Introducing newly signed artist Sean Sims, find out his favourite joke and what inspires his design-work...
Have you always wanted to be an Artist/Illustrator or did the vocation find you? I have always loved creating things & always wanted to be an artist as far back as I can remember! I loved ‘colouring-in’ books as a small boy, and was always drawing imaginary things like monsters & robots!
How did your style evolve? I have always loved big bold colours, moving from felt pens, to acrylics then finally on to using the computer to create my illustrations. I think I take a lot of inspiration from my childhood. I was a child right through the 1970s, & loved to watch children’s TV. I look back on animated series such as the Magic Roundabout, The Herbs, Mary Mungo & Midge & the Clangers & I can see a direct influence.
Where were you born? Where were you brought up? I was born in Middlesbrough in the North East, where I lived till 1999, when I moved south to Brighton where I live now with my wife Majella & two children Stanley aged 7 & Mabel aged 5.
What was your favourite subject at school? Art! (& history)
What's been your best-selling design or piece of work to date? My ‘Alphabet’ print was turned into a wrapping paper design by the wonderful greetings company 1973 and has been a great success! I was so chuffed to see it on sale in the Design Museum shop as well as the Tate Modern shop!
Which part of the process do you like most? Creating the final artwork & those last tweeks when it all comes together!
Do you carry around a sketch-book at all times?! I don’t sketch! (sorry all my old art college lecturers!)
What’s your favourite thing to illustrate? I love to illustrate food, & cookery illustrations! I have a passion for vintage illustrated cookery books from the 50s-70s (which I collect).
What would your dream project be? To illustrate a cookery book for a celebrity chef (I love Masterchef too!)
Who would be your dream client? Marimeko or London Transport
Who or what is your biggest source of inspiration? Decorative illustration & design from 1950s-1970s, in particular Scandinavian decorative arts illustration & information book illustration from mid 20th century.
Which is your favourite Yellow House Art Licensing artist & why? I do like Heather Flynn’s illustrations, particularly her food ones!
Which is your favourite Yellow House Art artist & why? www.yellowhouseart.com is our closely-associated site selling original artwork I really like Ken Eardley’s ceramics. I had the pleasure of being in an Open House show a few years ago with Ken, & his display of all his different designs was amazing to see.
That's a great choice! We are big fans of Ken Eardley's work too and here's a snap of his ceramics taken at 'The Yellow House' - our Artist Open House...
Do you have your own work at home? Yes I do! (6 A2 prints) My children have the biggest room in the house & have three of my large prints up on their bedroom walls
What's on your drawing-board/ in your kiln / on your easel / etc. right now? Greetings card designs for my ‘Happy Folk’ range which is launching this week for The Art File.
We loved your image 'Gorillas in the Mist' and are really pleased to see it as part of the range!
What is the last exhibition you went to? Marks out of 10? The London Transport Museum’s exhibition of London Transport posters. 10/10.. really beautiful illustrated posters from their archive.
What’s been your biggest challenge? Being a full time Dad & juggling pre-school childcare with illustrating for a living , which often meant working at night time. My children are both at school now, so things are a lot easier!!
As well as being an amazing artist, do you have any other hidden talents? I’m a fully qualified design historian as well as a trained museum curator!- hence my retro design influences!(I’m not a bad singer too, although my wife & children would disagree!)
Do you have any top tips for being an artist that you can give us? oooh, lots!
Take lots of inspiration & influence, but ultimately be your own style!
Work hard & pay attention to detail
Choose your colours wisely - harmonise!
Always stick to deadlines, even better, deliver early!
Have fun!
Do you have a favourite paintbrush or tool? My Apple Mac
What attracted you to/attracts you about working with Yellow House? I really like Yellow House’s approach of combining art & decorative arts with illustrative design licensing. A really strong sense of a business that is very professional as well as having a real personable quality- plus Sue & Jehane are really nice folk, and I’m a really good judge of character :-) It's always so interesting for us to read our artist's feedback!
Is there anything you would like to ask us? Who would be your dream clients? We'd love to see an extended range of our artists work in John Lewis or Marks & Spencer. We always think Chronicle Books publish great product too. London Transport would also be high on the hit list!
What’s your favourite joke? What did the Dalek say at the checkout in Waitrose? “EXTORTIONATE!” (I made this up, my wife thinks it’s terrible!) Have you ever drawn a Dalek?!
....and in case you wondered who these little chaps are, meet Sean's collections of Noggins'.
Enter a world of pure imagination, the artwork of Sean Sims