interview for a zine.

i got asked by someone at a northampton art school to do a little interview as she wanted to feature my work in a zine shes putting together for her final 3rd year project. how she saw my work is beyond me. so here it is:

WHERE ARE YOU BASED?
-well im permanently based in maidstone in kent, which is my hometown. i currently reside in lovely nottingham(dont believe the hype), where im a first year Ba Hons graphic design student at nottingham trent uni, which couldnt be going better. I cant recommend this city and my course highly enough, in short i love it here. i studied my foundation diploma in art and design at UCA Rochester in Kent, which was a load of fun, although the place isnt that great i met tons of good people and learnt a lot, and was just generally a wicked experience.

WHAT INSPIRES YOU?
- I originally got into graphic design at A level because i love drawing but wasnt really into fine art, but loved the posters and album covers of the bands i was into at the time, so i decided to take it as one of my options. The thing that really grabbed my attention and passion was 'Hotel Fox' in Copenhagen, which is a Hotel with it's rooms painted by 21 graphic designers including Rinzen, Container, Wk Interact etc, creating a huge diversity from room to room and a whole new way of working that i had never even considered. I suppose this also played on my existing interest in street art which developed through reading Banksy books i borrowed off my older brother. Then over the rest of my A level course my interested developed further and by the time i hit foundation i was positive graphics was the specialism i wanted to get into. I became really focused and motivated over the next year through having a good friendship with my graphics tutor, as well as making some great friends who provided healthy competition and forced me to want to better myself. I think just growing up with and being surrounded by creative people, however cheesey it sounds, is the biggest influence you can get.


WHAT ARTISTS/ ILLUSTRATORS DO YOU ADMIRE?
- I have always been a massive fan of Alex Curtis (thr33 designs), due to her artwork for the album covers and posters i was being exposed to as i got into a lot of UK bands, such as Tellison, as well as occassionally meeting her through friends, and still admire everything amazing little bit of work she comes out with.
Flyers are always influencing me, especially now i live in a city thats full of art students, as each clubnight/ bar is trying to grab our attentions so theres some really special stuff being produced.
J three concepts has also been another big influence on me over the past couple of years, particularly his use of typography and the colourschemes he uses.
Im pretty into hand-drawn type, so Si Scott is a must when it comes to that, as his work is just mind blowingly intricate, and he cant really seem to put a foot wrong.
I think you have to have repect for the greats such as Stefan Seigmeister and Alan Fletcher. Although i dont often use them as references, i think to be at the forefront of your profession and to be creating such original work is pretty special.
Ive recently been influences by a group called 'Illustrators Elbow', who i found during my last brief and used them as a base to try working in a new style and push myself out my comfort zone, so i definately recommend googling them.
theres far too many other artists to mention, otherwise il be here for a few years. decent books are a good way to get alot of inspiration in one place, such as 'Playful Type', 'Graphics Alive' and the 'Illusive' series.

WHAT MUSIC ARE YOU INTO?
- shall i cop out and just say 'im into a bit of everything'? no?
ok, i grew up getting involved in the UK punk and Hardcore scene, which i have kind of given up on now apart from a few bands because most of the people involved in that scene's attitudes are pretty shit, and everything is more focused on the negative than actually trying to enjoy yourself. Im mostly into the UK indie/mathy scene, particularly the label 'Big Scary Monsters' and bands like This Town Needs Guns, Colour, Tubelord, Data.Select.Party. I still dabble in punk and hardcore such as The Gaslight Anthem, Polar Bear Club, Verse etc, as well as still having a massive love of acoustic music such as Chuck Ragan, Sundowner and Sam Isaac. Ive always had a love of drum and bass and more recently dubstep as well, and have been going to Hospitality nights run by Hospital Records since i was about 16/17. Since moving to a city ive let myself get into stuff i never had an interest in before, due to going to clubnights on recommendations and whims, Im pretty happy to let Annie Mac educate me through her 'Mash up', as well as seeing people such as The Count and Sinden, Tomb Crew, Erol Alkan etc.

WHATS YOUR FAVOURITE FILM?
-I dont have TV at uni, so unless i want to wait for iplayer to load i watch a fair few films whilst im working or getting ready for bed. Recently ive really enjoyed 'The Pianist', 'Get Smart', 'Road to Perdition' and a few others. a couple of of my favourite all timers are 'American History X', 'Fight Club' and 'American Beauty'.

FAVOURITE ANIMAL?
- I really love drawing animals, for a few months it was all i did. My top animals to draw are: Polar Bears, Sparrows, Stags.

HAVE YOU HAD ANY COMMISSIONS ETC?
- My proudest moment since ive been drawing was in September 2008, when i was lucky enough to be party of 'Hostel Art' at the Picadilly Backpackers Hostel in London, which is literally 2mins from Picadilly Circus. This is along the lines of Hotel Fox i spoke about earlier, except this time instead of professionals, they get young designers to design and paint the rooms. For 4 days i stayed at my friends house in london by night and then worked 10 hour days painting Room 519 in the hostel. It went amazingly well, which surprised me because i normally run out of time on big projects, but it was the first time anything i had worked on went perfectly and i couldnt really find anything i wanted to change or improve at the end of the 4 days. It was kind of a dream come true after admiring Hotel Fox for so long, and i think that a project like that will take some beating to top my list of achievements. Last term i also did a wall mural for a basement party in Nottingham along with about 15 other graphics students spanning the 3 years of the course, which was a lot of fun and allowed me to meet a lot of good people. Apart from that its just been small flyer jobs that dont normally result in payment, just the odd guestlist spot here and there