Dave Stolte

What is your job? Where do you work?
I'm a freelance illustrator and art director. I do editorial illustration in a digital mixed-media style using my original sketches underlaid with bits of paper and photography. While I'm growing my illustration business, I'm continuing my 25-year career as an art director to fill in the gaps. In that role, I really enjoy ground-floor branding or design makeover opportunities.

I have a three-second commute, working out of a small one-man home studio in the remote cultural wilderness of the 951.

What are your inspirations?
Broadly speaking, I'm inspired by anyone who is passionate about what they do -- whatever it is. They could be a local organic farmer, a writer, a video producer, a musician, a mechanic -- it doesn't really matter as long as they show that weird kind of fearlessness demonstrated by risk-taking and soul-bearing.

Specifically, visually, I'm inspired by design legends Saul Bass and Paul Rand and illustrators Jim Flora, Mary Blair, and Charley Harper (that's the short list). Going back, Ralph McQuarrie & Joe Johnston's pre-production work on "Star Wars" initially lit my fire in 1977 -- that's when I realized one could be creative and successful. I didn't have to file in line as an engineering draftsman like Dad thought I should be.

What are you currently working on?
I'm continuing to promote the hell out of my illustration, throwing as many darts as I can, hoping for the eventual bullseye. I had a nice full-page feature and two spots in the October issue of Orange Coast magazine. I just received a call last week from the Society of Illustrators in New York City saying one of my illustrations ("Bacon Surprise") had been accepted into their prestigious Illustrators 51 book and show for early next year -- after three years of entering the top four or five competitions, this is my first win and it couldn't have come at a better time. I'm also exploring self-publishing a line of greeting cards featuring my illustration.

Design-wise, I'm wrapping up a couple web site projects for a local artisanal food company and a San Diego photographer and just finished producing all event graphics for a multinational company's event at NASDAQ - print materials plus some limited video animation in After Effects, which is a nice change of scenery now and again. Earlier this year, I was contacted by Mike Rowe from Discovery's "Dirty Jobs" to create the launch version of his new web site mikeroweworks.com - had a lot of fun with that one.

What do you like most about what you do? What do you dislike most?
I love that I don't have to wear a tie. I love that I don't have to sell some product I don't believe in. I love that there are no office politics when it's just me and the dog. I love that there are opportunities for me to support my family simply by doing what comes naturally to me. I love the thrill of seeing a client inspired to greater success by their new logo or web site I've designed for them. Actually, inspiring others by pushing for quality and clarity is probably what I find most satisfying about design.

With my illustration, I hope for a simple reaction -- a smile and a lingering moment while they are drawn in by my work. If I can add meaning or interest to the printed word, I've accomplished my mission.

What do I dislike? The sporadic income from freelancing full-time can be a challenge, especially in the curret state of the economy as marketing budgets tighten or get eliminated. But also, I also think we as designers have done a poor job of helping the Average Joe understand what we do -- there's a pervasive impression that the software does our work for us. The old "push a button and make it go" belief. There's a mistaken perception of good design as an extra, a luxury -- where I'd argue it's crucial to any business' success, and not just out of self-interest.

How do you balance your life between work and non-work? Or, what do you do in your spare time?
It's tricky working from home. In busy times, I have to set boundaries with some clients who may expect me to be available 24/7. In slow times, there's always some unfinished home project that could distract from marketing myself, doing more self-promotion, that kind of stuff. I've found that blocking out my time in iCal and setting reminders helps me stay focused.

Spare time, I'm a raging foodie. I'm obsessed with classic cocktails (pre-'50s, pre-vodka) and hardwood charcoal grilling. If I ever show up at an AIGA event trailing that old "hickory wind," you'll know what I've been up to. When I'm not in the kitchen, I grab as much time as possible with my wife and kids (two teenagers in the house, one older child grown & moved out).

What is your worst client experience?
This is a good one. A real winner. I'm hesitant to share it, but what the hell -- you asked.

I was starving for work during a slow month several years ago and accepted a job doing a series of realistic shaded pencil sketches depicting warm-up stretching exercises... for a penis-lengthening manual.

That's not the worst of it, though. They had no photo reference and they wanted the sketches to look very realistic. I wound up using myself as a model (ach, the shame). To add insult to injury, I accepted this job without a written contract through an old friend of mine who was serving as art director for the project. The scope of work changed halfway through, doubling the number of illustrations, and the client refused to pay for the additional art - saying he agreed to pay a flat rate for "the whole batch, no matter how many illustrations." At the end of the project, I felt like a $10 streetwalker.

Lessons learned -- since then, I have not done a single job, no matter how small, without a written contract. And I'm no longer afraid to turn down a bad deal.

