Welcome to our Artist Spotlight series. We’re thrilled to shine the spotlight on Thomas Gutteridge, the visionary artist behind our End of the World collection. Known for his retro dystopian style and eye for detail, Thomas has brought to life an otherworldly narrative of alien invasions, AI takeovers, and a future teetering on the edge of chaos.
We had the chance to chat with Thomas about his creative process, inspirations, and the challenges he faced while bringing this collection to life. Here’s what he had to say:
Thanks! Well after you got in touch with me about the End of the World concept and possible prompts, I had a lot of fun options to choose from. Naturally I was drawn to the Alien Invasion theme, UFOs being a favourite of mine to draw in recent times. And then Robots and AI takeover just felt incredibly relevant and relatable with what's going on in the world and especially the creative world right now. Both of these subjects gave me lots of visual ideas to work with to try and create designs that were packed full of detail to fill a clothing design. I also quite liked the idea of these events being chronological, Aliens invade and Robots inherit the earth type thing, thinking back on that Futurama episode where Fry is frozen and you see the events of the Earth speed play out through the window behind him.
Who or what are your biggest influences when it comes to your artistic style? Any specific artists, movies, or games?
Childhood classics the Simpsons and Futurama were the original favourites, along with a tonne of Cartoon Network shows. Longstanding inspirations like Jamie Hewlett, , Bruce Timm and Genndy Tartakovsky are all geniuses. Pixar films. I enjoy the Surrealism movement and how that still influences many illustrators today.
Streetwear thrives on storytelling. How do you think your work fits into the narrative of self-expression and identity through clothing?
I think storytelling is such an important part of creativity and it's something that I try to include throughout my designs in some form or another. I guess people enjoy someone's expression through illustration and design and there's often a story or character that people can connect with.
How do you bring all your inspiration and visuals together before you start designing? Is there a specific process you follow to connect the dots?
I usually kick off most projects with some research. Then I roughly sketch out my ideas either into a sketchbook or straight onto my tablet. Getting down the crux of the idea first and then I gradually build up the visuals. Then I do the line work, fill the base colours and build the shadows and lighting, texture, etc.
Do you draw on paper, a tablet, or with a mouse? And when you start designing, do you go straight into Photoshop or use another program?
Mostly on my tablet, occasionally on paper which I find helps when I need a different approach. But most of my work I'm locked in on my tablet and always with Adobe Illustrator. I love working with vectors, and the way Illustrator functions.
Fonts are a huge part of any design. Do you have a go-to place to find fonts, or do you create your own?
I usually use Dafont or Google Fonts when looking for font files. But I also enjoy creating hand drawn type for certain projects, when it fits and if the timeline allows!
Do you plan out the color palette for your designs from the beginning, or does it evolve as the piece comes together?
Again depends on the project, sometimes I'll have a clear colour palette in mind for a project and sometimes it'll take time to figure it out as I work on the design with a bit of trial and error. But then once I have the parts of the overall illustration sorted (linework, shadow/lighting, fill, background, etc.) I can experiment with what suits the artwork best.
Are there any design challenges you faced while creating these shirts, and how did you overcome them?
I think the main challenges were to find the right balance and colour choices and I also wanted to try and create both designs to sort of mirror the other both being end of the world scenarios. I also remember finding the beginning concepts a challenge to come up with, as I felt there were so many possibilities for both themes.
So… do you think the world will end with aliens or robots?
I think both! But in what order? Will the Aliens come down and rid the world of humans for the robots to take over? Or will the Robots already have taken over when the Aliens arrive?!
Check out more and Toms work on instagram @thomasgutts & grab yourself a Thomas Gutteridge, END OF THE WORLD t-shirt here : https://www.blindmaggot.co.uk/collections/end-of-the-world
