Yes, constantly. I have this habit of hyper focusing on whatever new thing catches my eye. I will consume everything I can about it and then two weeks later, something new will catch my attention and I go thru it all over again. I live in a tumultuous melting pot of inspiration.
One of the more consistent inspirations seems to be cars. In particular, fast ones. Where does this come from? I grew up surrounded by cars. My Dad was a mechanic and, at one point in time, a UK rally driver. But the passion didn’t bite me until I was in my 30s. Before that my life was already too full with music, b-boying, DJing, graffiti, drawing and chasing skirts. Top it all off with living and working in San Francisco (SF) where you don’t need a car and there’s not much room for anything else. SF’s not really a good breeding ground for developing an automobile passion. But I moved out of SF for a few years which led me to buying my first car — 15 years ago — and it’s been a problem ever since. Too many parts, too many track days, too many empty parking lots full of cones, too many blown motors, and far too many close calls.
And just like all my other passions and inspirations, it’s going to be what I look to when I design. It’s my source material.
Since our last interview you have had two beautiful children, congratulations on that. How did having children change your art ? Motivation. It was one thing to doodle along through life, being lucky enough to make art for a living. Paying my bills, having fun, living for me. But now I’ve got two wonderful children and I want them to blossom into amazing adult human beings. I want to show them the world and spend as much time as humanly possible with them while I make that happen. Talk about hurdles. How do you work 60+ hours a week and still make it home for dinner and a bedtime story? So… these two little rugrats are incredibly motivating. I analyze everything. I don’t have time to fuck around with silly side projects that once tickled my funny bone. I gotta knock everything out of the park. I gotta draw. I gotta sculpt. I gotta focus. I gotta hustle.
As one of the originators of the U.S. scene, how have you seen the industry change? It exploded. It retreated. It shed it’s dead fluff, and has been reborn. I’m pretty lucky to have got through the majority of the last 10-15 years fairly unscathed. I’ve seen plenty of artist buddies get fucked over by a variety of companies, and it’s painful when it happens. People dump months of work into a project or lines of toys only for the company to turn around and drop everything. Our contracts don’t usually have a clause for a company abandoning a project, and 99% of these projects are paid in royalties with no initial payment. It can be high risk. The movement is now being directed by independent designers, mold makers, and painters working out of their kitchens and basements. It’s back to it’s roots and exploring new boundaries. It’s fresh, it’s exciting, and not just limited to toys. The boundaries are blurry. I’m seeing some really awesome peripheral creatives. Want a cute wall mounted plush yeti bust? Want a clear resin
“The Grifling with a Long Pointy Stick,” 2014
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