What was it that originally inspired the ‘a love letter for you’ project?

Being on the train as a youth and seeing girls look at the graffiti on the rooftops facing the elevated. Even though they always looked at the graffiti, they weren’t all that interested in talking to me about it, so I thought about creating graffiti that girls would want to talk about, for the lovers who’d want to talk to them.

The murals are both romantic and inspirational, did you want the pieces to have a deeper message to society or were they more designed just to make people smile?

Yes to both

The pieces are more like the painted advertisements of the 50′s than conventional graffiti do you think that you would have had the same kind of acceptance for the project if you had gone down the route of conventional graffiti?

Graffiti is only graffiti if it’s non-conventional. Once graffiti coalesces into convention its just decoration. My graffiti defies convention, pretension and prevention. The guiding influence in Love Letter are two distinct schools of painted American letterforms, Sign Painting and Graffiti. I’ve painted graffiti that looks like signage and vice-versa. In Love Letter, we followed the basic rules of sign painting, but we used spraypaint and graffiti’s palette and speed in order to maximize the impact and fun.

Other graffiti artists such as Banksy have taken their artwork out of it’s original location and taken it to other cities around the world, would you ever try and recreate the love letter project somewhere else?

I started Love Letter in Dublin and Belfast. Letters like these overcome all distance. It might be the distance that gives them power

You have had some interesting comments about the murals one women commented ‘If someone did that for me I’d like it better than being taken to Red Lobster’ what is the most interesting comment you have heard about the project so far?

I don’t know, is busting out in tears a more interesting comment?

You can find out more about the ‘a love letter for you’ project on their website, I have picked a few of my favourites but essentially they are all awesome.

Squidge Magazine: Can you tell us a little about how you started in Illustration?
Simon Wild: I completed an MA in Children’s Book Illustration in 2007 from Cambridge School of Art, and since then I have been propelled forward and been busy ever since.

SM: Your work is very psychedelic and bold. What are your major inspirations?
SW: Travel, film soundtracks, Space, science, The Yellow Submarine, colour and the desire to make a better more colourful world. I like contrast, shape and form. I am inspired by nature’s ability to adapt. I love to tell little stories in my work even if they do not make sense. I love the novels of Douglas Coupland, they are so visual and emotive. Maurice Sendak once said ‘Most illustrators are frustrated writers’ I am also both frustrated and influenced by the fact that I fall into this category.

SM: Which artists are you watching at the moment? Who’s work do you admire?
SW: I am a big fan of Swedish illustrator Linn Olofsdotter. Her use of colour and the real world to tell imaginative stories is wonderful. I also love the colourful compositions of Maya Hayuk, the iconic work of Margaret Kilgallen, and the beautiful universe that belongs to Wilson Hsu.

SM: Can you run through a typical work day for us?
SW: Starts with a cup of tea, quick whizz round the social networks, emailing invoices, replies, etc. If I am working on a commission I need to go into town where there is lots of visual and audio stimulation. Then I come back and begin work. If it’s personal work then I pick from around 5 or so different projects I have running at the same time and continue work on it. Somewhere in the day I always create a piece of work inspired by an album I listen to, and I work on it for no longer than the album’s length.

When the music is finished, so is the work. Most of my time is spent in my studio either making a complete mess or moving the mess from one side of the room to another. And then the cat jumps on the keyboard and I email complete nonsense to people I don’t know very well. In the summer I rescue flies from the studio, and pull faces at the neighbours. When work is quiet in the studio I arrange my memory sticks in the order of purchase, and re-arrange my collection of vintage transformer toys. I have an original Bumblebee I am very proud of. I love my work so my typical work day has been going on for about 3 years now.

SM: And what are your essential ‘tools of the trade’?
SW: Good old paper and pens to start, with some inks thrown in. I jump around a lot in my practice, from drawing, to collage, to digital and screenprint when I can get studio time. My biggest tool is colour, I always seem to be drawn to duck egg blue, orange and hot pink a lot of the time. And of course my Mac, gawd bless Apple!!

SM: So what are you working on at the moment? Any projects we should be
watching out for?
SW: I am just putting together some location work for a trip to NY which will involve visible tweets on giant post it notes. I am currently developing new ideas for children’s books. My first book ‘Fantastical Flying Machines’ is published later this year by Macmillan. I am also working on the Nike 78 project, where 78 creatives have been invited to challenge the function of a pair of Nike’s, for a book and show at the London Design fair in September. I have also been commissioned to create an audio visual piece for this years Big Chill festival, which will include a full 360 degree projection. I am also preparing for some joint and group showswhich will be happening at various points of this year.

