrator, I ended up in North Carolina with not a felt-tip marker in sight and now omnipresent computers.

I bought an Apple computer and an Adobe PhotoShop application version 2.0 and taught myself the computer, then PhotoShop. This made it possible to segue my skills from airbrush into digital art. It took many months to make the transition from marker rendering to airbrush and then into digital rendering; however, I felt there was no choice. I could see the proverbial handwriting on the wall and knew if I wanted to stay viable in advertising, I had to make that change. I’ve never regretted it, but at the same time, I’m thankful that I had many years to develop my traditional drawing and illustration skills.

I’m currently working as a freelance artist, doing primarily digital illustration. I try to supplement illustration with graphic design work and photo-manipulation and retouching, while tenaciously holding onto, and polishing, when I can, my traditional artistic skills in my home studio near New Port Richey, Florida.

JERRY DILLINGHAM ILLUSTRATOR Growing up in a small town in southern Indiana, I remember having an interest in anything that was visually stimulating. Picture books, comic books and movies always captured my attention. My most vivid memories center around stunning visual events. It seemed natural, later in life, for me to express myself visually. In my pre-teen years I developed an interest ... More