Familiar art from a not-so-familiar name

SLIDESHOW: Art by Greg Newbold

Chances are, you've seen Greg Newbold's artwork without stepping foot into a gallery.

Newbold has created illustrations for a host of clients, including Hogle Zoo, the Utah Transit Authority, Smuckers, Pilgrim's Pride, Random House, Scholastic and Boys' Life magazine.

"Most people don't appreciate illustration as an art form, because they don't see it outside the context of a magazine," he said. "Some people don't even realize that stuff is painted, or created, by an artist."

Illustration is recognized as an art form at the Bountiful/Davis Art Center. The center is hosting an exhibit called "Illustration Utah," which opened with an awards ceremony last Friday. Newbold, who lives in Salt Lake County, was named the Best of Show winner.

His winning piece, an oil painting titled "Unburdened," is an image of a man shearing a sheep.

"The wool comes sort of billowing off the sheep as he works," said the artist. "There's a nice, golden lighting to it, and sort of an old-fashioned work-ethic subject matter, but at the same time you can read past the surface depiction to certain spiritual themes."

"Unburdened" was an uncommissioned piece, but has since been used as an illustration in Ensign magazine, published by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

"It was part of my master's thesis project that I finished last summer," Newbold said. "That particular painting was based on some research, some photography I had done more than a decade ago, that I always wanted to paint and had never found the time to do it. When I entered the master's program, having discussions with my wife, she said, 'You better do this. It's your chance to do your dream project -- don't let the opportunity slip away.' "

The dream project is a series of paintings of rural scenes, based on experiences from his youth.

"A lot of those paintings are quite a departure from what I've done for a lot of my illustration career, but they feel like a natural extension of who I am as an artist," he said. "I think people who know my work will see the carry-over from what I've been doing all these years ... but there's more texture, more brush stroke, a more subtle color palette."

'Fortuitous' nightmare

Newbold always wanted to be an artist, and his parents kept him supplied with paint and clay.

"They never told me I should go into something more practical, like dentistry. Once in a while, they would hint around to see if there was something I would rather do, but once they figured out I wasn't really interested in anything else but making art ... they decided if I wanted to do it that bad, I'd figure out how to make a living at it," he said.

He entered Brigham Young University's illustration program, and earned a bachelor's degree while working at a computer graphics job.

"After earning my degree, we had what some people might call a fortuitous layoff, and others might call a nightmare," he said. "The day we brought our second child home from the hospital, I was laid off."

His wife had just quit work to stay home with the kids, so Newbold put all of his efforts into developing his illustration career.

"It was difficult, but we managed to weather the storm," he said. "Over time, I sort of built a reputation and portfolio of good work that's been able to sustain us."

Illustration

In addition to working with major companies, Newbold is now teaching illustration at BYU.

It's a misunderstood form of art, he said. Many people think illustrations on boxes and ads are created by computers.

"In reality, talented artists spend a lot of hours crafting this work that a lot of people don't give a second thought to," he said. "If I say I do illustrations, people say, 'Oh, you do children's books' ... then I have to explain that the box of cereal they ate from this morning, somebody illustrated the front of the box."

Newbold has illustrated picture books, and won recognition for his work on "The Touch of the Master's Hand" (Stellar Books, 2007). He's looking for a publisher for a new book he created with his wife, Amy Newbold.

"It's very challenging," he said, noting that the typical children's book needs 15 to 25 illustrations.

"They all have to be consistent, and your characters have to be cohesive through the whole project, so there's a challenge there to keep it flowing and reading well ... and to be engaging through the entire book, and have each of the spreads designed and rendered beautifully so there's not a weak link anywhere."

He admits that this more publicly recognized market for illustration has its rewards.

"Editorial work, or packaging work, those sorts of jobs are very temporary -- very fugitive. A magazine might sit around a month and then it's tossed. ... Something you do for a packaging client is thrown in the garbage as soon as the product is used," Newbold said. "Children's books are more permanent. They're collected, read with children, put on the shelf and saved, and your work endures. It's nice to know people love that, and turn back to it, and enjoy it over and over."

PREVIEW

• WHAT: 'Illustration Utah' exhibit
• WHEN: 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, 2-5 p.m. Saturdays, through Feb. 16
• WHERE: Bountiful/Davis Art Center, 745 S. Main St., Bountiful
• ADMISSION: Free; (801) 292-0367