SM: You’ve worked for a fair few clients and publications. Which ones stand out the most for you/were most enjoyable?
SW: I would have to say working with Macmillan was a rich and rewarding experience. I was lucky enough to work with a brilliant team, and I think we have created a book which I hope children will really like! I have also enjoyed the projects I created for YCN. I was asked to write a travel blog to document a working trip to Iceland, where I created work for a show called ‘Quiet Voices’ for Tate Britain earlier this year.

You can see more of Simons work at his website, and catch up with him on Twitter.

Squidge Magazine: Can you tell us a bit about how HEL LOOKS got started?

Liisa Jokinen: We started in July 2005. We were on a summer holiday in Stockholm, Sweden, when we realized how colourful and diverse the streets of Helsinki are. As soon as we came home, we started taking pics. What especially inspired us were young glam rockers who were hanging outside Kiasma art museum in the centre of Helsinki. We thought they were worth documenting. And because we wanted to show the looks of Helsinki to the whole world, we published them online. We have continued doing HEL LOOKS because of the great feedback and simply because it’s a lot of fun! Meeting new people, taking pics, running the website.

SM: You mention that the site is a tribute to ‘the pioneers of street fashion photography’. Anyone in particular?

LJ: Shoichi Aoki in particular!

SM: The images have a real feel of documenting Helsinki sub-cultures. was this the plan from the outset of has it evolved over time?

LJ: Yes, the plan was and is to document the Helsinki street scene. We know there’s something worth documenting and showing to the rest of the world.

SM: So how do you go about getting the images? How do people react to being asked?

LJ: I usually always carry the camera with me. It’s nice to be surprised – to see something “hel lookable” when you really don’t expect it. Helsinki is a small city with only 500 000 inhabitants in it.

SM: So what about you two? Tell us about yourselves?

LJ: I’m freelancing, writing and photographing for lifestyle and fashion magazines. Sampo is working as a creative director at Sulake, the founder of teenager online game Habbo Hotel.

SM: Any other projects going on?

LJ: I’m planning an “non-profit social travel agency” with my friend Ulla-Maaria Engeström. A travel agency promoting local, high-quality, low-carbon services and travel destinations. Our aim is to re-define the meaning of luxury! Then I’m also planning to take the HEL LOOKS exhibition to Brussels next year (it has been on show in Copenhagen, Berlin, St Petersburg, Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius). Oh and one more thing: I’m one of the curators of Art Diamond art exhibition taking place next summer in Pori, Finland.

So I just had to ask her if she would do a picture for us around the theme of ‘Squidge’ and find out a bit more about her work. This is what she came up with.

Squidge Mag: How would you describe our work to anyone who has never seen it before?

Lily Mae Martin: I would describe my drawn work as often grotesque and unsettling in the depiction of it’s subjects, but not without a little humour. They are sort of an overt representation of the inner psyche. Conversely my painted works are generally softer and not as immediately confronting. The subjects seem to hold their emotions further within. In each image I am striving to improve myself technically and conceptually, which I think is really starting to shape my work now.

SM: What artists and illustrators have been the biggest influence on your work so far?

LM: When I was younger, comic books were my biggest inspiration… Such as FooTrot Flats and Archie. Then I was really inspired by The Simpsons when it came out and Disney and Looney Toons. (Especially the earlier ones.) Osamu Tezuka and Peter Chung’s “Aeon Flux”. Then when I was older, I really got inspired by Masamune Shirow’s Ghost in the Shell, I really loved Alan Moore’s “V for Vendetta”, I enjoyed Neil Gaiman, and was very inspired by Garth Ennis’ “Preacher”, and David Mac. Other than comics and cartoons, I am very inspired by Caravaggio, Goya, William Hogarth, Munch, Lucien Freud, John Currin, etc.

SM: What’s your working space or studio like?

LM: My space is rather new so I am still waiting on some furniture. It’s decorated with old photographs I have been collecting and images I like from magazines, postcards etc. It’s pretty incomplete. But, it’ll get there. I have double doors that open up to the back garden so I can get some ventilation while looking at the pretty garden. Very nice light.

SM: How did you get on with the theme of Squidge?

LM: The image I chose is about how we all live off our screens. We work with them, we study with them, we socialize with them, we entertain ourselves with them, we lust with them, we are glued to them and I think it is affecting our social behavior. I think how we run our work spaces and conduct our social lives are heavily influenced by these machines and are squidging our brains and ourselves!

You can find more of Lily’s work on her website

Squidge Magazine: What have you been up to recently?

