Illustrator Interview:  James Shedden

James Shedden has made the cover art for Lost Tapes’ single on EardrumsPop, and this is our illustrator interview with him

. So, who are you, James?

In short… I’m James, I live in London and I make things
.

What are you working on right now?

I’m working on a handful of personal projects. I’m currently trying to produce as many images as possible with people & animals as focal points to make up for their absence in most of my previous work
.

What are your favourite tools?

Cardboard, pencils, paint, paper, Photoshop, the printer.

 How do you begin / conceptualise a project?

Thinking, researching, writing & sketching.

Please tell us about the process of making the EardrumsPop-cover! Is this the way you usually work?

Yes, it’s my usual and fairly specific process, which involves: thinking about an suitable concept; trying out some composition ideas to get depth, tone & balance right and have a go at some colour combinations; working on the final surfaces, textures, marks, lines & colours – and then finishing touches appear along the way
. Many of my images involve cardboard models, but the EardrumsPop cover and a handful of other recent works are cardboard-free.

Who / what are your greatest Visual Inspirations?

This is a hard question to give a satisfying answer to..
. let’s stick to Paul Klee for now.

Is music or other forms of art an inspiration?

Music, yes, very much so. Other forms of art too, but you don’t have all day… It’s not strictly part of your question but I am a musician (my band is Hoshal Patrick, hoshalpatrick.com). It’s a very big part of everything for me. I listen to the radio while I’m working & in general anything that comes with a strong recommendation.

Describe an average working day.

Get up, wash, breakfast, turn on the computer… I work from home where a routine is especially important, but doesn’t make for an interesting answer to this question.

What are your future plans? Any exciting things you are looking forward to?

 The plan is always to stay busy, work on new projects, resuscitate old ones. Hopefully bigger & better projects await, though sometimes smaller can be better too.

What question and answer would you like to end this interview with?