Dreaming For A Living with Jeffrey Alan Love

Dreaming For A Living got off to a flying start with the amazing Peter Diamond. And I couldn’t be happier with the next one.

Jeffrey Alan Love is one of the most inspiring contemporary artists in the field, and not just because of his unique, beautiful work - but because of the steps he took to get there. Shifting the priority from client work to his own vision was an inspired choice, resulting in a body of work that’s straight from the soul, as individual as a finger-print and absolutely 100% unfiltered JAL. Because it’s all his own, the love and care in every figure and texture glows from the page no matter how dark the subject matter. The combination of his work and how he got to that point motivates me more than anything else. And I hope it has the same effect on you.

So, here we go - Dreaming For A Living No.2, with the one-of-a-kind Jeffrey Alan Love.

In a parallel universe, what's your alternative, non-creative, career?

I think that in every incarnation across every parallel universe I would have been doing something creative, although I dislike the term “creative”, especially when used as a noun. It makes it seem that some sort of genetic predisposition is what makes you the artist/writer you are rather than applied effort, intense interest, and perseverance. But if I had to pick something I suppose I would have followed in my father’s footsteps and gone into the military, but even then I probably would have been like Hunter S. Thompson and written for the base newspaper while writing my own books on the side.

Money is no object for a year - what do you create?

The same things I’m doing now – a graphic novel of my own, illustrated books, comic book covers, the occasional cover for a book. In my career I focus on making art that is meaningful to me first and foremost, and money is a side effect of that effort.

You can only work on one project for the rest of your life - what is it?

A series of graphic novels that I both write and make the art for.

You get to collaborate with any artist in any medium - who is it?

There is a possibility of a project that would be the answer for this that is in the works. While it may never happen, it would be my answer. Check back in ten years.

You get limitless funds (again) to set up a new company - what does it do?

Provide free health care and child care for everyone in the world.

You feel in a rut with your work - what do you do?

Go for a walk, get some exercise and change the chemicals in my brain. Often the answer to this sort of thing for me isn’t discovered by thinking, but by physical activity. If that doesn’t work I’ll write down what I dislike or what is upsetting me about my work, and then write down the things I wish I could improve or add to what I do. Then I come up with some simple actions that I can take daily to try and add those things to what I’m already doing.

Do you see yourself working as a commercial artist forever? If not, what does your work morph into?

Yes. My work is made for publication. I want to make books for the rest of my life, I think, whether they are graphic novels or illustrated books or monthly comics or picture books for children. What has changed, and what will continue to change I hope, is that more and more of my work will be self-authored, that I will be the driving creative force behind my work. Mike Mignola is a huge inspiration for me in that regard.

How do you cope with the ups & downs of a freelance creative life?

It seems natural to me, the ups and downs. I love it. Always having something to drive me on, to work on, to make me get up and go to work fired up, to try something new. Normal jobs always felt like prison to me, just putting your head down and doing the time. I never understood why I couldn’t leave after I’d finished all the necessary work after two hours. The best thing I did for my career was to start writing my own books and working on my own projects first, make them the most important thing. It has allowed the other, client-based jobs to assume their proper place in my life, which is secondary to my own work, and also allowed me to rediscover a joy and pleasure in working on them that wasn’t there when I placed too much emphasis on the client work satisfying me artistically. I’m also never sitting around waiting for an email or phone call from a client, I’ve always got my own projects to work on, and if someone wants to hire me to do something for them they need to convince me that their project is worth taking time away from my own work.

Time to skill-up - new tech or traditional?

This seems an odd question to me, because if you buy a new piece of tech you still have to have the skill to use it – just buying a new piece of tech won’t increase your skill. Generally if I have something I’m trying to improve at I try to set up a repeatable action for myself, such as “draw five faces from observation every day in sketchbook” or “watch three movies this week and sum up their plots in one sentence each.” If I had to choose between traditional and digital, I’m a traditional artist, I enjoy the struggle of working with physical materials – part of the joy of working as an artist is just how hard it is, and working traditionally to me is like walking a tightrope – I need that risk, that real possibility of complete failure to propel me onward. I also like that I can sell the originals and support my family that way.

What is/are the project(s) your young-self would love to see you doing?

Drawing a Batman/Wolverine graphic novel.

One bit of professional advice for you ten years ago:

Be patient. Every day is an opportunity to be the artist you want to be.

One bit of professional advice for you in ten years:

Take more days off to spend with your children.

Massive thanks to Jeffrey for taking part in Dreaming For A Living! I hope you found it as inspirational as I did.

Be sure to follow Jeffrey on Twitter, Facebook & Instagram. And you can buy original comic art of his from Felix Comic Art (take all my money).

Next up on DFAL - TBC ;)

Dreaming For A Living with Jeffrey Alan Love

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