Carlton Hibbert is a designer, illustrator and art editor for WPT Poker: Official World Poker Tour magazine. His clients include EMI Parlophone, Dorling Kindersley and Future Publishing. He also was (briefly) the drummer for Mansun.
Squidge Magazine: How did you get into illustration and design?
Carlton Hibbert: I was always a bit of a doodler as a child and spent many a rainy day creating a mess (whenever I wasn’t kicking a ball). Like so many other kids, Tony Hart was a great inspiration to me. However at school I never really got into art, it seemed too stuffy. It wasn’t until my O Levels (that ages me a bit!) that I rediscovered my love of putting pen to paper. I did a short course in graphics and suddenly all my other subjects paled in comparison. When I got to A level stage I realised that becoming an engineer wasn’t really what I wanted to do. I dropped out of Physics, messed about in Maths and concentrated on my design. I hadn’t really planned what I was going to do but found myself suddenly doing a degree at the London College of Printing (as it was known then).
SM: You’re responsible for the Patterns for Colouring blog, how did that come around?
CH: This is a project that harks back to when I first messed about with pencils, pens and paints. As a little lad I used to beg my mum to buy me colouring books. The ones that fascinated me most were the pattern books by Altair – I think you can find some of the original seventies versions on Amazon. These books where full of geometric shapes. The blog is basically a huge nostalgia trip for myself, as well as hopefully being something that will inspire other youngsters to become more creative.
I’ve not made the site too complicated – just download, print out and start colouring. I’m not sure you’d get the same experience if the patterns were in a Flash interface and you coloured them online. I’ve got a couple of young sons that need entertaining on rainy days, and they usually end up grabbing the Wii, arguing over what game to play. The patterns are an attempt to get them away from computers and TV and give them an alternative way to spend their free time.
SM: You’re in the enviable position of being able to commission yourself; does that make you a harder taskmaster? One of my friends called you a lucky bastard for being able to do it.
CH: Heh, it tends to be a case of “needs must” when I do an illustration for myself! I never take on a brief in my own mags if I have a budget that allows me to commission others. It’s always much easier to critique someone else’s work and this is the way I prefer to work. However, once in a while, you find yourself as a designer looking at an article that is screaming for a decent image but you’ve got no money left in the coffers. It’s then that I get the digital crayons out. I much prefer doing images for other clients, I like to get paid!
SM: A lot of your illustration is quite distinct in that it’s quite bold and functional, is this because of your background as an art editor? How does it affect your approach when working on a picture?
CH: You’re probably right. I tend to think as a designer first. I try to think of the image in the context of the mag and what other furniture might be on the page. When I commission other illustrators I’ll supply them with a PDF of the layout and show them where their image will go, try to give them some idea of where the gutter might be, whether its a right hand page or not, will there be a headline overlapping etc.
The style of my work is probably down to time constraints more than anything. If illustration was my main role I would definitely work on creating a more robust style. My main concern is in getting the subject matter across to the reader without distracting them.
Design by Carlton Hibbert, illustration by Sean Rodwell
Design by Carlton Hibbert, illustration by Paul Insect
SM: Did you start out as a designer and then move into being an art editor or was it part of a do all job?
CH: I started out in non-fiction books as a designer. I worked for Dorling Kindersley on the Eyewitness titles for children. Art editor is just a fancy name for a designer that’s been promoted. It means different things in different companies. Some companies say art editor others use art director – I just find saying you’re a designer is easier to explain. I moved from books to multimedia and then back into print on magazines. I think these days you’re expected to be capable of moving seamlessly from print to web to legal to marketing, the list rolls on!
SM: Have you ever got in contact with anyone from Mansun? [Carlton drummed on Egg Shaped Fred and Take It Easy Chicken until being turfed out in 96 for throwing a pineapple at guitarist Dominic Chad.]
CH: Paul Draper and myself are still in touch, we’re old school friends. I’m not sure if the others still talk. Mansun was a great experience, but luckily I had design to fall back on!
You can see Carlton Hibberts portfolios here and here.
