INTERNSHIP STORIES

I was made aware of the opportunity via my professor, who directed me to somebody who was willing to provide an internship opportunity involving the freelance comic industry. After a few email exchanges, I went inside the studio and had a brief chat. It took about one semester after, before I was able to actually get the internship, when I showed him a mini comic I completed. My supervisor is a freelance pre-press technician, who formats comics, books, posters which aren’t print ready. He cleans up formatting issues, or lettering issues and adjusts space in between. During my internship, I had other small jobs, but mainly to scan various files in his inventory, which he plans to use for an archival project. Later, I was assigned to be a flatter for a middle grade DC graphic novel at a base pay rate, which I’m most proud of.  I learned many things such as the inner workings of freelancers in the industry, a new perspective on the lives of such people, their financial experiences, th...

My journey with AARP began when I was actively searching for internships in publication design. I discovered the opportunity through a faculty member who taught designing for a diverse and mature audience. I secured the internship after a competitive application process, which included a phone call and an interview that tested my design sensibilities and understanding of AARP's audience. My primary responsibilities included working on layouts for the upcoming issues of AARP's magazine, creating branding assets, assisting in preparing presentations, and providing support for social media campaigns. I was deeply involved in the conceptualization to final production stages of several key layouts, which taught me the intricacies of publication design in a real-world setting. I am most proud of a layout design I created for a feature article in the magazine. I’m eager to see the response of the readers. The most important thing I learned was the significance of empathetic design – c...

I found this internship from a Google search. I just uploaded my resume and my personal website. I don’t really remember how much time passed, and then I got an email that said they were interested in working with me. For the process, they sent me something that acted as a test that required me to finish a piece of work, almost like an audition. Then, after my work was reviewed, they would send an email back to tell me if they wanted to hire me. After that, they sent me the offer.  They are a non-profit publisher organization. They don’t really have a lot of people, the only two people I knew were our direct supervisor, and another one being the Editor-in-Chief. My direct supervisor would give us work that we needed to complete in time before the deadline. She would also give you help if you were to have any problems as well as suggestions sometimes.  My position was as an illustrator intern. I needed to finish the illustration for their specific work. The work would be an ill...

During my Sophomore year at MICA, I came across an opportunity to work with NPR as the in house illustrator. Back then, they selected 1 illustrator out of a pool of 280 applicants. I was rejected. Towards the end of the semester, I received an email about the possibility of working with NPR's Next Generation Radio on a project in Baltimore. I immediately said yes but was rejected again. Nevertheless, he suggested that I email him if I would be interested in the project in the future. During the Spring semester this year, I emailed him again which he immediately responded. He offered me the opportunity to work as the project illustrator for the next four consecutive projects. What I learned from this experience was to highlight emails from job opportunities we were interested in, and always email back with an updated portfolio. The organization I worked in was an NPR sponsored journalism project called Next Generation Radio. We traveled across the United States to train and...

My name is Emily Joynton. As an Illustration Practice MFA grad student, I participated in a variety of different workshops facilitated by my program. Last spring, one of those workshops focused on patternmaking and it was led by Amy Voloshin and Leanne Biank of Printfresh. Before the workshop, I was not sure how much I would enjoy making patterns or learning about the industry, but Amy and Leanne led an informative and enjoyable session. I found making patterns to be challenging but also a lot of fun, so after our critique I asked Amy and Leanne if Printfresh offered any paid internships over the summer. They enthusiastically confirmed that they do, and a few days later I sent in my formal application. Just a few weeks later, I was officially accepted as one of the summer interns. Printfresh is a textile design company, meaning that they have an in-house team of designers who are constantly creating new patterns to coincide with predicted trends (mostly geared toward the women...

My name is Niki Sauter and I am a Junior Illustration student. Over the summer of 2013 I interned for Marvel Entertainment. I found out about the Digital Comics internship for Marvel through a friend. I secured this internship through two interviews. My first interview was with the Executive Editor of Publishing, Dan Buckley, and my second interview was with my supervisor, Digital Comics Bull Pen Editor, Tim Smith. Both interviews were over the phone because I was at school here in Baltimore. At Marvel I worked along side, Tim Smith, head of the Digital Comics Bull Pen and his team. With the team I created pdfs of the current books as well as older books that are being reformatted in the Galactus system. These pdfs are prepared books to be read on i-books, Kindle, and Nook. We had to go through each issue and make sure that it read properly and that all speech bubbles and art are contained in the guidelines of the systems. We also digitally composite each panel for the Marvel now ...

My name is Siena Allison and I am a rising senior illustration major, completing an animation concentration. This summer, I had the pleasure of being the Illustration / Animation / Design Intern for Transistor Studios, a company based in Brooklyn, New York. Transistor is an award-winning creative collective that specializes in producing broadcast commercials, and engaging long form content. I came across Transistor when googling “animation studios in New York” -- I read positive reviews regarding the studio as a work environment and enjoyed their body of work, so sent an email concerning summer internship opportunities, and they got back pretty much instantly! They were pretty excited to begin the interview process with me, and then since all went well, even more so to offer me a position. My direct supervisor was Aaron Baumle, however, I often worked with Lyejm Lewis as well -- both were responsible for art direction, and Lyejm did a lot of 2D and 3D design. I was initially b...