Tall Boy 2022 Print Collection
Earlier this year I worked on a new range of prints for Tall Boy, and the collection launched this week. I wanted to share a bit more about the process behind them.
I worked closely with Reggie Pugh, and the starting point was to create a busy cityscape full of animals, aimed at children. We liked the idea of hidden details in as many windows and spaces as possible, and lots of surreal and playful details .
The first character that came to my mind was a crocodile with a pet caterpillar, riding a penny-farthing. Once I had got this idea on paper, the whole series grew from this drawing. Although it didn’t stay in the final collection, my first illustration was based on Amsterdam, because it was the perfect excuse to squeeze as many animals on bikes as I could onto the page!
I was really inspired by images of vintage tin toy vehicles and early transport inventions. I also looked a lot at the crazy sculptures of Jean Tinguely when I was making my initial sketches. Here is the Pinterest board of images I collected as I started developing ideas for the collection.
New York was the next city that I developed artwork for, and this is part of the Tall Boy Collection. In my rough sketch I digitally applied shades of yellow to the transport- the yellow school bus and taxi made the city instantly more recognisable because of their colour, so I felt it would be important to incorporate this into the final art. I was surprised by how much I liked the limited colour palette and linework of the rough, and the scene lost some of it’s energy and balance when I started filling in the buildings. Instead of painting the entire scene, I decided to experiment with linework and see where it led.
I settled on a mixture of black colouring pencil (mainly used for the animals and the vehicles in the foreground) and gouache and ink lines for the buildings. I liked the range of tones and textures that came with using a mix of materials, and felt it created more depth and movement than using one consistent quality of line. I digitally applied shades of yellow on seperate layers, afterwards, as well as using gouache paint textures on some areas.
I absolutely loved creating odd and eccentric animal characters. From a Parisian baboon working in the fashion industry, to the Cockney iguana with an unquenchable thirst for English Breakfast tea, each one has their own story.
The whole collection is now live on Tall Boy’s beautiful website, along with lots of other artists. You can see all of the available designs and print options here.
