Q: Originally from northeastern New Jersey, what are some of your favorite things about living and working in Baltimore?

A: It's weird, historic and cheap. It's an old industrial city wrapped around a harbor. There is at least one of everything here and greatseafood; a super nice creative community, perfect for artists to work and not have to chase a buck to make rent. We have an international airport, and getting to DC, Philly or New York by car or train is very, very easy—we do it all the time, especially with friends and family in the northeast.

Q: Do you keep a sketchbook? What is the balance between art you create on paper versus in the computer?

A: I do have some sketchbooks but I mostly sketch on separate sheets of paper. Drawers full! I believe sketchbooks are really valuable but as my training is in photography and design (I'm self-taught as an illustrator), I never developed a sketchbook habit. But I do advocate the habit with my students.

On the paper/digital question, I'd say 50/50. I draw on vellum, scan and color digitally. Some years ago, I used a pre-digital copier and printed my line work on different paper to do collage or color with pastel. Once those old-school copiers went by the wayside, I went digital to transform the line and do coloring.

Q: What do you like best about your workspace?

A: Two things stand out: the northern light and the sound of birds at a feeder my neighbor keeps. I appreciated that she kept the feeder so much that I'd buy the bird feed as long as she kept it filled. As for the light, it comes from the keystone shaped window my brother designed for the studio when I renovated the attic. I can see the top of my neighbor’s bungalow, green stained shingles with off-white trim on the roof overhang, which reminds me of my grandmother’s house. She inspired me with her paintings, weavings, and rug making from old clothes.

Purdue University Alumni Magazine, Playing Favorites, about the relationship between older parents, their children and how the elderly parents' selectivity amongst their children can become highly alienating.

Yes and no. The space is nice, but since adding ceramics to the list of things I do, it isn't working as well as it could. I'm currently looking for an industrial space to buy, a place that has a flexible floor plan. 

Q: What is the most important item in your studio?

A: The most important thing is whatever I'm working on at the moment. 

Q: What is your favorite part of the creative process? 

A: Puzzling out ideas.

Q: What was the strangest or most unusual assignment you’ve taken? What did you learn from the experience?

A: The most unusual one was illustrating the Breast Cancer Research Stamp. That kind of project doesn't happen all the time! There were so many aspects to it that were outside the normal illustration project perimeters including approval by the Citizen's Advisory Council [all stamps go through this step], and working under what the USPS thought was a very tight deadline of about 4 months which I thought was a luxury! It was also the first project where I was asked for my signature on the printed pieces. Going to breast cancer events, races and the like, also meant meeting people affected by the disease and hearing how the art on the stamp inspired them. It happens so rarely—that we get to hear the 'applause' for our work. The experience was always heart-wrenching and humbling. I learned that people do really see our work and it truly has an affect on how they think and feel.

Seriously Squirrels. Tote bags and a variety of tableware including pitchers, serving bowls, bowls and small cups for Pbody Dsign. 

Q: What was your favorite book as a child?

A: It's a toss-up between a set of Uncle Wiggly books [illustrated by Lang Campbell] and a Palmer Cox Brownie book, both belonged to my father when he was very young. We had a lot of old books in our house, but I have to say I was more of a looker than a reader then. Nothing like anthropomorphized animals with silly names like Jackie and Peetie Bow-Wow, and strange little pixies to catch a child's eye. I loved the color plates, even the musty smell of the pages.

Q: What is the best book you’ve recently read?

A: My daughter gave me Stiff by Mary Roach which I really loved reading; and I started 1491, New Revelations of the Americas before Columbus by Charles Mann which looks at very early human history in the West. Quite dense but history is one of my favorite subjects along with science. 

Q: If you had to choose one medium to work in for an entire year, eliminating all others, what medium would you choose?

A: Pencil and vellum. That's where all my work starts. 

Stereohype. Fall Picnic for the By Invitation Only 13 Button Badge Set.

A: I recall the DART Q&A you recently did with Andre da Loba, who I met by email while writing my book Playing with Sketches. He named 4 of my favorite sites: It’s Nice That • But Does It Float • The Fox Is Black • 50 Watts

I also love Rob Ryan's work; he blends so many aspects of illustration that I love: design, lettering, silhouettes, and emotional content on to all of the products he creates. As for books, my house and studio [and office at MICA] are filled with books. Filled! My husband [a landscape painter] has insisted on a buying moratorium until we find a larger studio. But one of my favorite books is a tiny leather bound copy of Grimm's Fairy Tales illustrated with David Hockney etchings that I got at the Louvre on my first trip to Paris. It's precious.

Q: What was the painting or drawing or film that most affected your approach to art? [the Tunderbolt]

A: I don't think I've had an 'ah-ha' moment concerning my approach, rather it's been an accumulation of small things. I'm a believer in small things having great power. 

Q: If you could be anywhere but where you are now, where would that be?

