John Chandler, Freelance Illustrator
Explore the world of illustration with John Chandler, Freelance Illustrator.
Why do I love my job?
I love solving problems through drawing, if someone is trying to get a message across to their audience, the challenge is how do I use my drawing skills to help them get this message through, hopefully while producing a fun drawing?
What did I love doing at school?
Drawing (unsurprisingly) but also History, I think having an interest in the past and the wonderful things in it such as Spitfire, a King on horseback, battering rams, maps or a hovercraft and wanting to draw them made it interesting to me.
Childhood hobbies?
Drawing (unsurprisingly again! 😂). I used to sit drawing in front of the TV every night, it really dominated my childhood, I did do lots of outdoorsy stuff too. I loved climbing trees, playing football and riding my bike!
How to get into the sector?
I went to University to study Graphic Design, but I was always more of an illustrator. I started trying to get freelance (jobs for companies that you don’t work for every day) when I finished University and built it up from there.
Related jobs?
Graphic Design is related to Illustration, as is Animation. I have had to had a working knowledge of both because they work so closely together. Illustration is a great job but can be up and down, a lot of illustrators do other things as well. I’ve always been interested in teaching and I work in a University alongside illustration.
Career high?
I have illustrated for all sorts of big companies and magazines, including McDonalds and the RSPB. I’ve also illustrated many books the most fun one’s being an illustrated history of things that have gone wrong while people have been playing Cricket and I also illustrated the front cover of a book about the history of the toilet!
I have also written and illustrated a book about why football teams from around the world where the colours they do, my love of history came back to help me then. It’s called Picking up the Threads: The Colours of World Football. I was very proud to see that in Waterstones for the first time.
Top tip: Be interested in everything (you never know when you’ll be asked to illustrate the front cover of a book about the history of the toilet!) and get out of your comfort zone as much as you can, drawing the same thing every time won’t make you get any better! - John Chandler, Freelance Illustrator