Today we’d like to introduce you to Ian Dale.
Hi Ian, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers.
Visual art has appealed to me since a very young age–drawing and painting and eventually digital art. From my teen years on, I always seemed to have a few side gigs going on in addition to school–developing characters and animated short films on my own or working on video games and website development with friends. In my mid-twenties I decided to let the side gigs become the main thing and started working as a freelance illustrator and designer. It took several years to find more focus, but I have gradually made my way in the world of illustration, particularly working with children’s publishers and faith-based non-profit organizations. I’ve illustrated and helped launch a few series of children’s books, developed visuals and stories to accompany educational and personal development programs and worked on a kids Bible app that has been downloaded over 75 million times around the world.
I have a diverse skillset and enjoy helping people and seeing new ideas develop into projects that make a difference, so the freelance route has been a good fit for me in a lot of ways. I’ve had a strong drive to explore overlooked paths for illustration and apply my talents towards endeavors that I find personally meaningful. It can be rough, and I often feel like I’m on the verge of considering something different, but I have survived 15 years so far, and I’m thankful to have been able to get involved with some great clients and projects!
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
This route has its share of struggles. Early on, many of the challenges had to do with navigating my way through work decisions and being patient while continuing to learn the skills I would need. I didn’t really have a clear sense of where I was headed or what I should focus on, and I’m also not a particularly assertive person, so I’d often end up on projects that felt like somewhat of a detour. In retrospect, I can see how even the detours served a purpose along the way: they helped me refine my goals, learn to tackle challenges and work hard, and provided income that bought me the time to develop my other skills. Eventually, as I gained a clearer sense of my goals, it also took time to find courage to take risks in pursuing them. For the last ten years, I have increasingly been working on projects in line with my goals and interests.
These days, the struggles have more to do with taking what I’ve built and making sure it is sustainable and productive. There’s a constant tension between wanting to do high-quality artistic work and operating within the reality of budgets. I often feel like I’m trying to create 30-hour illustrations in 12 hours’ time for an 8-hour budget. I’m especially drawn to work with “underdog” clients with a promising idea or mission–startups, non-profits, first-time authors–so this tension can be heightened at times. It’s a compromise, and when I find myself spending too much of my time working at less than my current abilities, that can be frustrating. However, being constantly under my target rates isn’t sustainable for obvious reasons, especially with a family to support on a single income. There is a faith journey involved, and over the years as I take worthwhile risks that benefit others, I’ve seen God filling in the financial gaps in all kinds of unexpected ways.
I have also found that over time and with experience, I can create quality artwork more quickly, efficiently, and reliably. I’ve heard it said that as a professional artist, first you get good, then you get fast, and then you get “good and fast.” It has been a long process, but I do feel that in the past year or two I have made a lot of progress in that third “good and fast” stage, which may help ease some of the budget tensions in the future. A benefit of freelancing is that you don’t have to have all your eggs in one basket, so I’m also actively on the lookout for some larger commercial and entertainment clients to help balance out the client mix.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
As an illustrator, I frequently produce artwork for children’s books and educational programs. I love to create appealing characters and usually work in a painted style that is between animation and realism. You’ll find my work has a few styles and can go light and colorful or more gritty depending on the audience and the tone of the project. I mostly work on computer, painting and drawing with digital tools in Adobe software.
Over the past few years, one of my major works has been a series of Bible storybooks for families, beginning with The Advent Storybook. The author, Laura Richie, approached me with some Bible story retellings she had written for her own family to read in anticipation of Christmas. We ran a Kickstarter campaign for funding and found our way to a great publisher, David C Cook. Now The Advent Storybook has led to a whole series, including The Easter Storybook and some toddler board books.
The newest addition to the collection, The Go-and-Tell Storybook, has just released this fall. The new book recounts the adventures and struggles of the earliest Christians as they spread a message of hope throughout the first-century world. With my Bible story illustrations, I try to bring a fresh art style and lively and diverse characters. As much as possible, I enjoy finding some new angle or perspective on the story that helps keep the reader engaged even if they’ve seen it depicted several times before.