A: I would be traveling. My favorite way to travel is to visit friends, to be in their world for a time. That is escape and comfort all in one! Ireland is next up as my husband recently got his foreign-born Irish Citizenship and Irish passport, but he's never been there. I've been to nine countries [nowhere near the almost 200 in the world], but still have a short list of places I'd like to go to like Spain, Denmark, Turkey and Japan. I took a DNA test recently that shows I have 24% Scandinavian genetic markers coursing through my veins, so that should be top on my list. 

Moo.com + RockPaperInk online, Come Together: 25 characters designed to mix + match, and join together in a variety of amusing combinations. 

Q: Where do you teach—and what do you like best about teaching?

A: I teach at the Maryland Institute College of Art. For many years, I taught part-time in illustration and design [then called Visual Communications]. At the time, I felt the illustration students were underserved curricularly and in time the departments split. Julian Allen was hired as the illustration chair and I was fortunate to teach with him for the last year and a half of his life. What a tremendous loss! He had been a long distance mentor, which I wrote about in a memorial essay for him.

After his death, the College looked for a replacement and I was fortunate to be asked by the Dean to apply for the position. Though I'd never aspired to teach full-time, it seemed like a great opportunity, thinking of what I'd do running things, haha! I took the position turning the department into the largest in the College, and producing award-winning students by anticipating changing illustration markets, teaching interdisciplinary courses, and inviting numerous illustrators in for residencies, and projects that can be read about on my website. Through my position as Co-Director of Dolphin Press & Print at MICA, I was also able to work with printmaking student in publishing editions with Henrik Drescher, Michael Bartalos and Peter Kuper. Four years ago, I founded a graduate program, the MFA in Illustration Practice, based on a course I developed called The Lab. As director, I teach a full load, but a good portion of my time is also spent on administration which is the academic equivalent of being an art director: find the right talent, match them with the program needs, and let them do their best.

What I like best about teaching is looking for the places where things intersect, seeing what interesting things can develop from there, and getting students excited about that. 

Q: Where did your idea for Playing With Sketches originate? What was the most difficult part about getting from idea to finished art? [please add link to purchase]

A: When I was approached by the publisher to write Playing with Sketches, it was a slightly different book—one on helping designers draw better. Never having written a book before, I said, "I can do that!". Actually I felt very confident despite my lack of writing experience because I'd dealt with this issue for some years when I was teaching design. I can only speak for that time to say lots of undergrad design students were quite unwilling to draw, feeling they were not good at it. I've always thought everyone one can draw as long as they don't place undue expectations on themselves concerning the outcome of their efforts. If you have ever admired a child's drawing then you know drawing is about expression not accuracy or technical craft. On the grown-up side of things, look at Ben Shahn's drawings!

Q: What advice would you give a young artist about applying to an art school or college?

A: To think about whether the academic environment is right for them. I'm not anti-school—obviously—but I think there are many places from which to learn, and that's the important thing, to be learning. Everyone has a place that fits them best, whether learning from the world or from an institution. Every form of learning is valid, so it really comes down to what fits you best. The same can be applied to picking a school, and matching yourself with what they offer. In grad school, the physical/faculty resources and community are super important.

Q: What would be your last supper?

[Sigh] my last supper, now that's a sad thought—but if I knew one meal was my last, I'd want to go back to that tiny, obscure Italian restaurant in London that my husband and I stumbled on one night where I had fresh raspberries and cream for dessert. I truly remember nothing else about that meal but the raspberries and cream, which was like eating mouthfuls of heaven. That would be a great feeling to have knowing what happens after a last supper...

Imaginary London. Plate, tea towels, wrapping paper for Pbody Dsign.

Award-winning illustrator/educator/entrepreneur Whitney Sherman was trained as a photographer, and has held positions as an advertising art director, publications designer and art director; VP/Creative Director; illustrator; and educator in Illustration and in Graphic Design.

Presently Director of the MFA in Illustration Practice at MICA; Co-Director of Dolphin Press & Print @ MICA; Faculty of MFA ILP Thesis; proprietor of Whitney Sherman Illustration, and Pbody Design; nationally represented by Gerald & Cullen Rapp, Inc., New York. Her work has been included in American Illustration, Communication Arts, Society of Illustrators (New York and Los Angeles), Society of Publication Design, AIGA 50/50, The Art Directors Club (NY, SF and DC), and Print.

Her Pbody Dsign products were featured recently in the exhibition Product Lines: Art & Function Delineated at Case[werks] Gallery/Baltimore. Sold locally, they and will soon be launched online.

She is currently co-editing [with Susan Doyle and Jaleen Grove] and writing a chapter on Contemporary Illustration for the upcoming History of Illustration textbook to be published by Bloomsbury Publishing/Fairchild. The book will be approximately 650 pages, be global in reach and have the writings of approximately 35 contributors. The aim is to produce a textbook for every illustration educator and art historian who wants to learn more about our practice. Instagram: @whitneysherman  • Twitter: @whitney_sherman •  Altpick