I was recently contacted by design student Paul McQuay who sent me some examples of his work. We liked his stuff so much we decided to feature him on Art Junky. Paul chats about current work and projects at University and his inspirations.
I am a second year illustration student at UWE, Bristol. I come from Stourbidge, which is a place of almost no note what-so-ever, but a very pleasant place none the less.
As a second year student I am taking it on myself to learn as much as I can about different aspects of illustration and design, so my interests are all over the place. Most recently I have found myself researching into handmade sign painting, a skill that seems to be having its renaissance right now. (You should all own Faythe Levine & Sam Macon’s “Sign Painters” It’s a great read). It’s from that that I have really started to think about the beauty of handmade objects over digital and so that’s the direction my work is going at the moment.
Inspiration-wise I look everywhere. I love finding new artists work to look at and seem to spend hours trawling through the internet finding interesting works of art. Oh, and watching adventure time. I really like adventure time. I’m also trying to stockpile a little library because I think artist books are great to pick up and flick through when you’re losing motivation. My Mike Perry books are getting worn down by my going through them so much.
Currently at Uni we’re learning to make Pop-ups from the guy who literally wrote the book on it, Duncan Birmingham. This is what inspired my Christmas pop up Santa cards. As well as this I’m experimenting with typography, print making, comics, collage, book binding and all kinds of fun things that will hopefully help me to become a successful artist.
The next big thing I really need to sort out is making a website, but for now, if you want to see more of my stuff you can check it out at www.facebook.com/MCQUAP or my newly opened Etsy Shop.
