Living The Life

Imagine an artist living in the San Francisco Bay area who is drawn to and inspired by the natural world. Who creates compelling illustrations for the likes of Hewlett Packard, Sun Microsystems, The Clorox Company, Marion Merrell Dow, Mother's Cookies, Sunmaid, and The Learning Company. Who has earned awards from the San Jose Advertising Club, the Western Art Director's Club, and Print Magazine. Who showers affection on the pets who share her life, cats Dave and Bear. An artist who thrives by the fruits of her wit and talent. In short, living what many would consider to be "the life." Meet illustrator Donna Lang.

I find Donna's illustrations to be alive and vibrant, striking for their color and detail. She imbues her work with a sense of humor; she makes the storytelling qualities obvious. Donna's artistry extends as well to other endeavors, especially the pleasing and therapeutic essential oil blends she creates for her aromatherapy clients. In her free time, she enjoys oil painting, travel, hiking, and other outdoor activities. Her dream-come-true "perfect" job would combine her love of traveling to exotic and interesting places with her passions for photographing and painting subjects of nature - cats in particular - in a semi-realistic style.

The following are excerpts from an interview I conducted with this intriguing artist. The questions were fashioned to bring this artist to life for us:

Your main media seem to be airbrush, acrylic, and/or gouache. Can you describe for us the different stages of a project from sketch to finish and talk about your individual technique?

If it is a commissioned piece, a client, usually a designer or art director, will call and describe his or her illustration need. Sometimes they have a firm idea of concept, and other times it will be up to me to come up with ideas. If they have some rough ideas, sometimes they will fax them to me. Other times we might meet at their office, if they are local. At the beginning of the project we discuss the details of price and usage and schedule. In some cases I may take some photographs to use as reference. I will then create a preliminary pencil sketch to fax to make sure I'm on track. I will discuss this sketch with the client and will make adjustments as necessary. I will then proceed to a final color sketch for approval. I mostly send these via email. When the color sketch has been approved, I proceed to final art.

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