Illustration: Editorial illustrator Sam Kalda has a whole bunch of strings to his bow

Date
2 October 2013

Illustrator Sam Kalda has made work for clients including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post, but we were delighted to find while scrolling through his website that it’s not only his editorial work that he has published online. You can also see early ideas from his sketchbooks, including patterns, typography, portraits and illustrated maps and buildings in with the more polished pieces, and there’s a certain fearlessness to posting publishing preliminary sketches online for the world to see which appeals to the nosy neighbours in us.

As with many editorial illustrators though, the real skill in Sam’s work is his ability to explore a narrative through his images; adding depth and new dynamics to characters through nothing but the quirk of an eyebrow or the way objects are positioned on their bookshelf. How exactly he’s going to find room for more in what it already a very complete collection remains to be seen, but we sure intend to keep an eye on this one.

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Sam Kalda: The Bone Man, Globe and Mail Book Review, March 2013

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Sam Kalda: Portrait of Ralph Brinster

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Sam Kalda: The Globe and Mail, Book Review 2013

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Sam Kalda: Sketchbook

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Sam Kalda: The Work of a Generation, The Pennsylvania Gazette September 2013

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Sam Kalda: Portrait of Paul Fussell

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Sam Kalda: Sketchbook

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Sam Kalda: The Great Gatsby, Real Reads UK

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About the Author

Maisie Skidmore

Maisie joined It’s Nice That fresh out of university in the summer of 2013 as an intern before joining full time as an Assistant Editor. Maisie left It’s Nice That in July 2015.

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