Jonathon Donahue
Radio City Music Hall, public relations
Doyle Dane Bernbach, commercial artist
Concept Advertising, creative director
Self-employed, ads, brochures, PR
Phase Metrics, technical publications mgr
KLA-Tencor, marketing communications mgr
Qualcomm, multimedia designer
Author
Q. Why are you an author?
A. Well, I grew up in San Francisco,
and my Mom had a small bookstore.
I have a deep interest in the history
and development of illustrated
books. I see the new digital
technology as a way for authors to
break free of design limitations
imposed by mechanical press
restrictions. Which means a modern
return to the conceptual elegance of
old Irish manuscripts, where words
and images were once seamlessly
intertwined, and shall be again in our
near future.
A career spent creating words and images. High points:
Great freelance retirement job!
But the employer had a few little problems.
Very lucky to have been born into a time of great technical
change -- coming into the workforce just as offset printing
replaced letterpress. Later, in mid-life, able to be part of
the personal computer revolution. Change is chaotic, but
chaos is opportunity. The old rules, requirements, and
conventions are swept away, and you are left with a wide-
open field that only respects ability, rather than race, sex,
or class background.
Now retired, my goal is to get Drawing for Money and
Self-Publishing Secrets into the hands of every person who
wants to really leverage their artistic talent into a great
21st-Century career -- or start their own publishing
company, with near-zero startup costs. The internet gives
us an amazingly new ballgame to play in -- a game where
you, and I, get to shape the field and help make the new
rules. It’s a whole new game! Like when Lefty O’Doul
brought baseball to Japan in the 1930’s --
sairen no
naru toki akihi
kumo wo yaburu
the siren starts the game
autumn sunlight breaks
through the clouds
– Shuoshi Mizuhara (1892-1981)
More about that in Triple Play... three baseball stories.
Anyway, I hope you’ll find my books timely and useful!
Likes -- baseball (San Diego Padres, New
York Mets). The California coast, where the little
rivers wind to the sea, the sage, the chaparral,
the scrub oaks on the golden hills. Automobile
design -- was able to work on the Fitch Phoenix
as a young man, and I just love cars.
I like to draw. These days, computer art, using a
great program, Xara Designer Pro. Check out
the Xara-User group -- wonderful! I really enjoy
small programs that do great things -- like Jutoh,
the editor-compiler I use to write with, and to
produce Kindle e-books. Superb.