Emmanuelle Walker: I moved to Paris 2 years ago especially for the third year of specialisation in Animation Direction at Gobelins School.  Before that I was living in Montreal Quebec where I studied traditional animation in a three years programme at The Cegep du Vieux Montreal, and worked three years in the animation industry. Since a year now I have been working on a few commercials, TV idents, clips, in different commercial/post-production companies here in Paris.

SM: Après La Pluie was your graduation film from Gobelins, what sort of reception has it been getting from the festivals it’s been shown at?

EW: People seem to appreciate it.  We often receive kind emails and comment concerning ‘Après La Pluie’. It has been in a dozen of festival around the world, so we are pretty happy with that, even if we can’t afford to follow it everywhere! The film gets to travel alone now.

SM: What was the process behind the character designs?

EW: I made a first series of characters, with all its psychological attributes in mind, and showed it to the team. Then everyone told me what they thought about it, and I made a few more series of drawing with their comments in mind, until everyone was pleased by the final design.

SM: Your illustration style has a very relaxed, cheery feel to it.  Do you find it’s quite an easy thing to do or is it harder than it looks?

EW: Well it depends. Sometimes it’s easier, because I am more motivated. Also, the more the brief is precise, the easier it is.  But it also depends of the mood I am in at the time. But like anything, if you sit down and draw for a while, something nice will come out in the end.  Oh and finally backgrounds are hard for me to do, that’s why mine are always so simple… or missing.

SM: You’ve also done a lot of visual development and direction work for people like Virgin, Orange, Lacoste, Cartoon+ and Midas. Do they give you free rein with what you can do or are they quite specific about what they want?

EW: A lot of the things I have worked on were pitches, so they weren’t all developed in the end, but it depends of the client. When I work as a designer/director, they usually like what I propose at first, but in the advertising industry, there are so many stages of approval that it is rare to be free from A to Z. There will often be someone telling you that this is too green or not big enough or that the character on the bike has to wear a helmet. However, clients that trust you, and let you try things out exists… but it’s rare. I have worked on some projects that could have been clearer, and more coherent, but (I find) ended up going in all kinds of directions, because everyone (and often non creative people) needs you to apply their artistic advice. But this is advertising, you have to accept it, defend your ideas, and make the client trust you. That’s why I so passionate about my job!

SM: Having worked in both Paris and Montreal, do you think there’s a different mindset between the two?

EW: Yes. It’s two different cities, with two different mentalities and culture. With as much differences as resemblances. So obviously it’s different at work too. I prefer some of Montreal’s aspects, and others from Paris… It’s really hard to stop comparing… that’s the uprooted’s problem I guess.

SM: Are there any specific differences that come to mind?

EW: I don’t want to make generalities, here, but in France, people tend to be very direct and critical, and on the streets sometimes even aggressive. While Quebecers use a little more diplomacy to say things and are often more laid back and accommodating. With these in mind, I don’t think that working in Paris is a bad thing. On the contrary! Being surrounded by critical and frank people will push me to put more effort into my work and make me evolve faster.

But working in Montreal has its good sides too. I think people trust you more easily, as well as personally than professionally. When I was working at Spectra Animation on Toopy and Binoo series, the boss often asked me if I had personal projects I would like to develop. I nearly didn’t have any previous experience in the animation field at that point so I was surprised by his offer.

Also, I could add that it’s harder to approach new people and to make friends in France, but once you are friends, it’s stronger and true. On the other hand, in Quebec, it’s easy to talk to people in bars and on the streets, but you probably won’t see these people again. Some people I spoke with think of it as hypocrisy, I don’t think it is… you might be friendly with everyone, but you can’t be friend with everyone.

SM: What are you working on at the moment?

EW: I just finished working at Wizz. A communication and post-production company based near Paris, on an ‘Origami Star’ commercial for Orange. At the beginning I was on the development team. Then I worked as a 2D animator and did a little coordination as well. I am developing my own personal project at home, whilst taking new animation/visual development offers in different companies.

Emmanuelle’s portfolio site including acres of great sketchbook stuff is here. Her blog is here.

Emma studied at London College of Fashion before being given a Scholarship from Marchpole to make my graduate collection. Now the designer and textile artist set up the label ä elska from my studio space in the creative hub that is Cockpit Arts in Deptford. We asked her some questions and she said this…

Squidge Mag: Can you talk us through your work process, how do things go from a fuzzy concept to the finished article?

