ARTIST'S / DESIGNER'S STATEMENT
I try to develop ideas quickly and get something down on paper or screen as a starting point which avoids artist/designer's block which often occurs when faced with a blank page! Ideas tend to come thick and fast though so it is more a case of quick decision making as to which ideas are used or discarded. I tend to go with my first instinct and this then becomes a work in progress, as most of my web projects are, not that they are never finished, but with web design it is usually the case that the design grows organically over time and I am consistently trimming back to allow new ideas to blossom and spring forth, so to speak.
Design for print is obviously static as an art form and when it is printed that is the finished piece, it's an all or nothing approach there as you have to be completely happy (not essentially hysterical!) about the piece before you commit it to print. Sometimes I can work with that and I think it allows me to be more decisive and so it becomes easier to let go of a project. Once it's done it's done.
Not so with my fine art...I can work on a piece so that the majority of work only takes a relatively small amount of time, and then step back and ponder it over the following weeks (and sometimes months!) adding here and there, taking away sometimes, replacing, changing my mind, so is often much more organic in its development.
With the greeting card designs I always have way more ideas than time to implement them, at present the range stands at 250 plus designs over 12 published ranges which are being constantly added to and they all seem to tell a little story in their own right!
My ideas spring from all manner of sources, from traditional detailed observation, to dreams and faded childhood memories...I love to combine photographic imagery with less realistic or illustrative forms, like cartoon characters that appear alongside real film characters, I find it fascinating like two very different worlds colliding but somehow working in harmony together.
My illustrative work is usually based on characters from books or short stories that I have written, or am in the process of writing. They are usually aimed at the younger end of the market although they do have universal appeal with their quirky charm and simplicity. I relish creating a character in my mind and seeing them come to life both in illustration and in the unfolding pages of the story. I think books are like another world where you can open one and shut out the rest of the world and if only for a time, it is time well spent.