Q: So what got you interested in Graphic Design?
A: Originally it was in GCSE Product Design, where I ended up liking presenting the project more than the final project itself. I decided not to go down the A level route, and was lucky enough to get a great Graphic Design tutor at BTEC, and it went on from there.
Q: You are part of the DepthCORE collective. How has that influenced your work?
A: Well that was one of the stepping stones, going back to college when I was part of a small art group that wasn’t very well known. From there I got picked up by DepthCORE’s Justin Maller. I emailed him and he invited me into the group, and from there the contacts I gained were amazing. I owe a lot of my progression to the artists there.
Q: It’s inspiring to see the amount of original work on one website. DepthCORE clearly stands out from other graphic arts collectives, with hundreds of new pieces uploaded every month.
A: There’s an interesting history behind that as well. DepthCORE only ever started out as a fun project by a few 16 year old kids, just doing art work, creating websites. And from that it’s turned into this vast collective of artists from all over the world. As I said... great contacts!
Q: How would you characterise your style?
A: It’s very hard to describe your own work, I guess when it comes to illustration my work is very minimal and textural. I like to think that my work is tangible. By using household objects like tin foil, and incorporating hand-drawn elements, it’s very mixed-media focused.
When you strip them down, a lot of my pieces are very simple compositions, with very basic elements arranged nicely. Even though some may appear “scrappy”, each element is intentionally placed that way.
A core part of my work is that there is a definite separation between the Graphic Design side and the illustration side - which is the experimental stuff I’m better known for.
Q: When you were starting up, who did you look up to for creative inspiration?
A: It was actually the guys at DepthCORE who inspired me to do this kind of work. When I joined the group I had all the time in the world to experiment and do what I wanted with no financial pressure. So those guys inspired me, especially people like Justin Maller and Ravi Vasavan. (Artists work and profiles available at www.depthcore.com)
Q: Being such a young designer, do you find that working for professional clients is hindered by your age?
A: It’s hard for people to take you seriously at a young age, but the lucky thing is so much of it is done over the internet now that you can get away with it. It gets to the point where people look past that and focus on just your work.
Q: Who would you love to collaborate with?
A: There is a woman called Sarah Blake, an illustrator from New York who I’m going to be collaborating with at the end of the year on a series of textile prints. Apart from that I can’t say, there are so many amazing artists out there.
Q: When working for big international brands such as your work for Sprite and Nike, were you able to keep your own artistic angle or did you have to bend it to the brief?
A: The Nike project was actually collaboration between Nike and Red, who do the aids relief campaigns. That project was a 24 hour relay set in 5 different cities. There were 24 teams per city so everyone did an hour of the relay. My brief was to design the T-shirt for one of the teams. The brief was very open for that. The good thing about illustration is that people come to you knowing your style but there is always a lot of flexibility.
Q: Would you say that your style is constantly developing?
A: I’d say so yeah. I’ve just started a blog full of purely experimental work. At the moment it’s all coming off the screen, I’m doing stuff with clay, wire, anything I can find really. That’s why I haven’t done many pieces for a little while; I’m still experimenting. I’m building up a body of work that really represents what I do, rather than having a mish-mash of old stuff and new.
Q: Has studying at University College Falmouth helped or inspired you artistically?
A: In regards to the uni, you don’t need a degree to do what I do, but the degree has helped me develop my look on design; my outlook on what design really is. And you also have that safety net as well, both creatively and financially. It has allowed me to experiment and develop a lot more than if I went straight into freelance. I do sometimes play it down, but university has taught me a shit load.
Q: Are you more encouraged to think about the concept or the visual at uni?
A: In the first year it’s all about the concept, it’s all about developing ideas. Second year is a bit of both. They are always encouraging it; a piece is useless if there is no concept behind it, especially in graphic design. You can look at a piece of work and know straight away if they have done any background work before producing it.
In the second year you start to get into how it looks, getting into the technicalities of printing and typography, which is a huge part of graphic design. Then you look into other areas, like interactive design, which is an area I want to get into as well.
Q: Have you experimented with 3D?
A: I’ve played around with it, but it kind of goes over my head. As I said I like to use materials like clay and foil and paper. It sounds kind of hippyish but getting off the computer and making stuff with your hands, that whole process gets you more connected with the piece.
Q: Can you run through you creative process from start to finish?
A: With commercial work, once I receive a brief, I begin by sketching out various ideas, and then send these to the client who will then ask for changes or, if not, give the go ahead to carry on with that idea. It’s a back and forth process between me and the client until the final idea is established. Then I’d go and produce the final image which may take a day or two.
Good work that you see people produce is usually due to a good relationship and clear communication between client and designer.
The personal illustrative side of my work is very much experimental. I start everything by establishing the concept, and developing the idea. I don’t give myself a brief, I just experiment with various media, arranging them until I find what works.
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