Notes as a illustrator :

If art directors knew exactly what kind of image was needed—despite their undeniable talent for being everywhere at once—they wouldn’t call on another artist to handle all the preliminary experimentation.

But an artist isn’t tasked with managing 10 images a week for 10 different articles, and that’s where the challenge lies for an art director: it’s a different skillset, a different set of demands, and a hierarchy of its own.

That said, a beautiful collaboration can emerge from such an exchange, even under the pressure of a deadline. I’ve learned so much working alongside them—Matthew Dorfman, Alexandra Zsigmond, and Aviva Michaelov were among the first to support and trust me, whether in the brilliance of my creative flow or in the adversity of a suddenly blocked ego.

I also hope that some of my art directors, humbly, might have learned a little something from me as well.

^_^