Demiswede: Well for me usually everything starts with a lot of photocopies! I’ll spend a lot of time in libraries and this creates loads of ideas that usually lead to a theme. For my graduate collection I was influenced by a lot of scientific diagrams and symbols that document movements or sounds. I thought about how even though most people can’t read musical notation they can enjoy the sound, so their brain understands the same symbols just in a different way! Its a thought process that feels simple and obvious but points to other ideas about interpretation. This leads to me scribbling a lot and playing with shapes on the mannequin which leads to garment shapes!

SM: What or who do you think has been the biggest influence on your designs to date?

D: I think Swedish culture is my biggest influence, I find the design aesthetic so beautiful, Its so pure and so functional yet has a massive visual impact, It is my aim to design like that.

SM: Which designer would you most like to work with?

D: At the moment my favourite designer is Erdem Moralioglu. It is difficult to combine femininity, modesty and modernity and he does it so so well. I also love Martin Margiela for his design ethos, it’s very admirable for a designer to shy away from the spotlight because a huge team of people will have worked on the designer’s collections. The work is so high end, yet exposes the processes behind making the garments.

SM: The fashion industry has been massively influenced by the recession, what effect do you think this has had on new designers?

D: I think it has hit everyone hard, I’ve definitely lost some opportunities due to the recession but I’ve gained the absolutely amazing one to have a studio space at cockpit arts and support from head for business that I never would have had otherwise! Seeing other businesses fail makes you realise that you can’t spend money you don’t have, and you have to be very clever about what you put on the market, but it pushes you to do well on your own. I don’t think it would be any fun if it was easy ; )

SM: How would someone reading this hope to get hold of one of your designs?

D: The garments you can see are made to order and you can email me at demiswede@googlemail.com. Later this year I will be selling accessories at Greenwich market and slowly but surely building up a bigger product range and stockists! Also look out for my label launching which is going to be called ä elska

SM: Your final collection features items which have incredible intricate patterns cut into the fabric, is the process as painstaking as it looks?

D: I drew the textile design by hand and used a laser cutting machine to cut the design.  So the laser does the really clever bit! Although it does take a long time to digitally match the textile design to the garment shape, not to mention make sure that you don’t set anything on fire!!

SM: I love that there is an origami element to your work, the pieces are incredible architectural, where did this feature in your work emerge from?

D: Architecture feels similar to fashion in a lot of ways, basically in both disciplines you are cutting out flat shapes and putting them together to make one big three dimensional shape. I also think that you inhabit your clothes as much as you do your home. Its funny that you say it looks like origami because at first when i was trying to work out how to fit people into the shapes I made little paper models of them!

SM: Your studios are in Deptford; South East London has often been suggested as a hub of creativity, do you think that the area has had an influence on you?

D: It’s impossible not to be influenced by your surroundings and Deptford is brilliant as the creativity is a really exciting undercurrent that bubbles underneath society and comes out in graffiti and little community projects. I think you will always find emerging artists and designers where the rent is cheap!

SM: What would you say has been the highlight of you career so far?

D: I’m really only just getting started so I feel like all the highlights are yet to come! I think my graduate show was a definite highlight even though I totally almost fainted afterwards! Can highlights exist in the form of people? I’ve been really lucky since graduating to work with some amazingly creative people at places like Amelia’s magazine and Louise Goldin.

SM: Have you got anything interesting in the pipeline for the future?

D: I have so many ideas and so many plans! I’m going to be doing large pieces of textile artwork to place in empty shop windows, converting negative recession-affected spaces into positive ones! I’m going to be setting up my market stall and I also have some really cool interior products in the pipeline!

SM: What other up and coming designers do you think we should watch out for?

D: Definitely look at Louise Goldin, she does absolutely astonishing things with knit and her shapes are so forward thinking. I also think Peter Pilotto is doing some really interesting things with digital print so I’d keep an eye on him!

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.

Squidge Magazine: Can you give us a brief overview of your background?  How did you get started?

Cory Godbey: There’s a story I’ve told a few times is that when I was in kindergarten we had a little project where we had to draw what we wanted to be when we grew up.  I had no idea what I wanted so I just started drawing.  I ended up drawing a policeman with one of those old hats, the ones with the badge on the front.  I distinctly remember setting my pencil down and thinking, “Man, that’s a good looking hat!”

After that my abiding memory of school was doodling in my books, looking up, not knowing what was going on, and then getting back to doodling.  I never played sports much or anything like that, I just liked to draw.  From there I went on like most people interested in drawing, I took art classes in high school and majored in art in college. Drawing/not paying attention during required activities (like most classes) I believe was fundamental in my artistic development.

SM: Your day job is at Portland Studios – can you run us through what a typical workday is like?

