Living and drawing through the seasons with Aimee Sicuro

The seasons are a common theme in Aimee Sicuro’s artwork, but natural beauty is only part of the story captured in each of her images. Each scene also captures a feeling, from joy and love, to carefreeness, contentedness and solitude.

“I want to convey at least some sort of understanding and happiness. Some of my pieces convey melancholy, but everybody feels the same thing and we’re all trying to connect through relationships, friendships, and love,” said Sicuro, who added that she is “always trying to figure out a way to improve [herself]. I think the images I make have hopeful messages of being inspired [or are] about meditation and work balance and life balance and deeper issues.”

When dreaming up the scene in “Brooklyn,” the image featured on this issue’s cover, Sicuro she was wandering the streets, “looking around at brownstones, cherry blossoms, and color; I was thinking about how when the weather’s warm and you’re outside reading a book, that’d be a really great way to celebrate being in this neighborhood.”

A first-time mom living in Carroll Gardens with her husband and 15-month-old son, Sicuro said that Brooklyn has provided fun, friends, and plenty of inspiration and support to her as a mother, woman, and artist. Compared to her previous years bouncing between San Francisco and New York as a greeting card designer, animator, project manager at a design firm, and freelance illustrator, her past two years in Brooklyn have left her “super grateful to live here.”

When she was a kid herself, Sicuro spent most of her time drawing for hours on end. Although she “wasn’t the best artist in the class,” she loved it so much that she enrolled in a high school with a Commercial Art Program where juniors and seniors could spend half a day every day concentrating on artwork. A scholarship to Columbus College of Art and Design in Ohio led to her BFA in Illustration and prepared her further for how to make the making of art a career.

“I’ve always wanted to be an illustrator,” she said. “I started at American Greetings for two years, then did animation in California. It was a really bumpy road and it took me a really long time to be able to work as an illustrator in a professional sense: to have enough work to make a living. And now, with a baby, it’s really challenging, but it’s my passion. I really love it so much.”

That passion has gotten Sicuro her first contract to illustrate a children’s book, due out in 2014 by a Canadian publisher. It has also gotten her most of her day-to-day work in magazines such as Yoga Journal, American Illustration, Reader’s Digest, Parent Magazine, SKIRT Magazine, and AARP Magazine.

A day in her life can begin with a client sending over an article for her to read and come up with three to four sketches “that sum up the article in a visual way as best I can.” Once they pick one, she does any requested revisions and completes the final draft in around three to four days.

“My job is really fun because I really get to learn about strange or interesting things,” she said of some of the perks to her job. “It’s fun to have to read an article about something you may not know about or find interesting, and then have to illustrate it.”

Sicuro used to paint everything in oils, which was “insane” for meeting deadlines and was also bad for her health what with all the paint fumes. Now, she uses ink to paint the different textures of the images, like a collage, scan them into the computer separately, and then layer them. This allows flexibility to move, say, a tree to the left, or to change the color of the sky or alter a person’s outfit.

“I use paper, will scan in my scarf [if I like the pattern], use acrylic paint, textured paper, sometimes sanding it down, figure out the colors I want, use paint splotches, and cut out shapes to create a collage on the screen,” she said of her materials.

She noted that gaining clients requires perseverance, dedication, and a common sense effort at doing your homework into the kind of artwork already featured by prospective employers. “Before I had a baby, I used to do mailings three to four times a year. I would create an image for a promotion – something that I was interested in myself – [and] ask myself how can I communicate that feeling. . . to art directors,” explained Sicuro.

The image would go onto hundreds of postcards that would then be sent out to relevant publications. “It seems so archaic to be sending postcards these days with a stamp, but it actually works,” she said, noting that there are amazing illustrators out there and the field is competitive, but worth it.

“I would just take that list I had of people thanking me for the card and keep reminding them of who I am. Sometimes it would take three or four mailings and then they’d call me back.”

That is why Sicuro advises aspiring artists to find a mentor and “be persistent.”

“You’re going to look at a lot of art and think ‘I’m not as talented as this person,’ but it’s just about sticking to it and concentrating on being the best you can be,” she explained. “Persistence, drivenness, not stopping, keep producing work and getting better. . . As long as you’re happy with your growth, that’s all you can ask yourself as an artist. And don’t be ashamed if you have to take a job. If you love it enough, you’ll be able to do it in some capacity. Everyone’s journey is different.”

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.