The Illustrator

 
 
 
Jeff talks about his hobby.

Vocabulary

enjoy	consider	break (2)
fun	have to	illustrator
publish	free time	draw/drew/drawn
create	fortunate	pay/paid/paid
ability	develop	distribute
gallery	place (2)	competition
accept	to date	win/won/won

 
 
 
 

 

 
 

 
 
 
 

 
 

Hobby and Job

I am very fortunate: my hobby is my job!

I don’t consider my profession to be work, unlike most of my friends who say they have to work for a living.

What is my job — or hobby?

I’m a writer and illustrator of children’s books.

I enjoy this very much. It’s lots of fun!

Creating a Book

To create a book, I first think of a story. I write it down on my computer.

Then I draw pictures about the story. Every page has one picture or is part of a big picture. Next I paint them.

Or sometimes it can be the other way around: I first draw pictures, then come up with a story line.

When I have finished, I sent my works to a children’s book company. They publish the books, and distribute them to book stores, libraries and schools.

And pay me.

Getting Started

So how did I get started?

I have always like drawing. As a child I drew cats, dogs, trees, birds, houses, flowers, cars and dinosaurs.

Later I had art classes at school, and developed my abilities further. I spent most of my free time drawing and painting.

But my big break came when I entered a painting contest at my city’s art gallery.

I won third place!

A book company then asked if I wanted to illustrate for them. I accepted.

Since then, I have drawn and painted for different writers, book and magazine publishers. Soon I started writing my own books. To date, I have written and illustrated over a hundred books!
 
 

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Questions

1. The writer is an abstract artist. He paints abstract pictures. True or false? What is the writer’s job? What does he do?

2. The writer doesn’t like his job. He considers it hard, boring and grueling. True or false? What about most of his friends?

3. How does he create a book? What is his first step?

4. He started drawing and painting at a university. Is this right or wrong?

5. Did he come in first at a painting competition? Did he win the first place?

6. He applied for work at a company. Is this correct or incorrect?

7. Does he only illustrate for writers? Has he published many books?
 
 

A. I am a painter, illustrator, graphic artist or some other artist. Yes or no? Do you know any professional or amateur artists?

B. Did you draw and paint at school when you were a child?

C. Do you consider your job to be your hobby, or your hobby your job? What about your friends?

D. Would you like to be an artist? If you could have any job, what would you like to do? If I could do any job, I would like to be an . . . . .

E. Nowadays, anyone can be an artist, writer, painter and illustrator. What do you think?

F. What might happen in the future?