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NEOZINE* - Your
work is visually appealing, but at the same time, looks like a
very personal point of view of the world. How did you manage to
transfer this line of work to a Nike commercial and to commercial
work in general?
ANDY SMITH - I generate a lot of work for myself which is turned
into self published book, prints and animations and each piece
tends to have some form of idea or message rather than being just
an illustration. I've found that a lot of my clients tend to either
take these ideas and develop and adapt them to their needs or
involve me earlier in the concept stage so
I that I can put in my thoughts also. For example the Nike commercial
was based around an earlier animation I had made at the Royal
College of Art which was about a character running away from germs,
I had also done quite a few posters at college based on the theme
of London, Nike needed some work on the theme of 'Run London'
and so we went from
there.
NEOZINE* - What inspires you to create?
What is your creative process like and what particular techniques
do you use?
ANDY SMITH - I tend to put lots of ideas down in sketchbooks and
these ideas often get adapted to fit briefs or developed into
some self generated work.
When I get given a brief I don't really brainstorm and make loads
of sketches but just think about it for a few days and then an
idea often comes to mind. In terms of technique, though most of
my commercial work is arranged on a mac it all comes from doodling
and drawing on paper and I always try to give the finished piece
the feel of a silkscreen print, which is where my style originates
from. I like the limitations of printmaking, in that only a few
colours can be used etc and I keep this in mind when working on
a computer where I think in many ways too much is possible.
NEOZINE* - All your work is full of humour
and the idea of having fun is always present.
What inspires this humour and who is Fatty?
ANDY SMITH - Alot of my ideas come from observations from everyday
life in London, eg funny characters that I meet or see, events,
things I've heard people say etc. I then exaggerate these things
to build up my own characters. I find don't have to go far to
see these things, and that if I do go looking for inspiration
often nothing comes, its more of a chance thing and when it happens
I note it down for future use. Their is quite a lot of inspiration
on my street alone. Fatty is one of my neighbours.
NEOZINE* - What is your favorite theme to
illustrate and why ?
ANDY SMITH - I like stories which build up to some sort of excitement
and dramatic ending and and posters that are lively and bold and
shout out at the viewer. I don't like stories that finish with
no real conclusion.
 
NEOZINE* - It looks like you draw a lot,
do you keep sketch books or the books you created and illustrated
are vey simillar to the sketch book themselves?
ANDY SMITH - My sketchbooks are much more scribbly and messy,
the books and animations take maybe a sketch or a written note
from the sketchbooks and more elaborate images and sequences grow
from them to form a story of some kind, I like the way in a book/animation
you can build up a momentum and play with the pace of a story.
RELATED LINKS
images used with the author's permission*
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ANDY
SMITH 