I first interviewed Paul Howalt back in the Summer of 2007, I was instantly impressed with not only the high level of design and illustration work he was producing, but also with the man himself. We've remained friends ever since. He's given me some great advice over the years, and has served as an inspiration to me with regards to my own work. He sets the bar high.
I recently contacted Paul and asked him to give me an update as to what he's been up to since the interview, and what he's working on today.
Hi Jeff,
As far as career updates go, I’ve been on a bit of a journey since you last left off…
As an illustrator, I continue to do work, represented by Three In A Box in Toronto. Highlights have been doing character development for Chevrolet as well as doing a good amount of spot illustrations for Imax Theatres. I was also fortunate to do some work for Target Stores and KFC. I am currently making a major shift in style from the whimsical modern toon style I’ve been doing since 2000 to something that has a bit more geometric structure and restraint. We’ll see how it goes over, but so far it’s been well received.
Last week I finished one of the most demanding projects of my career. I was tasked with illustrating over 40 school mascots in approximately 40 days. The sleep depravation was exhausting, but I came out the other side with a great collection of work to show in that arena. It will be interesting to see where that leads. I’m very excited about it.
On the Design front, I’ve been continuing to grow Tactix Creative with my business partner, Cam Stewart. We’ve done some wonderful work for Hasbro’s Operation game, Pictureka, Puzz 3D, Upwords, Rack-O, Sorry, Family Game Night, etc. We’ve also been allowed much artistic latitude in refreshing and establishing some national and local brands.
This year is an exciting one, in that we plan to open an online ecommerce presence selling design and illustration adorning all sorts of wearables and objects of desire.
One of the high points of the last couple years was authoring a book for Rockport Publishers with Von Glitschka, called Design:Logo. The project also led to authoring a column on Rockport’s blog, which really stretched my creative routine. I was also asked to speak to the AIGA Wichita Chapter on logo and poster design, which was slightly intimidating, due to the insanely high level of talent in that city. It was a blast to meet so many wonderful people while I was there.
As a side note, Photography has also long been a passion of mine, and I’ve been doing a lot of that over the past 5 years as well… some quirky projects and some more traditional portrait oriented work. It has served as a good change of pace when I start getting too close to a design project.
As I get older, I’m doing more to effectively eliminate my all-night projects that turn me into one of the Walking Dead half the week. It’s a promise I’ve made to myself, but we’ll see how that goes. - Ha!
If you want to keep up with some of my recent projects, I am also furiously uploading all kinds of new projects into my 2 websites listed below.
Jeff, your new site format looks fantastic and I look forward to all the inspiration you bring all of us laboring in a sometimes thankless profession.
All my best,
Paul
Design Website: www.TactixCreative.com
Illustration Website: www.PaulHowalt.com
Design Blog: http://www.TactixBuzz.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/tactixcreative
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/paulhowalt
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/howalt
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/PaulHowalt
I recently contacted Paul and asked him to give me an update as to what he's been up to since the interview, and what he's working on today.
Hi Jeff,
As far as career updates go, I’ve been on a bit of a journey since you last left off…
As an illustrator, I continue to do work, represented by Three In A Box in Toronto. Highlights have been doing character development for Chevrolet as well as doing a good amount of spot illustrations for Imax Theatres. I was also fortunate to do some work for Target Stores and KFC. I am currently making a major shift in style from the whimsical modern toon style I’ve been doing since 2000 to something that has a bit more geometric structure and restraint. We’ll see how it goes over, but so far it’s been well received.
Last week I finished one of the most demanding projects of my career. I was tasked with illustrating over 40 school mascots in approximately 40 days. The sleep depravation was exhausting, but I came out the other side with a great collection of work to show in that arena. It will be interesting to see where that leads. I’m very excited about it.
On the Design front, I’ve been continuing to grow Tactix Creative with my business partner, Cam Stewart. We’ve done some wonderful work for Hasbro’s Operation game, Pictureka, Puzz 3D, Upwords, Rack-O, Sorry, Family Game Night, etc. We’ve also been allowed much artistic latitude in refreshing and establishing some national and local brands.
This year is an exciting one, in that we plan to open an online ecommerce presence selling design and illustration adorning all sorts of wearables and objects of desire.
One of the high points of the last couple years was authoring a book for Rockport Publishers with Von Glitschka, called Design:Logo. The project also led to authoring a column on Rockport’s blog, which really stretched my creative routine. I was also asked to speak to the AIGA Wichita Chapter on logo and poster design, which was slightly intimidating, due to the insanely high level of talent in that city. It was a blast to meet so many wonderful people while I was there.
As a side note, Photography has also long been a passion of mine, and I’ve been doing a lot of that over the past 5 years as well… some quirky projects and some more traditional portrait oriented work. It has served as a good change of pace when I start getting too close to a design project.
As I get older, I’m doing more to effectively eliminate my all-night projects that turn me into one of the Walking Dead half the week. It’s a promise I’ve made to myself, but we’ll see how that goes. - Ha!
If you want to keep up with some of my recent projects, I am also furiously uploading all kinds of new projects into my 2 websites listed below.
Jeff, your new site format looks fantastic and I look forward to all the inspiration you bring all of us laboring in a sometimes thankless profession.
All my best,
Paul
Design Website: www.TactixCreative.com
Illustration Website: www.PaulHowalt.com
Design Blog: http://www.TactixBuzz.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/tactixcreative
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/paulhowalt
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/howalt
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/PaulHowalt