The Illustration Years

After John graduated in 1925, he moved to Vancouver, British Columbia to study art. John’s days were spent working for mail order catalogs painting advertisements of stockings or buttons on suits. His nights were spent attending class with Frederick H. Valley at the Vancouver School of Art. While attending school John had been working on large oil paintings and asked the head of the art studio to critique his work. The studio director didn't feel that he was qualified to assess John's work and suggested that he visit a local artist for his feedback.

John when to the studio of John Innes. When he entered the studio he was greeted by three gentlemen, John Innes, George Southwell, and Jack Radford. Southwell looked at John's (Clymer) artwork and asked if he would be interested in taking lessons. John (Clymer) quickly said that he would love the opportunity to take lessons, however, the cost was $10 for ten lessons and at that time John was only making $10 a week. For the next few years John worked with Southwell who helped him develop his own artistic style.

Free time was very limited in John's schedule and by his third year in Canada he became quite sick. When he went to the doctor he was asked what a young man was doing to look so terrible. John replied that he would wake each morning and go to work at eight o'clock. By five he would go home have dinner and go to class until eleven. After class he would then go to Southwell's studio where he would paint until two or three in the morning. The doctor prescribed John to "Quit Painting!" He told John that he needed to do more manual labor and get more sleep. So the next summer John worked as a deck hand on a paddlewheel boat called the Thistle.

The boat was owned by a Mr. Hutchinson, who would travel up the Canadian and Alaskan coastline. It was here that John was exposed to a new atmosphere.

"I remember that night hearing the constant baying of the dogs tied to trees around the village. It sounded like music to me, and I have never forgotten the atmosphere of that place. I had a camera along but shot only one roll all summer! ...But I did take away many memories of that whole experience, and I have drawn upon them for lots of pictures of the Northwest over the years. I never planned it that way, but that chance summer's trip guided and shaped my life ever since."

For the next eight years, John worked as an illustrator for numerous successful Canadian magazines while pursuing his education in art. In 1932 John and Doris, his childhood sweetheart, decided to marry.

It was during this time, New York had become a mecca for illustrators, and was booming with opportunities. In the fall of 1937, John and Doris moved to Westport Connecticut, a suburb of New York. John was well established and had a remarkable reputation as an illustrator and was always fortunate to get illustration work. John painted many original illustrations for numerous magazines and companies including Field and Stream, White Horse Scotch Whiskey, Pennsylvania Railroad, The Saturday Evening Post (80 covers total), Chrysler Corporation and while enlisted in the Marine Corps illustrated for the Leatherneck Magazine and the Marine Corps Gazette.