Meet John Newhouse

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful John Newhouse a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

John, thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?

I have always been resilient, “No I can’t” is mostly substituted with, “So how can we…”I am colorblind. Yes a colorblind artist. One of my professors at Syracuse was also colorblind, when in his class he specifically said to me; “I don’t care, how are you going to complete the assignment?” Funny enough, he worked almost completely in black and white…So it was a “Find your niche” and run with it test.

My other career was as a Cable TV Art/Creative Director…Please see my essay below.

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/johnmarknewhouse_jmn-illustrations-activity-7087821694148440064-Y844?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

I am an illustrator who now draws portraits as gifts. I draw both pets and people so my clients can give them as something more inventive than the normal purchase or for someone who simply is “impossible to buy for”. My successes comes from the reactions to my work. A family’s patriarch who passed, the family dog who had been so much a part of their lives and the retired policeman who I was commissioned to draw his father. The letters I receive of how much my work has touched them is my greatest reward…the money doesn’t hurt either.
Turning a passion into a profession is a challenge. Ask any musician, dancer or artist, and they’ll tell you how hard it can be. Doing something for fun is…well…fun. But changing that into a business is…well…you get the point.

That was always the question I had towards my illustration. Sure, I have

a lot of years of drawing experience, my family has been in the art business for over a 100 years, I studied fine art, and it’s always been the center of my career. But did I want to make that into my real profession? Did I have the time? Better yet, was I comfortable enough to sell my work and have it be a gift?

So as life would have it, the opportunity presented itself. Now without the old “9-to-5” and without countless emails to check up on, time was suddenly my ally. I revisited my love of illustration, and with the support of my family and friends, decided to start my own illustration business.

I called it JMN Illustrations.

Within weeks of starting my business I had drawn everything from golden retrievers to the golden years. The requests were fun and challenging, but also unexpectedly humbling. The reaction of you, the clients, whether it be tears, laughter or memories shared, was so unique and unexpected. It inspired me to continue this business, and it continues to inspire my desire for perfection.

I am a husband, a father, and an illustrator. I know how special the people and furry friends in your life are and I know how important it is to get the essence of them just right.

That is why your reaction is my greatest reward

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

I want people to look at my work and smile. I have always felt there is a difference between talent and skill. There are so many extremely talented artists out there, but there are so many highly skilled artists that focus super-realism. I’m not saying one is better than the other, what I’m saying is to find your strength, find your passion which will enhance your strength and go with it.

I have substitute taught art, I had a student say to me: “You probably don’t think this is very good…” I asked her: “Do you like it?” she said “Yes”, Then it’s good. What does it matter what I think.

It is the most difficult thing to determine whether to listen to your inner voice or tell it to shut up.

Alright, so before we go we want to ask you to take a moment to reflect and share what you think you would do if you somehow knew you only had a decade of life left?

From the previous question/answer, confidence in my own ability and letting the project come to me. Sometimes the art flows from my pencil/pen/brush like butter on an english muffin and sometimes it’s like working with my opposite hand.

Also staying off social media, because I see soooooo many people who I put ahead of me. We all have a place.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.jmnillustrations.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jmnillustrations/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jmnillustrations
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnmarknewhouse/