Why Would I?

Apart from being a father, why would an artist that produces predominantly adult themed art, delve into the imaginative world of Fluffy Cutie?

You’ve seen it most often with actors and directors. They go from producing the most depraved, violent, sex-ridden, drug-infused films to playfully being inserted into, or creating, a cartoon world of giant-squish-faced-monkey-sheep.
Unanimously, all around the world, an audience sighs and thinks “Aaaahhh right, they’ve got kids now!”

Believe it or not, there may be more to it…

Are you the type of person that walks into an establishment, looks at all you see, walks out, refusing to pay ‘…for that sub standard rubbish that I could produce better with my eye’s closed!’?
Or alternatively, a person that walks into a shop and likes things but thinks you can make it yourself?
Easily right?

Being a tradesperson, I must confess, I am GUILTY as charged. Oh sooo guilty of this.

I believe with such intent that I can replicate that finish, done it a hundred, if not a thousand times.
In that instant, I am a justified man. Then when I get home, I completely forget to follow through with that sentiment.

Funny but clearly  not
Cutie wootie!

In fact, in most cases, whether it be art or trade, it ends up being hot air, forgotten in a wasteland of abandoned ideas. You get divine inspiration, a bolstering of bravado, get home and produce the same thing you always do, forgetting the original idea in the first place.

So, back to sickly sweet, doe-eyed fuzz…

This is one of the subjects that fits perfectly into this subject. I brushed off the idea of doing children’s illustration because I assumed it would be so easy. I would find myself doing pictures for my kids and at some point noticed that they weren’t really innocent enough. I couldn’t get my style to be playful. Frustratingly enough, the more I tried the more it was impossible to make cutie wootie!

I had been challenged, and it was on like cutie Kong!

I had to go back to basics, deconstruct my style and it ended up being quite the challenge. As humans, we are naturally creatures of habit. It’s all too easy to get locked into habits and take for granted how difficult it is to actually do something.

Ah much better, my style but cute.

Lesson learned.

I may have the skills to achieve something, but to actually visualise the idea and follow through with it, without tainting it with your personal failsafe, that’s something else. A good example of this is the TV show ‘Face off’ Quite often the artist is given a challenge that is not horror based, and instead of doing the challenge, they fall back to what they know and make a horror mask.

Why would I? Because making art for children is actually challenging my skills as an artist. Too often, whether you are an artist, designer, tradesperson or other creative type, you lose sight of the brief because you are blinded by your own aesthetics and idiosyncrasies. Don’t be afraid to embrace a challenge for what it is.