I also illustrate for kids’ books with more contemporary storylines. Extraordinary: A Book for Children with Rare Diseases was written by a mother and son in the rare disease community to help kids understand what life is like with a rare disease, and to encourage appreciation of the whole person, not letting a disease be the one thing that defines someone. I’m currently working through a series by author Antoinette Simmonds, whose books provide fun, imaginative stories featuring multigenerational families of color. The next book in that series, Lizzy Has Fantastic Feet, introduces some surprising new characters and will be available this December.
My other specialty is my work with some major non-profit organizations serving a global audience. I’ve worked directly with organizations like World Vision’s child sponsorship program and have also illustrated resources that are available for use by broader networks of organizations and the public.
For about a decade I’ve been illustrating for The American Bible Society’s Trauma Healing Institute, who produce mental health and trauma recovery resources that are informed by Biblical principles. They have books for kids, teens, and adults, and often produce materials contextualized for specific situations like disaster relief, foster care, the coronavirus pandemic, and the recent refugee crisis in Ukraine.
I love that illustration allows me to tap into some of the great work people are already doing around the world and hopefully provide a boost through heartfelt or thought-provoking visuals. It’s especially fulfilling to know that my art can reach people in places I’ll never be and play a role cultivating hope in difficult circumstances.
Do you have recommendations for books, apps, blogs, etc?
If I’m being honest, I have to start with the Bible, which has had the most comprehensive impact on my life. Reading and being shaped by it is an ongoing project that has intersected with my work at different times in relevant ways. In the big-picture sense, the Bible has challenged and shaped the way I see and value work. Early in my career, I saw commercial work as a hindrance to try to escape from as early in life as possible. The Bible challenged me to see work as something good, though inevitably difficult, and not to be avoided for the sake of self-realization or ease. The Bible also gives me a framework to navigate my career and my goals based on what’s important: to use my gifts for the glory of God and the good of others, while staying true to the realities of life and the responsibilities I have.
In the day-to-day grind over the years, regular time in the Bible shapes my character and prepares me to face work’s challenges. Developing patience and being faithful with what’s in front of me helps me gradually work towards longer-term success and bigger responsibilities. Relating to my clients and my family with integrity and a sacrificial spirit provides peace, stability, and enjoyment. And learning to lean on God and trust him to take care of me through the many unknowns of freelancing enables me to worry less and focus on doing what I need to do, whether there’s a big deadline looming or a difficult season financially.
Another area of renewed interest recently has been studying personality types and traits, to be more aware of how my mind works, and of my strengths and weaknesses as a person and an artist. There are many different theories and systems out there. I don’t expect that any one of them is completely comprehensive or perfectly accurate, but they do provide some helpful categories to be aware of. It has given some framework for me to better understand myself and others, and to appreciate differences in how people interact with the world and what motivates them.
I listen to podcasts constantly throughout the day, but one that stands out within my field is called “The Illustration Department Podcast” by Giuseppe Castellano (https://illustrationdept.com/podcast). Giuseppe has spent years in children’s publishing and for each podcast he interviews experienced illustrators, art directors, publishers, and agents about their career path, accomplishments, struggles, and advice. As someone who has been working alone in my bedroom for most of my career, it is a helpful window into the broader world and how the industry works and changes over time. It is interesting to hear all the different paths people take in their careers, whether their success was slow or quick, and how they see things at later stages in their lives.
One more exciting resource that has been growing each year is an annual artists conference called Lightbox Expo (http://www.lightboxexpo.com), which launched in 2019 just before the pandemic. It’s an amazing gathering of artists from around the world in a range of creative fields, to share work, be inspired, and learn from others. The event is in the fall each year, in Pasadena, but the 2020/21 events were held virtually, and very generously, much of the content remains online to watch for free at any time. Check out over 300 free videos–classes, art demos, and panel discussions—from world-class artists in the Lightbox Expo video archive (https://live-lightbox-expo.pantheonsite.io/videos).
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.iandale.net
- Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/iandaleart
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/iandaleart
- Other: https://illustrationonline.com/artist.php?artistid=114
Image Credits
INOT Productions
Kara Ayik
David C Cook
American Bible Society