CG: It’s pretty low key; we don’t have a chimp in a diaper running around on a scooter or anything like that. Mostly involves all of us keeping our heads down and working.  If Photoshop crashes there’s usually the ringing sounds of fists flying through desks.  But otherwise low-key.

SM: You’ve just finished working on the Maurice Sendak tribute Terrible Yellow Eyes, what was that like putting together?

CG: It really fulfilled this desire I’d had for a long time to do something more than just enjoy “Where the Wild Things Are” — to do what I could to tribute the book.  Maurice Sendak’s stories and picture have done more to influence me than any other artist.  When I (re)discovered his books in college it was a watershed moment; they crystallized for me the stories I want to tell and helped to guide me, artistically.

Ultimately it was more work than I think I was anticipating, keeping up with Terrible Yellow Eyes but it was rewarding to see the project come together every Friday morning. I spent the month of April gathering my contacts, getting artists on board and working on my first few tributes.  From there we hit the ground running on May 1.  The goal all along was two-fold:

1. To tribute the book and express my love for the story and picture and
2. June 10 is Maurice Sendak’s birthday.

This past June was his 81st birthday and I wanted to make, basically, a giant digital birthday card. I was talking with one of my friends, Kazu Kibuishi about the project early on and he told me that his creative director at Scholastic knew Sendak personally and that whenever I felt the project was ready he’d pass it along.  Well! That was pretty exciting, waiting for June 10 felt like waiting for my 6th birthday.  It was a great day for Wild Things.  I could not be more proud of the collection we have put together over on Terrible Yellow Eyes.  The volume of posts per Friday has lightened, but the goal along was Sendak’s birthday so this isn’t really a surprise.  I wanted to create a collection of Wild Things inspired art for us to express our love for the book.  I feel we met that goal and I could not be more pleased with what we all have been able to put together and give back.

SM: Have you had any feedback from Maurice Sendak himself?  Any plans for another similar tribute?

CG: Not exactly, I’ve heard that he’s a pretty reclusive fella, and since he just turned 81 I’m not sure how “online” he might be.  Like I said before, I did have a friend able to get the site to Sendak’s art director and I know he passed it along.  That was back June 10.  Really my goal is fulfilled for the site, to bring together a collection of some of the best work in the world and tribute a book that I love.  It’d be nice to hear something back but at this point my number one goal has been met so I’m pleased.

I’m moving on to other projects now.  For one, this Winter Justin [Gerard, fellow Portland Studio artist] and I are putting together a show based on Greek mythology.

SM: You’re one of a growing number of artists using a blog to show their techniques and process, you seem quite happy with it – what was your thinking behind this?

CG: Ha, well, probably it’s a good way to have more to post about! I don’t think I’ve thought too much about it, actually.  I’ve always admired artists who are open about their work and talk about how they do what they do.

SM: You’re also a very keen writer via your blog, how does help with promoting your work?

CG:  love to write.  I have several books I’m working on and several I’ve finished.  Definitely having a blog is a great way to promote work and helps to give an outlet for doodles and nonsense that might otherwise not see the light of day.  I guess that’s a good thing.

Cory Godbey’s blog is here. Terrible Yellow Eye’s is here and the TYE Exhibition runs at Gallery Nucleus September 19^th until October 6th

David Lyttleton’s angular work is instantly recognisable, with extensive work for most of the UK press including The Guardian, The Times, FT, The Independent, Time Out, NME and the sorely missed Neon.

Squidge Magazine: How did you get yourself started in illustration? Do you still find it difficult to get work or was there a point when it naturally started to come in?

David Lyttleton: I got started in illustration the usual way: made appointments to see magazines in the summer after I finished college, took my folder along, and got work straight away. First commission was for Elle magazine, the first published picture was in the Radio Times.   Moved to London soon after, more folder-showing and commission-getting, and that was that really.

SM: Has the commission/getting work process changed since you started?

DL: The main way commissioning has changed over the years for me is that almost no-one rings anymore. By that, I mean everyone e-mails. Which is fine.  If you want to look for new work, the old ways still apply… go to a massive WH Smith or Tesco and go through all the mags, seeing which has illustration, then write down the names of the art director and send them some stuff in the post. Also, Libraries have a lot of magazines you may not see in shops so that’s a good idea too. Go through illustration annuals and see what the illustrators in there did, and who for… it usually says who the client was. Google them, and send stuff along. Finding out who to approach on newspapers is still as frustratingly difficult as it ever was, as it’s impossible to find names to send to.

SM: What’s your general approach to a brief when you get work in?

