Directory Illustrations, Part 1
Earlier this week, I received my Workbook’s Directory of Illustration. https://www.workbook.com I’ve advertised in artist’s directories most every year. Recently, the pandemic disrupted distribution of these tools-of-the-trade for art buyers. But now the books are up and running, and being sent out again, far and wide!
A directory called “The Black Book” got me my start as a freelance illustrator. I was working my day-job as The Wall Street Journal artist at the time, cranking out those hedcut portraits and diverse other illustrations at the esteened newspaper. However, I was itching to expand and widen my career opportunities. I was moonlighting, I admit, while working as a WSJ artist. I produced artwork for Reader’s Digest and an Ad Agency or two. I decided to run an ad in The Black Book. It was the top and most expensive directory at the time. I paid around $5,000. for a single, B&W page. It was an annual, so would serve me for a year. This image is the original of my ad submission:
Black Book Ad Page, 1987
This little page was a grand success. It led to my involvement in the Concord Watch ad campaign, being orchestrated by A/D Ross Sutherland at Ogilvy. Ross was great to work for. I would receive a plain brown bag containing a few watches worth some 10-Grand each, take them home and create illustrations of them. Ross’s assistant said to me one day, ”Why don’t you ask him to write some copy for your next ad? I’m sure he’d do it.” So I asked, and, sure enough, Ross came through. Here is the result… it’s brilliant:
Black Book Ad, 1988
The market crash of 1988 put an end to the Concord ad campaign, but my ads were creating lots of new assignments for me. I was in the Black Book for 4 or 5 years, even expanding to double-page spreads and full-color ad pages. Here’s another page:
Black Book Ad 1990
My career as a freelancer was now established. Other directories came to my attention, among them, American Showcase, the WorkBook (out of the West Coast), and the Directory of Illustration. I took an immediate shine to the Workbook, and became an advertiser in that directory for many years, even up-to-now. As American Showcase was #2 after Black Book in the industry, I placed ads there, too. I will share several ads I ran in Workbook next post, but here is one I ran in the Directory of Illustration early on:
Directory of Illustration ad
These were all yearly publications at the time. Putting the ad pages together (pre-computer) was always a challenging proposition. There was physical cutting and pasting involved, then getting all the images to fit together in a composition on the board that was sent off to a far-off printer and his press! Very different than nowadays. Indeed.
More Directory ads will be coming to you soon, so stay tuned…
ALSO: Please be Advised — to Contact Me, here is my Current Info: kevin@sprouls.com (609) 965-4795
