Takeover Tuesday Tory Van Wey
An interview with Tory Van Wey: Senior Brand Designer & Illustrator at deel.
Q&A with Tory Van Wey.
Read time: 5min
Mack Garrison:
Thanks for participating in the Tuesday Takeover, Tory! For those that are unfamiliar with you and your work, tell us a bit about yourself and how you found your way into the creative space.
Tory Van Wey:
Thank you! I'm Tory, and I'm a designer and illustrator based out of the San Francisco Bay Area. I have been drawing pictures professionally for 10 years, both freelance and in-house and I am currently a Senior Brand Designer/Illustrator at Deel - a global hiring and HR platform.
Mack Garrison:
Your work is very illustrative but also has a very graphic design feel to it. How did you develop this style over the years?
Tory Van Wey:
This was a natural consequence of being both an illustrator and trained as a traditional graphic designer as well as the influence of my history as a letterpress printer. Over the years I have pivoted my career to focus almost exclusively on illustration and illustration systems, but my history as a graphic designer and printer always informs the way that I approach a project. Most of my work is built using simple geometric shapes stacked on top of one another to create more complex objects. This lends a graphic quality that is hard to achieve with hand drawing. Combine that with my everlasting respect for designers like Marian Bantjes and Saul Bass and love of graphic structure, and I'll likely always be straddling the line between designer/illustrator.
Some of the work Tory has illustrated for deel.
Mack Garrison:
One of the harder aspects of being a designer in a corporate space is pushing creative boundaries. How have you navigated that? Avoided burnout?
Tory Van Wey:
This is a hard balancing act as the diversity of companies hiring creatives means that there are endless philosophies and attitudes about how design fits within the corporate ecosystem, so the creative experience can vary wildly. I am personally selective about who I work for because my skillset is not a perfect fit for every "Brand Designer" role and over the years I have learned to be honest about what I am looking for in a role, and to not hesitate to say if I don't think it's a good fit. This has certainly cost me jobs, but saved my sanity. I also try to bring creativity into corporate creative in unexpected ways. Perhaps there is a vibrant color pairing that feels a bit more contemporary, or I can learn a new technique that I can apply to a project that would otherwise be on the dull side. If I am pushing my own creative boundaries, or learning a new tool, then I am generally happy.
Mack Garrison:
Who are some of the creatives you've looked up to over the years for inspiration?
Tory Van Wey:
I often look to music and children's books for inspiring design. Carson Ellis and Edward Gorey were very inspiring to me in my early career when I focused on work that had more of a hand made quality to it. I also love poster artist Dan McCarthy and have a healthy collection of his prints. Lately I have really been appreciating the work of MUTI, a design studio out of Cape Town.
Some editorial and marketing illustrations from Tory.
Mack Garrison:
It's hard to choose a favorite project, but do you have one that particularly sticks out to you?
Tory Van Wey:
I had a great time designing this Trippy Tropical shirt for a local SF company called Betabrand. It was a really fun synthesis of my interest in botany, and psychedelic creative freedom!
Mack Garrison:
Looking back at your career, what advice would you give to the next generation of illustrators making their way into the space? Anything you would do differently or think is really important to know?
Tory Van Wey:
My biggest piece of advice would be to produce the kind of work that you want to create commercially, even if you need to do it on your own time. People hire you based off of what they have already seen from you, not what they think you might be able to create. That means you need to push yourself creatively on your own time (or perhaps pro bono for friends) to explore the kinds of styles you want to get paid for later on. I would also tell a new designer to not sweat it if they haven't found their voice yet. There's a lot of pressure to find your voice as an illustrator, and I think it's valid, but there's also a lot of room and opportunity for illustrators that are more flexible and can produce work in a range of styles. I might even suggest it's more enjoyable.
Trippy Tropical shirt for a local SF company called Betabrand.
Mack Garrison:
What do you think the future holds for designers and illustrators? Should we (creatives) be nervous or excited about these new A.I. tools?
Tory Van Wey:
I'm as curious as you are about this! I think the industry might become more specialized as illustrators niche down into areas like product/iconography or editorial or motion. We also might see a more global talent pool as remote and contract work become standard and there are fewer limitations in hiring designers abroad. As far as AI, I think it will likely be a new tool that designers will have at their disposal but I'm not personally too worried about it taking over a creatives' role quite yet. After playing around with most of the AI generators, it's apparent to me that a lot of work goes into creating the right prompt to generate an accurate image and often I could have simply drawn it out faster. I'm curious to see where it goes and how AI is incorporated into our daily lives in an ethical way that compensates creatives, and minimizes bias.
Mack Garrison:
Outside of being an illustrator and designer, what are some of your hobbies?
Tory Van Wey:
When I'm not drawing for money you can find me putzing around the garden like an old lady, attempting to learn a new skill (currently taking a School of Motion course!) or herding my two kids up a hiking trail.
Mack Garrison:
Last but not least, anything you'd like to leave our audience with?
Tory Van Wey:
It's a unique privilege to make a living as a creative. Let's appreciate the folks that came before us that paved the way for our skills to be valued, and the folks that continue to advocate for creatives today. And let's not take ourselves too seriously. I think us creatives can get wrapped up in the idea of our own legacy. Do good work, live a thoughtful life, and don't be a jerk.