DL: I don’t really have ‘an approach’ as such. But I always try to make sure there’s a person in there. I don’t think an illustration looks right if there’re no faces, strangely. And I never crop pictures if I can help it. It just doesn’t feel right! I always do complete bodies on people, no cropping.

And it probably goes without saying, but I’m always trying to get every line right, better than the previous thing I did. That’s always my favourite part, the pencil stage. It’s where there is clear progression, in the lines. That’s where it happens. After that, it’s a bit of painting for some almost-invisible-but-crucial tones then its Photoshop all the way.

SM: Tell us about your Guardian column…

DL: I’ve done a lot for the Guardian over the years, and the other papers. I’ve had regular weekly things on the Sunday Express and the FT too. A weekly spot is a Godsend. Especially in Credit Crunch Britain! I can’t overstate the peace of mind a contract allows. It’s a wonderful job to do, it’s a funny column. It’s quite a fast turnaround, about twenty-four hours (I’m waiting for the copy now as it happens). But when I did a TV review column some years ago, the copy came in the morning, and I had to have it in by the end of the day. That was scary. Never missed a deadline yet though!

So yes, a weekly column is different to the usual irregular ones. I have a few monthly regulars too, which are also most appreciated. But until recently I had several more. But the economy had its dicky-fit, and four, five maybe, all went at once. Not nice. Groan.

SM: You did a lot of work for Select and Neon during their later period in the 90′s, were you given free reign with those?  One that particularly sticks in my mind is one with Schwarzenegger and Stallone having a fight, with a bookie shouting “50 clams on the big kraut”.

DL: I’d forgotten about those magazines, all that stuff seems a lifetime ago.  Neon was quite short-lived, I think, and it wasn’t Select, it was ‘Vox’, a similar magazine that the NME people did. I did a lot for the NME, for years on end.  Until the format and everything changed.  I can’t quite remember what happened, but it sort of fizzled out. I can’t remember that illustration either, although it sounds like (writer) Ian Harrison’s sort of thing. He wrote a strip I did in Neon, he’s a great writer, uniquely funny. He works at Q now, I think.

SM: You worked on Kling Klang Klatch with Ian MacDonald.  What was that like to work on?  It sounds like it was fairly rushed.  Have you fancied working on any other graphic novels?

DL: That graphic novel was right at the start of my career more or less. I didn’t have that much of a fondness for comics really, but it was a great opportunity. But I had to re-invent the way I worked in order to do it, which was fine, but the deadline was horrific. I was doing two pages a day at the end, which seems impossible now. Last week I spent four hours just drawing the thin pencil lines for the Guardian column picture I do every week, trying to get it perfect ( to my eyes ). I think there were some good ideas in KKK, but apart from that, I haven’t got anything good to say about it. I never like looking back at old work if I can help it, and I haven’t looked at that for years. It’d depress me… shoddy, amateur and rushed. In fact, I think I chucked out all the artwork with the recycling some time ago. I did a bit of comics work after, here and there, but didn’t pursue it. Not really me.

SM: How did you find it making the leap from paintings to Photoshop?

DL: The transition from paint to Photoshop was a doddle, it didn’t happen in a contrived way. I got a Mac when I moved out of London for e-mailing stuff in to magazines, just scanning finished paintings in and sending them. Then of course, I started going over all the straight lines to crisp them up, then I started only half-doing paintings and finishing them in Photoshop when I thought of a way to miss out the fiddly airbrush colour stage, then bit by bit they got more and more digital.

But I still draw them out on A2 stretched boards, and do a little bit of sort of black and white tonal painting before I scan them in. I don’t want to ever get rid of that stage, it’s crucial. Especially the pencil drawing part, that’s like a signature I reckon. It’s where the work progresses, in the line, and the immediacy of hand/pencil/paper is crucial to that. I think the way I do the painted tone element too is an indispensable part, although it’s barely visible these days. It’s a funny painting technique that has evolved since college days. I prime the paper with a thin acrylic wash, then paint the whole thing with a mixture of three colours of gouache, and lift the not-waterproof gouache back off the waterproof acrylic with a wet brush to get light tones. Then it’s scanned in. It sounds pedantic too, but I can only use one type of paper, and one type of acrylic base. Others don’t work. Don’t know why I’m telling you all this, you didn’t ask, but I’ve typed it now!

SM: Just to clarify – you’re not the David Lyttleton that up pops in modelling listings for Beatrix Potter figurines are you?

