Q: What are some of your favorite things about living and working in Brooklyn?

A: Brooklyn has been a great source of inspiration since I moved here in 2000 for school at Pratt. It was a quieter oasis from the noise and speed of Manhattan—was far more laid-back and had a nice grit to it. Now I work out of the Pencil Factory in Greenpoint, where I have an incredible source of inspiration in my studio mates and all the talented people who work out of the building.

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

A: My sketchbook is really more of a notebook. I keep a cheap-o, one-subject notebook that consists of lists of ideas for book covers as I’m reading a manuscript. I’ll then very roughly mock up some book-shaped layouts before moving on to execution. 

Once I get to that stage it’s really a 50/50 paper versus computer work. The majority of my work is in the book publishing world and I love to try and create my own art for covers whenever possible. I don’t really have one style that I work in. One day I could be creating pen and ink lettering, the next setting up a small photo shoot, with glitter and confetti, and the next could be a full vector illustration. And all of those might be “sketches” for one cover.

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

Hmmmm, well this is going to sound really dopey, but I have this tiny Buddha statue sitting on top of my monitor. Nothing religious—just a small reminder to chill out if I’m getting bummed by a project, or stressed with a large work load. Oddly, it does the trick to just to reboot my mind. 

Q: What do you like best about your workspace? Do you think it needs improvement, if so, what would you change?

A: The best part about my space are the people I get to work around. I share a space with Leif Parsons, Jesse Ragan, Scott Campbell, and Cari Vander Yacht. It’s a fun blend of editorial illustration, fine art, type design, children’s book illustration, and an all around great crew.

Really the space is great, the light is bright, and the building is my style of worn-in that makes me feel okay making a mess. I’d really not change a thing…

Q: How do you know when the art is finished?

A: When the art director tells me to send in the final files? Ha. But for sketches, since in the book world they tend to be nearly final in their appearance, it’s just a feeling that everything is balanced, conceptually and aesthetically. And it’s really just a feeling that one sketch is ready and time to move onto another idea/look for the same title.

Q: What makes you happy?

A: Hmmmm, that’s pretty broad…. Lots of things… But one of my favorite things to do in New York is go to either the Met[ropolitan Museum of Art] or MoMA for an afternoon wander, then make my way over to this little French spot in midtown that has the best French onion soup and sit back with a book or article and savor the time to think and read. Little things like that make me happy; the small pockets to be anonymous in a huge city. 

Q: What was your favorite book as a child?

A: Always hard to narrow it down… But I really remember Blueberries for Sal when I was really small. And as a kid I loved reading anything by Roald Dahl, but what kid didn’t?

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

A: Well I have this problem with starting a book and then getting a cover job that requires reading the manuscript. This means my apartment is littered with books whose bookmarks are hanging halfway out. So recently I’ve loved the first half of Kafka’s The Castle, Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises, and currently about to hit pause on Chandler’s The Long Goodbye for a manuscript… but all great reads so far. What I should do is stick with short stories as an easy pick-up-put-down. In that sense I’ve loved Karen Russell’s writing.

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

A: Thing is, I’ve never mastered a single medium, but if I had to master one, I’d love to spend a year with brush pens really learning some killer lettering skills.

Q: If you could time travel to any era, any place, where would you go?

A: Ugh, how cliche to say Paris in the ‘20s….? Too cliche right? But sure would be fun.

Q: What is preoccupying you at the moment?

A: So I started doing this 100 Day Project back in April. Gist is you pick a theme, anything really (running, gardening, jumping in the air for a photo…anything) and document it for 100 days on Instagram. I wanted to try out some illustration mediums and get some good practice in, so I chose the theme “this day in history” to illustrate (below). Now, I’ve missed some chunks of time here and there while traveling and busy with work, but aiming to have 100 pieces at some point. As I’m writing this, anyone who really kept with it has just wrapped up the 100 days. I think I’m about half way to 100. I’ll get there!

Q: What are some of your favorite places/books/blogs/websites for inspiration?

A: The new Whitney space is lovely and it was an inspiring opening show. Always love going to the Rubin, and MoMA is an obvious source of inspiration. Any bookstore (I’m the weirdo taking pictures of the covers and probably making the staff nervous). My go-to book blog is Casual Optimist. And lately I’ve been into combing through photographer’s websites and books in hopes to find some great photos for future book projects.

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

A: It’s really never been my thing to have a definitive something that sparked my work. Ideas or styles sort of come as a slow burn of soaking up a variety of movies, books, art, design, and anything else that passes by.

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

A: Two things really. It’s all about how hard you work. If you don’t put in the effort you’re not going to make it. No one will make it happen for you so you need to keep on pushing. Secondly, take risks. I feel like I really didn’t for the first few years of my career. I loved the jobs I had and the people I worked with, but I really felt like I was supposed to have the job with the benefits and 401K to be successful. It took quitting my job five years ago and moving across the country for a year to shake me into trying freelancing. And now I couldn’t be happier working that way. It’s a hustle, but that’s where the working hard bit comes in. Those two things combined make good luck work out well; you’re both prepared and willing to take the plunge.

Q: What would be your last supper?

A brick of cheese I think would do the trick.

Jen is a graphic designer and illustrator working out of the Pencil Factory in Brooklyn NY. She’s a visiting professor in Pratt Institute's ComD department, where she was a graduate. You can find her work at www.jenniferheuer.com and follow her on Instagram and Twitter @jenheuer. She and her husband, Jed, have a funny little shared tumbr, The Heuers.