Megan Hess- World Renowned Fashion Illustrator, Author, Entrepreneur

Cultured Life: How did you start your career as an illustrator? test

Megan: I studied Graphic Design because it felt like a ‘real’ job in the art world, but really always wanted to be an illustrator – I just never knew back then that it was a possible career choice!

After working as an Art Director in Ad agencies for several years I packed everything up and moved to London. It was in London that I worked in a million different creative jobs and in my final job there I realised that I had a burning desire to be an artist.

At this time I became the Art Director for Liberty Department Store. Whilst I loved art-directing fashion I loved illustrating it more. I started to do very small illustrations for Liberty and from this art directors saw my work and little commissions began to follow.

After about a year I found myself with non-stop work. I wasn’t earning a fortune but I’d never been happier and I knew I was going to do this forever.

Cultured Life: What would you say has been the highlight of your career?

Megan: One of my favourite collaborations has been with Tiffany & Co in New York: I was asked to illustrate their iconic 5th Avenue building filled with chic Tiffany & Co people in the foreground! It was a dream project. Another collaboration that was wonderful to work on was with Cartier in Paris. It all centred around Paris Fashion Week and I created 10 bespoke illustrations for their Paris Nouvelle Vague Collection. 

Cultured Life: What were some of the challenges you had to overcome building a global brand? 

Megan: Today, working globally is probably one of the things that I love most about what I do because it’s incredibly exciting to work with different brands and projects all over the world. The problem initially was that all my work was coming from New York and Europe and communicating and travelling with a new born baby was very hard! 

Even if I wasn’t travelling I was always skyping late at night and early in the morning and then illustrating all day long – it was very hard to have any time to switch off. Now I really have my communicating with overseas down to a fine art. 

For all my US clients I wake at 6am – I do my makeup and hair in 6 minutes – I keep my PJ’s on the bottom half and I wear something chic on the top half (because that’s all they can see on Skype) then I do the Skype before my kids are even awake.

Then I’m off to my day. I’ll then do a late night Skype the next night to Europe – but never the two on the same day. I also condense my travelling to what’s really necessary. Everything is planning – If I can really hone the schedule of any work trip it becomes both productive and enjoyable. 

“One of my favourite collaborations has been with Tiffany & Co in New York: I was asked to illustrate their iconic 5th Avenue building filled with chic Tiffany & Co people in the foreground!” – Megan Hess

Cultured Life: What would you say has been the key to your success in the fashion and creative world?

Megan: I’ve always believed that ability will only get you so far and attitude is everything. I think that in the very beginning (before Sex and the City) I gave 100% to every single illustration job that came my way. Most of the projects that came to me in the very beginning were NOT inspiring – 

For example, I was asked to illustrate a 300-page Horse Manual that on completion was cancelled!

After 6 months of work, I received a tiny ‘Kill fee’ and really felt like giving up on my dream of becoming a Fashion Illustrator. Another soul-destroying job that almost made me give up was a Pizza Toppings illustration for a Pizza Company.

I remember very clearly the day I finished drawing that – I turned off the light in my studio at the end of the day and thought to myself….I think it’s time to give up.

That very night at 3 am in the morning is when I received a call from Candace Bushnell’s publisher and my life would be changed forever.

In short, I think never giving up is the biggest lesson I’ve learned.

Cultured Life: What advice would you give to other women who have creative talents and passion yet are afraid to step out and build a career around it? 

Megan: I really encourage anyone to make their passion their day job. If it seems impossible, I suggest you start working on your dream job whilst you’re still in your day job. Get up early, stay up late and work in it while you have another income.

Some people have the financial freedom to switch careers but most people don’t (I certainly didn’t) But you have nothing to lose if you put the effort in.

Better to have tried than to always wonder what could have been. My favourite quote is: Those who failed never realised how close to success they were, before they gave up.