DL: I’m not that David Lyttleton, no, but I know who you mean. Eerily, I’m from, and now live back in North Staffordshire where the Pottery industry is.. er, was.. so it’s a double co-incidence. Curious indeed

Steve Tillotson is the creator of Banal Pig, a series of comics that mixes the banal tedium of every day life with dick jokes and relentless jollity. Our newest contributor, Ed Clews, dropped him a line to talk about his work…

Squidge Magazine: Can you tell us about your background, how did you get started?

Steve Tillotson: I trained as an artist without really thinking about it. I was good at drawing and didn’t have a better idea at the time. I did a BA Hons in Fine Art for Design at Batley School of Art and Design, (that’s near Leeds, southerners) which was a really enjoyable experience, and on the back of that I went straight to the Royal College of Art to do a two year Masters in Printmaking. Again, a great experience, and you get to rub shoulders with all these rich and famous artists, but it kind of convinces you there’s a pot of gold at the end of it, in reality it’s a bit different. There’s so many people trying to be artists in London, it’s difficult to stand out and make a name for yourself.

I tried for a few years, but started to get really jaded and was really poor from paying back student loans, so my partner and I decided to try something else and we moved to Bristol. It was around this time I started making comics, about 2005, but the idea had been kicking around for a while. It’s much easier to do a nice pen on paper page of a comic than a 2 meter squared painting with enamel paint on rusty steel, and I’ve stuck with it really. Four years later, and I’ve churned out about 13 comics, and I find that the medium is the best vehicle for my ideas, and probably will be for a while.

SM: How did you start out trying to be an artist in London?

ST: I got a few offers and contacts from my Masters show at the Royal College of Art, and tried to follow them through as much as I could. I did alright as well, sold a few grand’s worth of paintings that kept me going for a bit. Along with a few of my fellow students, we organised some group shows, which were good, but didn’t get much attention. I always enjoyed making artwork and the social life in London, but it soon got to a point where it was costing a lot of time and money to do it, for no real reward. I was stuck in a rut really, I was working less to try to make more artwork, but earning less as a result and as I had to pay off my hefty loan, I was only earning just enough to cover my outgoings. The bottom line was it was too expensive a hobby, and I needed to do things in a different way, hence the comics and the move to Bristol.

SM: Is there any particular reason you moved to Bristol? Also, is there a scene specific to Bristol compared to say somewhere like London, Manchester or Leeds?

ST: We chose Bristol on a whim really – it seemed like a good arty town, not too massive, and it’s worked out well for us. There’s quite a few people in Bristol who I’ve met through comics, and there used to be a quite a well-attended comics forum, organised through the Bristol travelling man shop. This sadly closed down a few years ago now, but I’m still friends with a lot of the people involved.

From what I understand, there are bits and pieces going on in London, but I think it’s a big old place, and too varied to have what can be described as a unified scene. I know there’s a lot of good creators based in Brighton, and there is the Manchester Comics Collective, and I don’t know much about Leeds, but I think there’s a few people that meet up for the “drink and draw” events. With the internet though, it’s quite easy to keep in touch with people from all over, even collaborate on things without ever meeting. This might be a bit impersonal and antisocial, but it’s practical and quite efficient.

SM: There some obvious influences in your work of Viz, Oink, The Beano/Dandy – bits of Glenn Baxter seem to factor in as well. Are there any others that you particularly like?

ST: Yes, spot on. I was brought up with British comics, all that stuff; Whizzer and Chips, Buster, Nipper, anything going. I vaguely remember Oink and how it was a bit rude and controversial, and everyone likes that stuff when they’re a kid don’t they? I don’t think I’ve ever bought a copy of Viz, but I’ll always read it if it’s about, and you’ve got to hand it to those guys for doing it for so long. I’ve not actually looked at any of those comics as visual cues, if you have a look at Lickle Bastard, which is pretty obviously a Dennis the Menace pastiche, it looks nothing like him really, just the bits that I could remember, the mad hair, big boots and Gnasher and that, and I just stuck it all in there.

I’d never thought about making comics myself though until saw Daniel Clowes’ books, I think David Boring was the first one I spotted in a library, and from I then I gradually got into indie and alternative comics, Chris Ware, Michael Kupperman, Tony Millionaire, Jason but as soon as I saw that first one I thought, “I could do this”.

SM: Some of your strips have absolutely no punchline at all or seem to end with a sigh of resignation, can you explain that a bit?

ST: Does the joke have to be in the punchline? Hopefully the jokes come from the characters, and how they act in a given situation rather than a punchline, and I try to mix the format up a bit. Sometimes the joke is about confounding expectations, and maybe there’s a gap where the joke should be. That said, it’s not always meant to be funny, you might laugh at Incompetent Shark because he’s so pathetic, or you might feel sorry for him. I don’t know really. I try and make something that I find funny, and hope other people appreciate it.

