What projects are you currently working on?
At the moment most of my waking hours are spent at Pinewood Studios, working as a concept artist in the Costume department on the next Star Wars spin-off, which is based around a young Han Solo, to be played by Alden Ehrenreich. I’m working with the same team of designers as I did on Rogue One, Glyn Dillon and Dave Crossman.
At the same time, Ben Haggarty and I have been on the publicity trail to promote both the new volume of Mezolith in the UK, Germany and the US, and the first volume which has been translated into Italian, Spanish and Greek.
Which instruments/tools do you use to draw?
I’ve been working primarily on a Mac with a Wacom tablet since around 2001, which is when I went ‘digital’; but of course I still sketch and do much of my thinking with a pencil or a pen. I’ve been a fan of the iMac since it arrived, and still use one, along with a tablet. I haven’t taken the Cintiq route yet, but it remains a possibility.
I used to work in Painter almost exclusively, but as Painter got more and more frustrating with each new edition, Photoshop continually improved it’s painting and drawing tools and is now my principal software.
Do you have any peculiar habits or routines before starting to draw?
Not really. A large cup of coffee.
Do you have books or comic books you keep close by when you draw?
All my graphic novels and comics and a lot of reference books are close by in my studio. It’s always good to have some Moebius within arms reach. Alongwith whatever I’m currently into (Frederik Peeters’ AAMA series at the moment).
Are there certain objects in your studio which you’re particularly attached to?
There’s my little knitted Hippogryph toy. It’s a prop I designed for one of the Harry Potter films, and Steph ( the Set decorator ) had an extra one knitted for me. I’ve a gorgeous cast of the maquette head of Grawp that Kate Hill sculpted, and an original page from Glyn’s (Dillon) Nao of Brown on the wall.There are two of my Grandfather’s drawings (he was a cartoonist) as well.
As for special tools, I guess you could include my sit / stand desk, which keeps me youthful!
