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Six months on with Adam Doyle

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Six months ago I did an interview with illustrator Adam Doyle here at UBD Network. At that time Adam had recently graduated so I thought I would catch up with him again to see what he has been up too and if his perspective on the design industry has changed.

1) Hi again Adam. Could we start by you reminding our readers about you and your illustrations?

Hi!  My illustrations are usually busy crowd scenes. They are a collection of my thoughts, or the clients thoughts that are all compiled together to make a busy interesting image. I try to get absolutely everything into each image I create. I am drained once I have finished an illustration.  I put all my focus into my work. Once I leave the desk to go to sleep, I am still thinking about how to make it better. Whether I am walking to the shops or brushing my teeth, I am constantly re-assessing my work.  The way I think of it is that I used to be a boxer, for those 7 years I was addicted to fighting. During the fights my brain cancelled out all noise and colours and I would focus on the task in front of me- Now that I don’t fight I still feel like I crave that concentration that boxing gave me and I now get it through sitting down and doing my illustrations.  My work inspires me to get out of bed and it’s that inspiration that keeps me awake for days without sleeping whilst I work to make a deadline. I crave it and I love it I am totally addicted to illustrating, If I couldn’t draw I’d probably still be getting punched in the head.

2) What types of projects have you been working on since I last interviewed you?

  I have been really busy, since leaving the university I have had my work published every month in Loaded magazine. I will be featured in the Images AOI annual 35 later in the year.  I have been pushing my style further and further, trying to make each image better than the one before. Sometimes it’s a case of tweaking the colour palette or simply just adding more characters. I have been busy contacting lots of companies and getting lots of exposure on places like the ‘ispot’. I have also done quite a lot of work on the UFC which looks great in my portfolio because not many people do it. Every one has an opinion on the sport, but not everyone gets to draw them, its great fun.

3) Since working as a freelance illustrator has you perspective of the UK design Industry changed?

I am still pretty new but I have noticed that a lot of companies in the UK have these illustrators who have been working for them for decades. It’s almost like in school when there’s that teacher who has worked there long enough to remember your parents when they were pupils in his class, these people were good at what they did but they all have lost their touch with society. Audiences change and people laugh at different things these days. Modern illustrators can do the work twice as fast and ten times as good, because we use computers. People need to accept change.  Everything is constantly evolving-including art.

4) So you have just moved over to America. Do you feel you will have a greater opportunity to progress as an illustrator there?

I am a big sucker for America being the land of opportunity. Everything about this place is bigger and better. Every day I wake up I feel like I’m walking around a movie set. There seems to be more opportunities in the book world too. Picture books in the UK are only aimed at young children. But in America there are picture books aimed at adults. The UFC is also huge over here which means more people will be interested in that side of my work.-which is great because I feel my work really appeals towards that ‘guy’ culture and I have had lots of great feedback.

5) Do you have any advice for young designers wanting to launch a freelance career?

Do it! But don’t expect to just get paid for drawing pretty pictures. Get used to sleepless nights.  A simple email to an Art Director very rarely works, but it sometimes does :)  You have to get a part time job on the side and spend most of your wage on promoting yourself. My best pieces were made whilst I was working.  You have to accept that every illustrator/designer is different than yourself, but every one of them wants what you want-and that’s to be a ‘success’.  I think if you set your own goals and achieve them, its very fulfilling. I don’t know anyone who illustrates Mixed Martial Arts or of the UFC, I set my self a goal of creating images purely to be based on this sport, and just 10 minutes ago I found out I am being featured in the magazine MMA Unleashed. It can happen just like that.  At the end of the day you can brighten up somebody’s day when they see your work, and that’s all that matters. And if that’s not good enough wait until you see your work published. That’s a real buzz.

You can see more of Adam’s work on his UBD Network Portfolio, Website and Facebook page and don’t forget to follow him on Twitter of course!

by UBD Network
Thursday 14th April 2011