That’s right 57 years—and still working and loving it!
That means my first job in advertising was in the summer of 1964 as an apprentice at Art Group and Art Staff art studio in Detroit. I made minimum wage, which was $1.25 an hour—that totals $60 for a 40 hour work week!
But the first illustration I had get published was actually in 1963. Wayne State University Press had a book jacket competition each year and when I heard the title of the book that they were going to publish, I knew immediately what I would put on the cover and I knew my cover was going to be the winner! (Talk about early self-confidence!) The year before in a print making class I had made a self-portrait linoleum block print with swirls in the background surrounding my head.
Long story short, I did win the contest, I got $50 for my design, and my self-portrait appeared on the cover of Adolescents Out of Step Their Treatment in a Psychiatric Hospital. That always seemed somehow appropriate to me.
