During the spring semester, my illustration professor had our class attend an artist presentation of an artist who mentioned that she runs a small publishing press called Anchovy Press. I followed Anchovy Press’s page on Instagram that day and eventually when I was looking for internships, I reached out and luckily for me they were able to take me on.That artist (and my supervisor) is the founder of Anchovy Press and runs it with their co-founder. In their words, Anchovy Press is “an independent publishing company based in Baltimore, Maryland, dedicated to storytelling that centers BIPOC experiences.” They publish children's books and family friendly zines.
One product they offer is the Zine Subscription Box for children. I was tasked with creating the activity for one of these boxes. I created a paper doll which was in some way related to food. Throughout the internship, this grew into two paper doll projects which specifically focus on wild harvestables from Maryland. Inside one of the zines are my illustrations of the dolls which can be cut out and assembled, as well as several pages of instructions and information about the food. My supervisor and I worked together throughout the creation of the zines. She initially gave me a lot of freedom to come up with the concepts for dolls, and from there they supervised and directed me on how to revise, clarify, and develop the final products.
I am proud that I was able to double the scope of the project, while still meeting deadlines. I am also happy with how complicated my idea was with it still being functional and clear. Working at Anchovy Press has broadened my scope of what book illustration and publishing can mean. It can include games, zines, and 3D art. I didn’t consider the versatility of children’s publications before this.
Working with my supervisor felt like working with an art director and that was a very educational experience. I hope to be commissioned by art directors in the future so this was a helpful test run. Finally, the most helpful aspect of this internship was working directly with a professional illustrator and printmaker working in the sub-field, book illustration, that I would like to work in. It was very helpful to see how printmaking and illustration can be used in tandem within this field.
