Obviously, your hands don’t follow instructions very well. Doodling is the only art you can manage, and that is why you have that job in an office, doing office things for office kicks. If you could draw well then you’d have been, among other things, a magazine illustrator. This is a great excuse to make amazing drawings, if Mikke Gallardo and Sonny Ramirez—two of the best illustrators at Summitmedia, publishers of FHM, Cosmo and a pile of other magazines, are taken as examples. Not only does it pay well for them, they’re regularly on demand (good for the artist’s ego) and it’s a job that takes you as far away from the office as you can get without leaving one.

Mikke Gallardo is on his seventh year working for Summit. He is currently holding two positions in the publishing joint, as art director for Seventeen magazine and team art director for teen titles. By any standards, that would mean the man is good. The man is quite good, in fact, so in demand and prolific within Summit’s entire editorial pit that somewhere in the crevices of the office, an upstart artist waiting for his break is setting up a mousetrap for his hands.

Mikke mouths off the list of the magazines he does illustration work for and he comes off like a bookstore merchandiser. "I do drawings for Candy, Cosmopolitan, Entrepreneur, Games Master, Good Housekeeping, FHM, K Zone, Real Living, Smart Parenting, Total Girl, and K Zone’s Australian Edition."

Take note that this bit of work is on top of being an art director for Seventeen, which generally entails putting together the magazine itself. Which means, of course, that he gets paid separately for it. Which means that he gets more money than he can handle. Which means that his share of talent is grossly unfair. Which means that there is more reason for a magazine illustrator not getting his breaks to cut his hands off.

It’s been a steady stint for this UST Fine Arts graduate (degree in advertising) at Summit. Starting out in the bottom wrung, slowly establishing a reputation for putting out interesting illustrations within his own magazine until the word spilled out in the other publications.

"My illustrations vary in style—depending on the kind of magazine and the theme of the article. Same goes for using color preferences. Adapting to clients’ various preferences eventually honed my versatility. I can do illustrations that range from cutesy-girly fashion types to dark and serious ones," says Mikke

If it were anything like whoring, he was doing it perfect.

By virtue of his interesting name, Sonny Ramirez is called "Father" in the Summit office, after the celebrity priest. But that is where his holiness ends. Sonny is largely responsible for the raunchy illustrations on FHM magazine. The positions? He draws them every freakin’ month. Apart from that, he does work for K Zone, Entrepreneur, and Start Teacher—these absolve him from his sins.

Not bad for a guy who’s only been on the job two years. Early in the game, he has learned how to adapt to the needs of the magazine he draws for. "It depends on the requirements of the article. Most of the time, I do the "comic book" style because I think it works well in various platforms.

And just like prolific Mikke, from Father Sonny’s hands appear wads of cash. "Doing illustration work comprises a third of my total income," says Sonny.

Amen. Truly inspirational. It’s a testimonial!

And for those of us who can’t draw, time to bring out the mousetraps.