SM: You’ve collaborated on a few things with Gareth Brookes and Jemima Von Schindelberg, how does that work out compared to working on your own?

ST: I met Gareth at the RCA, and we’ve always got on really well. We seem to work well together, and we always bounce ideas off each other. I can’t remember how it first came about, but I was planning a Rupert Bear pastiche with rhyming verses for Banal Pig 1, and he wrote it. He’s written a poem for each Banal Pig comic since, and both the Jolly Bear Summer Specials, as well as contributing story ideas and general comments. He’s really good at writing stuff basically, and I’m glad to have him on board. He makes his own (excellent) comics as well, and we always share a stand at expos and fairs, so we’re sort of business partners in a feeble way.

Jemima Von Schindelberg bought one of my comics and I think she emailed me to say she liked it, and somehow that merged into a story idea, Ethel Sparrowhawk. We then bounced the script back and forth until we were both happy with it, and I drew it. I’m drawing the second one at the moment, written the same way. Otherwise, I’m not keen on drawing other peoples scripts though, it’s hard work if you’re not entirely convinced by the idea, and more importantly, not getting paid for it either.

SM: How do you go about making a comic, and once you’ve got it down how do you get funding for it?  Do you have a regular job?

ST: Alas, yes, I have a boring normal job that pays the bills and buys the comics. That’s OK though, because as making comics is my “hobby”, I’m compelled to do it, and really enjoy it. I’d like an arty job, but because I’m doing something different during the day (I work at the council), it keeps it fresh.

SM: What do you think about the UK small press scene?  Which illustrators are currently catching your eye?

ST: I think the UK small press scene is pretty healthy, and I think there seems to be good new people coming up all the time. The thing I like best about making comics and zines is that they can be totally unique and free from censorship and outside interference, and you don’t get that in a lot of other mediums. You get to take home this little distillation of someone’s personality for a few quid. That’s the ideal anyway, and there’s also a lot of shit out there, but horses for courses and all that. I’ve recently put together an anthology, the second one I’ve done and that features the majority of my favourite artists at the moment, Oliver East, Jim Medway, Dan Locke, Paul O’ Connell, Stephen Collins and the previously mentioned Gareth Brookes, but I’m also a fan of Hugh “Shug” Raine, Scott Jason Smith, and I’ve got to mention Jimi Gherkin, who makes great zine/comics, but also has been instrumental in organising the Alternative Press Festival, and injecting a large dose of energy into the small press scene.

SM: Any advice for people starting out in illustration or comics?

ST: I haven’t the first idea about illustration I’m afraid, I’ve had no formal training in that area, and have only had one random (badly) paid gig doing drawings of stage sets, but it’s basically drawing pictures of things isn’t it? I think you’ve got to find your own style, which only comes with drawing a lot. So do that.

My advice to someone thinking about making comics, or zines or anything like that, is to actually make one. It sounds too obvious to even bother to say, but I’ve seen a lot of people who have loads of ideas knocking about, whether it be stories on their hard drive or a folder full of little drawings. These things are transformed by the simple act of compiling them into a little pamphlet, and suddenly, you’re doing it, you’re a publisher and you can see how it works, and how to make it better next time. Go to expos and fairs and see what other people are doing, see how much people are charging for things and how they make their books. Also, if you like someone’s stuff, let them know, have a chat – it’s good to have friends/ allies for help and advice.

SM: Tell us about the Manly Boys annual.

ST: Manly Boys is the first comic that Gareth and I have done as a 50/50 collaboration. We wanted to do a comic in time for the Web and Mini Comix Thing in March this year, and as time was tight we decided that sharing the workload was a good idea. The theme came from an essay Gareth read by George Orwell about boy’s magazines of the early twentieth century, basically saying how shit they were, and we both thought there was a lot of mileage in those ideas of imperialism, the comparative brutality of  pre-war living in Britain, and a few homoerotic gags.

It’s proved really popular as well, we sold all the copies we brought the first time it was on sale at the Web and Mini Comix Thing, I think because people get the joke straight away, it’s quite accessible. We’re thinking about doing a follow up, Comely Girls, for next year, we’ll see if there’s legs in that idea, but it was really good collaborating with Gareth in that way, and I’m sure we’ll do something again.

You can see more of Steve Tillotson on his blog here. You can buy copies of Banal Pig and other comics here, and rather than binning a load of artwork, Steve is selling them double cheap here.