Today we’d like to introduce you to Jeff Hinchee
Hi Jeff, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I received a BFA in theater design from Carnegie Mellon University about 20 years ago. Immediately after graduating I moved to Manhattan and started working as a set and costume designer— at first assisting Robert Perdziola on opera and ballet productions. We shared the same college mentors, and he is well known as one of the finest artists in the business. I went on to work with a handful of other designers on Broadway productions.
There are isolated skills within that design work that became second nature to me. For example: scene painting, traditional drawing and painting, storyboarding, technical drafting, prop styling, and very obviously scale model making. I became a go-to person for scenic illustrations, backdrops- that sort of thing- so if you’re a person who’s into live theater it’s likely you’ve seen my work… but not my name.
Theater design also requires a flexibility in style as each show has its own visual references, time period, and tone. After working in that industry for 10 years producing a very wide range of art, I decided to go to graduate school for illustration so that I could figure out what my own art style could be— which at the time was still a mystery to me— and to give myself the chance to be directly associated with my own artwork. I did lot of artistic exploration in grad school but didn’t fully settle into my voice until I had been working again for a few years, this time as a freelance illustrator, and the time frame of editorial projects necessitated I “get it together quickly”.
And so my illustration style is an accumulation of those theater design skills I’ve mentioned- but all thrown into one image. In theater you often present a finished scale model of a set (a perfectly appointed miniature), but the process work leading there is all cut paper studies. I’ve arrived at a version of that “paper” space that mixes drawing with photographed handicraft; and rather than something that has been labored over for months like a set design, I strive for work that feels playful and loose.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
After I got my MFA in illustration I struggled to find work. I easily slipped back into theater work but didn’t completely love using my skills to facilitate for other people. Quite luckily— while I was back associate designing Broadway plays— I also wound up working as an art director for a theater magazine, called Chance, created by my design colleague Fitz Patton. The work I did for Chance (now defunct) really provided me the inroads to getting published as an illustrator. I identify that opportunity— which was an unpaid labor of love— as a turning point for my illustration career.
Illustration became my full-time job for many years. Unfortunately in the past year most of that work has dried up for me. My more “unusual” style can be harder for potential clients to comprehend, and client budgets have stagnated or been cut (perhaps as a result of the advent of cheap AI generated art). While I ride out this lull— which is not likely permanent— I now consider myself lucky that I can dip my toe back into set and costume design work, both with my former theater collaborators and on television projects with new collaborators.
I’ve got more than 100 live theater credits and now many tv shows,. I also have an absolutely wonderful client list for my illustrations; but at this exact moment in my career I know artists need to access a variety of opportunities and not just rely on a single market.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am known for my colorful, three-dimensional, cut paper illustrations. I am fortunate to have my illustrations recognized as “mine” without people having to look for the illustrator’s byline. I’m quite proud of that, and of having organically arrived into my artistic voice through years of hard work and experience. It’s authentic.
What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
I lived in New York City for 16 years and loved the culture and flavors. I consider myself a New Yorker at heart, but I knew I didn’t want to live there forever. I’m so happy to live in the Twin Cities now. It feels like Brooklyn to me. It has great museums and theater, but also more space and terrific old houses! I love having a yard and drinking my morning coffee outside with my dog. My husband and I are slowly renovating our 124 year old farmhouse, and I have an incredible art studio on the second floor of our barn. I could never say those sentences in New York.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://jeffhinchee.com/home.html
- Instagram: @jeff_hinchee_art
Image Credits
Jeff Hinchee
