This month’s banner designer is Bradford based freelance illustrator Tom Woolley. He enjoys working with a combination of hand-drawn sketches, Photoshop and Illustrator, as well as partaking in good coffee and bad jokes. Wendy Denman threw some half baked questions his way to see what’s hot cross and what’s not cross in his world.
Tom, this banner is most Eggcellent. If you could wish to see anything hatch out of an egg, what would it be?
Why thank you! Hmm… I woke up the other day to discover someone’s decided to help themselves to the Yorkshire stone slabs in my back yard, so a pet velociraptor would be pretty handy at the moment. The nib on my graphics pen is wearing out though and they’re quite expensive to replace (I think I press too hard on the tablet) so a goose that lays Wacom pen nibs would be a god send.
Easter food is better than Christmas food. Discuss:
I’d have to disagree. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a big fan of chocolate eggs and hot cross buns but I think Christmas has a wider selection of culinary delights; Christmas pud with custard, Christmas cake and turkey sandwiches with stuffing (not all at the same time though) gets my vote.
Before turning freelance, you used to work for the fantastic National Media Museum in Bradford. Can you recommend any other museums exhibiting creative works we should make time to visit?
I was in Brussels last month and visited the Hergé Museum which was brilliant. Seeing all his original drawings and ideas behind Tintin was inspiring. It was also great to see the way Belgium really appreciates its comic artists. In my previous life as a curator I was lucky enough to visit the ZKM Museum in Karlsruhe which has some excellent galleries full of interactive digital art.
What’s your favourite animated music video and why?
I guess this is more of a short film than a music video but ‘Love and Theft’ by German animator Andreas Hykade is astonishing. Love the countless transformations and the way it builds to a crescendo. There’s not enough animated music videos – the last one I saw that I really liked was ‘Easy Way Out’ by Gotye. I saw it at the Bradford Animation Festival last year and the song and the animations have stuck in my head.
Your drawings look very upbeat, bright and joyful. Have you ever hidden a dark secret message in them?
I did go through a phase of drawing big sprawling Jon Burgerman-style doodles that had lots of weird creatures doing rude things in them but I think that’s out of my system now. I still do the occasional rude drawing to make friends laugh but they’re not really suitable for the portfolio. I love the work of graphic novelist Charles Burns and am working on a few ideas that have a bit more edge at the moment.
Do you think we could do more to show off the wealth of artistic talent we have locally?
Yorkshire’s got a great array of art festivals going on. I showed some landscapes pictures as part of the Saltaire Arts Trail a few years ago and met lots of great local artists. Fabric does great things in Bradford and it’s good to see the empty shops in the City Centre used to show local artist’s work. I’d like to see more big outdoor murals and sculptures to brighten the place up a bit. Joolz Denby’s idea of an art park to cover the Westfield hole would be fantastic and help give the city a more European vibe. It’s a pity the free Bradford arts magazine ‘How Do’ is going to online only – it’s always good to see local art and writing in print.
If your life is a comic strip, what’s the current cliffhanger?
I’m working out the ways of life as a freelancer illustrator and getting used to not having the safety net of a monthly salary Things are going well at the moment but the fear of work drying up is a lingering thought. Time will tell but fingers crossed it’ll work out.
Creme egg, tent peg, chicken leg or Nick Clegg?
Definitely not Nick Clegg, creme eggs are delicious but are over too quickly, camping in the rain is pretty miserable and I’m a sucker for a Nando’s so I’ll have to go for chicken leg.
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Tom tweets as @tcwoolley. You can find out more on his website www.tomwoolley.com
