How/when did you first take an interest in drawing? 

I’ve drawn for as long as I can remember. Looking back, my earliest memories of drawing involve me sitting at the coffee table for hours on end drawing Transformers or superhoeroes fighting, and doing all the sound effects as I drew them. There is a primary school teacher who still knows me from when I was in her class, she asks if im still drawing whenever we bump into each other. So to me its something I’ve always done. I was really into comics when I was little, so I think those where what fuelled my interest.

What made you choose the line of illustration over the other disciplines?

Through process of elimination really, it wasn’t my original intention. During my Foundation course in Norwich I came to a point of major indecision when we were asked to choose a subject to specialise in. The main choice was between Fine Art or Graphic Design, and since both involved drawing pictures of some description, which was all I wanted to do, I couldnt choose which to go for. I opted for Graphic Design but soon decided it looked too neat, tidy and calculated for me so I ended up doing Fine Art. I stuck with it but wasn’t accepted by the university for a degree course because at the time I was really bad at talking about my work and the ideas behind it. From those experiences I decided that I needed to find a middle way between the two, Illustration was just that.

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Who/what are some of your general influences?

At the moment my favourite Illustrators are those whose work lends itself to Graphic Novels and editorial Illustration pieces. For example; Matthew Woodson, Jillian Tamaki and Craig Thompson. I check their blogs all the time and they make some beautiful work, you can tell that they are keen observers of people too. In recent years Ive been led to research Art history more and very much like the classical paintings of Durer, Raphael, Titian and Vermeer. It feels important to me to have a knowledge of those artists who set the foundations for painting all those years ago. I get inspired a lot by Fashion photography and just seeing people out and about, whatever I come across that makes me think “Crikey, thats beautiful!”.

How did you first discover them? 

Mainly through the internet actually. We were advised to fill ourselves with art, film and media on my degree course and I came across many new illustrators then. I discovered a site called ffffound.com recently where people who scour the net daily will post images that they find interesting or inspiring, all on this one site. Its updated constantly and has become a great source of new and intriuging imagery. Plus it means you only have to go to the one place and other people have done the hours of searching around for you. I am also quite lucky to work in a bookshop part time, so for any art history research I can just poke my nose in a few books when there are no customers about.

How did you get involved with the Epoch Times? 

Just before my degree course began I took up a Meditation practice called Falun Gong. I had an issue of Transworld skateboarding full of interviews with pros and amongst them was a few questions with Steve Olsen (from Shortys at the time). He talked about this new practice and how through doing the excercises and following the principles of Zhen,Shan,Ren (Truthfulness, Compassion, Tolerance) in ones daily life a person can improve their body and mind. I had some problems with my knees through skateboarding which Yoga and other remedies had failed to help with, so I gave Falun Gong a try. It proved really powerful and has had a great effect on my life. 

Falun Gong originates from China but has been banned there by the Chinese Communist party. They (the Communist government) are extremely intolerant of any spiritual practice or school of thought which does not conform with their ideology. If you practice Falun Gong in Mainland China you are likely to be imprisoned and persecuted if the authorities find out. The Epoch Times is the only independent international newspaper which makes a determined effort to openly report on this situation in china and raise awareness. Part of its mission as a newspaper is to support human rights and look to make a change where they are violated.

While on my degree I was very fortunate to meet the editor of the UK edition of the paper through a friend of a friend. The paper didnt have anyone providing illustration for them at the time so I offered my services. It enabled me to contribute work to the newspaper and my degree course and do something meaningful all at the same time, so I jumped at the opportunity. It has proved very helpful in my development as an Illustrator and taught me a lot about the reality of doing it for a living. It is also the reason for my love of indian ink and working in black and white most of  the time.

As you’re a fellow skater, do you take much influence from the skateboarding world/media? 

Yes, a lot I would say. Skateboarding seems to me to have an aesthetic outlook all of its own, and if you spend a lot of time pouring over skate mags and watching videos you start to see things that way too. Board companies seem to all have their own look and attitude that is expressed through their graphics. Back when I was a bit more impressionable I used to think that to buy (for example) an Alien Workshop deck  was to take on their whole ethos, which would in turn affect how I’d choose to draw things. Different brands in skateboarding promote a slightly different aesthetic to suit different peoples tastes. All of these things have had big influence on my outlook and visual understanding of things, as they are what I have fed myself on for quite some time.

Skateboarding photography has had a large influence on me too. Back when I was younger I would read a lot of comics. The imagery in comics is full of glamorous figures posturing and extravagant ways making purposeful gestures which help to tell the story. The same is true in classical Art where every aspect of the figures depicted and the things around them have a meaning of some sort. Everything is usually arranged very carefully. Skateboarding photography however, portrays things and people very differently. Skaters are often captured in very unconventional positions while executing tricks, and there is a lot of extreme foreshortening. Skaters arms point off in seemingly random directions as they try to maintain balance and form shapes that arent really seen anywhere else.Also the landscapes can often be abandoned urban environments and other usually mundane places that would otherwise have little visual interest. As an art form skate photography shows the world in a totally different way to the norm and this I think affects the artwork inspired by it. 

My favourite thing about skateboard culture is that it often means you spend a lot of time outdoors away from crowds of people, so you develop a nice connection with nature. I think that has influenced my work a bit too.

Are you working on any projects at the moment? 

I have some ongoing work with Smash Skates in Beccles currently. Ash, the shop owner, asked me if I’d like to paint some designs on blank decks to then be made into wall clocks. We’ve made two so far and they have both sold successfully, so we’re going to continue making those. Other than that I have a small list of portrait commissions to work through and Im currently building a website to sell art materials through with The Upstairs Gallery in Beccles. With any luck 2009 will be a productive year.

Finally any parting messages, thank yous etc?

I’d just like to wholeheartedly thank all my family and friends, and anyone who has given me sound advice.

Have a look a Joel’s portfolio site here and keep an eye on his blog here.

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