What is the most valuable thing you learned in school (or your career)?
In school: Neil Leiberman, 3D design instructor at CSULB, said on the first day of class: "Art is a business. If you can't handle that, now's the time to leave." He pushed all of us to develop our creative abilities and our business/communication abilities equally.

In my career: see above. Oy.

What are you currently listening to?
Lately, I've been listening to a truckload of 2008 releases, trying to determine if there are any "greats" among the "that's just OKs." So far, the Black Keys' Attack and Release, Beach House's Devotion, and Neil Halstead's Oh! Mighty Engine are the frontrunners.

Apart from the new stuff, when I'm working I usually shuffle a Smart Playlist of jazz released between 1954 - 1969 -- that covers all my Blue Note, Prestige, Columbia, Verve, and Riverside goodness. Either that or Eno's ambient albums. I prefer wordless music when I'm focusing on my work - and I can't stand working in silence. Music brings an energy and inspiration to my work and keeps me moving since I don't really do coffee.

What are you currently reading?
The Best American Comics 2008 edited by Lynda Barry, The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan, plus the latest issues of Illustration, Hi Fructose, 3x3, Communication Arts, and How. Oh, and Bon Appetit and Imbibe.

What's the strangest project you've ever done?
See above.

Runner-up was one of my first gigs in design in the '80s, as editorial assistant at Walter Foster Publishing in Tustin - home of those oversized "How to Draw Horses" books. I was mostly producing layout mechanicals, waxing photoset type, proofing text, and the like. The secretaries there were burning out on answering letters from readers -- they had a pen name "Carolyn Miller" they'd been using for twenty years. I volunteered to write personal letters responding to these readers -- as long as I could use the name "Bob Schlemmer." That should've been their first clue. I took the opportunity to craft a book's worth of response letters in the style of Lazlo Toth's The Lazlo Letters, only in reverse (look that up if you don't know). I saved the "best of/worst of" for posterity in a three-ring binder.

What do you feel is your most eccentric behavior or habit?
My wife Kristin would probably have a laundry list, but off the top of my head I can only think of one -- I have to sleep with the bedroom closet door shut. Monsters, you know.

What product or gadget strikes your fancy?
The iPhone has been an amazing companion and resource for the last year or so - even after the whole $3,000 AT&T bill debacle (Google it). It's a great resource for designers - portable portfolio, access to blog editing, and the like.

If you could collaborate with another designer, another field of design or another industry, what would it be and why?
I'd love to work with a skilled animator to see how my illustrations could move. Right now, I'm working on a long-term project with a microbrewer and a celebrity's personal chef to plan a brewpub somewhere in L.A. I'm developing the logo and label concepts inspired by an unusual 1940s European aesthetic somewhere between Art Deco, Art Moderne, and Modern. Could be the best of all worlds for me if I can elbow my way into creating the cocktail menu, too.

How long have you been a member of the AIGA, why did you join and what do you get out of your membership?
I just joined this year, and Speakeasy was my first event. I joined to try boosting my career out of the boonies and to see if I could be of help to the organization in any way. I've been around design for over twenty-five years, so I'll be keeping my eyes and brain open for how I can best serve.

What are your favorite websites?
Too many to mention! Lately, I've been enjoying the hell out of fluther.com - a unique questions-and-answers site. There are a bunch of blogs featured vintage advertising and ephemera that crack me up. Drawn.ca is a daily destination. There's ilovetypography.com and midcenturymodernist.com... I'd better stop now.

Do have your own website?
[faux-French] But of gourse! [/faux-French]

My illustration portfolio is at davestolte.com, design at 3rdeyedesign.com, and I blog and waste time at pupntaco.com.

Actually, the blog started when I was working a dead-end design gig for an architect in Irvine... I craved a creative outlet, a place to put myself out there on a limb. Pup 'n' Taco was a fast-food chain in Southern California in the '60s & '70s that was swallowed up and demolished by Taco Bell. It's one of those "secret handshake" things; if you were a kid in SoCal in the '70s, you know what it is. It's also a funny-sounding name and a dumb idea for a restaurant (hot dogs & tacos??), plus there's the whole lingam/yoni angle. Like Mike Rowe told me: "Pup 'n' Taco? I think that's dirty."

Are you currently looking for work or projects and why should a potential employer or client that is reading this contact you?
I'm always looking for the right match, illustration or design. Why should they contact me? Because I'm so damned talented, friendly, level-headed, and humble.

Do you have anything to add or information to share with other designers?
If I could go back in time and talk to myself fifteen, twenty years ago, I'd say, "Don't settle for doing other people's work. Make it a priority to find your own unique voice and be fearless about making it heard."

But I'd probably have some bullcrap excuse for Future Dave and would deserve a pimp-slap for it.

Member Spotlight is an opportunity to showcase the diversity of our chapter's members. Promote yourself or a new project while sharing your experiences, interests and opinions with your local design community. Wanna be profiled next? Let us know.