It’s really fun to hear and share the many different stories how fellow creatives got where they are; how they might have stumbled into their career, or got there on purpose.   I recently had the pleasure of an interview with illustrator Cory Thoman, founder of myStockVectors.com. Cory has an amazing knack for creating some of the coolest cartoons and cliparts, which are being used all over the web and in many other commercial applications.  His artwork covers a wide range of subjects and topics, and all of them are available for royalty-free licensing in vector format.

Hi Cory, tell us a little about yourself.
Yay! My favorite topic, me. Well, I’m an illustrator and designer living in Austin, Texas. I have a Bachelor’s of Fine Art from the Ringling College of Art and Design. Don’t let the fine art part fool you though. I mostly spend my time drawing silly cartoons, but there was an emphasis on figure drawing and painting when I went to school. So, I guess I’m classically trained, but most of my work happens on the computer now.

As far as career, I’ve worked a few graphic design jobs. My favorite was a toy company called Jazwares. I was there for about five years and learned a lot. In 2005, I decided to leave the 9 to 5 world to pursue a freelance career. That’s where I am today.

What kind of images do you produce?
Right now, it is pretty much all digital cartoon style vector illustrations. Most of my illustrations are character based. I draw a lot of animals, kids and people. I love goofy expressions, so I try to make most of their facial expressions as humorous as possible. Other than that, I try to keep everything pretty simple in my work. No complex ideas or hidden messages, just fun colorful cartoons.

I start with pencil sketches, but everything is finished in the computer. I guess I’m a nerd because I’m always on the computer. I’m often jealous of the photographers like yourself that get to go out and photograph people and the world. Meanwhile, I’m stuck in my office/cave making sketches and digital drawings. Illustrators could be the hermits of the art world.
(haha don’t be fooled, Cory – I’m probably at my desk just as much as you are.  Maybe 1 or 2 hours for a photoshoot once every few weeks, but it’s never enough away time from my desk)

Tell us a little about your website myStockVectors.com?
Excellent, the shameless promotion part! I decided last year to open my own store, myStockVectors.com. After several years of selling stock, it felt like the right time to open my own site. I thought I had a pretty good grasp of what the customers that bought my files wanted. I didn’t feel most of the major agencies were catering to that. I think I’ve created some unique features at the site that you can’t get anywhere else.

I’ve organized images into a Series and Collections category. The category allows visitors to view all images of a particular character in various poses or costumes. I find that many customers like to buy multiple images from a series, so this allows them to do that easier. I’ve also introduced a category called Design Files. These include several images from the series in one file. It also contains a font and other elements like word bubbles and backgrounds. The idea is that it contains all the elements you need for your design project in one file. The best part is that it is cheaper than buying all the files individually.

Those are some of the things I’m working on with the site. I think the great thing about having my own store is that I can really cater to what the customer wants. So far, I’m excited by the results. It’s one thing to build it, but another for people to show up and purchase images. Hopefully, it will continue and I can learn some SEO tricks.

Do you just sell stock or do you work on other things?
I’m also a full time freelancer. I’ve had the opportunity to work with some great clients. I did a few projects with the Cartoon Network which was a lot of fun. Freelancing gigs can occasionally be spread out though, so that leaves a lot of time in between to create stock. Plus, the two are sort of intertwined. Stock brings in new freelance projects and clients. My stock library is like having a giant portfolio that is organized and searchable.

I have always admired the artwork of famous artist Norman Rockwell, but for some reason, never realized that he also produced illustrations and stock art for use in advertisements and marketing materials.  Here are some vintage Norman Rockwell advertisements that feature his unique, photo-realistic illustrative style.  Rockwell’s masterpieces even made the cover of The Saturday Evening Post a number times.  Way before there was Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, or even mainstream digital photography, Norman Rockwell was a true creative.

To learn a little bit more about Norman Rockwell and to see some more of his fantastic artwork, check out this other post.

I have been wanting to use some palm tree vectors in some of my designs and stock vectors.  Seeing that last summer I was able to visit the Caribbean to shoot stock photography, I have a lot of elements ready to go.  I’ve always been such a sucker for palm trees.  Maybe it’s because I’ve lived in New England my entire life.  The maple, pine, and oak trees are beautiful as well, but to me, coconut palm trees are probably my favorite.  I have a huge print of one on the wall in front of my desk, just about my monitor.  I like to stare at it and drift away sometimes… LOL

You really can use this technique with any type of shape or silhouette.  If you just want to employ this technique on a photo of a person or an object that is already isolated over a white background, then you can very easily do so.  Just darken the person with the levels and dodge/burn tools, if necessary.  Then, follow the same process we guided you through in the tutorial video.

The triple self portrait – pure genius.  For more info on Norman Rockwell, check out your local library or visit the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.